Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by … Read more
Venture capital has been on a roller coaster this year. It came into 2022 riding the wave of the strongest year for venture deployment on record, just before the stock market plummeted and dragged venture down with it. As the third quarter comes to a close, things have started to get really interesting — again. … Read more
Welcome to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s inspired by the daily TechCrunch+ column where it gets its name. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. More companies are adopting product-led growth (PLG), in which the product itself does most of the selling, and usage-based pricing (UBP) — meaning users … Read more
Trevor Martin’s Mammoth Biosciences aims to use CRISPR technology to democratize disease detection. Join this TechCrunch Live event to hear from Trevor Martin and Mayfield investor Ursheet Parikh on how Mammoth Biosciences positioned itself to achieve the lofty goal. Spoiler: Trevor Martin spent time putting the basics in place to ensure future success. This TechCrunch … Read more
Juno, a startup that provides checking accounts to crypto enthusiasts and allows them to take their paychecks in digital tokens, has raised a new funding round as it expands its offerings to include a tokenized loyalty program. The one-and-a-half-year old startup has amassed over 75,000 customers in the U.S. who take their salaries (some in … Read more
There’s another space-proven private launch company in the club — Firefly Aerospace. The company’s small payload Alpha rocket reached orbit successfully early on Saturday morning after taking of from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This is a major achievement for Firefly, which has been a lot to get here: The company originally began operations … Read more
Tesla unveiled its first actual prototype of its Optimus humanoid robot on Friday — an actual robot this time, by the strictest definition, instead of a rreal flesh and blood human clad in a weird suit. The robot performed some basic functions, including walking a little bit and then raising its hands — all for … Read more
Tesla CEO Elon Musk kicked off its Tesla AI Day 2022 with a quick level set on expectations — “we’ve come a long way” — and then stepped aside to allow the first iteration of its robot walk out onto the stage. The robot wasn’t a human dressed in a robot costume like last year. … Read more
When ByteDance bought the Chinese VR headset maker Pico a year ago, the message it sent was clear: it was betting that the immersive device would be where future generations spend most of their time consuming digital content. It’s a marriage reminiscent of Meta’s acquisition of Oculus back in 2014, except the world is now … Read more
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Happy Friday! We don’t know about you, but we are both ready for some R&R after ploughing through a wall of deep-cringe texts from the Musk/Twitter trial. We hope you get some, … Read more
Google appears to have disabled access to Google Translate in parts of China, redirecting visitors to the Hong Kong domain — which isn’t accessible from the mainland. According to users on Reddit and site archives viewed by TechCrunch, Google swapped the Google Translate interface at translate.google.cn with a generic Google Search page at some point … Read more
Volvo is one of those brands with a core identity so firmly cemented that no amount of marketing can counter it. Volvo is safety first. Even if you don’t know the details of their involvement with the three-point seatbelt (they invented it) or the airbag (one of the first to bring them to market in … Read more
Crypto has evolved from a niche product into a critical piece of the infrastructure underpinning an entirely new vision for the internet — web3. Startups are at the core of this innovation, and despite volatility in the crypto markets, builders in the space have remained steady in their efforts to leverage blockchain technology to reshape … Read more
Embedded insurance — selling coverage at the same time as another product or service — is on the rise. According to data platform Dealroom, it accounts for a growing share of all policies sold, and startups in this space raised nearly $800 million in 2021 alone. Having recently polled investors on all things insurtech, we … Read more
Everyone knows membership has its privileges. And that adage holds true at TechCrunch Disrupt, which takes place on October 18–20 in San Francisco. How so? Disrupt attendees who hold one- or two-year subscriptions to TC+ receive exclusive access to the TC+ Lounge at the show. Let’s back up a moment. If you’re not familiar with … Read more
