The Latest
Consumer groups and child development experts petition Facebook to drop ‘Instagram for kids’ plan
A coalition of 35 consumer advocacy groups along with 64 experts in child development have co-signed a letter to Facebook asking the company to reconsider its plans to launch a version of Instagram fo
Coinbase’s direct listing alters the landscape for fintech and crypto startups
Is there less risk and more opportunities for VCs who are looking to back crypto and fintech startups?
Japanese VC Samurai Incubate closes $18.6M fund for African startups
Samurai Incubate, a Tokyo-based venture capital firm, announced today it has closed its “Samurai Africa 2nd General Partnership” fund, totalling 2.026 billion yen (~$18.6 million). Accordi
Hadrian is building the factories of the future for rocket ships and advanced manufacturing
If the eight person team behind the new startup Hadrian has their way, they’ll have transformed the manufacturing industry within the next decade. At least, that’s the goal for the new San
Tamika Butler, Remix’s Tiffany Chu and Revel’s Frank Reig to discuss how to balance equitability and profitability at TC Sessions Mobility
The race among mobility startups to become profitable by controlling market share has produced a string of bad results for cities and the people living in the them. City officials and agencies learned
Autonomous aviation startup Xwing hits $400M valuation after latest funding round
Xwing has scored another win two months after it completed its first gate-to-gate autonomous demonstration flight of a commercial cargo aircraft. The company said Thursday it has raised $40 million at
Tecton teams with founder of Feast open source machine learning feature store
Tecton, the company that pioneered the notion of the machine learning feature store, has teamed up with the founder of the open source feature store project called Feast. Today the company announced t
Greylock GP Mike Duboe to discuss how to scale your company at TechCrunch Early Stage in July
While the money flowing into Silicon Valley is reaching historic heights, the competition for getting customer attention and growing businesses is still a major challenge. At TechCrunch Early Stage: M
Casa Blanca raises $2.6M to build the ‘Bumble for real estate’
Casa Blanca, which aims to develop a “Bumble-like app” for finding a home, has raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Co-founder and CEO Hannah Bomze got her real estate license at the age of 18 and
Sales scheduling platform Chili Piper raises $33M Series B funding led by Tiger Global
Chili Piper, which has a sophisticated SaaS appointment scheduling platform for sales teams, has raised a $33 million B round led by Tiger Global. Existing investors Base10 Partners and Gradient Ventu
Saltbox raises $10.6M to help booming e-commerce stores store their goods
E-commerce is booming, but among the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs of online businesses are finding a place to store the items they are selling and dealing with the logistics of operating. Tyle
For startups choosing a platform, a decision looms: Build or buy?
Platforms exist to help startups get to users and customers faster and should be used as means to an end, but everyone must get their piece.
Substack announces a $1M initiative to fund local journalists
While the seemingly unending debate around Substack has focused on well-known writers with a national profile, the newsletter platform just announced that it will be supporting local (presumably non-f
Facebook to test new business discovery features in U.S. News Feed
Facebook announced this morning it will begin testing a new experience for discovering businesses in its News Feed in the U.S. When live, users to tap on topics they’re interested in underneath
Social audio startup Stationhead looks beyond music as it hits 100K monthly active users
When I’ve written about Stationhead in the past, I’ve focused on how the startup aims to bring the personality and interactivity of a live radio broadcast to streaming music. But CEO Ryan
Feels is a new dating app with profiles that look more personal
Meet Feels, a new French startup that wants to change how dating apps work. According to the company, scrolling through photos and reading descriptions tend to be a boring experience. Feels want to im
UserZoom raises $100M, acquires EnjoyHQ, to grow its platform to improve UX and other interactive design elements
Graphic designer Paul Rand once famously said that the public was more familiar with bad design than good design. While he was referring to most of the design in the world being “bad”, the
Goldman Sachs leads $23M in funding for Brazilian e-commerce startup Olist
Olist, a Brazilian e-commerce marketplace integrator, has raised $23 million in a Series D round extension led by new investor Goldman Sachs Asset Management that brings its total Series D financing t
C2i, a genomics SaaS product to detect traces of cancer, raises $100M Series B
If you or a loved one has ever undergone a tumor removal as part of cancer treatment, you’re likely familiar with the period of uncertainty and fear that follows. Will the cancer return, and if so,
Pizza, picking and swimming snakes
Some weeks are slim pickings when it comes to pulling together interesting robotics stories. This is, decidedly, not one of those weeks. In fact, it’s been a bit tough keeping up with the deluge of