The Latest
How to land startup funding from real estate giant Brookfield, which manages $600 billion in assets
There are big investment firms, and then there are big investment firms. Brookfield Asset Management, the Toronto-based,122-year-old outfit whose current market cap is $63 billion and that oversees $6
Singapore-based Raena gets $9M Series A for its pivot to skincare and beauty-focused social commerce
Raena was founded in 2019 to create personal care brands with top social media influencers. After several launches, however, the Singapore-based startup noticed an interesting trend: customers were or
Tim Hortons marks two years in China with Tencent investment
Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee and doughnut giant, has raised a new round of funding for its Chinese venture. The investment is led by Sequoia China with participation from Tencent, its digital part
Bessemer Venture Partners closes on $3.3 billion across two funds
Another major VC firm has closed two major rounds, underscoring the long-term confidence investors continue to have for backing privately held companies in the tech sector. Early-stage VC firm Besseme
Newsela, the replacement for textbooks, raises $100M and becomes a unicorn
Newsela, a SaaS platform for K-12 instructional material backed by the likes of TCV, Kleiner Perkins, Reach Capital and Owl Ventures, announced today that it has raised $100 million in a Series D roun
Daily Crunch: Twitter announces ‘Super Follow’ subscriptions
Twitter reveals its move into paid subscriptions, Australia passes its media bargaining law and Coinbase files its S-1. This is your Daily Crunch for February 25, 2021. The big story: Twitter announce
AT&T is turning DirecTV into a standalone company
AT&T just announced an agreement with private equity firm TPG that will turn DirecTV into a standalone company, albeit one that’s still majority owned by the telecom giant. Specifically, AT&
Orca wants to give boating navigation its ‘iPhone moment’
Boating is a hobby steeped in history and tradition — and so is the industry and those that support it. With worldwide connectivity, electric boats, and other technological changes dragging the sect
DigitalOcean’s IPO filing shows a two-class cloud market
This morning DigitalOcean, a provider of cloud computing services to SMBs, filed to go public. The company intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “DOCN.
Crypto company Anchorage raises $80 million after getting federal banking charter
Anchorage has raised an $80 million Series C funding round led by GIC, also known as Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Andreessen Horowitz, Blockchain Capital, Lux and Indico are also participating
Twitter’s ‘Super Follow’ creator subscription takes shots at Substack and Patreon
It’s been an all-around more ambitious year for Twitter. Following activist shareholder action last year that aimed to oust CEO Jack Dorsey, the company has been making long overdue product move
Stoke Space aims to take reusable rockets to new heights with $9M seed
Many launch providers think reusability is the best way to lower the cost and delay involved in getting to space. SpaceX and Rocket Lab have shown reusable first stages, which take a payload to the ed
Robotics roundup
Robotics took a small step into the wild world of SPACs this week, as Berkshire Grey announced its plan to go public by Q2. Setting aside some of the bigger issues with using the reverse merger route
Sergey Brin’s airship aims to use world’s biggest mobile hydrogen fuel cell
Sergey Brin’s secretive airship company LTA Research and Exploration is planning to power a huge disaster relief airship with an equally record-breaking hydrogen fuel cell. A job listing from the co
Register for TC Sessions: Justice for a conversation on diversity, equity and inclusion in the startup world
Diversity, equity and inclusion. These essential elements remain woefully lacking across the tech industry despite recent strides. Join us on March 3 — just one week away — for TC Sessions: Justic
Docyt raises $1.5M for its ML-based accounting automation platform
Accounting isn’t a topic that most people can get excited about — probably not even most accountants. But if you’re running any kind of business, there’s just no way around it.
Blue Origin pushes New Glenn orbital rocket’s first flight to Q4 2022
Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin published an updated timeline for the first flight of New Glenn, the orbital rocket it’s building to complement its existing New Shepard suborbital sp
Learn about creating equity in tech with Rep. Barbara Lee at TechCrunch Sessions: Justice
Rep. Barbara Lee, who has represented the East Bay of California since 1998, is one of Congress’s staunchest proponents of diversity in tech. Representing Oakland, Emeryville and other cities nestle
Foresite Capital raises $969 million fund to invest in healthcare startups across all stages of growth
Health and life science specialist investment firm Foresite Capital has raised a new fund, its fifth to date, totaling $969 million in commitments from LPs. This is the firm’s largest fund to da
Former top Paytm exec is building his own financial services startup
The executive who built the financial services boutique for Paytm, India’s most valuable startup, is ready to do something similar all over again. Pravin Jadhav, the former chief executive of Pa