Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch.
She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was the captain of the women’s varsity tennis team. She has also contributed technology content for Oprah.com.
Disclosure: My husband, Suneel Gupta, was previously an employee of Groupon. We hold stock in Facebook. We also have investments in several mutual funds, some of which are technology-focused. And I hold a miniscule amount of shares in AOL, TechCrunch’s parent company.
My husband sits on the advisory boards of Adaptly and ToyTalk, and is a shareholder of both companies.
Design-focused retail site Fab has announced its new pivot, along with an acquisition and much more.
As we reported last week, Fab now has 12 million users and is continuing to grow at a fast clip after its initial pivot. Last year, the company saw $150 million in revenue, and revealed in February that sales were up by nearly 300% in January 2013 over January 2012. International is also a huge… → Read More
Accel Partners is making a big talent announcement today, with former Groupon COO and Yahoo exec Rob Solomon joining the firm as a venture partner.
Solomon last served as Accel-backed Groupon’s President and COO. As AllThingsD reported, Solomon left the deals company in 2011. → Read More
Menlo Ventures partner Shawn Carolan searched for over five years to find an investment tackling the problem of email overload. Carolan, who led investments in Apple-acquired Siri among others, personally faced his own productivity challenges, and after not being able to find a startup that addressed all the problems he felt needed to be solved, he decided to build it on his own. Handle, which is… → Read More
Square’s point-of-sale technology and iPad-powered register, Square Register is getting a big update today targeted at better serving restaurants. New features in the release include custom order modifiers and customizable kitchen tickets that allow restaurants to make taking orders and serving food more efficient. → Read More
Considering the gold rush around peer-to-peer currency Bitcoin, it’s not surprising that one of the hackers at the Disrupt NY hackathon created an application around the currency. Pay With Bits was to be a Square for Bitcoin. The startup essentially allows Bitcoins to be transfered between parties via their mobile phones. → Read More
We decided to feature nerd fashion at this year’s hackathon at Disrupt NY, and what better statement is there these days than eyeglasses? Obligatory Google Glass sighting aside, these hackers definitely had noteworthy eyewear. We’ve showcased some of our favorites below. → Read More
This week, NEA’s Pete Sonsini joined us in the studio for Ask A VC.
Sonsini joined NEA in 2005 and is the co-head of the firm’s enterprise software practice group, focusing on early-stage investments in the space. His investments include Xensource (acquired by Citrix Systems) and Teracent (acquired by Google). He is currently on the board of Engine Yard, Eucalyptus Systems and a number of… → Read More
Swifto, a startup that wants to be the Uber for dog walking, has raised $2.5 million from Benchmark Capital. We’re told that the funding round previously closed but the startup didn’t want to announce to the public for fear of attracting competitors. → Read More
Cloud storage company Box is making a big push into the healthcare sector today. Not only has Box received HIPAA compliance, but the company has announcing a new set of partners in the space, as well as an equity investment in drchrono, a startup that simplifies the professional lives of doctors by bringing electronic health records and much more to the iPad. → Read More
Soleil Moon Frye (a.k.a. the actress that played Punky Brewster in the hit TV show from the Eighties) and former IAC exec Kara Nortman have raised new funding for Moonfrye, a startup aimed at bringing creative, DIY and interactive experiences to families and parents. The startup is announcing $2.5 million in funding led by GRP Partners with participation from Greycroft, Daher Capital, and Google… → Read More
PresenceLearning, a startup that helps connect students with special needs with online speech and occupational therapy services has raised $8 million in funding led by New Markets Venture Partners with participation from Blue Heron Capital, Birchmere Ventures and returning investors, including Catamount Ventures, Calvert Funds, and Allen & Company. → Read More
In December, AngelList, a service that matches early stage startups with investors, debuted the ability to allow accredited investors to actually invest in startups on the platform with as little as $1,000. AngelList also partnered with SecondMarket to create an investment vehicle for these investments. Since December, the company is announcing that it has seen 1,100 investment commitments… → Read More
VoloMetrix, an enterprise analytics application that helps businesses streamline their communications and performance, has raised $3.3 million in a Series A financing round led by Shasta Ventures. The startup previously raised $1.6 million from Shasta Ventures last year.
VoloMetrix essentially analyzes various business applications to help managers understand what’s going on in a business. → Read More
After announcing a new branding and American Express in March, luxury vacation club Inspirato is debuting a new solution targeted specifically for businesses. The new product, aptly called ‘Inspirato for Business,’ is a SaaS that allows companies to book luxury homes for corporate meetings, incentives and reward travel. → Read More
We’re hearing from multiple sources that design-focused retail site Fab is raising a new round of funding at a $1 billion valuation. The company has previously raised $171 million in funding and we’re hearing it seeks to raise more than $100 million in this round. At Fab’s last round of financing, the company was worth around $600 million.
