The Los Angeles-based commerce and content platform StackCommerce has been acquired by Integrated Media Company, a holding company set up by the massive private equity fund TPG to acquire new media businesses. StackCommerce’s affiliate buying platform has distributed more than $175 million on its platform by going directly to merchants. Through its platform, publishers can […]
Babbel, the Berlin-based language-learning platform, today announced that it is now going well beyond its core app-based learning service and is introducing live classes. Capped at six students, these conversation-driven classes will be taught by certified teachers, using Babbel’s existing methodology. Learners can add live classes to their existing Babbel subscription for an additional fee, […]
Nearly a year ago, the spread of COVID-19 ended the daily commute for millions of Americans, an abrupt change that sent the ridesharing industry into a free fall. Hip, which connected commuters with third-party bus and shuttle operators via an app, was just one of the many mobility-as-a-service startups that watched its clientele and revenue […]
Cloud hosting company Scaleway is adding a new type of instances today — Mac minis powered by Apple’s M1 chip. The new instances cost €0.10 per hour, around $0.12 at today’s rate — there’s a minimum commitment of 24 hours. Scaleway is hosting those new computers in its DC4 data center in Paris — it’s a former […]
Miami tech is in a nascent phase to the outside world, and it allows the locals and newcomers to learn from major tech hubs' mistakes and decidedly do things differently.
Alloy Automation, a startup that was part of the Y Combinator Winter 2020 cohort, announced today that it has closed $5 million across two rounds, the most recent of which brought $4 million to the company in October of 2020. The new funds were raised at a $16 million pre-money, $20 million post-money valuation, Alloy […]
As the COVID-19 era drags on, first-time founders need to find new ways to raise capital needed to keep startups offensive (and defensive). Luckily, a trio of investors from top venture capital firms are joining us at TC Sessions: Justice on March 3 to make sense of different paths to funding. The panel will include […]
TrustLayer, which provides insurance brokers with risk management services via a SaaS platform, has raised $6.6 million in a seed round. Abstract Ventures led the financing, which also included participation from Propel Venture Partners, NFP Ventures, BoxGroup and Precursor Ventures. Interestingly, the startup also got some industry validation in the way of investors. Twenty of […]
Trades in the infamous Reddit-basket of stocks and trades are taking a pounding today, with GameStop down 52.7%, AMC Entertainment off 42.7%, the silver-squeeze flopping and more. CNBC has a longer list if you want to feast your eyes on the carnage. What a surprise that the thing that was always going to happen, has […]
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced today that Amazon will be required to pay $61.7 million to settle charges that it withheld some customer tips from its Amazon Flex drivers over a two and half year period. According to the complaint against Amazon and its subsidiary Amazon Logistics, the company had advertised that it paid […]
Udemy, which launched more than a decade ago, has sold courses to 50 million students through its digital learning platform. But new president Greg Brown sees “exponential growth” opportunities in doubling down on its enterprise arm, which currently has over 7,000 customers. In a phone interview, Brown said Udemy for Business, the company’s corporate learning […]
Car insurance startup MetroMile said it has fixed a security flaw on its website that allowed a hacker to obtain driver’s license numbers. The San Francisco-based insurance startup disclosed the security breach in its latest 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. MetroMile said a bug in the quote form and application process […]
There are some additions to the TechCrunch team that I’m happy to announce. First, Kirsten Korosec, who has been with us for more than two years, was promoted to Transportation Editor. Kirsten has done amazing work, helping to elevate our foothold in the transportation space and making our Mobility events some of the most successful […]
An “anonymously”-led startup called Millions has raised a $3 million seed round for its fintech company that’s currently giving away free money through its Twitter account. The concept, inspired by the likes of YouTuber David Dobrik, is partly aimed at attracting attention for the new company but is also setting the stage for a forthcoming […]
If you’ve ever applied for a mortgage, you know it’s one of the most painful processes out there. Keeping up with payments and dealing with customer service over the course of the loan is no picnic either. So it’s no surprise that big bucks are being poured into the space with the goal of making […]
Atlassian has made it clear for some time that it’s all in on the cloud, but now it’s official. The company stopped selling new on-prem server licenses as of yesterday. Perhaps to take away the sting of that move for large organizations, today it announced a new all-inclusive enterprise pricing tier. Atlassian chief revenue officer […]
Own a Tesla Model S or Model X? It might have a recall, and it’s serious. Tesla today issued one of its largest recalls to date, covering roughly 135,000 Model S and Model X. The touchscreen is the concern. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the touchscreen in these vehicles can fail […]
Uber today announced plans to acquire alcohol delivery service Drizly. The approximately $1.1 billion deal includes stock and cash and is expected to close in the first half of the year. The plan will build Drizly’s marketplace directly into the Uber Eats app, though the company notes that it will maintain Drizly as a standalone […]
