A new startup is setting out to help companies build and harness communities around their products, enabling them to side-step multiple disparate tools and manage everything in a single platform. Founded out of the Czech Republic in 2021, Talkbase launched out of stealth just a couple of weeks back, backed by $2 million in pre-seed funding … Read more
General Motors unveiled Thursday an all-electric GMC Sierra Denali pickup truck, the latest model in the automaker’s march towards a global annual sales target of 1 million electric vehicles by 2025. The GMC Sierra Denali EV isn’t the first electric truck or SUV on GM’s new Ultium platform. It’s actually the brand’s third battery-electric truck, … Read more
When Uils launched in 2021, it was a car rental service for rideshare drivers. But after the founders realized that many rideshare drivers don’t have access to credit, particularly in Latin America, the Buenos Aires-based company pivoted to fintech, offering financial services to drivers through a behavioral scoring engine based entirely on a person’s driving … Read more
Yat Siu, the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, has a lot of thoughts about the metaverse. That’s because his company owns The Sandbox and has investments in many different web3 companies, such as OpenSea, Dapper Labs and Axie Infinity. At TechCrunch Disrupt, he shared his thoughts about Meta’s take on the metaverse. “They … Read more
TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 — the first in-person Disrupt in three years — is in the books. And as always, we end it by crowning the winner of Startup Battlefield. It began with 20: As seasoned TechCrunch readers will know, startups participating in the Startup Battlefield were hand-picked to compete in the event. During the first … Read more
BeReal, the photo sharing app, has been a huge hit with Gen Z and beyond. Now with other big social apps rushing to clone some of its no-frills ethos, it’s put together a war chest to work on its next chapter. TechCrunch has learned that the startup closed a round of $60 million earlier this … Read more
Commercial EV company Arrival is restructuring its business for the second time in six months as it tries to squeeze the most out of its remaining capital. The company said in a regulatory filing posted Thursday that it is shifting its focus towards the to the United States and away from the UK market, where … Read more
Musk has previously gestured at plans for layoffs if he were to buy Twitter, but those cuts could go even deeper than previously imagined. According to a new report from the Washington Post, Musk plans to purge 75% of Twitter’s workforce, or around 5,600 employees. If Musk’s vision for a much leaner platform comes to … Read more
Snap reported its third quarter earnings Thursday, the first social media company to offer a financial update amidst ongoing economic tumult this quarter. The company, which has seen its stock price plunge to a fraction of what it was worth during 2021’s highs, missed analyst expectations on revenue, bringing in $1.13 billion compared to the … Read more
The final day of Disrupt kicked off in style with a conversation featuring four-time NBA All Star, Draymond Green. It was a spirited chat, covering the power forward’s push into media, including his podcast, The Draymond Green Show and deals with channels like TNT. Green also spoke at length about investing, managing mental health as … Read more
It’s no secret the pandemic has pushed healthcare to become virtual, in theory making it easier for patients to attend appointments and access the care they need. But Rebecca Weisinger, CEO and co-founder of Equipt Health, has seen plenty of patients falter in the long process of qualifying for devices they need. Equipt is a … Read more
Storyblocks is Handoff’s first pilot partner. (Left to right) job-share partner Jodie Reyes, Handoff founder LaToria Pierce, Storyblocks CEO TJ Leonard and job-share partner Redeit Admassie. Image Credits: Handoff Many qualified workers are failed by the current model of work in the United States, where jobs are either part time or full time. Working 40 … Read more
When venture markets flip from greed to fear, there’s a meme that goes around in startup circles that flat is the new up. It’s shorthand for the idea that in more difficult market conditions, a startup defending its prior valuation in a proximate venture round is as good as raising new capital at a higher … Read more
For the longest time, Zapier, which launched in 2011, was content with helping its users automate simple workflows and build integrations between various business-critical tools. That’s been a great business for the company, but users today expect a bit more, and over the course of the last couple of years, the company decided it was … Read more
Human drivers on the Lyft platform aren’t going to be replaced by autonomous vehicles anytime soon, company co-founder and president John Zimmer told the audience today at TechCrunch Disrupt. “I can’t imagine anytime in the next decade-plus where we would need any less drivers,” he said. While Zimmer envisions autonomous vehicles handling some percentage of … Read more
