The Latest
Daily Crunch: Square acquires Tidal
Square buys a majority stake in Jay-Z’s Tidal, WhatsApp improves its desktop app and Hopin raises even more funding. This is your Daily Crunch for March 4, 2021. The big story: Square acquires T
Making sense of the $6.5B Okta-Auth0 deal
When Okta announced that it was acquiring Auth0 yesterday for $6.5 billion, the deal raised eyebrows. After all, it’s a substantial amount of money for one identity and access management (IAM) c
Data is the world’s most valuable (and vulnerable) resource
I believe generational startups will be created from 2020's reckoning with cybersecurity, just as they’ve been created coming out of market disruptions in the past.
Asynchronous video startup Weet just launched to cement bonds, and know-how, within companies
For founder Najette Fellache, coming to the Bay Area a few years ago from Nantes, France was a way to grow a company she’d founded and which was already was beginning to count major U.S. corpora
Flourish, a startup that aims to help banks engage and retain customers, raises $1.5M
It’s not uncommon these days to hear of U.S.-based investors backing Latin American startups. But it’s not every day that we hear of Latin American VCs investing in U.S.-based startups. Berkeley-b
Inside Workvivo’s plans to take on Microsoft in the employee experience space
Maintaining company culture when the majority of staff is working remotely is a challenge for every organization — big and small. This was an issue, even before COVID. But it’s become an even
Will moving, ‘spacial video’ start to eat into square-box Zoom calls? SpatialChat thinks so
With most of us locked into a square video box on platforms like Zoom, the desire to break away and perhaps wander around a virtual space is strong. These new ways of presenting people — as small ci
Coursera is planning to file to go public tomorrow
Coursera, an online education platform that has seen its business grow amid the coronavirus pandemic, is planning to file paperwork tomorrow for its initial public offering, sources familiar with the
Whatnot raises $20M for its livestreaming platform built for selling Pokémon cards and other collectibles
When I first wrote about Whatnot in February of last year, they were just getting started. Aiming to be the GOAT of collectible toys, they were focusing first on being the go-to trusted spot for buyin
Stream raises $38M as its chat and activity feed APIs power communications for 1B users
A lot of our communication these days with each other is digital, and today one of the companies enabling that — with APIs to build chat experiences into apps — is announcing a round of fu
Announcing the Early Stage Pitch-Off judges
TechCrunch Early Stage is coming around the corner fast, April 1 and 2. You still have a chance to pitch your startup on the famous TC stage to an amazing lineup of judges. On April 2, TechCrunch will
German insurtech platform Hepster raises $10M Series A led by Element Ventures
Hepster, an insurtech platform from Germany, has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Element Ventures. Also participating was Seventure Partners, MBMV and GPS Ventures, as well as pr
Google speeds up its release cycle for Chrome
Google today announced that its Chrome browser is moving to a faster release cycle by shipping a new milestone every four weeks instead of the current six-week cycle (with a bi-weekly security patch).
How to successfully dance the creator-brand tango
Without the understanding of engagement metrics, brands often end up partnering with creators at a life stage that could be incompatible with their goals.
TikTok launches ‘TikTok Q&A,’ a new feature for creators to engage with viewers’ questions
Earlier this year, TikTok was spotted testing a new Q&A feature that would allow creators to more directly respond to their audience’s questions using either text or video. Today, the compan
Microsoft Edge now starts up faster and gets vertical tabs
A year ago, Microsoft announced that its Edge browser would get vertical tabs and here we are: Microsoft today announced that vertical tabs in Edge are now generally available. In addition, the Edge t
With $19M A round, Halo Dx combines data streams to better diagnose cancers, dementia and more
Healthcare is one of the most complex industries out there, creating frustration on the consumer side but also the opportunity for huge improvements from, in a way, rather simple methods. Halo Diagnos
Bain’s Sarah Smith, former head of HR at Quora, will share the recruiting playbook at Early Stage
If you’re a startup that’s worried about building your team today for tomorrow’s successes you’re not going to want to miss our session with Bain Capital Ventures’ Sarah
Apple clarifies you can’t actually set a ‘default’ music service in iOS 14.5
Apple has clarified that the iOS 14.5 beta is not actually allowing users to select a new default music service, as has been reported. Following the beta’s release back in February, a number of
Fintech startup ClearGlass Analytics closes $3.6M for pension funds transparency platform
Fintech startup ClearGlass Analytics has closed a £2.6 million ($3.6 million) funding round for its platform, which aims to create greater transparency on fees in the long-term savings market, such a