There’s no arguing that the Snapbot is an impressive display of retail technology, But if Snap wants to achieve widespread distribution of Spectacles (and presumably other forthcoming hardware devices), it eventually had to expand beyond the Snapbot. So yesterday the camera company opened a pop-up shop inside the famous London department store Harrods, which marks the first time you can… Read More
Lyft is betting the future of the road centers on sharing autonomous vehicles. It aims to be at the forefront of that technology with a new self-driving division and a self-driving system car manufacturers could plug into their self-driving cars.
The company expects to hire “hundreds” of people for the new division by the end of next year and has just signed a lease for… Read More
Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator is raising up to $1 billion for a new venture capital fund, Axios is reporting this morning. The fundraising comes less than two years after YC announced the close of its first big investing vehicle, a $700 million growth fund called the Y Combinator Continuity fund that it hired Ali Rowghani to oversee. Read More
If you’re among those who use a projector for your home theater, you haven’t really had a great option for jumping on the 4K bandwagon, and you might be feeling left out now that the high-resolution tech is more common among TV manufacturers. But now there’s a great, relatively affordable way to get onboard 4K with a projection-based setup, thanks to Optoma’s new UHD60.… Read More
“Mr. Nivi has no role at the company” AngelList COO Graham Jenkin told TechCrunch in response to questions regarding the curious absence of the investment platform’s co-founder. It’s atypical for the creator of such a high-profile company to seemingly disappear without any form of announcement. Read More
Hulu’s Live TV service, the expanded version of Hulu launched in May which provides access to live television in addition to Hulu’s existing on-demand library, is now available on Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. This is the first major platform expansion since the service’s debut, as it was initially available on iOS, Android, Chromecast, Apple TV and Xbox One. Amazon Fire… Read More
Klarna, the Swedish startup that works with e-commerce businesses and retailers to provide financing and other payment services, today announced that it has picked up yet another large investment, its third inside of two months. Permira, the private equity firm and prolific late-stage tech investor, has taken a minimum 10 percent stake in the fintech business. Klarna and Permira are not… Read More
The next installment of Call of Duty is coming on November 4, and with it the franchise is returning to its boots-on-the-ground roots. The company has already revealed that the game, developed by Sledgehammer, is centered around WWII, and we’ve seen trailers and even gotten our own chance to play Multiplayer at E3 this year. But today, at San Diego Comic-Con, Sledgehammer has revealed… Read More
Roku is doing an IPO this year, Netflix shares soared after an earnings beat and Shyp is throwing in the towel everywhere but San Francisco. Cord-cutting was the theme of the latest episode of TechCrunch’s “Equity,” a podcast about tech business news. This week, our special guest was Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta. TechCrunch’s Silicon Valley editor Connie Loizos… Read More
Stargate is the epic, storied TV and movie sci-fi franchise that gets the least amount of credit, overshadowed by the likes of Star Trek and Star Wars. But fans of the series know the truth: Stargate is a deep well of space adventure fiction that you can lose yourself in, and it’s fantastic that it’s coming back with Stargate Origins, a new series coming to MGM’s… Read More
The U.S. tech IPO window may have reopened in 2017 following a lull last year, but the outlook is also looking rosier for another listing platform located on the other side of world. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) is experiencing a renaissance of sorts among the tech industry. Selfie app company Meitu held the largest listing from a tech company for nearly a decade in December —… Read More
ORII is a new smart ring that gives you full hands-free control of your smartphone. The device connects to your phone with Bluetooth and it can be used to provide crystal-clear audio, which makes it an interesting tool for those with sight or hearing issues. Read More
While the White House mulls striking up a joint cyber program with Russia, an unlikely vigilante is taking care of business. As the Daily Beast reports, Microsoft has been waging a quiet war against the hacking entity known as Fancy Bear, which is believed to be associated with the GRU, Russia’s covert military intelligence agency. Read More
Legendary Pokémon come to Pokémon GO, Elon Musk says he has verbal OK to build tunnel on the East Coast, YouTube Live launches in 10 more markets and Intel launches deep learning on a stick with Movidius technology. All this on Crunch Report! Read More
Alright, sub-Saharan African startups, if you want to get in on our inaugural Startup Battlefield Africa, the time to act is now. Seriously. Right now. Tomorrow is the last day to submit an application to the Battlefield, so be sure to get over to our application page right now and get your application in. Read More
When news recently broke that multiple women have accused 500 Startups founder Dave McClure of sexual harassment, I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. In 2015, I was propositioned and groped by a 500 Startups venture partner named Tristan Pollock during an event here in Taipei while working as a contributor for TechCrunch. After 500 Startups conducted an internal investigation… Read More
Square just announced that Randy Garutti, the CEO of Shake Shack, is joining the payment company’s board of directors.
Garutti has been with Shack Shack since before they opened their first location in 2004, and led the company public in their 2015 IPO. Garutti has spent his entire career in the hospitality business, and will undoubtedly come to Square with an insider’s perspective. Read More
Samsung’s next Unpacked event is arriving right on schedule — and all signs point to it bringing the Galaxy Note 8 along for the ride. The big show lines up with the phablet’s traditional release schedule, and the graphic appears to show an Infinity Display version of the Note 8, along with the requisite S-Pen (don’t call it a) stylus. Read More
Fundraising is a stressful process. You do all you can to impress prospective investors by honing the story, optimizing key metrics and making your company look as attractive as possible. But before you decide the amount of money you raise and the type of investor you want on board, you must decide the kind of relationship you intend to have with your new partner. Read More
The robotics industry is at an important crossroads. We were honored to host many of the greatest minds in the field as industry and university leaders joined us at TC Sessions: Robotics, including Amazon Robotics’ Tye Brady, Disney Robotics’ Martin Buehler, MIT CSAIL director Daniela Rus, ABB’s Sami Atiya and all three iRobot co-founders, Colin Angle, Helen Grenier and… Read More
