Ingrid Lunden
Managing Editor, Global
The Latest from Ingrid Lunden
How Mastodon is scaling amid the Twitter exodus
Twitter is in crisis these days. Under new owner Elon Musk, the service has lost more than half its staff through layoffs and quitting, made erratic moves in its product and platform strategies and is
Mastodon creator Eugen Rochko talks funding and how to build the anti-Twitter
Mastodon’s success has somewhat taken its creator Eugen Rochko by surprise, but he's steadfast on maintaining its nonprofit nature.
Should Elon step down as head of Twitter? Users vote Yes by a margin of 15%
Update! Well, it took a couple of days, but Elon Spoke after the poll results. Twitter’s owner said he would step down as head of the company… but — surprise! — with no real ti
Mews books $185M for its SaaS-based hotel management platform
The COVID-19 pandemic ground travel and tourism to a halt, but as those sectors pick up speed again, so too are the more promising startups in them raising money to keep up. Today, a startup called Me
Shield AI raises another $60M at a $2.3B valuation for its military autonomous flying tech
Defense technology continues to get a lot of attention from investors, and today, one of the bigger startups in the space is announcing more funding. Shield AI — which develops platforms and pla
Zappi raises $170M for its AI-based market research platform
Fundraising may be drying up for some segments of the tech industry at the moment, but one area that continues to get a lot of attention is AI, and specifically startups that are using it to build out
Sana raises $34M for its AI-based knowledge management and learning platform for workplaces
Artificial intelligence is touching every aspect of how we engage with information (and much more) these days. Today, a startup building out a business based on one particular application of that R
Playtika lays off 610 workers, shuts down three online gaming titles amid broader restructure
Playtika, the Israeli tech company that made its name through a series of wildly successful online gambling and gaming titles with hundreds of millions of players, is leveling the latest swing of the
Robco links up with $14M led by Sequoia to bring modular robotics to industrial SMBs
After years of outsourcing and offshoring manufacturing to countries with cheaper labor and bigger production ecosystems, the U.S. and Europe are on a mission to bring some of that industrial work bac
Primer, the UK e-commerce tech startup, has laid off one-third of its staff
Primer, a U.K. startup founded by alums of Braintree and PayPal that provides a drag-and-drop framework for merchants to build online payment stacks, last year raised $50 million at a $425 million val
Banzai, a marketing tech startup, acquires Hyros for $110M, raises $100M and goes public via a $580M SPAC
The IPO window is all but closed right now, but a few things appear still to be getting through the cracks and there are big sums attached to that. Today, Banzai — an engagement marketing startu
Maergo raises $20M to provide Amazon-style fast and cheap air and ‘middle mile’ services to online retailers
With the holiday shopping season well underway and showing signs that it might not be as sluggish as some predicted, a startup out of Austin, Texas, is announcing funding to build out a new approach t
Atomico report: European startups on track to raise $85B this year, down from $100B+ in 2021
Startups across Europe are on track to raise $85 billion in funding this year — a drop of $15 billion on 2021 when funding passed $100 billion, according to a new report published today. The fig
Oda, the Norwegian grocery delivery startup, raises a fresh $151M, but at a lowered valuation of $353M
Online grocery delivery, a booming business at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has definitely come down to earth with the shifts in the economy, public health and technology investing. Oda, one o
One Peak scales up and closes $1B fund aimed at European and Israeli growth rounds
There’s a prevailing logic (or you might say hope) in tech that says there is no better time to invent and invest than when the market appears to be in a bad place. With companies like Google an
LinkedIn rolls out focused inbox and messaging safety tools as it gets to grip with spam and scams
LinkedIn, the social platform for the working world for networking and recruitment, hasn’t been the biggest name in headlines when it comes to how social media is leveraged for spam, scams, toxi
Zoe, which went viral with its COVID-reporting app, raises $30M to track nutrition and health
Zoe, a startup founded by doctors and researchers out of London and Boston, made its name during the pandemic with a popular — dare we say viral? — self-reporting COVID-19 app. Embraced bo
CommonGround raises $25M for immersive video avatar technology that doesn’t rely on VR gear
The trials and tribulations that a giant company like Meta (née Facebook) has been facing in overcoming skepticism, creating user interest (let alone revenue) and building quality experiences for its
Cyber Monday online sales hit a record $11.3B, driven by demand, not just inflation, says Adobe
Expectations for this year’s holiday spend online were lukewarm, but initial activity — driven by deep discounts — has bucked predictions. Cyber Monday pulled in $11.3 billion in sal
Lyst, the UK fashion marketplace, is laying off 25% of staff
Lyst, the U.K. fashion e-commerce site that last year raised funding at a $700 million valuation, is the latest tech startup to rein in spending by cutting staff. TechCrunch has learned that the compa