October 2019
Jackson Square Ventures just closed its third fund with $193 million; here’s how it plans to invest it
Jackson Square Ventures (JSV), an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm that takes its name from the neighborhood in San Francisco where it’s headquartered, has closed its third fund with…
Announcing TechCrunch Robotics + AI on March 3, 2020 at UC Berkeley
Robotics is back! We are excited to announce that on March 3 next year TechCrunch will host its fourth annual TC Sessions: Robotics + AI at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall.…
Uber lays off another ~350 across Eats, self-driving and other departments
Uber has just laid off around 350 employees across a variety of teams within the organization, marking what the company says is its third and final phase of layoffs of…
The increase in activity in the pre-IPO secondary market means that founders, early employees, and investors are receiving liquidity much sooner in a company’s lifecycle than ever before…
Daily Crunch: Facebook has a weak stance on political ads
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you…
Shipping tech giant Pitney Bowes has confirmed a cyberattack on its systems. The company said in a statement that its systems were hit by a “malware attack that encrypted information”…
Disney+ tweets all the movies and shows coming to its streaming service
In an impressive bit of pre-launch marketing, Disney today announced by way of a massive Twitter thread basically every movie and TV show coming to its upcoming streaming service Disney+.…
Google has revealed its latest Titan security key — and it’s now compatible with USB-C devices. The latest Titan key arrives just weeks after its closest market rival Yubico —…
Featured Article
Fortnite’s black hole stunt is the kind of alpha energy we’re here for
As you are likely already aware, Epic Games is pulling a massive PR stunt that has shrunk the world’s most popular game down to a single black hole. As part of Fortnite’s Season 10 live event, called “The End,” the entire Battle Royale Island was sucked into a black hole, with every Fortnite social media…
India’s Reliance Jio unveils video call assistant to help businesses automate customer support
Before Google moves to bring its human-sounding robot calling service Duplex to help users automate their interactions with businesses to international markets, an Indian giant is deploying its own solution…
UK biotech startup Mogrify injects $16M to get novel cell therapies to market soon
Cambridge, UK-based biotech startup Mogrify, which is working on systematizing the development of novel cell therapies in areas such as regenerative medicine, has closed an initial $16 million Series A.…
Samsung opens Android 10 One UI beta ahead of final launch
After pushing back a planned early-October launch, Samsung has introduced the Android 10 beta of its One UI. The 2.0 version of the Android skin follows a little less than…
Reddit users can now share to Snapchat their favorite content from the site, thanks to a new integration that allows sharing of text, link and image-based posts on iOS from…
DoorDash is opening its first shared commissary kitchen in Redwood City, Calif., bringing new delivery and pickup options to customers in Peninsula towns, including Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.…
Pelion Venture Partners adds Jeff Kearl as a managing director, opens Southern California presence
Salt Lake City-based Pelion Venture Partners is opening an outpost in Southern California and has added Jeff Kearl as a managing director to head up operations in the region. Kearl…
Thoma Bravo makes $3.9 billion offer to acquire security firm Sophos
Sophos announced this morning that private equity firm Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy the British company for £3.1 billion ($3.9 billion USD). The price is based on $7.40 USD…
Opendoor has named Gautam Gupta chief financial officer and chief business officer.
State-run IRCTC delivers India’s best trading debut in 2 years
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a state-run firm that offers train ticketing and catering services in India, more than doubled on its first day of trading in what…
Foodvisor automatically tracks what you eat using deep learning
Meet Foodvisor, a startup that has built a mobile app that helps you log everything you eat in order to lose weight, follow a diet or get healthier. You can…
Friday deadline alert: Apply to TC Top Picks @ Disrupt Berlin 2019
We dedicate this countdown post to all the early-stage startup founders who hunger for an opportunity to break new ground. This is the final week you can apply to be…
Porsche has a new, cheaper version of the all-electric Taycan
Porsche introduced Monday the Taycan 4S, a third version of its all-electric vehicle. The 4S, which will offer a performance-battery-plus option, looks like the Taycan that Porsche unveiled in September.…
Featured Article
Facebook should ban campaign ads. End the lies.
Permitting falsehood in political advertising would work if we had a model democracy, but we don’t. Not only are candidates dishonest, but voters aren’t educated, and the media isn’t objective. And now, hyperlinks turn lies into donations and donations into louder lies. The checks don’t balance. What we face is a self-reinforcing disinformation dystopia. That’s…
SoftBank reportedly preps a package to take control of WeWork parent company
SoftBank Group, the multibillion-dollar Japanese technology conglomerate and investment firm, has put together a bid that would save WeWork parent company The We Company, just weeks before the co-working real…
Original Content podcast: For better or for worse, ‘The Politician’ is absolutely bonkers
We all agree: “The Politician” is a crazy show that tries to do everything at once. After all, why settle for a fast-talking satire about a high school election; a…
Fortnite just blew up its entire map and all that’s left is a black hole. Some are speculating that this is simply a teaser for a new Fortnite map, but…
Kik says it’s ‘here to stay,’ following shutdown reports
It’s been a rough run for Kik of late. The once-mighty messaging service announced in late September that it would be shutting down its app. CEO Ted Livingston noted in…
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold concierge service is live in the US for those who need it
Part of Samsung’s reboot of the Galaxy Fold was the announcement of a Premier Service. Along with a reinforced version of the phone and a lot more warning labels, the…
Week in Review: The ‘smart home’ is still so, so stupid
Hey everyone. Thank you for welcoming me into you inbox yet again. Last week was a short one, but I talked about the merger of a couple of the worst…
AI-based firefighter safety startup Prometeo wins IBM Call for Code Challenge
During an event at the United Nations Delegates Dining Room in New York City, IBM unveiled the winners of its annual Call for Code Global Challenge. The competition, which is…
Featured Article
Why each Libra member’s mutiny hurts Facebook
There’s a strategic cost to the defection of Visa, Stripe, eBay and more from the Facebook-led cryptocurrency Libra Association. They’re not just names dropping off a list. Each potentially made Libra more useful, ubiquitous or reputable. Now they could become obstacles to the token’s launch or growth. Fearing regulators’ inquiries not just into their Libra…
