Former Uber chief Travis Kalanick has appointed two more people to the ridesharing company’s board. One of the seats is going to Ursula Burns, former CEO and Chairwoman of Xerox. The other is going to John Thain, who has served as CEOs of CIT Group, Merrill Lynch and the New York Stock Exchange. A spokesperson for Kalanick provided us with the following statement: “I am happy to… Read More
Digital streaming business Roku has soared in its public debut. After pricing its IPO Wednesday at $14 per share, Roku finished its first day of trading at $23.50, up nearly 68%. And by the end of Friday, Roku closed at $26.54, or up 90% in less than 48 hours. The company is now valued at about $2.6 billion. So this must be great news for the company, right? Well, sort of. Roku’s team… Read More
Emilio Ferrara has been thinking about botnets for over a decade. As the first social networks climbed out of the mire, he noticed that they were very easy to game. Now, it seems, all of those early tools have finally been weaponized. I spoke to Ferrara about his research work as well as his fascinating study that found that Twitter bots can be used for good. In this episode of Technopia we… Read More
French startup Heetch has been around for quite a few years. While things were running smoothly, the company had to start over mostly from scratch. In March 2017, a court in Paris ruled that Heetch had been illegally operating a transportation company. The startup is now rising from the ashes and raising $12 million from Felix Capital, Via ID and Alven Capital to fund its new service. According… Read More
TechCrunch has learned that Apple has acquired a small French startup called Regaind, according to multiple sources. As always, Apple is very quiet when it comes to acquisitions, but it’s always interesting to learn more about Apple’s interests. We’ve reached out to Apple and the company sent us the following statement: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time… Read More
It’s been a busy year for Sphero, with the release of products like R2-D2, Spider-Man and Lightning McQueen. But the robotic toy startup is still making non-licensed, non-tie in products too — including the Sphero Mini, its most affordable toy yet. “We wanted to make Sphero products accessible to everyone,” said co-founder and Chief Software Architect Adam Wilson. The… Read More
Elon Musk gave a keynote address yesterday to the International Aeronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia. During the 43 minute talk, which is embedded above, Musk laid out SpaceX’s future including colonizing Mars and building one rocket to rule them all. The talk is fantastic. Elon was Elon and revealed countless details about future SpaceX plans. This is why he’s celebrated… Read More
The 12 startups of Techstars NYC‘s latest class are taking over tonight’s NY Tech Meetup. This “community demo day” is part of Managing Director Alex Iskold attempt to rethink the traditional accelerator demo day. (Don’t worry, the startups will get to meet with investors too, through one-on-one sessions during Techstars’ investor week.) I recently visited… Read More
Boston-based private equity shop Berkshire Partners announced this afternoon that it is acquiring Accela — a nearly 20 year old startup that sells regulatory management solutions to government clients. Accela has gone through a troika of CEOs in the last year. Previously acting CEO Mark Jung replaced Maury Blackman last October who had managed the company for about a decade. Five… Read More
American Airlines and Casper are announcing a new partnership that could help passengers (like me) who have trouble sleeping on flights. They’re not going as far as putting Casper mattresses on planes. Instead, they say they worked together to create eight new sleep products designed to improve in-flight slumber. Those products include a mattress pad that fits over your seat, a… Read More
Angry Birds-maker Rovio Entertainment priced its IPO at 11.50 euros, at the top of its proposed range. It raises 30 million euros in proceeds. This values the company a little above $1 billion, just half of the $2 billion the company was previously said to be hoping for. The company previously raised at least $42 million in venture funding from Accel, Atomico, Felicis Ventures and… Read More
Varsity Tutors, the education platform that connects students with tutors, has today announced the acquisition of First Tutors in the UK. This marks the first major international expansion for Varsity Tutors, which has raised $57 million since launch in 2011. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Varsity Tutors originally launched as a platform that would connect tutors with students and… Read More
