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Joby Aviation secures certificate to operate commercial air taxis
Joby Aviation — the publicly-traded electric air vehicle company with a current market cap of $3.1 billion — has received the necessary certification from the Federal Aviation Administrati
Astroforge raises $13M seed round for asteroid mining ambitions
Although we’ve long understood that asteroids are not simply the rubble of the universe, but potentially profitable stores of precious minerals, humanity has never been able to unlock this value. Y
As the head of Helios’ new VC arm, Wale Ayeni sees value in frontier markets
Wale Ayeni, one of Africa’s well-known investors, has a new role as the head of Helios Digital Ventures, the venture capital strategy of private equity firm Helios Investment Partners, TechCrunch ha
With the pandemic leaving many searching, group support app Circles raises new round
Between one-to-one therapy and free online forums, people search for a range of solutions to mental health therapy online. Especially since the pandemic increased anxiety and depression rose by 25% gl
Former Binance executives launch $100M crypto fund
A group of former executives from Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges globally, has created a $100 million venture fund, the team told TechCrunch on Thursday. Old Fashion Research (OF
Revenue-based financing platform Bloom secures $377M Series A led by Credo and Fortress
While the likes of Pipe are reaching multi-billion valuations, European revenue-based financing is experiencing as much of a boom as it is in the US. UK-based startup platform Bloom has now secured a
Indigov lands more funding to connect besieged lawmakers and their oft-frustrated constituents
Republican lawmakers are facing growing anger over the deadliest mass shooting at an American school in nearly a decade yesterday, with many of their constituents expressing frustration over their rep
Unacademy tells employees to focus on profitability at all costs to ‘survive the winter’
Unacademy, one of the high-profile Indian startups, has urged its employees to learn how to work under constraint and focus on reaching profitability as the SoftBank and Tiger Global-backed online lea
Starliner returns to Earth after a successful first trip to ISS
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has successfully touched down at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico after ferrying a load of supplies to the International Space Station — its first succ
Twitter agrees to pay $150M for breaking privacy promises
Twitter has agreed to pay $150 million as part of a settlement with regulators over allegations that the social media company misrepresented the “security and privacy” of user data over se
Twitter stock jumps on news that Elon Musk still wants to buy it … maybe
Shares of Twitter are sharply higher in after-hours trading in the wake of a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing detailing changes to how Elon Musk is approaching buying the compa
Daily Crunch: a16z literally doubles down, announces $4.5B Crypto Fund IV
Hello friends and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Dear Sophie: Does International Entrepreneur Parole have any advantages over an O-1 visa?
Are there any advantages to International Entrepreneur Parole over an O-1 visa? IEP seems to require $250k in institutional backing — so getting an O-1A doesn’t seem like a huge reach from there.
Not trademarking can be an Excruciatingly Expensive® and Wildly Annoying® mistake
I was recently talking to a startup that was airing its frustration over Apple’s Tracker Detect app that enables Android users to find nearby, unknown AirTags. The problem? The company TrackerDe
Announcing the TechCrunch+ Stage Agenda at Disrupt 2022
2022 is the year that we are returning to in-person events here at TechCrunch, which means that after a few years running remotely, our flagship Disrupt event is back. But while we are shaking up the
Fintech Bolt just laid off over 100 employees across engineering, sales and marketing
One-click checkout startup Bolt has laid off at least 100 employees and counting across go-to-market, sales and recruiting roles, sources say. CEO Maju Kuruvilla confirmed the workforce reduction in a
Lucid recalls all of its 2022 Air EVs due to wiring issues
Despite already struggling to meet production targets, luxury EV maker Lucid has now issued a recall for the Air due to potential issues stemming from the car's wiring harness.
NASA awards $2 million to moonshot solar sail project
The concept of solar sails is not particularly new — just check out the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2, French startup Gama or NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System. But one grou
Box positive momentum continues with revenue up 18% and improved guidance
Hey, it wasn’t that long ago that Box was lost in single-digit growth doldrums being dogged by activist investors. But today, the company announced its earnings, and revenue was up 18% over the prio
Jeep parent company Stellantis will reportedly plead guilty to emissions fraud
The world’s fifth-largest automaker will reportedly soon plead guilty to end a multi-year investigation into its efforts to conceal the amount of pollution created by its diesel engines.