Battlefield bots

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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

Tech companies added fertility features just in time for the culture war

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Anti-abortion groups are pushing back against hormonal birth control. | Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images Tech companies picked an interesting time to start including women’s and reproductive health in their products. For years, they sidestepped the issue: Apple didn’t include period tracking in its health app until 2015. Fitbit only added … Read more

One month after entering the spend management space, Rippling goes after global payroll

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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

Draymond Green isn’t starting a fund, but is working with top VCs

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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 talks podcasts, social media and the elephant in the room

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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

Will alternative investments become a staple in all investors’ portfolios?

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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

Biden group casts Dark Brandon in student debt relief ad

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Dark Brandon directs voters to the StudentAid.gov debt relief website. | Image: Building Back Together Building Back Together, a pro-Biden political advocacy group, launched a six-figure digital ad campaign on Wednesday to boost the administration’s student loan relief program in key battleground states across the country. And to make sure it landed with young voters, … Read more

Mercedes-Benz partners with Canadian mining company for CO2-neutral lithium hydroxide for EVs

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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

Ambr wants to solve the billion-dollar burnout problem by tracking employees’ working habits

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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