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Rip Empson

Rip Empson

Rip Empson is a writer, explorer, eager learner and part-time rabble-rouser — whatever that means. He’s worked as a senior associate at Morgenthaler Ventures and Canvas Venture Fund, and before venture capitalizing, Rip spent nearly four years at TechCrunch, the leading technology publication and media dynamo, where he covered startups.

Within the Whacky World Of Startups, Rip focused most of his attention on chronicling the rise of technology and ambush of innovation on health and education.

But between you and me, I hear he’s especially passionate about any and all forms of disrupting — particularly those that are disrupting the disruptable disruptions — and anyone or anything that can quench his insatiable thirst for disrupt-a-lutions.

Rip has been quoted by various people at various times – some of them publications and probably super wicked famous people referencing his work – some of them people mistakenly re-tweeting him thinking he’s Rip Torn.

Is he a budding national treasure? You said it, not him.

As to what he’s doing right now? He’s either transferring his life savings from Scramble With Friends tokens to Bitcoin or vice versa. Hard to say, really.

The Latest from Rip Empson

Descomplica Lands $5M From Social+Capital, AngelList’s First International Syndicate To Become Brazil’s Go-To Online Classroom

Rip Empson
Internet penetration and social media usage are on the rise in every corner of the globe, but few can hold a candle to the level of adoption one finds in Brazil. According to the Internet Telecommunic

Handcuffs For Hacker Schools? Why A “Code Of Conduct” For Coding Bootcamps Could Actually Be Good For The Ecosystem

Rip Empson
The explosion in both online and offline programming platforms over the last year has made one thing clear: Learning to code is hot. (With two “t’s.”) Well, that and the fact that ou

Used By Wooga, Pocket Gems And More, Apportable Lands $5M To Help Developers Automatically Convert iOS Games To Android

Rip Empson
With the methodical proliferation of smartphones into what seems like every pocket, we now find ourselves living in the Golden App Age — or App Era, whichever you prefer. However, as mobile plat

With $1.5M Under Its Belt, Citelighter Hatches An Ambitious Plan To Help Fix The Writing Problem In American Education

Rip Empson
When Citelighter first emerged in the fall of 2011, the education startup was on an ambitious mission to help students take the pain out of online research. With the enormous amount of content on the

Fair Competition Or Foul Play? Rival Car Service Fires Back At Uber Over Alleged Attack

Rip Empson
If we’ve said it once, we’ll say it again: Competition can get pretty fierce in the world of on-demand transportation. Consumer demand for better, faster and more convenient car services h

PillPack Takes On CVS And Walgreens By Mail, Launches A Full-Service, Subscription-Based Online Pharmacy

Rip Empson
According to studies from the Mayo Clinic, more than 20 percent of Americans take more than five prescription medications each day. This fact goes a long way to showing how big of a role the pharmacy

TrackMaven Lands $6.5M From NEA And Others To Bring Better Competitive Intelligence To Digital Marketers

Rip Empson
As content marketing becomes an increasingly significant part of the digital marketing arsenal, it it brings with it new opportunities, both allowing marketers to expand beyond traditional approaches

Red Hot Remind101 Gets $15M From John Doerr To Bring Free, Secure Text Messaging To Teachers

Rip Empson
Brothers Brett and David Kopf launched Remind101 out of Imagine K12 in late 2011 to tackle what they saw as one of the key problems in primary education: The lack of simple, user-friendly tools that h

With $1.8M From Angels, Xola Launches A Booking And Marketing Engine For Local Activity Providers

Rip Empson
While software is improving the efficiency and day-to-day operations of many businesses, those that offer bookable experiences — from back-country outfitters and urban tour guides and helicopter

With $9M From Bessemer, Open Textbook Pioneer Flat World Looks For New Life In Personalized Learning

Rip Empson
When Flat World Knowledge first emerged back in 2007, the company was on a mission to overturn the textbook industry, and the staid world of educational publishing along with it. One of the pioneers i

With 1M Reviews Logged, Consumr Brings Price Comparison, Personalization And Refined Scoring To Its “Yelp For Products”

Rip Empson
Today, with more product information and data on consumer goods living on the Web than ever before, Consumr launched in 2011 to give average Joes like you and me a better way to make sense of that dat

Science, Inc.-Backed HomeHero Launches To Help Families Find, Hire, And Manage In-Home Care For Seniors

Rip Empson
Any family that has spent any time caring for aging parents, grandparents or those with special needs knows how stressful it can be, and how much energy is required, to manage in-home care. From keepi

TigerText Raises $21M To Bring Its Secure, Mobile Messaging Platform To The Healthcare Industry

Rip Empson
If Esso puts a tiger in your tank then what does TigerText put into your mobile? Thanks to an infusion of $21 million in Series B, the company hopes to create “industrial grade” SMS for en

How Cryptocurrency, Crowdfunding And A Little Internet Altruism Saved Jamaica’s Hopes For Bobsled Gold

Rip Empson
Just in case you missed it, a heart-warming story unfolded this week involving an unlikely combination of bobsled, Jamaica, virtual currency, crowdfunding and generosity. It has all the makings of an

Black Car Competitor Accuses Uber Of DDoS-Style Attack; Uber Admits Tactics Are “Too Aggressive”

Rip Empson
Competition is fierce in the world of on-demand transportation. The consumer demand for better, more convenient car service has exploded over the last two years, and startups are racing to capitalize.

Fresh Off Its $21.5M Raise, Tutoring Marketplace WyzAnt Acquires Deadpooled Competitor, Tutorspree

Rip Empson
Tutorspree launched out of Y Combinator in 2011 to tackle the fast-growing, high-priced and increasingly franchise-happy tutoring market. To take on heavyweights like Sylvan Learning, the startup set

Zidisha Launches A Kickstarter-Style Micro-Lending Platform For Low-Income Entrepreneurs In Developing Countries

Rip Empson
When it comes to lending and borrowing money, banks have long been at the center of the equation. However, with the proliferation of new information technologies, mobile devices and the good old Web,

eBay Squeaks Out A Win In Q4, With Revenue Of $4.5B And $0.81 EPS

Rip Empson
eBay reported its fourth-quarter earnings today, including revenue of $4.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.81. The company’s revenue was up 13 percent from the same quarter last year,

Zenefits Adds $15M From Andreessen Horowitz To Become The All-In-One Solution For Startup HR

Rip Empson
The thought of managing HR, benefits and payroll is enough to make most entrepreneurs grimace. However, time consuming and frustrating as it may be, it’s a part of the job description and someth

10-Month-Old Harry’s Lands $122.5M, Buys 93-Year-Old Factory To Take On Shaving Heavyweights, Gillette And Schick

Rip Empson
Not every 10-month old startup can say that it has crossed a handful of oceans and international borders to purchase a 93-year-old factory -- or raised $122.5 million to do so. Yet, not every Internet
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