The Latest from Harri Weber
Everything that stood out to us at the 2022 LA Auto Show
The 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show is in the rearview mirror, leaving us with one final task: sharing a roundup of the weird and wonderful, the awkward and eye-popping vehicle unveilings and new announcem
Fiat CEO teases subscriptions, car-sharing for all-electric 500e launch in US
Stellantis plans to “explore alternative business models,” such as subscriptions and car sharing, when it launches its all-electric Fiat 500e in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2024, Fiat
Lyft-backed plan to fund electric cars flops in California
California voters shot down a plan to make electric vehicles more affordable for some residents, dealing a blow to Lyft and the EV industry alike. Proposition 30 would have taxed residents making more
One of Canada’s biggest climate tech backers pulls back
A prolific investor in climate tech companies in Canada is back with a second fund for “low-carbon technologies” — only this time the firm plans to pump less money into the scene, over a
‘Simply decarbonizing’ isn’t enough: Third Nature targets $35M fund
With a glitzy vision of tackling some of “the biggest planetary challenges,” Third Nature is out to raise $35 million for its first VC fund, TechCrunch has learned. Third Nature has secure
Ocean-climate VC Propeller launches with $100M to fund ‘tomorrow’s narwhals’
Propeller, a new climate-tech investor with a focus on the ocean, tells TechCrunch that it has hooked $100 million for its first seed fund. Co-founded by former HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan, the venture
Advanced Ionics teases electrolysis innovation ‘to clean up’ the filthy hydrogen business
Advanced Ionics, a climate-tech startup that hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is striving to drive down the price of green hydrogen by slashing how much electricity is needed for electrolysis by as mu
Reverion eyes commercial launch to draw more energy out of biogas
Born inside the Technical University of Munich, the engineers behind Reverion say they’ve had their heads down for seven years developing a way to get more electricity out of biogas and existing
Marc Lore on ‘upsetting’ Diapers.com sale: ‘Investors got scared off by Amazon’s attack’
Way back in 2010, Marc Lore struck a more than half-a-billion-dollar deal to sell Quidsi — the company behind Diapers.com and Soap.com — to Amazon. The blow-out acquisition helped turn Amazon into
Royalty-backed Lightrock packs $834 million into its first climate fund
Lightrock, the London-based backer of neobank Niyo and “wood modification” company Kebony, has secured about $834 million (€860 million) for a new fund focused on climate tech. The priv
Federal gig worker proposal tanks Uber, Lyft and DoorDash stocks
The stock prices of Uber, Lyft and DoorDash slid on Tuesday after the Department of Labor announced proposed changes to how workers should be classified. The prospective guidance is intended to “
If it’s agtech, it’s climate change: How the crisis is shaping investors’ strategies
As startups look for ways to help agriculture adapt, agtech VCs share how the climate crisis informs their investment strategies.
7 investors discuss how agtech can solve agriculture’s biggest problems
Climate change and geopolitical instability are wreaking havoc on agriculture, so we surveyed seven investors to learn what they're looking at.
It’s official, Elon Musk is buying Twitter
It sure looks like Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover is actually happening. On Tuesday, representatives of the billionaire notified Twitter through a letter that he intends to move forwar
Drowning in trash: Google opens applications for circular-economy accelerator
Google is spinning up a new, online-only startup accelerator centered around the elusive circular economy. The effort is Google’s latest to help environmentally focused startups grow while pote
Bird board backs new scooter boss
Micromobility company Bird is boosting its president, Shane Torchiana, to CEO status in a “long-planned” shakeup that sees founding chief executive Travis VanderZanden further stripped of
Singapore’s Arbor Ventures notches $193M toward next early-stage fintech fund
Arbor Ventures, funder of fintech and shopping startups like installment loan company Tabby and Amazon brand factory Heyday, has locked down $193 million toward its largest fund to date, TechCrunch ha
PG&E says Tesla battery was source of power storage site fire
In the early hours on Monday, a Tesla Megapack battery caught fire at a key California power storage facility, the state’s largest utility said in a statement to TechCrunch. According to PG&
Amazon throws more weight behind e-fuels to see if they stick
Starting next year, Amazon plans to pump electrofuels into some of its diesel delivery vans in a deal with Infinium. Amazon didn’t say what it’s paying, nor for how much synthetic fuel, but the co
Deep tech VC First Star plots a $40M third fund
First Star, backer of deep tech startups like Plus One and Fyto, aims to raise as much as $40 million for its third venture fund, TechCrunch has learned. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, First Star