The Cameo app, where celebrities send video messages to paying fans, has taken off globally. But now the concept is set to come to the Middle East and South Asia. Tech startup YELA has secured $2 million in investment to support its launch, and will — similar to Cameo — offer users the opportunity to […]
COVID Tech Connect, a nonprofit created during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, is launching a free app aimed at helping hospital patients call home. As the delta variant drives a new upward surge in critical COVID-19 cases, the new offering is, sadly, well timed. COVID Tech Connect originated as […]
Boeing’s Starliner capsule is leaving the launchpad after a series of delays that prevented takeoff over the last few days. NASA and the beleaguered aerospace giant will take “whatever time is necessary” to find and fix the issue, but it’s beginning to feel like this long-in-development spacecraft may never make it to the ISS. This […]
Florida-based HackerU, which creates cybersecurity and other digital skills programs, is acquiring Cybint, a SaaS-based cyber education company. TechCrunch sources understand this to be a $50 million acquisition, though both companies declined to comment on the price. HackerU provided digital workforce training to students, post-graduate professionals and the community in the U.S., Europe and Asia […]
Less than six months after raising $55 million in a Series C round of funding, SMB 401(k) provider Human Interest today announced it has raised $200 million in a round that propels it to unicorn status. The Rise Fund, TPG’s global impact investing platform, led the round and was joined by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. […]
Heatworks has at long last opened pre-orders for the Tetra, a countertop dishwasher that debuted at CES 2018. The Tetra doesn't require any plumbing, just an electrical outlet.
It’s a little known fact that the carbon footprint of the technology sector is greater than the entire aviation industry (Aalto University and LUT University). At the same time, tech companies (like many others) are generally attracted to carbon offsetting schemes which don’t actually remove carbon from the environment and are often riddled with flaws. […]
General Motors said Wednesday it is adding two new zero-emissions vehicles to its commercial portfolio as it looks to expand its first-to-last-mile business arm, BrightDrop. The first vehicle will be a battery electric cargo van under the Chevrolet brand that will likely be similar to the popular Chevy Express van. The second will be a […]
In spite of the pandemic, New York City remains the center of commerce and business, and over the last decade a robust startup community has developed there. Work-Bench, the NYC VC firm that concentrates on early-stage enterprise seed investments, announced its $100 million Fund 3 this morning. The company started back in 2013, when most […]
When Sankaet Pathak co-founded Synapse in 2014, he had a vision of doing more than just building a platform that enables banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services. He wanted to build a company that helped provide greater access to financial services to a larger pool of people — regardless of their net […]
The power of networking will be in full force at TC Sessions: SaaS 2021 on October 27. This day-long virtual gathering of the global SaaS community features the sector’s leading voices — established founders, top VCs and expert developers. That spells opportunity for early-stage founders who want to expand their network and drive their business […]
It has been over three months since Click Studios, the Australian software house behind the enterprise password manager Passwordstate, warned its customers to “commence resetting all passwords.” The company was hit by a supply chain attack that sought to steal the passwords from customer servers around the world. But customers tell TechCrunch that they are […]
Reserve Trust, a Denver-based financial services provider, has raised $30.5 million in a Series A round led by QED Investors. FinTech Collective, Ardent Venture Partners, Flywire CEO Mike Massaro and Quovo founder and CEO Lowell Putnam also participated in the financing, which included $17.9 million in secondary shares. It brings the startup’s total raised since […]
The twice-issued recall for 2017 to 2019 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles cost General Motors $800 million, the company said in its second-quarter earnings statement Wednesday. Costs associated with fixing defective Bolt batteries make up the lion’s share of GM’s $1.3 billion in warranty expenses last quarter. CEO Mary Barra specified on an investor call that […]
Amazon announced this morning it’s expanding its faster, same-day delivery service to half a dozen more U.S. cities. The service, which the retailer has been working to make same-day delivery even faster over the past year, now offers consumers in a number of markets the ability to shop up to 3 million items on Amazon.com, […]
Update: We promised to link to Creighton’s Soundcloud. Here it is. Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. For our Wednesday show this week, Natasha and Alex hosted a PR roundtable. Yep, our promise back when Alex Konrad came on the program to chat funding rounds is being […]
Who says there is no big money in software aimed at helping people? Private equity firm Apax Funds announced this morning that it is combining three social impact firms to create a platform of sorts in a deal valued at $2 billion. To build this social good juggernaut, Apax went out and purchased EveryAction from […]
