People were already buying fewer handsets well before COVID-19 came into our lives. Now that the pandemic has impacted most of the world, however, those figures have taken an even more sizable dip — with shipments down 12% by the latest count. Budget devices have managed to hold firm in some markets, however, as consumers […]
A number of high-profile firms and startups have set up logistics networks in India in the last decade as they attempt to digitize neighborhood stores. Bangalore-headquartered startup Udaan, for instance, works directly with brands and sellers to source inventory and sells and delivers it to stores through its business-to-business marketplace. It’s a big opportunity. Most […]
Meet PhotoRoom, a French startup that has been working on a utility photography mobile app. The concept is extremely simple, which is probably the reason why it has attracted a ton of downloads over the past few months. After selecting a photo, PhotoRoom removes the background from that photo and lets you select another background. […]
When Nigerian angel investor Tomi Davies backed his first company — Strika Entertainment in 2001 — he admits he wasn’t aware of his future role. “I was just helping out friends. I didn’t know it was angel investing. I didn’t know there was a structure to it,” he said. Seven years later, Davies received a […]
Abu Dhabi-based sovereign firm Mubadala has become the latest investor in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Platforms, joining five American firms, including Facebook and Silver Lake, that have secured stakes in India’s biggest telecom operator at the height of a once-in-a-century global pandemic. Mubadala said it had agreed to invest $1.2 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms […]
GM’s electric offensive to bring at least 20 new EVs to market by 2023 reportedly includes a commercial van. Reuters reported Thursday that the company is developing an electric van for the commercial market. Code-named BV1, the vehicle is expected to start production in late 2021 and will use the Ultium battery system that was […]
Corporate harassment training is often defined by mandatory annual workshops, stock photo-ridden curricula and, often, outdated scenarios. Harvard graduates Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen think there’s a business in doing better than that. The duo co-founded Ethena, a software-as-a-service startup that sells anti-harassment training software that is more comprehensive and flexible than the status quo. […]
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced a settlement of $150,000 with HyperBeard, the developer of a collection of children’s mobile games over violations of U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule). The company’s applications had been downloaded more than 50 million times on a worldwide basis to date, according to data […]
When Clearpath Robotics CEO and co-founder Matthew Rendall looks at the “miles” of roads inside industrial factories, he sees them filled with autonomous vehicles. And in the past five years, the company has inched toward that goal through its industrial division OTTO Motors. The division, which launched in 2015, has landed a number of customer […]
Mercato Partners, a 13-year-old, Salt Lake City, Utah-based investment firm that oversees a growth fund, a secondary investment fund and a venture fund, has launched yet another fund — this one a $90 million vehicle that the firm says will be used to invest in restaurant concepts that are gaining traction. Its timing is interesting, […]
Apps like Signal are proving invaluable in these days of unrest, and anything we can do to simplify and secure the way we share sensitive information is welcome. To that end Signal has added the ability to blur faces in photos sent via the app, making it easy to protect someone’s identity without leaving any […]
Today Slack reported its earnings results for the three months ending April 30, 2020, the first quarter of its fiscal 2021. The well-known SaaS chat service posted revenue of $201.7 million, up 50% compared to its year-ago period. Slack also reported an adjusted per-share loss of $0.02, and per-share losses of $0.13 when counting all […]
VMware is acquiring network security firm Lastline, TechCrunch has learned. Since its launch in 2012, Lastline raised about $52.2 million, according to Crunchbase. Investors include Thomvest Ventures, which led the company’s $28.5 million Series C round in 2017; Redpoint and e.ventures, which led the company’s 2013 funding round; and Barracuda Networks, NTT Finance and Dell […]
A new study on kids’ app usage and habits indicates a major threat to YouTube’s dominance, as kids now split their time between Google’s online video platform and other apps, like TikTok, Netflix and mobile games like Roblox. Kids ages four to 15 now spend an average of 85 minutes per day watching YouTube videos, […]
Since late-2015, LinkNYC kiosks have become a mainstay among New York’s sidewalks. A more modern replacement for decaying and disused public pay phones, the nine-foot-tall towers provide corners with access to public Wi-Fi, USB charging and access to emergency services. The most striking aspect however, are the large side displays that alternate between advertising and […]
Facebook will soon add labels to news outlets owned or otherwise controlled by a government, marking that information as, if not necessarily false or unreliable, at least worth considering the origin of. Those so labeled will also be banned from buying ads starting this summer. The company announced its plan to do this a few […]
The world feels as fragile as ever, and those with any options at all are looking to get away this summer. To many, planes and hotel rooms won’t be a possibility, owing to continued concerns about the coronavirus (not to mention the expense, which 40 million fewer Americans can likely afford). That leaves perhaps renting […]
Earlier this week, Lego sent a letter to affiliates requesting a wide range of kits be removed from all sites and marketing. The list featured a number of different kits involving police minifigs (yes, including “Donut Shop Opening”), along with the White House. There’s been some murky information surrounding the extent of Lego’s move, but […]
Google security researchers say they’ve identified efforts by at least two nation state-backed hackers against the Trump and Biden presidential campaigns. Shane Huntley, director for Google’s Threat Analysis Group, said in a tweet that hackers backed by China and Iran recently targeted the campaigns using malicious phishing emails. But, Huntley said, there are “no signs […]
