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by Steve O'Hear on (#42EBY)
Fraugster, the Berlin-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to prevent fraud for online retailers, has raised $14 million in a Series B funding. The round is led by CommerzVentures, the venture capital subsidiary of Commerzbank, alongside early Fraugster investors Earlybird, Speedinvest, Seedcamp, and Rancilio Cube. Notably, Munich Re/HSB Ventures, the VC arm of global reinsurer […]
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Crunch Hype
Link | https://techncruncher.blogspot.com/ |
Feed | http://feeds.feedburner.com/TechCrunch/ |
Updated | 2025-08-05 23:31 |
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by Frederic Lardinois on (#42EC0)
Storyblocks, formerly known as Videoblocks, is a stock media service that offers videos, images and audio for creatives. One feature that always made it stand out from the competition is its flat-rate model that gives you unlimited access to all of the media files in its library (though there’s also a pay-as-you-go marketplace). Last year, […]
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by Rita Liao on (#42E7C)
They may not be widely known outside of China, but Tencent’s mini program initiative to develop ‘apps’ that live outside of app stores is bearing fruit after it clocked two notable landmarks: 200 million daily users and one million apps. In recent years, Tencent’s WeChat messaging app has blossomed into a universe of its own with […]
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by Jonathan Shieber on (#42E7E)
As technology investment and exits continue to rise across Brazil, early stage venture capital firm monashees today announced that it has closed on $150 million for its eighth investment fund. Commitments came from Temasek, the sovereign wealth fund affiliated with the Singaporean government, China’s financial technology company, CreditEase; Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, the University of […]
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by Catherine Shu on (#42E7G)
PressLogic, a Hong Kong-based social media content and data analytics startup, announced today that it has raised a $10 million Series A+ round from Meitu, developer of the popular Chinese selfie app. PressLogic will use the funds to launch its new lifestyle brand GirlStyle and enter e-commerce with its proprietary algorithms, which predict what topics will […]
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by Jon Russell on (#42E0V)
China is home to the world’s largest network of CCTV cameras — over 170 million — and its police have adopted Google Glass-like ‘smart specs’ to seek out suspects in crowds, but now its surveillance efforts have hit a new level with technology that can apparently identify individuals based on their body shape and the way […]
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by Mike Butcher on (#42E0X)
One Minute TechCrunch! Since it’s impossible, as a journalist, to crawl around all the stands at Web Summit in Lisbon, I thought it would be easier to stand in one place and meet people there! Thus, you will get the chance to meet me (Mike Butcher) and pitch me your company for 1 MINUTE at […]
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by Natasha Lomas on (#42E0Z)
Facebook has yet again declined an invitation for its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer international politicians’ questions about how disinformation spreads on his platform and undermines democratic processes. But policymakers aren’t giving up — and have upped the ante by issuing a fresh invitation signed by representatives from another three national parliaments. So […]
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by Leslie Hitchcock on (#42DVQ)
Looking for a way to experience Disrupt Berlin 2018, but your budget simply won’t cooperate? Sign up as a volunteer, and we’ll thank you with a complimentary Innovator pass good for both days of the show. A lot of work goes into making Disrupt Berlin an outstanding event for every attendee, and this is a […]
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by Steve O'Hear on (#42DVS)
Portify, a London fintech startup that offers an app and various financial products to help gig economy workers better manage their finances and in turn improve financial wellbeing, has raised £1.3 million in seed investment. The round is led by Kindred Capital, and company builder and investor Entrepreneur First (EF), with participation from various unnamed […]
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by Jon Russell on (#42DSH)
