Devin Coldewey
Writer & Photographer
The Latest from Devin Coldewey
EarthOptics helps farmers look deep into the soil for big data insights
Farming sustainably and efficiently has gone from a big tractor problem to a big data problem over the last few decades, and startup EarthOptics believes the next frontier of precision agriculture lie
Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck will discuss taking a company interplanetary at Disrupt 2021
Building an orbital launch business from scratch is no simple matter, but what if that business is just a stepping stone to a vertically integrated, interplanetary space company? Rocket Lab founder Pe
Elodie Games obtains $32.5M round to make social co-op gaming better
During the darkest hours of the pandemic, millions upon millions of people turned to online gaming as a way to pass time in lockdown and connect with friends they couldn’t see in person. But a s
Xbox and Special Olympics hold first ‘Gaming for Inclusion’ esports event
Gaming in general is moving toward accessibility, but that’s not as much the case in esports, which like other sports are competitive and by nature somewhat exclusive. Xbox and the Special Olymp
1047 Games raises $100M on the runaway success of its debut title, Splitgate
When you’re hot, you’re hot. And 1047 Games is making the most of the heat generated by Splitgate, its first game and now a breakout success. After working on a shoestring for years, the t
The 4 things needed to reach Biden’s ambitious 2050 solar goal
A report on the future of solar energy from the Department of Energy paints a sunny picture, if you will, of the next three decades, at the end of which nearly half the country’s energy will be
Wright tests its 2-megawatt electric engines for passenger planes
Just like the automotive industry, aerospace has its sights set on going electric — but flying with battery-powered engines is a tougher proposition than rolling. Wright is among the startups lookin
Our favorite startups from YC’s Summer 21 Demo Day, Part 2
From beaming actors into the class room to plucking things out of space, the second day of Y Combinator’s S21 Demo Day was a fresh snapshot of what nearly 200 startup teams believe is the future of
Here are all the companies from Day 2 of Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 Demo Day
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s continuing coverage of Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 Demo Day! This is Day Two. If you haven’t caught up yet on what happened during the first day, you can read our rec
Sanas aims to convert one accent to another in real time for smoother customer service calls
In the customer service industry, your accent dictates many aspects of your job. It shouldn’t be the case that there’s a “better” or “worse” accent, but in today
Our favorite startups from YC’s Summer 21 Demo Day, Part 1
These startups made us do a double take, be it due to the size of the market opportunity, the ambition exhibited by the founding team or an idea that was just too clever to pass up.
Here are all the companies from Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 Demo Day, Part 1
Today Y Combinator kicked off the Demo Day cycle for its Summer 2021 cohort. The collection of early-stage startups on day one-of-two alone numbered in the hundreds, meaning that we had to assemble a
Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan will share their vision of our AI-powered future at Disrupt
We’ve had visionary investors onstage before, and we’ve had science fiction authors onstage — but never at the same time, let alone a pair who collaborated on a unique book of stories an
Luminate aims to make hair loss from chemotherapy a thing of the past
Hair loss resulting from chemotherapy is one of the most recognizable side effects in all of medicine, and for many is an unwanted public announcement of their condition and treatment. Luminate Medica
Heimdal pulls CO2 and cement-making materials out of seawater using renewable energy
One of the consequences of rising CO2 levels in our atmosphere is that levels also rise proportionately in the ocean, harming wildlife and changing ecosystems. Heimdal is a startup working to pull tha
Boox tablets are welcome options in the growing oversize e-reader niche
When it comes to e-paper devices, the Kindle is of course the first brand people think of, though I’ve done my best to spread the Kobo and reMarkable gospel as well. Chinese e-reader maker Boox
Avalo uses machine learning to accelerate the adaptation of crops to climate change
Climate change is affecting farming all over the world, and solutions are seldom simple. But if you could plant crops that resisted the heat, cold or drought instead of moving a thousand miles away, w
Zeit’s early warning wearable for sleep strokes could save hours and lives
Those at risk are always vigilant for the signs of a stroke in progress, but no one can be vigilant when they’re sleeping, meaning thousands of people suffer “wake-up strokes” that a
Rocket Lab’s Mars mission gets green light from NASA
Rocket Lab is one step closer to going to Mars with NASA’s approval of the company’s Photon spacecraft for an upcoming science mission. If all continues according to plan the two craft wil
OnlyFans bans explicit content
OnlyFans has announced that it will ban sexually explicit content starting in October. The platform was not built specifically for porn but that has grown to be its most popular and visible use case,