TechCrunch Industry News

As post-covid food distribution digitizes, Cerve raises $2M for wholesaler platform

15 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As we found during the pandemic, food and beverage distribution is critical, but most food wholesalers’ sales remain manually operated. Post-covid, ...

Tinder adds a ‘Festival Mode’ for making connections ahead of concerts and events

14 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tinder today is launching a new feature called Festival Mode designed to help users connect ahead of their plans to attend concerts or larger music fe...

Moot channels $18M for a platform and toolkit to power e-commerce strategies for brands

14 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

E-commerce today is played out wherever a consumer sees something and wants it — be it on a company’s site or app, a social media feed, a marketpl...

Nurse-assisting robotics firm Diligent raises $30M

13 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nursing shortages were a problem well before our hospitals were rocked by a pandemic. Two years in and overloaded systems have further contributed to ...

Prelude raises $24M to help organizations harden their cybersecurity defenses

13 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Prelude, a Washington D.C-based startup that helps organizations harden their cyber defenses through the use of autonomous red-teaming, has secured...

Miso Robotics brings a new coffee monitoring system to Panera

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Miso made a name for itself with the hamburger-cooking robot, Flippy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk is not joining Twitter board, CEO Parag Agrawal says

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk is not joining Twitter’s board, the social network’s chief executive Parag Agrawal said, in a surprising reversal following last week’...

Perforce adds infrastructure automation tooling with Puppet acquisition

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Perforce Software has been building developer tools since 1995, a long time in the tech world. The company was acquired by Clearlake Capital in 2018, ...

Brilliant Planet is running algae-farms to pull carbon out of the air

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sure you can run machines to decarbonize the air, but where’s the fun in that when you can invite mother nature to do the work for you? Learn more a...

Twitter launches improved alt text accessibility features globally

08 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes, new Twitter features can be divisive — we’ve made our feelings clear about the edit button, which is apparently in the works. But we ca...

Goldman Sachs joins other investors in $88M round for web3 and blockchain security firm CertiK

08 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

CertiK, a Web3 and blockchain security company, has raised $88 million in its latest round, bringing its valuation to $2 billion. Learn more about you...

Built Robotics raises another $64M to make construction equipment autonomous

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re still wrapping your head around the idea of self-driving cars, get ready for something that might seem even wilder: self-driving construct...

Visa unveils first innovation hub in Africa to drive product development

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Global digital payments giant Visa has opened up an innovation studio in Kenya, its first in Africa and sixth globally, after posts in Dubai, London, ...

Rivian picks up EV production in Q1, on track to hit annual target

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rivian produced 2,553 vehicles in the first quarter, putting it on course to meet its production goal of 25,000 EVs this year, the company said Tuesda...

Amazon lines up dozens of launches to put thousands of Kuiper satellites in orbit

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon is finally taking decisive action on its Kuiper communications satellite constellation, securing the rights to as many as 83 launches from Unit...

The Peloton Guide is now available for $295

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Late last year, Peloton announced Guide. The set-top system is an effort to reach a broader slice of the market with a lower cost alternative to its l...

UPS partners with Jumia to expand delivery network in Africa

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Global logistics and package delivery company UPS will leverage Jumia’s network across Africa to grow its reach across the continent, following a ne...

Musk takes a $3B bite out of Twitter; now the Tesla mogul has a 9.2% share of the social network

04 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

He’s used Twitter to poll people apparently to make major business decisions. He’s had his hand figuratively slapped (more than once) by regulator...

Biden’s answer to high gas prices is to boost U.S. battery production

04 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

President Joe Biden will trigger the Defense Production Act to secure U.S. sources of critical minerals and materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt,...

GoPro’s new battery grip triples your action-cam shooting time

01 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You just know your battery will kick the bucket at the worst possible time, right when you’ve perfected your sick, hella nar-nar skateboard tricks, ...

Mojo Vision takes another step toward AR contact lenses with new prototype

01 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve known Mojo Vision’s journey to market was going to be a long and deliberate one since we saw an early prototype in Las Vegas a number of CES...

Tumblr expands its tip jar feature to enable blog-level tipping

31 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tumblr is expanding its tip jar feature by introducing blog-level tipping for its iOS and web applications, the company announced on Wednesday. The co...

