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Investors still love software more than life
Welcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s broadly based on the daily column that appears on Extra Crunch, but free, and made for your weekend reading.
The Product Manager asterisk
Product manager might be one of the most grey roles within a startup. However, as a company progresses and the team grows, there comes a time when a founder needs to carve out dedicated roles. Of thes
This Week in Apps: App Store bill passes AZ House, ‘deep nostalgia’ goes viral, Twitter Spaces arrives on Android
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with
VC Lindy Fishburne on the seemingly sudden democratization of science
Deep science investor Lindy Fishburne cofounded the seed- and early-stage venture firm Breakout Ventures several years ago, after cofounding Breakout Labs within the Thiel Foundation back in 2011, and
A first look at Coursera’s S-1 filing
After TechCrunch broke the news yesterday that Coursera was planning to file its S-1 today, the edtech company officially dropped the document Friday evening. Coursera was last valued at $2.4 billion
Snowflake latest enterprise company to feel Wall Street’s wrath after good quarter
Snowflake reported earnings this week, and the results look strong with revenue more than doubling year-over-year. However, while the company’s fourth quarter revenue rose 117% to $190.5 million
The owner of Anki’s assets plans to relaunch Cozmo and Vector this year
Good robots don’t die — they just have their assets sold off to the highest bidder. Digital Dream Labs was there to sweep up IP in the wake of Anki’s premature implosion, back in 2019. The P
Deep Science: AI adventures in arts and letters
There's more AI news out there than anyone can possibly keep up with, but you can stay tolerably up to date on the most interesting developments with this column.
Tesla has closed its forums to launch a social platform and fans are not happy
Tesla plans to shut down the forums section on its website as it launches a new social platform called the Tesla Engagement Platform, a move that’s raised the ire of a community of its most arde
California bill would require all self-driving vehicles to be zero emission by 2025
California might be the first state to give self-driving cars a deadline to electrify. In mid-February, a bill was quietly introduced into the California State Legislature that would require all auton
How and when to hire your first product manager
In the world of early-stage startups, job titles are often a formality. In reality, each employee may handle a dozen responsibilities outside their job description. The choose-your-own-adventure type
UK’s MHRA says it has ‘concerns’ about Babylon Health — and flags legal gap around triage chatbots
The U.K.’s medical device regulator has admitted it has concerns about VC-backed AI chatbot maker Babylon Health. It made the admission in a letter sent to a clinician who’s been raising t
Dan Siroker’s new startup Scribe automates Zoom note-taking
Optimizely co-founder Dan Siroker said the idea for his new startup Scribe goes back to a couple of personal experiences — and although Scribe’s first product is focused on Zoom, those experie
How Rani Therapeutics’ robotic pill could change subcutaneous injection treatment
A new auto-injecting pill might soon become a replacement for subcutaneous injection treatments. The idea for this so-called robotic pill came out of a research project around eight years ago from InC
Address cybersecurity challenges before rolling out robotic process automation
The security aspect of RPA isn’t implemented in the early stages of development — leaving organizations vulnerable to cybercriminals.
Eco raises $26M in a16z-led round to scale its digital cryptocurrency platform
Eco, which has built out a digital global cryptocurrency platform, announced Friday that it has raised $26 million in a funding round led by a16z Crypto. Founded in 2018, the SF-based startup’s p
Early-stage investor Mayfield shows how to scale up your biotech startup at TC Early Stage in April
Founders in the earliest stages of startup life face a hefty learning curve. Just some of the core competencies you need to lock down include how to raise VC funding, recruiting the right people, find
Albertsons taps Tortoise for remote-controlled grocery delivery robots
Albertsons Companies, the grocery giant that owns Safeway and Jewel-Osco, has launched a pilot program that will test grocery delivery using remote-controlled delivery robots developed by Silicon Vall