chairman
FCC dings company for $164K after its false broadband claims distorted national report
The FCC was deeply embarrassed last year when it was found that its rosy broadband deployment report was off by millions, owing to a single, extremely suspect filing that conjured…
Three years ago almost to the day, Intercom announced that it was bringing former Intuit exec Karen Peacock on board as COO. Today, she got promoted to CEO, effective July…
India’s antitrust watchdog is reviewing Facebook’s $5.7B deal with Reliance Jio Platforms
Facebook’s $5.7 billion investment in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms that could help the American social media juggernaut make inroads into tens of millions of shops in the country is being reviewed…
UK government reverses course on Huawei’s involvement in 5G networks
Conservative members of the United Kingdom’s government have pushed Prime Minister Boris Johnson to draw up plans to remove telecom equipment made by the Chinese manufacturer Huawei from the nation’s…
Sphero appoints new CEO, spins off robotics startup for first responders
Sphero just announced that it has spun off another company. Once again, the new startup has a decidedly different focus from its parent company’s core of education-focused products. While still…
Daily Crunch: Apple Stores begin to reopen
Apple outlines new safety measures as it reopens stores, Huawei responds to new U.S. chip curbs and Jack Ma departs SoftBank’s board of directors. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May…
With $23 million for its plant-based, liquid meals, Kate Farms pushes into consumer and healthcare
Kate Farms, the supplier of a plant-based liquid meal formula used by hospitals and healthcare providers around the country as a nutritional supplement for patients who cannot process solid foods,…
Securitization platform Cadence surpasses $125M deal volume and raises $4M
Securitization is a critical function of the modern financial system. Banks “package” individual loans, say a mortgage or an auto loan, into a group with similar characteristics and sell them…
Featured Article
Saudi spies tracked phones using flaws the FCC failed to fix for years
Lawmakers and security experts have long warned of security flaws in the underbelly of the world’s cell networks. Now a whistleblower says the Saudi government is exploiting those flaws to track its citizens across the U.S. as part of a “systematic” surveillance campaign. It’s the latest tactic by the Saudi kingdom to spy on its…
Using 25% lower bandwidth, Disney+ launches in UK, Ireland and 5 other European countries, France to come online April 7
Disney+, the streaming service from the Walt Disney Company, has been rapidly ramping up in the last several weeks. But while some of that expansion has seen some hiccups, other…
Axiom Space pitches its first 10-day, all-inclusive trip to the ISS for just $55 million
Axiom Space is looking to make history by sending three passengers on a round-trip journey to the International Space Station for the low, low price of $55 million. The Houston-based,…
Alphabet today announced that it is calling it quits on its efforts to build and monetize its Makani wind energy kites. Makani, which was founded in 2006, came into Google/Alphabet…
Verana Health aims to organize and analyze doctors’ clinical data sets, whether patients like it or not
If the two-year old healthcare startup Verana Health has its way it could become the Google for physician generated healthcare data. The company has raised $100 million from GV (one…
TRACED Act signed into law, putting robocallers on notice
The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act, a bipartisan bit of legislation that should make life harder for the villains behind robocalls, was signed into law today by the president. It’s still possible…
Taiwan’s Appier raises $80M for AI-based marketing technology
Artificial intelligence continues to be the theme of the moment in enterprise software, and today a company out of Asia that has built a suite of AI-powered marketing and ad…
Perlego raises $9M Series A for its textbook subscription service
Perlego, the textbook subscription service, has raised $9 million in Series A funding. Backing the round is Charlie Songhurst, Dedicated VC, and Thomas Leysen (Chairman of Mediahuis and Umicore). Perlego’s…
Manufacturing app platform Tulip raises a $39.5M Series B
Back in 2017, Tulip raised a $13 million Series A, with help from NEA, Pitango Venture Capital and a handful of investors who were already on board for its seed…
Africa’s top mobile phone seller Transsion to list in Chinese IPO
Chinese mobile-phone and device maker Transsion will list in an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market, Transsion confirmed to TechCrunch. The company — which has a robust Africa sales network —…
As tech giants face congressional investigation, states must step up regulatory oversight too
Congress has begun investigations into the power wielded by tech giants. Concerns are bipartisan, with members of both parties suggesting that new legislation and regulation may be needed.
FTC slaps Equifax with a fine of up to $700M for 2017 data breach
Credit agency Equifax will pay up to $700 million in fines as part of a settlement with federal authorities over a data breach in 2017. The Federal Trade Commission said…
Toronto Raptors founder brings Bird scooters to Canada as a platform partner
Bird’s somewhat weird but also very clever global expansion model is to let others handle it, and one of those others is bringing their service online this month. Bird Canada,…
Maine passes law preventing ISPs from selling browsing data without consent
Good news! Maine lawmakers have passed a bill that will prevent internet providers from selling consumers’ private internet data to advertisers. The state’s senate unanimously passed the bill 35-0 on…
Use SocialLadder to earn a free pass to TC Sessions: Mobility 2019
TC Sessions: Mobility 2019, TechCrunch’s day-long intensive event focused on the current and future state of mobility, takes place in San Jose, Calif. on July 10. More than 1,000 of…
Nokia Chairman Risto Siilasmaa backs machine learning startup Aito.ai
Aito, a Helsinki-based machine learning startup that is developing “predictive database” technology, has raised €1 million in pre-seed funding, including from Nokia Chairman Risto Siilasmaa (via his investment company First…
Flume Health is an insurance administrator cutting costs by pre-approving prices and paying on-demand
Cedric Kovacs-Johnson launched Flume Health after watching his own family struggle with payments for his sister’s surgery. “When we looked at who was calling the shots [on prices] it was…
Avengers: Endgame becomes the first film to break $1 billion in an opening weekend
In its opening weekend, “Avengers: Endgame” made breaking box office records look like a snap. The last film in what Marvel Studios dubbed phase three of its rollout of characters…
FT parent Nikkei confirms it has acquired new media startup Deal Street Asia
It’s official: Nikkei, the Japanese media firm that owns the FT, has confirmed that it has acquired Singapore-based new media startup Deal Street Asia. (The Nikkei announcement is buried behind…
Caterina Fake is known for her trend-spotting; here’s some of what she’s chasing now
Roughly a year ago, entrepreneurs Caterina Fake and Jyri Engeström decided to form a traditional venture outfit called Yes VC. Fast forward, and the duo has nearly closed on $50…
Tesla is cutting its board down by more than one-third, to seven directors, by 2020, a move that includes the loss of some of CEO Elon Musk’s early advisers and…
After its first attempt botched the landing, SpaceIL commits to second Beresheet lunar mission
The minds behind Israel’s SpaceIL attempted lunar landing convened today to begin planning for a second lunar mission. In an announcement yesterday, the chairman of SpaceIL, Morris Kahn, said that…