Dyson is betting you’ll want to strap an air purifier to your face

31 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Air. I love it, you love it. We’re all out here walking around in it all day, filling our lungs and blood with the stuff. We can’t get enough of i...

Can robotic hives help save the world’s bees?

30 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Here’s a bummer of a statistic for you: Around 30% of bee colonies disappear every year. Scientists coined the phrase “colony collapse disorder”...

Celonis pushes into Microsoft ecosystem with $100M Process Analytics Factory acquisition

30 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Celonis moves into Microsoft ecosystem with Process Analytics Factory acquisition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After six months of invite-only sales, Amazon Glow is now available to all in the U.S.

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Back in September of last year, Amazon announced a curious looking device called the Amazon Glow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

Treeswift is using drones to monitor forests

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past decade, drones have become an increasingly important tool for forest monitoring. They’re a fast and effective way to collect a lot of ...

Apple TV+ becomes the first streaming service to win a Best Picture Oscar with “CODA”

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Apple TV+ has beat out Netflix to become the first streaming service to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with “Coda’s” triumph. Learn m...

Former TikTok content moderators file lawsuit over ‘psychological trauma’

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A pair of former TikTok content reviewers is suing the company, alleging that it failed to adequately support them as they engaged in the deeply distu...

Polestar’s long range single motor Polestar 2 arrives in the US

25 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Following the release of its dual-motor variant late last year, Polestar announced that the 270-mile long range, single-motor version of its Polestar ...

Samsara Eco wants to help end global plastic crisis with enzyme-based technology

25 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Global plastic use is expected to double by 2040, with most plastic sent to landfills and only 13 percent recycled. According to CIEL (Center for I...

Coinbase makes India push with support for UPI payments

24 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Coinbase is beginning to add support for payment instruments UPI and IMPS in India, making its crypto exchange broadly functional in the world’s sec...

Astronomer ready for its next mission after Datakin acquisition, $213M Series C

24 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The once scrappy company is scrappy no more and poised to build new features around what it's already done with Airflow. Learn more about your ad choi...

Tome livens up slide decks with real-time data, flexible layouts

23 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The company thinks you should be spending less time trying to adapt your content to a presentation page and more time on storytelling. Learn more abou...

Podcasters, get ready to find out how many followers you have on Apple Podcasts

23 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Apple Podcasts is rolling out new features to incentivize podcasters to offer paid subscriptions to listeners on the app. One of those features will —...

Talkspace-owned Lasting launches new ‘Parenting Guide’ app, its latest self-guided advice service

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lasting, which is owned by mobile therapy company Talkspace, has launched a new app aimed at parents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastc...

Gensyn applies a token to distributed computing for AI developers, raises $6.5M

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For self-driving cars and other applications developed using AI, you need what’s known as ‘deep learning’, the core concepts of which emerged in...

Lune offers an API to calculate carbon emissions at checkout

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Meet Lune, a new startup that wants to expose CO2 emissions calculations so that customers are better informed when they purchase something online. Le...

Sleek wants to be the last shopping check-out form you ever fill out

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sleek is developing a browser extension enabling one-click checkout and cash-back savings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...

Porsche is turning its mid-engine 718 roadster into an EV by 2025

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Porsche 718, a mid-engine roadster that injects the automaker’s motorsports’ history into a modern-day package, is going all electric by 2025....

Getir is now worth nearly $12 billion after raising another $768 million

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Instant delivery startup Getir has announced that it has closed a new $768 million Series E founding round. Following this deal, the company has reach...

MeliBio’s honey production, minus the bee, will have you buzzing

17 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The company is making real honey with precision fermentation and plant science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instagram rolls out new safety tools for parents

17 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Meta announced a new set of tools designed to protect young users on Wednesday, an overdue response to widespread criticism that the company doesn’t...

Liveblocks grabs $5 million for its real-time collaboration API

16 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Liveblocks has raised a $5 million seed round. The startup lets you turn a regular web app into a multiplayer product with high-level hosted APIs. Lea...

