Well that was fast. Just one day after WhatsApp revealed a sea-change in its attitude to user data, by detailing plans to share the mobile numbers and last seen status of its users with parent company Facebook for ad-targeting and marketing purposes, the UK’s data protection watchdog has fired a warning shot across Zuckerberg’s bows by announcing it intends to investigate the… Read More
A personalized video channel for Apple TV, Rheo, has now closed on $2.3 million in seed funding, the company announced this week. It has also updated its application and expanded its content lineup, thanks to a new deal with Vimeo which brings the network’s catalog of short videos, including its “Staff Picks,” short films, animations, music and more, to Rheo’s service.… Read More
Mobile ad startup AppLovin is in talks with a Chinese buyer for an acquisition of around $1.5 billion, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the company. We have not confirmed the identity of the acquirer. The deal is not yet finalized and details may change. Founded in 2012 by CEO Adam Foroughi along with Andrew Karam and John Kyrstynak, San Francisco-headquartered AppLovin operates… Read More
Google has a new director at its self-driving car unit: Shaun Stewart, former head of Airbnb’s vacation rentals business, and CEO at TripAdvisor prior to that. Stewart’s entire career has essentially been spent in the hospitality industry, which makes him an interesting pick for the role at Google, where his role will be to help with the commercializations of Google’s… Read More
Want to attend the Disrupt SF Hackathon but don’t have a ticket yet? We’re excited to announce the release of a fresh batch of tickets. And this hackathon comes with a twist. For the first time, there will be a special hackathon track dedicated to hacking on TechCrunch. In partnership with Automattic’s WordPress.com VIP team and CrunchBase, we’re granting access to all… Read More
Rackspace, which is still best known as a hosting company even as it has expanded aggressively into offering services for businesses that use other platforms, went public in 2008. Now, however, it’s going private again after accepting a $4.3 billion offer (or $32 per share) in cash from private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval and… Read More
We are often told that starting a startup on your own is madness. There are thousands of articles out there that tell you that and why why you need a co-founder. Probably solid advice, but data from CrunchBase shows a different side of the story. More than half of startups with an exit did so with just a single founder. The average is 1.72 founders. Read More
MIT and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) teamed up to create a new kind of structure that can “remember” its original shape, and return to that state even after being deformed or otherwise bent out of shape. This could be hugely beneficial in applications like creating drugs that can lie dormant until it detects a change in body temperature indicative of… Read More
FOX Sports GO has now arrived on Apple TV, allowing viewers to watch up to four games at the same time, thanks to an innovative split-screen interface that lets you arrange video feeds side-by-side, picture-in-picture style, or in a mosaic pattern. With the app, you’ll be able to stream from channels including Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Soccer Plus, Fox Deportes, and Fox College… Read More
Startup Battlefield is back. In just a few short weeks, TechCrunch’s premiere startup competition will kick off at Disrupt SF and we’re excited to announce the judges tasked with determining which company will take up the Disrupt Cup and $50,000. This year the competition features 23 young companies vying for attention and funding. Each will have six minutes to impress their panel… Read More
Sequoia-backed kids educational startup Duck Duck Moose is heading to Khan Academy, to add preschool learning to the non-profit’s digital education offerings. The startup’s 21 mobile apps aimed at children ages two and up are now available for free as a part of the move, which is not technically being considered an “acquisition,” due to the way the deal was… Read More
mSurvey, a Kenya based startup specializing in mobile data collection, has raised seed capital as it looks to expand its survey business in partnership with retailers in sub-Saharan Africa. Safaricom, Cross Culture Ventures, and the Virgin Group’s Alpha Angels joined an investment round in the four year old business. “It’s a seed round. I can’t disclose the amount,… Read More
While many of the ideas of transhumanism are noble, the field is accused of sharing traits with eugenics. I can’t answer the many ethical, moral and existential questions raised by transhumanism. All I know is that it’s inevitable that advances in robotics, bionics, AI and genetics will affect the next phase of human evolution — we shouldn’t underestimate the ethical… Read More
Self-driving cars have a tendency to become more adorable as big tech companies iterate their design, and Baidu’s new modified Chery eQ all-electric test vehicle is no exception. It resembles Google’s updated self-driving car, the panda-like EV, but it’s got more cabin room and still uses an existing vehicle platform for the basic car body and drivetrain, fitted with a… Read More
This year’s Paris motor show will host the unveiling of Volkswagen’s first all-electric car, according to an interview with company chairman Herbert Diess in German magazine WirstschaftWoche. The car will be roughly Golf-sized, according to the chairman, but will feel as roomy as a Passat on the inside, thanks to space saved via lighter frame construction and use of the electric… Read More
Danish startup Spiri believes urban transportation is still massively inefficient, and it’s setting out to tackle the problem from a few different directions. First, it’s building an on-demand carpooling service, similar to the UberPOOL offering (and the one Lyft just shut down). Second, it’s going to use its own custom electric vehicles to do so. Finally, it’s using… Read More
WhatsApp has started pushing out its new terms and conditions. If you want to opt out of sharing your data with Facebook for ad-targeting and product-related purposes, click through the slides to see how to do it… Read More
India-based mobile wallet startup MobiKwik has landed a $40 million strategic investment from Net1, a mobile payment firm specializing in solutions for the unbanked that has been listed on the NASDAQ since 2005. Read More
When I wrote “it’s game on” after Mondo became the last of the four British challenger banks to secure a banking license earlier this month, I didn’t think competitor Starling Bank would take my words quite so literally. Read More
London-based ticketing startup Dice, which sells mobile tickets without booking fees and with a current focus on millennials wanting to discover new bands to go see live, has closed a $6 million Series A funding round. Read More
