Kindred Ventures
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Kindred Ventures foresees a ‘massive explosion of startups’ courtesy of AI
Last week, we talked with Kindred Ventures, a small, nine-year-old, San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm that, despite investing in a lot of nascent startups — more than 100 to date — takes a generalist approach, investing in AI, climate tech, consumer internet companies, crypto deals, fintech startups, health startups, mobility startups and the outfits developing…
Humane, a secretive AI startup founded by ex-Apple employees, raises another $100M
A startup founded by ex-Apple design and engineering team Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, Humane, today raised another $100 million to build what it calls an “integrated device and cloud…
This founder wants to take on the biggest coaching startups with a group-focused approach
Nishika de Rosairo, the founder and chief executive of HumanQ, has a vision for employee coaching that disagrees with some of the biggest, and most valuable, startups out there. Instead…
Announcing the first tranche of Startup Battlefield judges
The Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 is set to be our most epic yet. This year’s competitors, selected from our handpicked cohort, the Startup Battlefield 200, are…
This Week in Apps: Period tracking app privacy, Snapchat’s paid subscription, calls for TikTok ban
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues…
With $2.4M seed, Zing Data wants to put data analysis in the palm of your hand
If data is at the heart of any modern business, it needs to be easier to access and manipulate it without expertise. While there are many data analysis tools available,…
The NFT ecosystem continues to chug along, but the vast majority of volume is still moving through the centralized halls of NFT marketplace OpenSea, leaving crypto VCs eager to find…
Here’s why we’re about to see an explosion of hyperreal artificial humans online
Synthetically generated versions of real people that can be can be programmed to say anything sounds like a scenario from the latest episode of “Black Mirror.” But in fact, production-grade…
TechCrunch+ roundup: Climate tech survey, sex tech strategy, startup advisor compensation
For our latest survey, we contacted 14 investors who are active in climate tech. Beyond sharing their investment thesis, they also let us know what they’re looking for and how…
Inside the pitch deck that won Heartbeat Health’s first investment check
“We look for founders who have a combination of domain insight and domain experience,” said Kindred Ventures’ Kanyi Maqubela.
Join the first TechCrunch Live episode to hear how Heartbeat Health raised from Kindred Ventures
Dr. Jeff Wessler co-founded Heartbeat Health in 2016 to develop better heart care, and Kanyi Maqubela helped kickstart the company by writing the company’s pre-seed check. We’re excited to host…
Dawn Health leverages cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia to help you sleep better
The mobile app offers evidence-based therapy integrated with a sleep tracker, access to a sleep coach and personalized daily lesson plans.
Ex-Uber software engineers raise $3M for Sperta, a 6-month-old startup that wants to help fintechs better manage fraud risk
Working together at Uber’s risk team, Yifu Diao and Ming Fang came to realize that with the hypergrowth the company was seeing came fraud challenges. Diao’s first project at the…
Health tech startup Color raises $100M at a $4.6B valuation
Health tech startup Color has raised $100 million in Series E funding, bringing the company’s valuation to $4.6 billion. This round means Color has now raised a total of $378…
Decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, are all the rage at the moment. We’re seeing explosive growth in this sector as people experiment with building companies on top of tokens and…
Carrot, a plug-in that automatically categorizes what you’ve added to your cart, raises $5.5 million
While the growth of e-commerce has left us browsing and shopping more than ever, that doesn’t mean we’re actually buying all that much. In fact, the Baymard Institute, as cited…
Humane, a stealthy hardware and software startup co-founded by an ex-Apple designer and engineer, raises $100M
A stealthy startup co-founded by a former senior designer from Apple and one of its ex-senior software engineers has picked up a significant round of funding to build out its…
Catch takes hold of $12M to provide benefits that aren’t tied to employers
Catch is working to make sure that every gig worker has the health and retirement benefits they need.
Look out language teachers, a synthetic human could be about to take your job
Hour One, a startup that allows businesses to create ‘photoreal’ presenters that can speak pre-set any text or any language in a highly realistic manner, has signed a deal with…
ShelfLife, a marketplace for raw materials, raises $3 million seed round
Two years ago, Lillian Cartwright teamed up with some fellow Harvard Business School students to launch a new spiked seltzer brand called Astrid. Despite all the tools that make launching…
Snack, where TikTok meets dating, gets $3.5 million in funding
After online dating’s tremendous 2020 growth that culminated in last week’s epic Bumble IPO, a new entrant has tossed its hat into the dating app ring. Snack, founded by Kimberly…
Kindred Ventures just closed its second fund with $100 million in capital commitments
Two years after launching its $56 million debut fund, Kindred Ventures, a San Francisco-based pre-seed and seed-stage venture fund founded by Steve Jang and Kanyi Maqubela, has closed its second…
Crypto-driven marketplace Zora raises $2M to build a sustainable creator economy
Dee Goens and Jacob Horne have both the exact and precisely opposite background that you’d expect to see from two people building a way for creators to build a sustainable…
Hour One raises $5M Seed to generate AI-driven synthetic characters from real humans
All of the people pictured above are real, but what you are seeing are synthetically generated versions of their real selves. And they can be programmed to say anything. Tech…
Replenysh raises a $2 million seed round to streamline recycling for buyers and sellers
Replenysh has been kicking since 2016, but up til now, the Orange County, California startup hasn’t done much press. That changes today, as the company announces that it has raised…
Northflank announces $2.6M seed to create end-to-end DevOps workflow in cloud
Northflank, a startup from a couple of guys in their 20s, has been working on a full-stack DevOps platform in the cloud since their first year at university in 2016.…
Taika is building a better coffee through natural chemistry and adaptogens
So, an eight-year product veteran from Facebook and an internationally renowned barista walk into a coffee bar… It’s not a joke. It’s the origin story for Taika, a new startup…
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Steve Jang & Kanyi Maqubela form or fund as Kindred Ventures
Venture capitalists often mutter, “I haven’t seen anything I like lately.” Founders frequently complain that “investors are back-seat drivers who won’t get their hands dirty.” A $56 million fund with a fresh approach is aiming to address both those issues. Steve Jang and Kanyi Maqubela are two exceedingly smart and sweet guys who couldn’t help…
Linear Labs’ next-gen electric motor attracts $4.5 million in funding
Linear Labs, a startup developing an electric motor for cars, scooters, robots, wind turbines and even HVAC systems, has raised $4.5 million in a seed round led by Science Inc.…
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To fund Y Combinator’s top startups, VCs scoop them before Demo Day
Meet the startups that raised venture capital, or got acquired, before Demo Day.