Tesla AI Day is here — the company’s second-annual event designed to show off its progress in AI and robotics. Viewers should expect demos and updates on the Optimus robot, the Dojo supercomputer as well as its “Autopilot” advanced driver assistance system, along with the $15,000 upgrade known as FSD, or “Full Self Driving.” (Tesla … Read more
Is Tumblr porn making a comeback? No, it’s not — and Amanda Silberling joins me on this week’s TechCrunch podcast to explain why, and why people thought it might be. Devin Coldewey also joins us to talk about NASA’s DART mission, which saw the U.S. space agency throw a little spacecraft at a big asteroid … Read more
India’s market regulator has tightened disclosure norms for firms looking to file for an initial public offering after lackluster performance of more than half a dozen tech startups in the past year and a half. Firms looking to raise funds from public offers will now be required by law to disclose their key performance indicators … Read more
It’s been a little over a year since accelerator 500 Startups rebranded to 500 Global in an attempt to reposition itself as a venture firm. It also launched a $140 million fund to invest in later-stage companies for a total of $2.8 billion in assets under management, according to its website. The new 500 fund … Read more
Twitter is launching a redesigned user interface for DMs on Android, the company announced on Friday. Starting today, Twitter users on Android will see a more modern interface for direct messages that is consistent with the rest of the app. With this rollout, Twitter is bringing the Android experience on par with its iOS interface. … Read more
Between recent drama around gambling and its controversial decision to take a bigger slice of the subscription revenue pie, it’s been a dramatic couple of weeks for Twitch. Now, the company says it’s testing one new way for streamers to bring in cash from their most committed followers in the form of “elevated chats,” which … Read more
Jason Schoettler Contributor Share on Twitter Jason Schoettler is co-founder and managing partner of Calibrate Ventures. Raising a Series B for any startup is challenging right now, with many VCs pulling back on investments — funding for Series B rounds across all sectors fell 55% in August compared to a year earlier, for example. But … Read more
The demand for some services can be so high, it can insulate their providers against the vagaries of the market. During an economic downturn, consumers don’t cut back on pet food or toilet paper. Similarly, everyone needs insurance. Between 2016 and 2022, insurtech startups received around $43 billion in funding, and despite the downturn, most … Read more
Today is the final day of Q3 2022, which means we’re heading rapidly toward the end of the year. And because today is the final day of a financial reporting period, it’s a great time to join TechCrunch+! Jokes aside, we had a long list of expectations here at The Exchange, but, sadly, much of … Read more
Geely Holding Group acquired a 7.6% share of British luxury automaker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings, helping cement the Chinese company’s stake in luxury and European brands. Geely will not get a board seat in the deal, but that hasn’t seemed to matter in its past dealings. Geely, which owns Lotus and its the largest … Read more
Are you ready to rumble, TechCrunch style? Twenty of the most promising and creative early-stage startups — chosen from the elite Startup Battlefield 200 — will bring the heat for $100,000 in the world-renown Startup Battlefield competition at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco. We have an outstanding cohort of VCs ready to … Read more
YouTube TV launched a new option that allows subscribers to purchase add-ons without subscribing to the full channel offering in the service’s Base plan. With this new à la carte plan, subscribers can access more than 20 add-on channels, from Showtime and HBO Max to NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, and Starz among others. This confirms … Read more
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Before we get into this week’s show notes, some programming notes: First up, use code “EQUITY” for a special listener discount for Disrupt tickets. We’re less than one month away! We also have a special … Read more
EV startup Arrival said Friday it has produced its first battery-electric van, a significant step toward its goal to deliver the vans to commercial customers at scale. The Arrival van is the first vehicle built at the company’s Microfactory in Bicester, U.K., which uses autonomous mobile robots instead of a traditional assembly line. The remaining … Read more
Astra is bringing on Silicon Valley veteran Axel Martinez as its new Chief Financial Officer, a C-suite change that in many ways demarcates a new chapter for the space company. Martinez’s career includes a decade tenure at Google, where he held multiple roles including head of capital markets; VP of treasury at Uber; and CFO … Read more