October 2019
Bird raises $275 million Series D round at a $2.5 billion valuation
Bird has closed a $275 million Series D round led by CDPQ and Sequoia Capital, Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden announced at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco today. The round values Bird…
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Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside
Sebastian Thrun is waving a device in his hand with an excited, almost gleeful expression on his face as he trots from a makeshift aircraft hangar toward the secret project that Kitty Hawk Corp. has been working on for nearly two years. The serial entrepreneur and co-founder of X, the Alphabet moonshot factory, isn’t trying…
Here’s how much the all-electric Polestar 2 will cost in its launch markets
Volvo group’s Polestar electric performance car sub-brand has announced pricing for the Polestar 2, the company’s second production car, a four-door mid-sized fastback that will begin production in 2020 and…
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First mover advantage: Does it matter in startup fundraising?
We know the world of startup funding is competitive. I’ve analyzed how founders can optimize their pitch decks and the best times of year for fundraising to get the most attention from investors.
The market was receptive to meat replacement products, as the Beyond Meat public offering recently indicated. But rival meat alternative maker Impossible Foods doesn’t see an IPO on its near-term…
Sony’s new A9 II mirrorless full-frame camera has the speed sports photographers need
Sony today announced a successor to its popular A9 mirrorless interchangeable lens full-frame camera. The A9 II carries over some of the specs and stats of its predecessor, like the…
IronSource, a mobile adtech startup, confirms $400M+ raise at $1B+ valuation
On the same day that two Israeli-founded adtech startups, Taboola and Outbrain, announced a merger to create a $2 billion company, another Israel-founded company focusing on advertising and marketing for…
Europe’s top court sets new line on policing illegal speech online
Europe’s top court has set a new line for the policing of illegal speech online. The ruling has implications for how speech is regulated on online platforms — and is…
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Instagram launches Threads, a Close Friends chat app with auto-status
What if Instagram could automatically tell your Close Friends you’re 🏠 (home), 🤓 (working), 🚗 (on the move) or 🛋️ (chilling and might want to hang out)? That’s the idea behind Instagram’s new companion app Threads, a Close Friends-only messaging experience that opens to the camera with shortcuts for instantly sending specific people photos and…
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon arrive at Cape Canaveral ahead of key test for crew flight
SpaceX’s facility at Cape Canaveral just received a crucial new delivery: a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule that it will be using for an upcoming in-flight abort test.…
Harness launches Continuous Insights to measure software team performance
Jyoti Bansal, CEO and co-founder at Harness, has always been frustrated by the lack of tools to measure software development team performance. Harness is a tool that provides Continuous Delivery…
Lyft is rolling out rewards for its drivers to give them access to things like cash bonuses, ride credits and free or discounted tax services. Initially, the rewards program will…
Stock trading app Robinhood revamps its newsfeed with The Wall Street Journal and ad-free videos
Robinhood may be best known for its free stock trading, but today it’s rolling out a new version of the newsfeed, adding content from Reuters, Barron’s and market coverage from…
Publisher adtech startups Taboola and Outbrain merge in $850M deal to take on Google and Facebook
Some consolidation is afoot in the world of advertising. Taboola and Outbrain, rivals that both operate advertising-based content recommendation engines for publishers — which typically appear in the form of…
India’s Fyle bags $4.5M to expand its expense management platform in the US, other international markets
Fyle, a Bangalore-headquartered startup that operates an expense management platform, has extended its previous financing round to add $4.5 million of new investment as it looks to court more clients…
Uber launches a shift-work finder app, Uber Works, starting in Chicago
What do you do when your current business model is so staggeringly loss-making you’re having to warn investors it may never turn a profit, at the same time as it’s…
Redesigned Google Shopping goes live, with price tracking, Google Lens for outfits and more
Google Shopping is getting a redesign with several new features, including options to shop local stores, track prices and even find style inspiration through Google Lens. Already, Google Lens’ smart…
Beat the deadline: Apply to TC Top Picks @ Disrupt Berlin 2019
Here’s a solid shout-out to early-stage startup founders who love the word “free.” You have just two weeks left to apply to be a TC Top Pick and exhibit in Startup…
Notion Capital launches new $150M fund aimed at European B2B tech
Notion Capital today announced a new $150 million fund in a bid to bolster its claim to being the go-to investor for European B2B tech. Launched 10 years ago after…
In a new filing, the venture firm Mithril Capital says it has been under assault by its former general counsel
It’s been a strange year for Mithril Capital Management, the venture firm co-founded in 2012 by Peter Thiel and his longtime associate Ajay Royan. Though Mithril enjoyed its biggest exit…
Africa Roundup: CcHub’s iHub acquisition, Andela’s $50M run rate and layoffs, Transsion’s IPO
Two of Africa’s powerhouse tech incubators joined forces in September. Nigerian innovation center and seed-fund CcHub acquired Nairobi based iHub. The purchase amount was undisclosed, but CcHub will finance the deal…
Natalist founder Halle Tecco wants to get you pregnant
Halle Tecco is no stranger to conception struggles. The Rock Health founder and former CEO has been public about her journey on social media, including two rounds of IVF, eventually…
MyMilk Labs launches Mylee, a small sensor that analyzes breast milk at home
Many expectant mothers are told that breastfeeding will come naturally, but it is often a fraught and confusing experience, especially during the first few weeks after birth. Parents often worry…
Molecule.one uses machine learning to make synthesizing new drugs a snap
Say you’re a pharmaceutical company. You’ve figured out that a novel molecule could be effective in treating an illness — but that molecule only exists in a simulation. How do…
Leo Aerospace provides bespoke rocket launches — from a hot air balloon
The demand for orbital launches is increasing steadily, and the industry is nowhere near keeping up. Leo Aerospace thinks they can help with a launch technique that’s more efficient and…
OzoneAI wants companies to pay you for your data, upending the ad model
Imagine this. Instead of giving away your personal data so web giants can show you ads, you cut out the middle person and allow advertisers to pay you directly for…
OmniVis could save lives by detecting cholera-infected water in minutes rather than days
Clean drinking water is one of the most urgent needs in developing countries and disaster-stricken areas, but safety tests can take days — during which tainted water can infect thousands.…
Samsung this morning confirmed with Reuters that it has shuttered handset production in China. The move comes as the company continues to struggle in the world’s No. 1 smartphone market.…
Chris Dixon from a16z announces free crypto startup school at TechCrunch Disrupt
Chris Dixon, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, announced a new crypto-related startup school at TechCrunch Disrupt today in San Francisco. Dixon says that the firm is not looking for…
Will Smith just dropped $10K on a startup that pitched him onstage at Disrupt
Actor and Hollywood media mogul Will Smith surprised the TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2019 audience this afternoon by announcing he would invest $10K in a startup that pitched to him onstage…
