Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
The Latest
Featured Article
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 finally fixes the foldable’s biggest problem
The Pixel Fold may be my personal favorite foldable of the moment, but the Galaxy Z Flip is the device that made me believe — and you can never take that away from it. The first Galaxy Fold was novel, of course, but the product has always been a bit unwieldy and prohibitively expensive. The…
4:00 am PDT • July 26, 2023
The spinning bezel is the best thing about Samsung Watches. And yet, every few generations, the company drops the hardware feature, customers push back and then it magically returns. If…
Featured Article
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 gets upgraded chip, thinner body and $1,800 price
The foldable market has changed dramatically since the beginning of 2019. For starters, there actually is a foldables market to speak of. There was plenty of skepticism around the form factor in the pre-pandemic era, and early hardware issues didn’t help matters much. Foldables remain a drop in the overall smartphone bucket, of course, but…
4:00 am PDT • July 26, 2023
Climate
Dioxycle raises $17 million for its electrolyzer that turns CO2 into ethylene
3:49 am PDT • July 26, 2023
Dioxycle is a carbon transformation startup that is working on a new process to produce ethylene at scale using recycled carbon emissions. Ethylene is used in packaging, clothing, PVC-based sewage…
Commerce
Apple and Amazon face UK class action damages suit over price collusion claim
2:33 am PDT • July 26, 2023
Apple and Amazon are facing a class-action style damages lawsuit in the U.K. alleging they abused their market power by colluding to increase the price of Apple products. The suit,…
Startups
Dial up a therapist like an Uber? Wangie aims at Gen Zers and the time-poor
1:00 am PDT • July 26, 2023
It would be fair to say there’s no global solution for instant 24/7 access to mental health support. Yes, there are a few “marketplaces” where you can schedule a call…
Startups
Materials Nexus raises £2 million seed to discover clean climate material
1:00 am PDT • July 26, 2023
The company seeks to enhance zero-net technologies in a way that gives higher performance and sustainability at lower costs.
Swiggy has become the latest Indian startup to offer its customers a credit card as the food delivery giant broadens its efforts to drive engagement and retention. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup…
Twitter has changed its official handle to @x as part of the ongoing rebranding. As a result, the original @Twitter handle is now inactive, and its bio reads, “This account is…
Apps
Google says 2 billion logged in monthly users are watching YouTube Shorts
9:16 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
Google said today that more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users are watching YouTube Shorts, giving it an edge over competitors like TikTok and Instagram Reels. This number is up…
Where we’ll be next
Jun 11th
StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
May 21st
StrictlyVC – London
London
AI
AI leaders warn Senate of twin risks: Moving too slow and moving too fast
4:23 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
Leaders from the AI research world appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss and answer questions about the nascent technology. Their broadly unanimous opinions generally fell into two categories:…
Venture
Exclusive: Goodwater Capital snags $1B across two new funds, despite cooling interest in consumer tech
3:30 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
Goodwater, one of comparatively few firms to focus exclusively on consumer tech investments, has closed on $1 billion in capital commitments across its fifth early-stage fund and its third opportunity-style…
Venture
Main Sequence hits first close of $450M AUD for its third deep tech fund
3:16 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
Main Sequence, an Australian venture capital firm, said Wednesday it has raised the $450 million AUD (approximately $303 million) first close of its third fund. The venture capital firm, founded…
Social
Snap’s revenue woes continue but earnings yield a few bright spots
2:50 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
Snap just reported its quarterly earnings and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Snapchat’s parent company brought in $1.07 billion during Q2 — up from last quarter but a…
Commerce
Amazon will now warn consumers of recalls and product safety alerts related to their orders
1:40 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
Amazon today introduced a new feature that will allow consumers to be better informed about potential product safety alerts and recalls. Now, instead of having to seek out product recall…
Apps
Spotify CEO teases potential AI-powered capabilities surrounding personalization, ads
1:16 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
During Spotify’s second-quarter earnings call this morning, CEO Daniel Ek teased a few ways the streaming service could introduce additional AI-powered functionality. Ek touched on how AI could be used…
Hardware
Akhetonics raises capital for its all-optical processor prototype
12:06 pm PDT • July 25, 2023
Traditional processors from the likes of Intel, AMD, or Nvidia have well-known limitations around speed, energy efficiency, and electromagnetic interference. For instance, foundational chip makers like TSMC and Samsung are…
Gaming
Zombie game maker Techland joins Tencent’s global empire in latest acquisition
11:43 am PDT • July 25, 2023
Tencent, one of the world’s largest gaming companies, is set to gobble up Techland, the Polish game developer known for open-world zombie games like Dying Light, adding yet another member…
Space
Blue Origin, Astrobotic, Varda Space and others win NASA funding to develop advanced space tech
11:14 am PDT • July 25, 2023
NASA awarded new funding to 11 companies today for advanced space tech projects ranging from advanced power generation on the lunar surface to additive manufacturing for space habitats. The awards,…
Featured Article
How to prevent an ‘operational catastrophe’
We concentrated on scaling and didn’t have time to think if the resources of our team were enough to keep going with such speed.
11:00 am PDT • July 25, 2023