A month after Adobe announced its plans for acquiring Figma, the popular digital design startup, Figma CEO and co-founder Dylan Field sat down with our own enterprise reporter Ron Miller at Disrupt 2022 to discuss the deal and his motivations for selling to Adobe, a company that Figma’s own marketing materials have not always described … Read more
Greetings from the bowels of Moscone Center West. As I type this, Kevin Hart just exited the stage and Serena Williams is presiding over a packed house. No exaggeration: I attempted to make my way to grab a seat in the few rows up front allotted to the TechCrunch staff, but I physically couldn’t get … Read more
When Parker Conrad founded Rippling in 2016, the HR company initially focused on the process of onboarding employees. It has since evolved to manage all aspects of employee data, from payroll and benefits, to the apps employees use, to a device management platform that enables Rippling’s customers to retrieve, wipe clean and store employee computers … Read more
Clearview AI, the controversial facial recognition firm that scrapes selfies and other personal data off the Internet without consent to feed an AI-powered identity-matching service it sells to law enforcement and others, has been hit with another fine in Europe. This one comes after it failed to respond to an order last year from the … Read more
Draymond Green, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors, says he’s working with well-known investors involved in the tech space. That wasn’t a massive secret — Green has historically been quite public about his investments, like SmileDirectClub — but until this morning at TechCrunch Disrupt, he hadn’t previously … Read more
The Warriors’ Draymond Green took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt today where he discussed his podcast, social media… and yes, the Jordan Poole punch. Green has spent the last several years building up his resume off the court, most notably through his popular podcast, “The Draymond Green Show.” Green touched on how his podcast has … Read more
A 60/40 investment portfolio, in which 60% is invested in stocks and 40% in bonds, was long considered classic. But that’s no longer the case, as many investors are now diversifying beyond publicly traded assets. Alternative investments, or alts, are a direct corollary to diversified portfolios. And they are not just for institutional funds: Individual … Read more
Mercedes-Benz AG will source carbon-neutral lithium hydroxide to build batteries for electric vehicles from a Vancouver-based mining startup. Starting in 2026, the agreement with Rock Tech Lithium will provide Mercedes-Benz AG with an average of 10,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per year — enough for around 150,000 electric vehicles. Mercedes-Benz, which sells about two … Read more
Worker burnout is real. Reports suggest that work-related chronic stress could be costing businesses up to $190 billion annually in reduced output and sick days, not to mention the much-discussed “Great Resignation” where workers are jumping ship in search of a greater work-life balance. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared burnout an “occupational … Read more
A security vulnerability in Abode’s all-in-one home security system could allow malicious actors to remotely switch off customers’ security cameras. Abode’s Iota All-In-One Security Kit is a DIY home security system that includes a main security camera, motion sensors that can be attached to windows and doors, and a hub that can alert users of … Read more
Organic chemist Manuela Oliverio was working on a new drug when he noticed that test results on mice weren’t consistent, because the molecule being administered was always different depending on the chemist who produced it. It occurred to him that automation and robotics could make the drug development process more predictable, and so he founded … Read more
Meet Netmaker, a startup that can help you create and manage a virtual overlay network that works across the internet. In other words, Netmaker is a layer that makes it feel like different machines are right next to each other and connected to the same local network. Behind the scenes, Netmaker relies heavily on WireGuard, … Read more
When Operator Collective started in 2018, its idea of cultivating a community of operators as LPs to serve as a resource to its portfolio companies was unique. Now, it’s de rigueur as many firms build out their operator teams. But Operator Collective looks to prove that its model still rises above the rest with its … Read more
A new AI research company is launching out of stealth today with an ambitious goal: to research the fundamentals of human intelligence that machines currently lack. Called Generally Intelligent, it plans to do this by turning these fundamentals into an array of tasks to be solved and by designing and testing different systems’ ability to … Read more
Warner Bros. Discovery has partnered with blockchain company Eluvio to launch tomorrow “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (Extended Version) Web3 Movie Experience, with limited-edition multimedia non-fungible token (NFT) versions of the movie. “The Fellowship of the Ring” NFTs feature a 4K UHD, 3-hour-and-48-minute extended version of the 2001 film, over … Read more