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Sign up for Startup Alley in Tel Aviv
Hey startups! TechCrunch Tel Aviv 2018 is just about 6 weeks away, and we’re coming back to the Mediterranean for our inaugural day-long conference at the Tel Aviv Convention Center on 7 June. The a
Opera launches a new mobile browser
Opera today announced a new mobile browser, Opera Touch, that shows that there’s still plenty of room for a competitor in the mobile browsing world. Opera Touch takes some ideas from the company
Techtonic Group raises $2 million to transform tech hiring through apprenticeships
Where the two companies are using price arbitrage between the costs of developers in emerging markets and coders in the U.S., Techtonic Group is simply offering access to talent. The company’s p
Say hello to the new Gmail with self-destructing messages, email snoozing and more
Today, Google is launching the biggest revamp of Gmail in years. The company is bringing to the flagship Gmail service many (but not all) of the features it trialed in Inbox for Gmail, and adding a fe
Fat Lama, the online marketplace for renting out things you own, raises $10M
Fat Lama, the startup that offers a fully insured peer-to-peer rental marketplace for almost anything, is getting a little fatter. The London-based company has raised $10 million in Series A funding i
Grab’s acquisition of Uber Southeast Asia drives into problems
The long-rumored Grab acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia business may be official now, but it’s far from complete. In fact, what should be a celebratory coming-of-age moment for the Sout
Real-time developer tool startup Pusher pulls in $8M in Series A funding
Pusher, the London startup that provides tools and cloud infrastructure for developers to add real-time functionality to their apps, such as push notifications and messages, has pulled in $8 million i
German insurance ‘robo-advisor’ Clark scores $29 million Series B
Clark, one of a plethora of so-called ‘insurtech’ startups offering something akin to a digital insurance brokerage all delivered through a convenient mobile app, has closed a hefty $29 mi
Looks like Google is changing Android’s gun emoji into a water gun
Back in 2016, Apple swapped out the graphic used for its gun emoji, replacing the realistically drawn handgun with a bright green water gun. Just a few days ago, Twitter followed suit. And now, it see
Facebook shuffle brings a new head of US policy and chief privacy officer
Trying times in Menlo Park, it seems: amid assaults from all quarters largely focused on privacy, Facebook is shifting some upper management around to better defend itself. Its head of policy in the U
Particle brings an LTE cellular model to market for networked devices working off of 2G and 3G
Particle, a developer of networking hardware and software for connected devices, has released an LTE-enabled module for product developers. The new device specifically targets folks whose devices were
Hidden Amazon page drops hints about a ‘Fire TV Cube’
Rumors have been floating around for a few months now of a new device from Amazon that would mash-up the media streaming capabilities of its Fire TV line with the voice assistant abilities of the Echo
Facebook and the perils of a personalized choice architecture
The recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytica chaos has ignited a fire of awareness, bringing the risks of today’s data surveillance culture to the forefront of mainstream conversations.
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is an overstuffed adventure with a terrific villain
When I saw the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, I was really excited and really worried. Excited because, holy crap, there were so many characters. Iron Man! Captain America! Thor! Black Pant
We’re off to the self-driving car races
Tito Hamze visited Thunderhill Raceway Park, where every year angel investor and car-racing enthusia
Vacation rental management service Guesty raises $19.75M
As the vacation rental sector heats up — with Airbnb making even more moves to expand its portfolio of services to include multiple tiers of rentals — there’s going to be more and more of a
IoT ‘conversation’ and ambient contextuality
A few years back, I wrote about the way we communicate with our technology. It was obvious even then that a big game-changer would be enabling a reliable conversational interaction with technology i
Digit’s first move beyond saving money is a feature to pay down credit card debt
Digit, the developer of a wildly popular automatic savings mobile app, is moving beyond its core business with a new feature enabling users to pay down credit card debt from their Digit account. Annou
New numbers illustrate how fast fundraising has changed for young startups
Fundraising is never easy, but it’s even harder when the goal posts are being moved around. Such is the challenge facing today’s youngest startups, which are looking at very different fund
MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency from the creator of Signal, just raised $30M for mobile payments
A new privacy-centric cryptocurrency project with some big names on board just raised a round worth noting. On Tuesday, the team at MobileCoin announced that Binance Labs, the major blockchain incubat