Aeronautics industry giant Airbus is teaming up with hardware early-stage investment firm HAX to create a four-month accelerator program based in Shenzhen focused on a high-flying goal – “urban air mobility.” The program will seek to guide startups working on various aspects of flying cars and aerial city transportation, including air traffic management, perception systems… Read More
It’s time to put an end to these dumb automatic customer support calls that ask you to press 1, then press 4, then press 2, then say “yes”… CallDesk is working on a virtual agent for customer support calls. Think something like Siri for customer calls. Point Nine Capital and EQT Ventures are investing in today’s funding round of $2.5 million (€2.1 million). There… Read More
Eden, the office management and tech support platform, has today closed $10 million in Series A funding led by Spectrum 28, with participation from Fifth Wall Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Y Combinator Continuity Fund, Canvas Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Eniac Ventures and other existing investors. Eden started out as a tech support service for both businesses and consumers. The… Read More
Don’t expect the ARKit app rush to end any time soon. MojiLala, the betaworks-backed marketplace for emojis and emoticons, is today launching their second app. Meet Surreal, a marketplace that lets users buy virtual objects. The app opens up to an outward-facing camera and lets users choose animated virtual objects, which they can place in a photo or video. Right now, Surreal only… Read More
XO Group has acquired Veri, a startup that allows users to automatically share photos of weddings and other important events. XO Group’s flagship property is The Knot, which has been used by 25 million couples to plan their weddings. So Veri seems like a pretty natural fit — the digital media company says it paid $3.5 million in cash for the startup. Both CEO Michael Steib and… Read More
There’s a lot of talk about employees wanting much more flexible work schedules, and a lot of that is thanks to the emergence of companies like Lyft and Uber that allow people to work on their own schedules. But that ability still doesn’t exist for the rest of the world, especially when it comes to hourly jobs with rigid schedules. But that doesn’t mean that employees… Read More
Today, yet another subscription service joins the pack. Sofia Vergara and Renata Black’s EBY underwear enterprise has just gone live, letting users sign up to receive three pairs of new underwear each three months. But EBY is much more than your average subscription service. Just as Warby Parker and Lemonade built a layer of social good right into their businesses, EBY is also using tech… Read More
Fintech startup Revolut is trying so many things at once that it’s hard to keep track of everything. This time, the company is partnering with Simplesurance to launch a new insurance product. You can now insure your cell phone for £1 per week/£42 per year, which represents $1.35 per week/$56.50 per year. Most telecom companies already provide cell phone insurance options. But they tend… Read More
Startup funding may seem like a cut-and-dry affair. Money goes into a startup in exchange for shares in the startup. Easy enough, right? Not so much. There are plenty of complex terms, clauses, provisions and other conditions written into investment agreements. So in this series, we’re exploring how some of the most common funding terms affect the fundraising process. Read More
Managed by Q, the platform that helps office managers handle day-to-day operations, has made its first acquisition, picking up Y Combinator graduates Hivy for an undisclosed amount. Managed By Q lets office managers book cleanings, handy work, IT help, and order office supplies thanks to a partnership with Staples. MBQ has raised upwards of $72 million and now serves New York, Chicago, San… Read More
One of the big promises with iOS 11 is ARKit. This new framework makes it much easier to look at virtual objects in the real world using augmented reality. Sketchfab has been building the biggest 3D model sharing platform, a sort of YouTube for 3D models. That’s why today’s iOS update turns Sketchfab into a thorough augmented reality app. This implementation isn’t perfect… Read More
While many folks think of Yelp as a place to find a great place to eat, the company has been quietly infiltrating other categories. Home Services — stuff like plumbing, movers, mechanics, etc. — seem to be a booming business for Yelp, now representing 20 percent of the company’s overall revenue. So it only makes sense that Yelp has been tailoring features specifically for… Read More
Plume Labs wants to be the definitive startup when it comes to air pollution. The company has built an app, an API and now an air quality tracker. The Flow is a tiny Bluetooth device you pair with your smartphone to learn more about the air you’re currently breathing. It works both inside and outside and could be particularly useful if you live in a polluted city. It tracks… Read More
