The Latest
The TechCrunch Survey of Dutch tech hubs: Calling Delft, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Utrecht
TechCrunch is embarking on a major new project to survey European founders and investors in cities outside the larger European capitals. Over the next few weeks, we will ask entrepreneurs in these cit
Google to offer 40,000 developer scholarships in Africa; continues accelerator program
Google today announced the launch of 40,000 new developer scholarships in Africa. Google will offer the scholarships — created in partnership with tech talent companies Pluralsight and Andela &#
Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire and Vise’s Samir Vasavada will talk success in fintech on Extra Crunch Live
In the past few weeks, we’ve heard Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace and Hippo’s Assaf Wand discuss the biggest opportunities in prop tech, heard why Scale AI’s Alex Wang and Accel&
Instagram Live takes on Clubhouse with options to mute and turn off the video
In addition to Facebook’s Clubhouse competitor built within Messenger Rooms and its experiments with a Clubhouse-like Q&A platform on the web, the company is now leveraging yet another of it
Jim Belushi is chasing the magic in cannabis
I don’t think Jim Belushi was high while we talked on Zoom this week. Instead of a joint, he was puffing on a cigar, but he was still happy and smiling. “I have my brother’s face on
Click Studios asks customers to stop tweeting about its Passwordstate data breach
Australian security software house Click Studios has told customers not to post emails sent by the company about its data breach, which allowed malicious hackers to push a malicious update to its fla
IBM is acquiring cloud app and network management firm Turbonomic for up to $2B
IBM today made another acquisition to deepen its reach into providing enterprises with AI-based services to manage their networks and workloads. It announced that it is acquiring Turbonomic, a company
U.S. video game spending increased 30% in Q1
Even as signs of hope for life after the pandemic have begun to emerge here in the U.S., increases in video game spending continue. There’s no doubt that much of last year’s big numbers were drive
Fintech startups set VC records as the 2021 fundraising market continues to impress
The first three months of the year were the most valuable period for fintech investing, ever. Where did the fintech venture capital market push the most money in Q1, and why? Let's dig in.
Google Pay update adds grocery offers, transit expansions, and spending insights
Following November’s overhaul of Google Pay, which saw the service expanding into personal finance, the company today is rolling out a new set of features aimed at making Google Pay more a part
Firstbase raises $13M to make remote work suck less
The chance that I am ever willing to commute on a regular basis again in the future is zero. It’s too inefficient. And while workers and employers are somewhat split on where they stand on the q
MoviePass co-founder’s PreShow Interactive raises $3M to expand into gaming
PreShow Interactive is giving gamers a new way to earn in-game currency in exchange for watching ads — a concept that’s become familiar in mobile games but hasn’t really made much headwa
Head, tail, knees and trees (knees and trees)
Some fun ones this week, so let’s get all of those pesky business transactions out of the way first, shall we? I mean, not that tens of millions of dollars changing hands for future robotics technol
ReleaseHub nabs $2.7M seed to give developers on-demand environments
Every developer relies on environments like testing, staging and production as they build software, but building them can be a time-consuming operation. ReleaseHub, an early stage startup that was par
Smartphone shipments jumped 27% globally in Q1
More good news from a smartphone market currently rebounding from the far reaching impacts of the pandemic. New numbers from Canalys put global shipments for Q1 2021 at 27% above where they were the s
Blue Origin will start selling tickets for New Shepard space tourism flights on May 5
Blue Origin seems very close to flying paying customers on its New Shepard sub-orbital rocket, having conducted a dress rehearsal of astronaut loading and unloading on its latest mission. Today, it al
Erase All Kittens raises $1M Seed round for Mario-style game which teaches girls to code
Erase All Kittens (EAK) is an EdTech startup that created a ‘Mario-style’ web-based game designed for kids aged 8-12. However, the game has a twist: it places an emphasis on inspiring girls to cod
Lime launches 100 e-mopeds in New York City as Mayor de Blasio reveals plan to fully re-open by July 1
Weeks after Lime became one of the first companies to win the bid to operate e-scooters in New York City, the micromobility giant is bringing e-mopeds to the city’s streets. This will be the fir
The gig is up on 21st-century exploitation
Today’s app-based or “gig” economy is frequently dressed up in talk about “modern innovation” and the “21st century of work.” This facade is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Wasabi scores $112M Series C on $700M valuation to take on cloud storage hyperscalers
Taking on Amazon S3 in the cloud storage game would seem to be a fool-hearty proposition, but Wasabi has found a way to build storage cheaply and pass the savings onto customers. Today the Boston-base