Steve O'Hear

Steve O'Hear

Writer

Steve O’Hear is best known as a technology journalist, currently at TechCrunch where he focuses on European startups, companies and products.

He first joined TechCrunch in November 2009 as Contributing Editor for TechCrunch Europe, where he worked alongside Editor Mike Butcher to help build TechCrunch’s coverage in Europe.

In June 2011, Steve took a break from journalism to co-found the London and Prague-based startup Beepl. In his role as CEO, he helped the company raise its first VC round, along with seeing the Question & Answer site through development, private alpha and a high profile public launch. In November 2012, Beepl was acquired by Brand Embassy.

Along with TechCrunch, Steve has written for numerous publications, including ZDNet (where he wrote the well-respected blog ‘The Social Web’), The Guardian, Macworld, TES, Last100 and ReadWriteWeb. He also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Silicon Valley documentary ‘In Search of the Valley’, which was released in September 2006.

In 2002, Steve was made a fellow of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. He’s also one half of ProtoBake Labs, an ‘ideas incubator’ he co-founded with Pete Harris.

Disclaimer: Steve owns a small amount of cryptocurrency, and doesn’t generally write about crypto currencies. If and when he does, he will always disclose any potential conflict of interest.

The Latest from Steve O'Hear

Existing backers put another £40M into UK challenger bank Starling

Steve O'Hear
Starling Bank, the U.K.-based challenger bank founded by banking veteran Anne Boden, has raised an additional £40 million in funding, TechCrunch has learned. The round is led by existing backers Harr

Meniga, the digital banking tech provider, raises €8.5M led by French bank Groupe BPCE

Steve O'Hear
Meniga, the London-headquartered fintech that provides digital banking technology to some of the world’s largest banks, has closed €8.5 million in additional funding. Described primarily as a &#82

Voi hires former Bird UK chief to bring e-scooters to British streets

Steve O'Hear
With the U.K. government set to accelerate trials of e-scooter rentals in a bid to reduce crowding on public transport and support social distancing during the coronavirus crisis, Europe’s e-sco

ChatableApps launches its hearing assistance app

Steve O'Hear
ChatableApps is launching its hearing assistance app on iOS today, with a wider Android release to follow shortly. Backed by Mark Cuban, and based on the work of auditory neural signal processing rese

Cloud canteen startup Feedr has been acquired by Compass Group for ~$24M

Steve O'Hear
Feedr, the food tech startup that delivers personalised meals to office workers as an alternative to companies setting up their own canteens, has been acquired by Compass Group, the publicly-listed fo

This UX specialist opened 12 UK bank accounts and ‘logged everything’

Steve O'Hear
“I’ve got a really high attention to detail, which might sound great, but it’s possibly a curse because I can’t help but spot problems with everything around me,” says Peter Ramsey.

Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield moves from UK CEO role to president

Steve O'Hear
More than five years after starting the company, Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield is stepping down as CEO of the U.K. challenger bank to take up the newly created role of president. Current U.S. CEO, TS

Contentsquare, the digital experience analytics platform, scores $190M Series D

Steve O'Hear
Contentsquare, the cloud-based platform that helps businesses understand how and why users are interacting with their app, mobile and web sites, has closed $190 million in Series D funding. The round

Experience marketplace Pollen lays off 69 North America staff, furloughs 34 in UK

Steve O'Hear
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, throwing countries into lockdown and recession, two of the hardest-hit sectors have been travel and events. And startups operating in the space that have recentl

Former Andreessen Horowitz partner Benedict Evans joins EF as Venture Partner

Steve O'Hear
Entrepreneur First (EF), the London-headquartered “talent investor” that backs individuals pre-team and pre-idea to enable them to found startups, has appointed former Andreessen Horowitz partner

Arculus raises €16M to upgrade assembly lines with its ‘modular production platform’

Steve O'Hear
Arculus, the Ingolstadt, Germany-based startup that has developed a “modular production platform” to bring assembly lines into the 21st century, has raised €16 million in Series A invest

Anyfin raises $30M Series B to let consumers refinance their existing loans

Steve O'Hear
Anyfin, the Stockholm-based startup that enables consumers to refinance their existing loans, has raised $30 million in funding. Leading the Series B round is EQT Ventures, with participation from exi

Modulr raises £18.9M for its ‘Payments as a Service’

Steve O'Hear
Modulr, the U.K. fintech that offers ‘Payments as a Service’ as an alternative to commercial and wholesale transaction banking, has secured £18.9 million in growth funding. Leading the ro

PlayPlay raises €10M to help brands easily produce ‘high quality’ video content

Steve O'Hear
PlayPlay, the Paris-based startup behind a video creation tool that enables comms, marketing and social media teams to produce high-quality video content “in minutes,” has raised €10 mil

Construyo scores €2M to connect the architecture, engineering and construction industry

Steve O'Hear
Construyo, a Berlin-based startup that offers a “holistic” project management service that connects the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, has raised €2 million i

Balderton Capital backs Primer, a fintech helping merchants consolidate the payments stack

Steve O'Hear
Primer, a U.K. fintech that wants to help merchants consolidate their payments stack and easily support new payment methods in the future, has quietly raised £3.8 million in funding. Leading its £3.

Vochi, the ‘computer vision’-based video editing and effects app, raises $1.5M seed

Steve O'Hear
Vochi, a startup operating out of Belarus that’s created a “computer vision”-based video editing and effects app for mobile phones, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Leading t

Deep Render raises £1.6M for image compression tech that mimics ‘neural processes of the human eye’

Steve O'Hear
Deep Render, a London startup and spin-out of Imperial College that is applying machine learning to image compression, has raised £1.6 million in seed funding. Leading the round is Pentech, with part

Countingup scores £4M bridge round for its small business banking and accounting app

Steve O'Hear
Countingup, the business current account that “automates” your accounting, has raised £4 million in self-described bridge funding. Leading the round is ING Ventures, with co-investment fr

Banked picks up £2.35M seed to use open banking for account-to-account payments

Steve O'Hear
Banked, a London-based fintech using open banking to enable account-to-account payments at checkout (and beyond), has raised £2.35 million in further seed funding. The round was led by Force Over Mas
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