Meta faces prosecution in South Africa for alleged antitrust breach

16 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Meta is facing prosecution in South Africa, after the country’s competition regulator, the Competition Commission, found as uncompetitive its intent...

NASA’s mega expensive moon rocket will make its public debut Thursday

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Twelve years after it was first announced, NASA’s massive Space Launch System will finally make its public debut. Learn more about your ad choices. ...

Ford announces new EV production and profit goals for Europe

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ford is accelerating plans to sell more electric vehicles in Europe on its way toward reaching carbon neutrality in the region by 2035. The automaker ...

Blue Origin will fly SNL’s Pete Davidson to space on March 23

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Blue Origin has announced its next roster for a flight of New Shepard to suborbital space, and it includes Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson. Lear...

Sorenson Ventures keeps focus on enterprise with new $150M fund

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sorenson Ventures may not be a household name, but the Lehi, Utah-based firm has quietly backed 30 enterprise startups since 2017 when it launched its...

Ubisoft won’t say why it reset employee passwords after ‘cyber incident’

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Gaming giant Ubisoft has confirmed a cybersecurity incident that led to the mass-reset of company passwords, but has declined to say what the incident...

Google’s Art & Culture platform updated with documents, artifacts and music from Timbuktu

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Google, working with historians from West Africa, has been working to digitize contemporary art, cultural and historic sites about Mali, and the digit...

Topsort, an auction-based advertising startup, now valued at $110M after seed round

10 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Regina Ye was in college, she was a Shopify seller and recalls being so fed up with advertising solutions that she spent finals week staying up l...

E-bike subscription service Dance adds new cities and mopeds

10 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After raising nearly $20 million a few months ago, Berlin-based startup Dance is expanding its electric bike subscription service to a handful of new ...

Workbounce’s ‘Google meets Slack’ product for sales teams raises $2.7M from Index Ventures

09 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Selling commercial products has become pretty complex, and the pandemic has not helped. Sales teams are often hampered by the difficulties of building...

Amazon launches a ‘live radio’ app, Amp, which lets you play DJ with the Amazon Music catalog

09 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon’s Clubhouse competitor has arrived. The retail giant on Tuesday launched a new mobile app called Amp, which allows people to create live “r...

General Motors, PG&E pilot EVs as backup power sources for homes

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

General Motors and Pacific Gas and Electric Company are launching a pilot that will let EV owners use their vehicles as a backup power source for thei...

Robotaxi startup Pony.ai now valued at $8.5B

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

China- and U.S.-based Pony.ai said Monday its valuation has surged to $8.5 billion after the first close of its Series D funding round. Learn more abo...

Aston Martin to develop battery cell technology with Britishvolt

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

British luxury carmaker Aston Martin has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with lithium-ion battery cell technologies company Britishvolt. Learn mo...

Disco gets brands to boogie together on customer acquisition

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Disco used to be Co-op Commerce, and leadership says the new name better reflects the company's focus on consumer discovery. Learn more about your ad ...

Sony and Honda reveal plans to jointly make and sell electric vehicles

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sony’s current favorite big tease is playing at being a carmaker, and today it announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with...

Sikur touts a new secure Android phone for enterprise, gov’t comms

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s many years since the Blackberry was the corporate phone du jour. Touchscreen phones and the ‘Bring your Own Device’ trend put paid to all t...

Reliance to invest $221 million for electronics manufacturing with Sanmina in India

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Reliance Industries plans to invest up to $221 million in American electronics firm Sanmina to set up a joint venture as the Indian giant looks to exp...

Blockchain infra startup Tenderly raises $40M after seeing ‘500x’ YoY revenue growth

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tenderly, a startup that aims to make it easier for web3 developers “of all skill sets” to build blockchain products, has raised $40 million in a ...

Ford splits EV and combustion units in major restructuring

02 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ford today announced a significant restructuring to better focus on the different challenges and opportunities with electric vehicles and internal com...

Alphabet’s Wing drones hit 200,000 deliveries as it announces supermarket partnership

02 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alphabet’s drone service Wing this morning announced another milestone, as it hit 200,000 commercial deliveries. Learn more about your ad choices. V...

YouTube geoblocks Russia Today, Sputnik channels in Europe

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Google has just announced that YouTube will geoblock the Kremlin-affiliated media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik in Europe, following pressure ...

