TechCrunch Startup News
TechCrunch
Listen to select TechCrunch articles on startups coverage—who's raising, who's exiting, who's changing the world.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 6, 2019 • 3min
Sendbird snags additional $50M for messaging API tool, as it extends Series B to $102M
Sendbird, a startup that enables developers to add messaging to their apps with a couple of lines of code, announced a secondary Series B investment of $50 million today. This additional funding comes on top of the $52 million, the company raised in February. The new money was led by Tiger Global Management with significant participation from the Iconiq, the firm that led the initial Series B round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 6, 2019 • 3min
SeatGeek names former Tumblr and NYT exec Brian Murphy as CTO
Ticketing startup SeatGeek has a new CTO. Brian Murphy previously held the same position at Tumblr (which, like TechCrunch, is owned by Verizon Media) and has also served as vice president of engineering at The New York Times and senior director of technology at Condé Nast. “Brian is an incredible leader and team-builder who has overseen engineering teams for some remarkable companies,” said SeatGeek co-founder and CEO Jack Groetzinger in a statement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 3, 2019 • 7min
Sean Parker’s Brigade/Causes acquired by govtech app Countable
Causes grew to a jawdropping 186 million users as one of the first ten Facebook platform apps. Started by Facebook co-founder Sean Parker, it was meant to turn a generation into activists and philanthropists. Causes acquired Votizen to augment shallow clicktivism with a way to remind friends to vote. But after Facebook went mobile and the web platform waned, Parker arranged Causes’ sale to his newer civic tech effort Brigade, for which he’d led a $9. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 3, 2019 • 5min
Unshackled Ventures has $20M to invest exclusively in immigrant founders
Unshackled Ventures isn’t like other venture capital funds. The firm invests in immigrant founders and helps them secure visas so they can ditch their corporate job and launch the startup of their dreams. Today, Unshackled is announcing its sophomore fund of $20 million, topping its debut effort by $15.5 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 2, 2019 • 3min
Plum, the money management chatbot, raises another $4.5M and lands on iOS
Plum, the money management chatbot, raises another $4.5M and lands on iOS Plum, the chatbot-based app that helps you manage your money, is disclosing $4.5 million in further funding. The round, which quietly closed in the summer, was led by venture firm VentureFriends and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). It brings total funding for the London and Athens-based fintech to $6.3 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 2, 2019 • 4min
Early-stage US VC Joyance to scout for health and wellness startups in Europe
Early-stage US VC Joyance to scout for health and wellness startups in Europe Good news for European startups with a health or wellness bent. Joyance Partners, a $20M US VC firm that invests in early-stage startups in the health and ‘better living’ space is launching into the European market with a dedicated European partner. The move could be seen as taking advantage of leaps in the capability of European startups, especially in the health and AI space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 1, 2019 • 5min
Golden unveils a Wikipedia alternative focused on emerging tech and startups
Jude Gomila, who previously sold his mobile advertising company Heyzap to RNTS Media, is taking on a new challenge — building a “knowledge base” that can fill in Wikipedia’s blind spots, particularly when it comes to emerging technologies and startups. While Gomila is officially launching Golden today, it’s already full of content about things like the latest batch of Y Combinator startups and morphogenetic engineering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 1, 2019 • 6min
Altice USA buys digital news network Cheddar for $200M
Cable television provider Altice USA has confirmed plans to pay $200 million for the millennial-focused, digitally-native news network Cheddar in all-cash, or all-cheddar, rather, deal. The price tag comes at a 25 percent premium to the media startup’s $160 million Series D valuation. Jon Steinberg, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Cheddar and former president and chief operating officer of BuzzFeed, will become president of Altice News. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 30, 2019 • 4min
Caribou Biosciences CEO, Rachel Haurwitz will talk CRISPR’s present and future applications at DisruptSF
Seven years ago, Rachel Haurwitz finished her last day as a student in the University of California laboratory where she helped conduct some of the pioneering research on the gene editing technology known as CRISPR, and became employee number one at Caribou Biosciences, a company founded to commercialize that research. In those seven years, the market for CRISPR applications has grown tremendously and Caribou Biosciences is at the forefront of the companies propelling it forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 30, 2019 • 7min
Some reassuring data for those worried unicorns are wrecking the Bay Area
Joanna Glasner Contributor More posts by this contributor A record $2.5B went to US insurance startup deals last year, and big insurers are in all the way Space tech rockets higher The San Francisco Bay Area is a global powerhouse at launching startups that go on to dominate their industries. For locals, this has long been a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, the tech startup machine produces well-paid tech jobs and dollars flowing into local economies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
