lerer hippeau
Urban Sky closes $9.75M Series A to scale Earth imaging operations using reusable balloons
Stratospheric balloon company Urban Sky has closed a $9.75 million Series A round to scale its Earth imaging operations and expand its data products. The 14-person startup has mostly been…
Hydration brand Cure mixes new funding into its growth plans
The functional beverage market is indeed “exploding:” Cure continues to have about 60% penetration in e-commerce, and outpaced first-quarter 2022 growth by 121%.
Goldenset launches out of stealth to make equity investments in creators
Goldenset Collective is launching out of stealth with a $10 million seed round to deploy equity investments in digital creators. The company was founded by Darren Lachtman and Nick Millman,…
Lerer Hippeau closes $230M across two new funds; Ben Lerer is back
Managing partners Ben Lerer and Eric Hippeau discuss the new funds, VC dry power and the current funding environment.
Cake adds newest ingredient to sexual wellness recipe: Entrance into Target
Four of Cake’s products are now available in 1,000 Target stores.
Vangst ropes in $19 million more to place employees with work in the growing cannabis industry
In a tight labor market, so-called vertical labor marketplaces that zoom in on one industry, like nursing or hospitality, are drawing funding. Trusted Health, a healthcare staffing platform, raised $149…
Flush with new capital, Foxtrot’s ‘convenience store of the future’ is coming to a location near you
Foxtrot is reimagining the convenience store experience by seeking out the best food items by local artisans along with its core offerings of coffee, ready-to-eat cafe meals and wine.
Block Renovation gears up for national expansion following $50M round
As people’s expectations for consumer experiences are higher than before, Block Renovation “productizes” home renovation by packaging everything together for both the homeowner and contractor.
Female founders are making a buzzing, venture-backed comeback
We’ll have a clearer view of 2021 when all the data trickles in after the conclusion of Q4, but it’s clear that female-founded startups are having a better year than…
Crossing Minds brings in new capital to provide recommendations that don’t require identifiable information
Up to 60% of consumers are often new users of a shopping or media site, so that “cold start” can be a problem in terms of recommendations.
Hungryroot co-founder’s new venture, Noops, a plant-based pudding startup, raises another $2M
Noops is going after the $50 billion snack foods market and plans to take on yogurt next.
Substack acqui-hires team behind subscription social app Cocoon
Subscription newsletter platform kingpin Substack shared today that they’ve acqui-hired the team behind Cocoon, a subscription social media app built for close friends. We covered the Y Combinator-backed startup’s initial…
Former Snap employees raise $9M for Trust, emerging from beta to level marketing playing field
Trust wants to give smaller businesses the same advantages that large enterprises have when marketing on digital and social media platforms.
Orbiit raises seed funding to automate the interactions within an online community
Orbiit, a startup that automates the interactions within an online community, has raised a $2.7 million round led by Bread and Butter Ventures, with participation from new investors High Alpha…
Speaking isn’t simple for at least 40 million Americans, so a new Austin-based startup is scaling a solution. Expressable is a digital speech therapy company that connects patients to speech-language…
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Murmur, still in private beta, wants to help startups make private work agreements public
As building in public continues to gain popularity with early-stage startup founders, Murmur, coming out of stealth today, wants to leverage that natural transparency to a louder frequency. Founded by Aaron Dignan, Murmur helps startups create work agreements based on the policies of other startups. “Work agreements” is an intentionally broad phrase, but encapsulates everything…
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Investors’ SPAC push could revamp the private market money game
A new era of venture, or just another temporary weirdness caused by zero-cost money and an overabundance of bored cash?
Outdoor cooking industry leader and famed kettle-grill-maker Weber has acquired June, the smart cooking startup founded in 2013 by Matt Van Horn and Nikhil Bhogal. While financial terms of the…
E-commerce infrastructure startup Nacelle closes $18M Series A
Consumer online shopping habits have led to a windfall of revenues for these web storefronts, but COVID-era trends have also breathed new life into the market for developer tools that…
LeafLink raises $40M from Founders Fund, others to cultivate its cannabis wholesale market
LeafLink is today announcing it raised a $40 million Series C financing round, led by Founders Fund with participation from Thrive Capital, Nosara Capital and Lerer Hippeau. This round of…
Cure Hydration raises $2.6M for its healthy sports drink alternative
Cure Hydration is announcing that it has raised $2.6 million in seed funding as it brings a healthier approach to the sports beverage market. Founder and CEO Lauren Picasso, whose…
Mirror founder Brynn Putnam on life with Lululemon — and whether or not she sold too soon
Brynn Putnam has a lot to feel great about. A Harvard grad and former professional ballet dancer who opened the first of what have become three high-intensity fitness studios in…
Shotcall picks up $2.2 million to let fans game with their favorite streamers
The pandemic has resulted in a growth spurt for gaming, an industry that was already growing on the backs of esports and Twitch streaming. So it makes sense that startups…
Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau and Audible back audio measurement startup Veritonic
Veritonic is announcing that it has raised $3.2 million in Series A funding led by Greycroft, with participation from Lerer Hippeau and Amazon-owned audiobook service Audible. CEO Scott Simonelli, who…
Extra Crunch Live: Join Eric Hippeau for a live Q&A right now
While you may have heard this phrase several hundred too many times this year, it remains true: These are unprecedented times. At least a dozen industries are in a state…
Extra Crunch Live: Join Eric Hippeau for a live Q&A on August 13 at 11am PT/2pm ET
The media landscape is changing rapidly. Even before COVID, media companies were looking at new revenue models beyond your standard banner ad, all the while trying to navigate the oft-changing…
Nuggs rebrands as Simulate with new cash, a new CTO and an expanded line of faux-meat foods
Nuggs, the alternative-meat company founded by serial entrepreneur Ben Pasternak (who previously co-founded the social media app Monkey), has raised $4.1 million and gotten itself a new name and a…
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11 top VCs discuss the future of New York startups
New York City was an initial U.S. hotspot for the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s also one of the most expensive cities in the world — so you might think startups would be anxious to leave. However, when we surveyed a number of New York-based venture capitalists, they seemed bullish about the city’s future as a…
Facebook to acquire Giphy in a deal reportedly worth $400 million
Facebook will acquire Giphy, the web-based animated gif search engine and platform provider, Facebook confirmed today, in a deal worth around $400 million, according to a report by Axios. Facebook said…
Startups Weekly: A new era for consumer tech
TechCrunch is out hunting for bright spots in the startup world as we all come to grips with the pandemic — particularly where checks are actually being written despite everything.…
