Can lightning strike twice? That’s apparently the question being raised today with the public introduction of the next social app built by Instagram’s co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The duo launched a new venture to explore social apps, according to a report published in The Verge, which includes the debut product Artifact, a personalized … Read more
Big Tech take note: In what looks like a meaningful — and long overdue — reforming step, the European Commission has committed to dial up its monitoring of how data protection authorities at the EU Member State level enforce the bloc’s flagship data protection rules — committing to regular checks on “large scale” General Data … Read more
In its fourth-quarter earnings, Spotify announced today its User Choice Billing program has now expanded to more than 140 markets worldwide, allowing the streaming music service to reduce the commissions it pays to Google over Play Store purchases associated with its Android app. The User Choice Billing pilot program gives Android users the option to … Read more
Everyone’s talking about unplugging these days – climbing a mountain, trekking through the forest, finding your way to a truly secluded beach. Central to that concept is turning off notifications, uninstalling work apps or even — if you’re feeling especially brave — leaving the phone at home for a week or two. But is paradise … Read more
The move to the cloud, accelerated by the pandemic, continues unabated. By 2025, Gartner estimates that more than 95% of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms, up from 30% in 2021. The motivation is convenience partly — cloud platforms can be accessed from anywhere, ideal for the remote or hybrid workforce. But … Read more
When a startup graduates and becomes a “real” company, with hundreds of employees and the first inklings of large amounts of revenue, you could argue that a Team Slide is less important. Yes, the top leadership team still has to be good, but if the company is growing rapidly, getting new customers and delivering a … Read more
There are some people on the internet who don’t want to be found. That seems to be the case for the elusive, mysterious owner of Stripperweb, a twenty-year-old forum for exotic dancers and sex workers. With just one week of advance notice, the forum’s unknown owner announced that the website will shut down on February … Read more
Due diligence was a big topic in 2022 for a variety of reasons. But due diligence doesn’t just apply to investors pouring money into startups, or companies acquiring other companies. Businesses, especially those operating in financial services, also have to conduct an appropriate amount of due diligence, for example, to avoid fraud. As recently as … Read more
Reproductive rights is a hot-button topic for much of the political spectrum in the U.S. Against that backdrop. TBD Health is not-so-quietly making patient-focused and inclusive sexual healthcare available and accessible to everyone in the U.S., as it raises a $4.4 million round to scale up further. “At a time when women’s rights are being … Read more
When you live very far away from a grocery store, we’re talking like an hour and may include catching several buses or a rideshare, it can be difficult to make the weekly trip in. Enter Diferente, which touts itself as “the largest subscription foodtech for fresh organic produce in Brazil.” Former James Delivery founder Eduardo … Read more
Strike, a Bitcoin-based payment network and financial app, is expanding to the Philippines to grow cross-border payments and remittance markets. “The Philippines is one of the biggest remitting markets in the world, especially from the United States,” Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike, said to TechCrunch. In 2021, about $12.7 billion in cash remittances was sent … Read more
When you hear the word ‘intranet,’ chances are your mind is conjuring up images of badly designed internal communications platforms from the early aughts: a place for your internal communications team to post announcements you’re not going to read. To some degree, that hasn’t changed, but employee expectations have — and so has the work … Read more
Linktree, the popular link-in-bio startup, is continuing to build more tools to help creators make money on its platform. The company announced today that it’s introducing three new monetization features designed to help users turn their Linktree into a stronger earnings channel. First, Linktree is launching a new “Buy Me a Gift” button that is … Read more
Warners Bros. Discovery has reached deals with Roku and Tubi to license 2,000 hours of movies and TV shows, the companies announced on Tuesday. The deal will bring Warner Bros. branded free, ad-supported channels to the two streaming services. The channels will feature many popular titles, including HBO’s “Westworld,” which was recently removed from the HBO … Read more
NetApp, one of the big players in cloud data management, today announced that it would lay off 8% of its staff, citing “macroeconomic challenges and the reduced spending environment” in the current market. The company is estimated to employ about 12,000 people globally, so this will work out to around 960 people impacted. NetApp said … Read more
