Coinbase has had a pretty crazy six months. It may be hard to remember, but at the beginning of 2017 the cryptocurrency world was a different place. Bitcoin was below $1000 per coin and the entire market cap for all cryptocurrencies was about 7x less than it is today. Since then, the market has surged. And as arguably the most established wallet and exchange service that exists today, Coinbase… Read More
Get ready for more BuzzFeed-branded products. The company has hired Eric Karp, previously the general manager of licensing at Crayola, as its first head of licensing. Karp will be working with outside partners to develop new products around BuzzFeed brands. BuzzFeed has already been moving into unusual product areas with things like the Glamspin (a fidget spinner with lip gloss) and the Tasty… Read More
Discord wants to destroy its biggest, best-funded competitor in the battle to be the communications layer for gaming. It wants to be the home for gamer clans strategizing and trash-talking with each other. After out-gunning its gaming-specific competitors like TeamSpeak, Mumble and Ventrilo with a secret $50 million fundraise earlier this year, Discord is setting its sights on Skype. Read More
Ride hailing company Lyft has acquired two companies focused on growth, including customer acquisition, retention, referral programs and more. The companies being acquired are YesGraph, whose team and talent will join Lyft, and DataScore, whose growth team is coming over to the ride share provider. The acquisitions are designed to help Lyft capitalize on its existing rapid pace of growth,… Read More
The Surface line has been a surprising hit for Microsoft in recent years. What many regarded as little more than proof of concept for Windows 10 has become a leader in the two-in-one tablet category in its own right. But according to a new survey conducting by Consumer Reports, the devices have proven far more unreliable than much of the competition. In fact, things are so bad, the publication… Read More
betaworks, the startup studio responsible for companies like Giphy, TweetDeck, and Dots, is today formally announcing the launch of a $50 million early-stage fund called betaworks ventures. betaworks ventures has actually been active in the market for the last year, though operating somewhat under the radar, and betaworks has been making investments long before that from the over-arching… Read More
It’s clear that voice is becoming a major interface, as we witness the rise of the Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri, Cortana and their ilk. We’re also seeing an increasing use of chat bots and other voice-driven tools, which often require speech recognition with a very specific vocabulary. That’s where AssemblyAI, a member of the Summer ’17 Y Combinator class comes in.… Read More
TechCrunch and Canaan Partners are teaming up to host Include Office Hours in San Francisco on August 22nd from 1-3pm. General partner Rich Boyle and partner Joydeep Bhattacharyya will give key guidance, advice and feedback to founders. TechCrunch started the Include Program in 2014 to leverage key networks and facilitate opportunities for underserved and underrepresented founders in tech. Read More
Cancer and heart disease are the two leading causes of death in the United States. So far, Color Genomics has been focused on testing for mutations leading to a higher risk of certain cancers. But, today the four-year-old company is introducing a new category of genetic testing for cardiovascular health. The new Color Hereditary High Cholesterol Test will tell you if you have a genetic… Read More
If you’re looking for a little more arcade feel for your Nintendo Switch, look no further than 8Bitdo’s NES30 Arcade Stick. The Bluetooth controller accessory is compatible with a range of platforms besides the Switch, and it’s a well-made gadget with careful attention paid to how buttons and the joysticks feel, giving an authentic arcade cabinet experience. It’s also… Read More
Filecoin, the much-anticipated cryptocurrency that will eventually power a distributed file storage system, is opening its ICO today at 12pm PT / 3pm ET today.
Last week Filecoin concluded a much talked about “advisor” sale that brought in a total of $52M from ~150 investors including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Winklevoss Capital and about 100… Read More
The burst of the wearable bubble may have been overstated — on a global scale, at least. The category has been struggling here in the U.S., but internationally, it’s still seeing growth. Wearables are up eight-percent year-over-year, according to new numbers from Canalys — not exactly exponential, but at least things are trending in the right direction. It’ll come as… Read More
Things are not going so well for Blue Apron this morning after reporting its second-quarter earnings (its first earnings report ever), and the stock is crashing as a result of it. The company’s stock is down more than 14% on the earnings report, which came in pretty mixed compared to what Wall Street wanted. Blue Apron is looking to pull back on its marketing spend as it tries to get… Read More
Ikea’s smart lighting system has received an update that makes its wireless hub compatible with Apple’s HomeKit, as well as with Amazon Alexa, and Google Home. This means if you have the hub and bulbs, you should be able to control them with your voice using any of those devices, as well as control them in Apple’s iOS Home app. The update also makes it possible to discover… Read More
Finding a bra that fits well is hard, but Brayola is looking to make it easier. The ecommerce platform for bras has raised another $2.5 million in Series A financing, bringing the total A round to $5 million. Investors include The Firstime Fund, Ilan Shiloah, Nir Tralovsky, Jonathan Benartzi, Gett founders Shahar Waiser and Roi More, and Haim Dabah. The strategy behind Brayola is simple.… Read More
There are lots of reasons scammers send a phishing email. They may want to get access to the company network or perhaps a quick payout with ransomware. Maybe it’s just a good old-fashioned con to trick someone into sending money or personally identifiable information, but whatever the reason, everyday countless phishing emails are sent into the world, and some percentage of them are… Read More
Uber is starting to roll out a new in-app chat feature globally today, which will allow riders to send text messages directly to their driver once they book a ride, and vice versa. The new feature replaces the somewhat clunky mechanism of SMS for text communication between rider and driver, helping to preserve privacy for both sides in all markets, and cutting down on potential confusion.… Read More
Interest in blockchains is at an all-time high, but there are still plenty of technical issues to solve, especially for enterprises. For them, issues like throughput, latency, governance and confidentiality are still major stumbling blocks for using blockchains. With its new Coco Framework, Microsoft wants to solve these issues and make blockchains more suitable for the enterprise. Read More
This week seems to be a good one for media streaming companies in Asia. Hot on the heels of Malaysia-based Iflix raising $133 million for its Netflix-like service for emerging markets, Hong Kong’s PCCW has pulled in $110 million for its range of video and music streaming services. Hony Capital, which recently backed WeWork’s China business, Foxconn Ventures and Singapore… Read More
Amplitude has raised $30 million to fund what CEO Spenser Skates said is a mission of “helping product people build better products.” That’s not quite how Amplitude pitched itself initially, which was more about undercutting other analytics companies on price. Skates (pictured above with his co-founder Curtis Liu) said this is less a change in direction for the company than a… Read More