We’re excited to announce our return to Shenzhen, which will host our next event in China later this month. Once again organized with our longtime local partner TechNode, the two-day event will run from November 19-20 at the Shenzhenwan Science and Technology Ecological Garden. Our first TechCrunch event in Shenzhen — the city widely acknowledged as […]
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by Steve O'Hear on (#42DSK)
Home Made, the London premium online lettings agency, has raised a further £2 million in funding. The round is led by Athens-based venture capital firm VentureFriends, and follows the proptech startup’s £850,000 “pre-seed†round nine months ago. Founded in 2016 by Asaf Navot, a former Bain strategy consultant and INSEAD graduate, and Nick Binnington, a […]
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by Josh Constine on (#42DFZ)
The 115 accounts Facebook took down yesterday for inauthentic behavior ahead of the mid-term elections may indeed have been linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency, according to a new statement from the company. It says that a site claiming association with the IRA today posted a list of Instagram accounts it had made which […]
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by Rita Liao on (#42DG1)
China’s JD.com has made it clear recently that it’s venturing into artificial intelligence and automation. Every few months over the past year, the online retailer – China’s second-largest by transactions after Alibaba – has unveiled new products based on cutting-edge technology: for example drone delivery, self-driving trucks, fully automated warehouses, to name a few. Most […]
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by Rita Liao on (#42DBW)
Take a subway ride in China and expect to see a lot of commuters’ eyes glued to TikTok videos on their phones. Video clips like TikTok’s are now consuming nearly nine percent of Chinese people’s time online, a 5.2 percent jump from 2017, according to app analytics firm QuestMobile. Apps such as TikTok — which […]
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by Jon Russell on (#42D50)
Grab, the Singapore startup that bought Uber’s Southeast Asia business earlier this year, continues to announce strategic investors for its ongoing Series H funding round. The latest edition revealed today is Korean automotive firm Hyundai, which is investing $250 million. Hyundai first invested in Grab in January, and it joins recently announced investors Microsoft (undisclosed) […]
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by Kate Clark on (#42D1G)
Tinder is leading growth for Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH), which posted third-quarter earnings of 44 cents per share on Tuesday.
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by Devin Coldewey on (#42D1J)
Few things in the world of technology can really ever be said to be "done," and certainly exoskeletons are not among their number. They exist, but they are all works in progress, expensive, heavy, and limited. So it's great to see this team working continuously on their TWIICE robotic wearable, improving it immensely with the guidance of motivated users.
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by David Riggs on (#42D1M)
At this moment in history it’s impossible not to see the problems that arise from human bias. Now magnify that by compute and you start to get a sense for just how dangerous human bias via machine learning can be.
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by John Biggs on (#42CYC)
Watchmaker Jaquet Droz makes luxury watches that cost more than some San Francisco apartments. Now, however, they’ve decided to go “downmarket†with their Sports Watch chronograph, a handmade watch that is designed for both work and play. The watch is a standard chronograph with big date, a complication that displays the date as two digits […]
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by Natasha Lomas on (#42CYD)
The holiday season is here again, touting all sorts of kids’ toys that pledge to pack ‘STEM smarts’ in the box, not just the usual battery-based fun. Educational playthings are nothing new, of course. But, in recent years, long time toymakers and a flurry of new market entrants have piggybacked on the popularity of smartphones […]
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by Devin Coldewey on (#42CYF)
IndieBio, the biotech startup accelerator that's produced heaps of notable companies (including several that have graced the Startup Battlefield), is holding its twice-annual demo day today. An even dozen young companies will be pitching their work, from AI-informed research to artificial meat, and you can watch them present live right here.
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Original Content podcast: We’re left a little cold by Netflix’s new ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’
by Anthony Ha on (#42CTR)
It seemed like the ingredients were there for “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina†to win us over. After all, at least one of the hosts of the Original Content podcast is a fan of “Riverdale,†and this comes from the same creative team, with a similar approach — instead of a noir version of Archie, […]
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by Sarah Perez on (#42CTT)
You don’t need a TV to tune in to live coverage of the U.S. elections results today – and you don’t have to have Hulu or another live TV streaming service, either. Today, YouTube announced a list of news organizations that will be broadcasting live elections coverage on its site today – helpful for those who […]
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by Steve O'Hear on (#42CTW)
TransferWise, the European fintech unicorn that enables low-cost international money transfer, has always had ambitions of being a platform in the truest sense. In addition to its direct-to-consumer app, the company offers an API for integration with other fintechs and banks, although it is fair to say that third-party integrations of this kind have been […]
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by Sarah Perez on (#42CPM)
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is calling on the telecom industry to help put an end to scam robocalls. On Monday, FCC chairman Ajit Pai sent letters to the heads of voice providers, including AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Google, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon* and others, urging them to adopt a call authentication system that would […]
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by John Biggs on (#42CJ4)
Like a kid shooting spitballs, designer Beer Holthuis has figured out that sopping wet paper is the best material for making mischief. His 3D printer, a primitive RepRap clone that literally squirts out huge lines of paper pulp, is designed to allow artists and designers to create more sustainable 3D objects. According to 3DPrint.com, Holthuis […]
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by Lucas Matney on (#42CJ6)
Vimeo has long regarded itself as the video-sharing site for those that want to get experimental. Well, the company has found a new medium to get creators pumped about, and I think it’s fair to say they’re near the forefront of this one: holograms. Vimeo has partnered with Brooklyn-based Looking Glass Factory to combine volumetric video […]
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by Romain Dillet on (#42CJ8)
Photomath just raised a $6 million funding round from Goodwater Capital, with Learn Capital also participating. Photomath has created a hugely successful mobile app for iOS and Android with 100 million downloads so far. Photomath first launched at TechCrunch Disrupt London back in 2014. The company was working on text recognition technology. Photomath was just […]
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by Kirsten Korosec on (#42CDZ)
Luminar, the buzzy LiDAR startup founded by Austin Russell, has added another high-profile executive to its ranks. This time, Luminar has hired Uber executive Brent Schwarz as its head of business development. Schwarz, who has been at Luminar for about two months now, comes from Uber by way of self-driving truck startup Otto, which acquired […]
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by Frederic Lardinois on (#42CE1)
Google Cloud is getting a managed cron service for running batch jobs. Cloud Scheduler, as the new service is called, provides all the functionality of the kind of standard command-line cron service you probably love to hate, but with the reliability and ease of use of running a managed service in the cloud. The targets […]
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by Josh Constine on (#42CE3)
GPS is too inaccurate to tell if a scooter is being driven or parked in off-limits areas. But as scooter startups compete for permits from city governments, they need a way to prove their riders play by the rules. That’s where Fantasmo’s new scooter positioning camera comes in. The augmented reality mapping startup had been […]
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by Brian Heater on (#42C9C)
I mean, I can think of a few reasons why not, but Xiaomi generally makes pretty reliable consumer electronics, and the company’s rock-bottom prices have disrupted other markets, like fitness trackers. Spotted by Engadget, the Chinese smartphone maker’s $30 AirDots are completely wireless earbuds, designed to compete with the likes of AirPods and Pixel Buds, […]
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by Kate Clark on (#42C9E)
One week after Lime tapped David Richter as its first chief business officer, it's announced another addition to its c-suite.
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by Frederic Lardinois on (#42C9G)
GraphQL, the Facebook -incubated data query language, is moving into its own open-source foundation. Like so many other similar open-source foundations, the aptly named GraphQL Foundation will be hosted by the Linux Foundation. Facebook announced GraphQL back in 2012 and open sourced it in 2015. Today, it’s being used by companies that range from Airbnb […]
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by Leslie Hitchcock on (#42C9J)
Just 48 short hours to go until we kick off Startup Battlefield Latin America 2018. This is the first time we’re bringing our premier startup pitch competition to the region — home to an impressive range of early-stage tech startups — and we can’t wait to share the day with you! Don’t miss your chance to […]
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by Ron Miller on (#42C9K)
Dropbox has had APIs for years that enable companies to tap into content stored in their repositories, and they have had partnerships with large vendors like Adobe, Google, Autodesk and Microsoft. Today, the company announced Dropbox Extensions to enhance the ability to build workflows and integrations with third-party partners. Quentin Clark, SVP of engineering, product […]
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by Natasha Lomas on (#42C9N)
The UK’s data watchdog has warned that Facebook must overhaul its privacy-hostile business model or risk burning user trust for good. Comments she made today have also raised questions over the legality of so-called lookalike audiences to target political ads at users of its platform. Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham was giving evidence to the Digital, […]
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by Brian Heater on (#42C4W)
I know, you’re cool. You don’t do anything the corporate overlords command. But maybe, just this once, make an exception. Today’s Google Doodle mixes up the ole’ rainbow color logo with a very simple message: Go Vote. I mean, you were going to do it anyway, right? “Most important midterm election during our lifetimes†or […]
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by Arman Tabatabai on (#42C4Y)
We are experimenting with new content forms at TechCrunch. This is a rough draft of something new. Provide your feedback directly to the authors: Danny at danny@techcrunch.com or Arman at Arman.Tabatabai@techcrunch.com if you like or hate something here. Today, we are focused on SoftBank . The Wall Street Journal and others reported that Masayoshi Son, […]
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by Romain Dillet on (#42C50)
French startup Lydia is launching an insurance product for your mobile phone. For €4.29 per month ($4.89), you can insure your phone from the Lydia app. Lydia is one of the most popular peer-to-peer payment apps in Europe with 1.5 million users. Think about it as a sort of Venmo or Square Cash for Europe. […]
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by Mike Butcher on (#42BZB)
Blockchain, one of the world’s biggest crypto wallets, plans to give away a vast amout of cryptocurrency in a bold move to scale the adoption of crypto to a more mainstream audience. Blockchain and the Stellar Development Foundation (stellar.org) will distribute $125m worth of Stellar lumens [XLM] to Blockchain’s users. Blockchain is claiming this is […]
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by Brian Heater on (#42BZD)
As we head into the holiday movie-going season, the theater ticket subscription wars (or what’s left of them) are set to heat up once again. Sinemia, which has recently emerged as the top contender to the eternally flailing MoviePass, is adding a new tier that focuses entirely on weekday movie-goers. In an interesting addition to […]
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by Jon Russell on (#42BZE)
Facebook picked election evening in the U.S. to release a major report on its role in Myanmar, where it is widely accused of failing to prevent its social network from being used to incite genocide. The situation is arguably more severe that alleged Russia-backed attempts to meddle with the 2016 U.S. election — people have died in […]
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by Ingrid Lunden on (#42BZG)
Every day, there are around 650,000 emergency service callouts via 911 for medical, police and fire assistance in the US; and by their nature these are some of the most urgent communications that we will ever make. But ironically in the age of smartphones, connected things and the internet, these 911 calls are also some […]
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by Catherine Shu on (#42BZJ)
Taranis, an ag-tech startup that uses aerial scouting and deep learning to identify potential crop issues, announced today that it has raised a $20 million Series B led by Viola Ventures. Existing investors Nutrien (one of the world’s largest fertilizer producers), Wilbur-Ellis venture capital arm Cavallo Ventures, and Sumitomo Corporation Europe also participated. Tel Aviv-based […]
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by Mike Butcher on (#42BVH)
London and LA-based Engineer.ai launched in an invite-only manner two and a half years ago, bootstrapped by its founders. Its platform combines AI with crowdsourced teams of designers and developers to build bespoke digital products at – they say – twice the speed and less than a third of the cost of traditional software development. […]
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by Jonathan Shieber on (#42BKZ)
Jake Bright Contributor Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City. He is co-author of The Next Africa. More posts by this contributor Tarform debuted new e-motorcycles but is there a U.S. market? Naspers announces $300 million initiative to support startups and tech in South Africa Africa’s VC landscape is becoming more […]
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by Romain Dillet on (#42BM0)
Fintech startups are growing rapidly in Europe. But it doesn’t mean that the fintech revolution is limited to Europe. That’s why I’m glad to announce that Lizzie Chapman from ZestMoney is coming to TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin to talk about her unique Indian startup. ZestMoney wants to make it easier to lend money to buy goods […]
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by Brian Heater on (#42BH1)
For three years, the MacBook Air was conspicuously absent. The ultraportable never left Apple’s site, of course, but we finished keynote after keynote wondering why Apple continued to neglect one of its most popular products, all while overhauling the rest of the MacBook line. At an event last month in Brooklyn, however, Apple finally acquiesced, […]
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