Select Star, a startup providing data discovery, lineage and governance tools to mostly enterprise organizations, today announced that it raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Bowery Capital, Sozo Ventures and Pebblebed. The fresh cash brings the company’s total raised to $20 million, and CEO Shinji … Read more
Laptops and tablets are getting better and more powerful by the day but our fingers aren’t getting any more precise, and for extended writing and work, it’s still more helpful to have a keyboard and a larger screen at hand. These types of products have been around for at least a decade, but what’s new … Read more
Eldar Tuvey Contributor Share on Twitter As the founder and CEO of SaaS purchasing platform Vertice, Eldar Tuvey is responsible for driving the company’s strategic direction and growth. The current state of affairs paints a concerning picture for SaaS buyers. Our data shows that the SaaS inflation rate is around four times higher than the … Read more
Welcome to the dark night of the smart speaker. A few years back, the category felt inevitable — and, frankly, why not? We’ve smartened our phones and watches. Why shouldn’t our homes be the next step? For decades, many looked longingly at home automation. Smart blinds that opened with your alarm clock might as well … Read more
Historically, oil and gas companies have monitored pipeline leaks using inefficient, expensive methods: workers equipped with handheld optical gas imaging cameras, for example. Or, as Orbital Sidekick CEO Dan Katz put it in a recent interview with TechCrunch, “a young pilot sticking their head out the window of a crop-duster.” “There’s really no persistent, objective, … Read more
Satellite imagery startup Capella Space is establishing a subsidiary aimed at serving U.S. government customers, as it seeks to fulfill growing demand from intelligence and defense organizations for its synthetic aperture radar tech. Capella is no stranger to working with the government. The company was founded almost seven years ago, and in that time it … Read more
Google’s new policy requiring digital lenders in Kenya to submit proof of license to operate in the East African country takes effect today. The policy aims to clamp down on rogue loan apps, which are pervasive in the country. This means that only providers with licenses from the country’s pinnacle bank, the Central Bank of … Read more
Developed by Andy Grove at Intel in the 1970s, OKR is now one of the most popular management methodologies. OKR, which stands for “objectives and key results,” helps companies achieve goals, including financial and operational targets. At places with a lot of employees, however, it can be hard to make sure everyone is on the … Read more
Google’s cell network provider Google Fi has confirmed a data breach, likely related to the recent security incident at T-Mobile, which allowed hackers to steal millions of customers’ information. In an email sent to customers on Monday, obtained by TechCrunch, Google said that the primary network provider for Google Fi recently informed the company that … Read more
Konstantin Valiotti Contributor Share on Twitter Konstantin Valiotti is product director of growth at PandaDoc. The journey new users go through when using your product directly affects how the product is evaluated and how it is perceived. The business model you choose strongly influences the entire funnel, enabling or preventing you from engaging certain types … Read more
After over ten years in operation, Tech Nation, the UK’s government-sanctioned ecosystem builder for UK tech startups and growth tech companies is to cease operations after losing its grant funding to a programme run by Barclays Bank Eagle Labs. The team behind the non-profit, which derived the bulk of its funding from the UK government, … Read more
Dutch social enterprise Fairphone, which makes modular and — the claim is — more sustainable and ethical consumer electronics, has nabbed a chunk of funding to continue scaling a circular-economy-aligned smartphone business. The €49 million (~$53M) “growth capital” investment — from an international consortium of impact investors, led by new shareholders Invest-NL, the ABN AMRO … Read more
Small and medium businesses have become a growing target for malicious online hackers in recent years, currently accounting for between 43% and 61% of all security breaches and some $7 billion annually in related losses, according to different estimates. Today, a startup called Guardz is emerging from stealth with a two-part offering aimed at protecting … Read more
As venture capital investments slowed down in 2022, some startups turned to private credit, including debt capital, as a way to supplement their operations in the meantime. However, the policies and procedures paperwork that goes with these deals aren’t always easy to understand. Finley CEO Jeremy Tsui told TechCrunch that private credit is a $1.2 … Read more
Showing that there’s real investor enthusiasm for identity management platforms, Saviynt, which enables companies to secure apps, data and infrastructure in a single platform, today announced that it raised $205 million in debt from AB Private Credit Investors’ Tech Capital Solutions group. Founder Sachin Nayyar, who returned to Saviynt as CEO this week alongside newly-appointed … Read more