Twelve million users strong, Fab is continuing to grow… → Read More
In the surrounding hills of Silicon Valley stands the impressive Tah.Mah.Lah, the “Greenest house in America.” The home is also the brainchild and abode of Foundation Capital partner and longtime VC Paul Holland and his wife, Linda Yates. We were lucky enough to be invited into their home to hear about why and how they built the most sustainable home in the country.
So what makes the… → Read More
It’s not often that a guest post on TechCrunch turns into a startup. Earlier this year, Googler Aditya Mahesh published a guest post on TechCrunch, which addressed what skills business students should take the time to learn before they start working in tech. As he writes, he wishes he had learned certain skills before entering the workforce at Google, such as Excel, basic HTML/CSS, web analytics… → Read More
The weekend is here, and so is another episode of CrunchWeek, the TechCrunch TV show where a few of us writers sit down for some real talk about the stories that dominated the tech world over the past seven days.
This week, Ryan Lawler, Greg Kumparak and I talked about Facebook Home’s weird new commercial featuring a screaming goat, our experiences with Google Glass (which was released to… → Read More
Google Ventures’ general partner Karim Faris joined us in the studio this week for Ask A VC, where we put VCs in the hot seat.
Faris, who focuses on the enterprise and e-commerce investments for the firm, talked specifically about the opportunity in the enterprise security space, and why we are seeing a growing number of startups succeed in the market. We’re looking at a year of a number of… → Read More
There is a marquis name that has appeared on the S-1s of the most high-profile IPOs in the past two years—Goldman Sachs. And joining us at Disrupt NY is the man responsible for many of the investment bank’s bets on technology, Anthony Noto, the global co-head of Goldman Sachs’ global telecommunications, media and technology group. → Read More
Ionic Security, a TechCrunch Disrupt SF Battlefield company that offers an enterprise security software, has raised $9.4 million in Series A1 funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers with TechOperators, Ken Levine and Dr. Paul Judge also participating. Ted Schlein, general partner at KPCB, will be joining Ionic Security’s board. → Read More
After posting strong Q4 2012 results in January, eBay once again saw better than expected financial results in Q1 2013. Revenue was up 14% to $3.7 billion, compared to the same period of 2012. The company reported first quarter net income on a GAAP basis of $677 million, or $0.51 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $829 million, or $0.63 per diluted share. Analysts expected eBay to post… → Read More
Venture capitalist Bill Gurley has become an institution in Silicon Valley. He and his VC firm, Benchmark, have invested in some of the most disruptive technology companies in the past ten years, including Dropbox, Zillow, Uber, Twitter, and Snapchat. We’re excited to announce that Gurley will be joining us to share his insights at Disrupt NY in a couple of weeks. → Read More
Instart Logic, a company that provides a cloud-based service for web publishers to improves site performance over both mobile and WiFi networks, has raised $17 million in Series B funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures and Tenaya Capital. This brings the company’s total funding to $26 million. → Read More
Index Ventures Partner Mike Volpi is our esteemed guest in the TechCrunch TV studio this week for our Ask A VC show. As you may remember, you can submit questions for Volpi either in the comments or here, and we’ll ask them during the show.
Volpi, who focuses on investments in both Enterprise Software and Consumer Internet, joined Index in July of 2009. He is on the boards of Path, Sonos… → Read More
The RealReal, an online consignment store for luxury goods, has raised $14 million in Series B funding led by InterWest with Canaan Partners, e.ventures, Greycroft Partners, Novel TMT Ventures, Panarea Capital, Suzy Welch and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy participating. → Read More
Recurious, a new game development platform that aims to help kids rediscover their curiosity, is announcing $1.5 million in funding led by Greylock Partners (Reid Hoffman). → Read More
Booker (formerly GramercyOne), a cloud-based business management and marketing software that helps small to medium-sized businesses and multi-location enterprises unify operations and automate marketing has raised $27.5 million in Series B financing led by Bain Capital Ventures with Revolution Ventures, Grotech Ventures, TDF Ventures, and Vital Financial also participating. This brings the… → Read More
“You can’t go into Compton to rehabilitate gang members if you haven’t been a Crip.” — Ben Horowitz, co-founder of fast-rising venture outfit Andreessen Horowitz.
Twenty years ago, the typical VC looked like a traditional banker, complete with an MBA and a background in finance. But a Wall Street background is becoming increasingly rare on Sand Hill Rd. The most coveted VCs are people who have… → Read More
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