Ingrid Lunden
Writer
The Latest from Ingrid Lunden
Spotify reports 29% rise in MAUs to 207M but misses on Q4 revenues of $1.702B
Spotify continues to see growing uptake for its all-you-can-eat streaming music (and increasingly podcast) services, even as it fell short of analyst expectations on sales in its earnings. In Q4 resul
vArmour, a security startup focused on multi-cloud deployments, raises $44M
As more organizations move to cloud-based IT architectures, a startup that’s helping them secure that data in an efficient way has raised some capital. vArmour, which provides a platform to help
Retail technology platform Relex raises $200M from TCV
Amazon’s formidable presence in the world of retail stems partly from the fact that it’s just not a commerce giant, it’s also a tech company — building solutions and platforms
Hatch, Rovio’s ‘Netflix for gaming,’ picks up NTT Docomo as a strategic investor
Rovio’s efforts to diversify beyond its Angry Birds franchise is getting a little investment boost today. The company announced that Japan’s NTT Docomo is taking a stake in Hatch, a Rovio
Amazon invests in Hatch Baby, launches Baby Skill Activity API as it eyes up the next generation of parenting products
Amazon today is one of the biggest retailers of gear for babies and other parenting aides, and today the company is taking another two steps into that business and how it might develop in the future.
Microsoft acquires DataSense management from BrightBytes to step up its education play in Azure
One of Microsoft’s oldest and biggest verticals for its Azure cloud business has been education, and today it announced an acquisition that it hopes will help it deepen its reach: it has acquire
2nd Address picks up $10M from GV, Foundation to take on Airbnb in business travel
As Airbnb adds more features to court business users, a smaller startup has raised some funding to challenge it in the $18 billion business travel market. 2nd Address, an Airbnb-style platform for bus
Twilio closes acquisition of email specialist SendGrid in all-stock deal now worth $3B
Twilio’s bid to become the go-to platform for all of a business’s external communication needs took a big step ahead today. The company said that it has closed its acquisition of email sp
Sources: Clutter is raising $200-250M led by SoftBank for on-demand storage and moving
Marie Kondo’s rise as a cultural icon shows there’s big business to be had in sorting out a mess. And startups are also hoping to get in on the action. TechCrunch has learned that Clutter
After bans from Apple and Google, Sarahah debuts Enoff, an iOS app for anonymous feedback at work
Sarahah, the anonymous messaging app founded in Saudi Arabia that became an unexpected viral sensation with teens, clocking up over 300 million registered users before getting banned by Apple and Goog
TCV closes record $3B fund to invest in consumer internet, IT infrastructure and services
On the back of a strong showing for portfolio company Spotify going public last year and several biggies like Airbnb also slated to list very soon, VC firm TCV has announced its latest and biggest-eve
Google will stop peddling a data collector through Apple’s back door
It looks like Facebook was not the only one abusing Apple’s system for distributing employee-only apps to sidestep the App Store and collect extensive data on users. Google has been running an a
eBay beats in Q4 on sales of $2.9B and EPS of $0.71, but GMV of $24.6B is up only 1%
As eBay gets increasing pressure from activist shareholders like Elliott Management and Starboard to reform its business and turn it into a high-growth tech stock by overhauling its main Marketplace,
Home improvement platform Houzz lays off 180, reportedly gears up for public listing
Houzz has built a $4 billion business on the back of a platform and marketplace that lets you plan and execute home improvement projects. But as the startup gears up for its next phase of growth, it i
As Clegg appears in Brussels, Facebook tightens controls on political ads
Facebook continues to feel the heat over its role in how people communicate — and more importantly, miscommunicate — globally, so today in Europe it redoubled its efforts to counter critic
Naspers takes full control of Russian classifieds site Avito in $1.16B deal
South African internet conglomerate Naspers is best known for backing Chinese tech giant Tencent, but it also operates a vast network of online classifieds businesses. That network just got a little l
Airbnb acquires Denmark’s Gaest to expand in bookings for meetings and offsites
Airbnb, now valued upwards of $30 billion and inching toward an IPO possibly as early as this year, has made an acquisition to continue to diversify its revenues beyond basic booking services for over
Kustomer nabs $35M to take on Zendesk and Salesforce with its Slack-like approach to CRM
Salesforce today dominates the world of CRM with its cloud-based, wide-ranging portfolio of software as a service. Now, a company founded by one of its alums thinks it can take it on with a more moder
Sherpa, a Spanish voice assistant, expands Series A to $15M as it passes 5M users
When we think of the AI platforms that are shaping how we use voice to interact with phones, home devices and other services, we tend to think of Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google and M
Dosh raises $40M on $300M valuation as its cashback app passes $50M doled out to shoppers
When it comes to reaching would-be customers today, one of the biggest investments that brands and retailers will make is in advertising, to the tune of nearly $630 billion globally. Now, a startup ca