Weee! delivers second big funding round in a year, this time backed by SoftBank

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This new monster round comes about a year after another big fundraise of $316 million in Series D financing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit p...

HearHere raises $3.2M to scale its immersive storytelling road-trip app

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Santa Barbara-based HearHere, the company behind an audio entertainment and immersive storytelling road-trip app, has raised $3.2 million in seed fund...

Carvana acquires Adesa US auction business for $2.2B to jump-start used car sales

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Carvana, the online used car marketplace, has agreed to buy Kar Global’s Adesa U.S. auction subsidiary for $2.2 billion in cash, an acquisition a...

SEC opens investigation into Elon Musk over possible insider trading

25 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk isn't getting a break from the SEC any time soon. WSJ reports the SEC is investigating whether Musk and his brother Kimbal violated insider ...

Specify automagically collects, stores and distributes your design tokens and assets

25 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Meet Specify, a startup that is creating a common language for Figma and GitHub. Specify acts as a central repository and API for your design tokens a...

Cloudflare to acquire Area 1 Security, a startup that blocks phishing emails

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cloudflare has announced that it plans to acquire Area 1 Security, a security startup that has developed a product that stops phishing attacks before ...

Target to add Starbucks orders and returns to its curbside pickup service

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Target is preparing a series of changes to make its curbside pickup service called Drive Up more appealing to consumers. Learn more about your ad choi...

RightHand cashes in on the white-hot warehouse robotics space with a $66M raise

23 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

COVID, supply chain issues, labor shortages, Amazon. Take your pick. The reasons for getting excited about logistics robotics are numerous and growing...

To combat chip shortage, Bosch to invest $296M to produce semiconductors

23 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Bosch is increasing its previously stated investment in semiconductor production in order to stay on top of the ongoing chip shortage. Learn more abou...

PerchPeek raises $11M to woo ‘great resignation employees’ with easy relocation

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Relocating employees can involve up to 20-30 different complex processes, while many of the support packages on the market can be inflexible and expen...

Better.com loses more senior execs as employees brace for another mass layoff

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Things are getting worse at Better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Walmart is expanding autonomous delivery pilot with GM’s Cruise this year

21 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cruise plans to expand the self-driving delivery pilot it has with Walmart in Arizona, the company’s senior government affairs manager said in a rec...

Reusable packaging startup bags $3.1M to pick a fight with single-use packaging

21 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Quick pop quiz: Is it better to recycle your cardboard boxes, or use a sturdier packaging bag that can be used again and again until it meets its make...

New York’s Thrive Capital closes its eighth fund with a whopping $3 billion

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Thrive Capital, the venture firm founded in 2009 by a then-25-year-old Joshua Kushner, says it has closed its eighth fund with approximately $3 billio...

Amazon reaches deal to continue accepting Visa payments worldwide

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon and Visa have resolved their simmering dispute over payment fees in the UK and elsewhere, Reuters has reported. Amazon threatened to stop accep...

Blueland raises more money to avoid shipping water around and reduce single-use plastics

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The cleaning products you use in your house are 99% water. Yes, the same stuff that comes out of the spigot at your house. Learn more about your ad ch...

New Waymo Via partnership gives it access to 200,000 shippers and carriers

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Waymo Via, Waymo’s autonomous trucking and cargo unit, has found another long-term strategic partner to see it through to commercialization. Learn m...

Stronghold launches $100M venture arm to invest in underrepresented founders and fintech

16 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Payments infrastructure company Stronghold has launched a venture capital arm to deploy $100 million of its balance sheet capital in startups and fund...

Singapore-based alternative protein startup Next Gen Foods gets $100M Series A for U.S. growth

16 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alternative protein startups have attracted a lot of investor attention over the past couple of years and the trend looks set to continue. Learn more ...

Grubhub expands its ‘Grubhub Goods’ convenience offering nationwide

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Food delivery app GrubHub is expanding its branded convenience offering nationwide, the company announced on Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices...

Gaia, a platform to finance IVF treatments, closes $20M Series A led by Atomico

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Gaia is a startup that is effectively out to ