Crunch Hype

On the heels of Lime notifying the public about needing to recall some of its scooters due to fire concerns, Lime is putting $3 million toward a new safety initiative called “Respect the Ride.” The gist of the campaign is to facilitate more responsible riding, while also ensuring Lime provides its riders with a reliable […]

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son says the company won’t walk away from its existing commitment with the Saudi Arabian royal family — the largest LP in its $100 billion Vision Fund — but the firm will wait on the outcome of an investigation into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi before deciding on whether to continue the […]

Credit Karma, the US startup with 85 million users that offers credit reports and a platform to browse and buy other financial services, has made an acquisition to help it kick-start its first overseas expansion beyond the US and Canada: it has acquired Noddle, a UK-based credit reporting service with 4 million users, from TransUnion. […]

Korean AI startup Skelter Labs is expanding to Southeast Asia after it pulled in undisclosed funding from Singapore-based VC firm Golden Gate Ventures. Skelter Labs was founded in 2015 by founded by Ted Cho, the former engineering site director at Google Korea. It started out developing apps and services that made use of AI but then […]

David Nordfors Contributor Share on Twitter David Nordfors is the co-chair and co-founder of the i4j Innovation for Jobs Summit together with Vint Cerf. More posts by this contributor The future of business is good jobs as a service The future of work is 5 billion customers looking for a good job Vint Cerf Contributor […]

All-female founding teams have raised 2.2% of U.S. VC so far this year; mixed-gender teams have raised about 13%.

The book's characters have Instagram accounts, too.

Throughout October, it seemed that among others in tech, SoftBank might be forced to rethink its cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, or MBS, who has charmed many captains of industry since rising to power, but whose dark side came into abrupt view over the murder and gruesome disposal of journalist […]

Human action requires motivation, but what exactly are those motivations? Donating money to a charity might be motivated by altruism, and yet, only 1% of donations are anonymous. Donors don’t just want to be altruistic, they also want credit for that altruism plus badges to signal to others about their altruistic ways. Worse, we aren’t […]

Last night, super entrepreneur and Twitter addict Elon Musk posted some mesmerizing footage of the tunnel that his nearly two-year-old infrastructure company, Boring Company, is creating in Los Angeles right now, the first of four planned projects that Musk promises will reduce congestion in car-choked city cities. Musk also tweeted — not for the first time […]

Last week more than 20,000 Google employees walked out of their workplace to protest, and demand major changes in, how the company handles harassment and discrimination. Mass employee organization, demands made of management — doesn’t that all vaguely remind you of some kind of old-fashioned twentieth-century concept? What was it called again? The name’s on […]

Here’s a match made in…I don’t know, somewhere on the blockchain, I guess. Pioneering space startup Planetary Resources was acquired by, of all things, a blockchain firm this week. ConsenSys, a Brooklyn based firm that specializes in all things Ethereum issued an announcement noting that it has snagged the asteroid mining company. It’s not entirely […]

Facebook is again looking to whip Oculus into shape for its 10-year journey towards making virtual reality mainstream. According to two sources, Facebook reorganized its AR and VR team this week from a divisional structure focused around products to a functional structure focused around technology areas of expertise. While no one was laid off, the […]

An unexpected declaration by whistleblower Edward Snowden filed in court this week adds a new twist in a long-running lawsuit against the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs. The case, filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation a decade ago, seeks to challenge the government’s alleged illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of Americans, who are largely covered under […]

These sorts of major decision no doubt take some time. And, of course, Amazon is clearly milking the decision making process for all it’s worth as cities across the States roll out the red carpet. According to a new report from The Washington Post, however, the big news surrounding where the company opens its second […]

The first 5G phones are set to start arriving next year. Motorola plans to bring next-gen connectivity via a Mod for the Z3, and companies like LG and OnePlus have promised to deliver the tech baked into handsets at some point in 2019. iPhone users, on the other hand, may have to wait a bit […]

Dave Davis Contributor Dave Davis joined Copyright Clearance Center in 1994 and currently serves as a research analyst. He previously held directorships in both public libraries and corporate libraries and earned joint master’s degrees in Library and Information Sciences and Medieval European History from Catholic University of America. More posts by this contributor How AI […]

Amazon Day looks like one of those options you’ll wonder how you ever managed to live without. The new feature, which is currently being tested for select Prime users, offers up a choice of deliver day during the check out process. In addition to the standard options (one and two day, et al), most two-day […]

General Motors said it plans to bring two new electric bikes to market next year — one folding and one compact — as the automaker makes a broader push into electrification and other ideas that try to move beyond its traditional business model of producing and selling gas-power vehicles. The automaker didn’t have a lot […]

Twitter has deleted thousands of automated accounts posting messages that tried to discourage and dissuade voters from casting their ballot in the upcoming election next week. Some 10,000 accounts were removed across late September and early October after they were first flagged by staff at the Democratic Party, the company has confirmed. “We removed a […]

You probably don’t know how much it should cost to get your home’s windows washed, yard landscaped or countertops replaced. But Setter does. The startup pairs you with a home improvement concierge familiar with all the vendors, prices and common screwups that plague these jobs. Setter finds the best contractors across handiwork, plumbing, electrical, carpentry […]

Tesla won’t be joining the scooter wars. But electric bikes? Yeah, maybe. During a lengthy podcast with Recode’s Kara Swisher, Tesla CEO Elon Musk talked about everything from AI and his fights on Twitter with journalists to Saudi Arabia and Mars. Even scooters. Of course, scooters. But don’t get your hopes up for a Tesla […]

Beijing-based ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of tween and teen-focused social app Musical.ly is paying off. The company this year merged Musical.ly with its own short video app TikTok as a means of entering the U.S. market. Today, the result of that merger is sitting at the top of the U.S. App Store, ahead of Facebook. More […]

The VC fund backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and other tech luminaries is offering early-stage startups access to its killer network.

Twitter has brought on its first-ever global director of culture and community, God-is Rivera. As global director of culture and community, Rivera will report to Global Head of Culture, Engagement and Experiential Nola Weinstein. Rivera previously led internal diversity and inclusion efforts at VMLY&R, a digital and creative agency. “As a black woman who has worked in […]

As an MBA student at the University of Chicago’s Booth school, Kathleen Wilson was struck with an idea while looking at businesses that provided daily housekeeping in one of her classes. Given the density and physical structure of many apartment buildings, she wondered why a housekeeper couldn’t similarly push a cart down the hall and […]

Tesla said Friday in a regulatory filing that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice are investigating projections made last year about Model 3 production rates. The SEC has issued subpoenas for information related to Model 3 production estimates. The DOJ, which is running a separate investigation over Model 3 production targets, […]

Some were surprised to see Snap release a second version of its “face-camera” Spectacles gadget, since the original version failed to convert hype into sales. But those lackluster sales — which dropped to as low as 42,000 per quarter — didn’t only fail to dissuade the U.S. social firm from making more specs, because now […]

Following yesterday’s series of announcements about Flickr’s plans to revamp its site under its new owners, SmugMug, one major concern has been raised: its decision to now limit free accounts to 1,000 photos may impact the number of photos available through Creative Commons. Creative Commons is a U.S. nonprofit that helps make creative works — […]

You may recall my tale of woe from last year when I recounted how I was locked out of my Google account for a month. It was a tough time, made all the more frustrating because there wasn’t any customer support to contact. That is changing for Google One users though, and it’s about time. […]

Amazon, one of the world’s largest companies, has transformed the face of commerce in part because it has managed at once to be “The Everything Store” but still with a route into its sea of products that, for most users, surfaces what they might most want to see (and importantly buy or consume). That kind […]

Bumble and Match’s ongoing legal battles are continuing today. According to a statement released by Match Group this morning, Bumble is dropping its $400 million lawsuit against Match, which had claimed Match fraudulently obtained trade secrets during acquisition talks. However, Bumble is preparing to refile its suit at the state level, we’re hearing. If you […]

Vince Staples’ latest record, FM!, drops today on Def Jam records — that’s some very good news from one of the best and brightest rappers in the game today. Staples is celebrating the release by giving us a glimpse into his home of North Long Beach, California (Norfy, as it were) the same way we all […]

The ultimate chapter of the political drama House of Cards is officially out. The Netflix original series is in its sixth and final season, and without a new lead. Following sexual misconduct allegations against Kevin Spacey last year, Netflix halted production on Season 6 to review the matter. Shortly thereafter, Spacey was fired from the […]

Poor Bixby. We admittedly haven’t had a lot of nice things to say about Samsung’s smart assistant since launch — but that’s not for lack of potential. The company has promised great things since day one, but has been slow to deliver on, well, just about everything. Third-party integration was supposed to be one of […]

Put away the Jolt, Blizzard is limiting the time gamers will be able to play the World of Warcraft: Classic demo. Basically, after playing for an hour, players will be logged off and will have to wait 60 minutes before resuming for another hour. The goal is to ensure a mass of players do not […]

Picture it: you have the perfect song for Kelly Clarkson. It’s a mix of genres and styles best described as “Since U Been Gone” meets “911 Is A Joke.” How do you get it in front of Kelly so she can add it to her next album (imagine her singing “My heart is on fire […]

Apple is preparing to launch a new way for its customers to track election results. At 8 PM ET on November 6, the company will swap out the existing Midterm Elections section in the Apple News app and replace it with a new Election Night section instead. This section will also replace Apple News’ Digest […]

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week, we missed Alex Wilhelm, who was sunning himself somewhere (vitamin D deficit), but we had a rollicking time nonetheless with TC’s very excellent VC reporter Kate Clark, along with our always dependable co-host Danny Crichton and, in a […]

The Zortrax Apoller, a Smart Vapor Smoothing device that uses solvents to smooth the surface of 3D-printed objects. The resulting products look like they are injection molded and all of the little lines associated with FDM printing will disappear. The system uses a microwave-like chamber that can hold multiple parts at once. The chamber atomizes […]

Alibaba’s long stretch of growth finally broke after the Chinese e-commerce giant reported somewhat underwhelming financial results for its Q2 2019 quarter. (A little confusing but Alibaba’s quarters are actually a little ahead of the actual date and time.) The company fell short of market expectation as it rang up RMB 85.15 billion ($12.4 billion) […]

For such a tiny device, Palm’s got a heavy lift. On the face of it, the self-titled first product from the new startup with a familiar name isn’t too radical a departure from the smartphone set. In fact, the device resembles nothing more than a diminutive iPhone, right down to the camera placement on the […]

It won’t be long now before thousands of startup fans — the TechCrunch crew included — head to Germany for Disrupt Berlin 2018, which takes place on 29-30 November. We’re so excited we need to let off a bit of steam, so we’re thrilled to announce the full line up of companies that will exhibit in Startup […]

Hong Kong may become the next country to regulate crypto exchanges after its securities regulator announced that it is exploring ways to apply quality control and protect consumers from the volatility and uncertainties of digital currencies. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said it is “setting out a conceptual framework” that could be used to regulate crypto […]

South Korean peer-to-peer lending startup PeopleFund is in the money itself after it raised an $11 million Series B funding round that was led by Kakao Pay, the fintech division of Kakao, Korea’s top messaging firm. The deal comes as the country’s P2P marketplace continues to grow with a competitive field of players. A newer arrival […]

“I can’t wait to pay up to €500 more than necessary to go to Disrupt Berlin 2018” — said no one EVER. Heed our call: the early-bird ticket price ends today, 2 November. Miss that deadline, and you’ll be one sad startupper. While Europe’s top startup conference delivers amazing ROI at full price, why pay more? […]

Edo, an ad analytics startup founded by Daniel Nadler and actor Edward Norton, announced today that it has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Nadler and Norton have both had startup success before — Nadler co-founded and led Kensho, which S&P Global acquired for $550 million. Norton invested in Kensho and co-founded CrowdRise, which […]

The continuing die-off of the world's coral reefs is a depressing reminder of the reality of climate change, but it's also something we can actively push back on. Conservationists have a new tool to do so with LarvalBot, an underwater robot platform that may greatly accelerate efforts to re-seed old corals with healthy new polyps.

Apple shared its latest quarterly earnings report today, but during its call with investors the company’s CFO Luca Maestri also delivered an unexpected announcement: it won’t be sharing unit sales of its iPhone, iPad or Mac anymore. This gives analysts (and the public) one less item to determine the health of the company, but according […]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised in a series of tweets that an advanced version of its auto-parking technology Summon, which will let owners remotely control their car through their phones, will be ready in six weeks. Or even follow you like a pet. The Summon parking feature is available in Tesla vehicles with the advanced driver […]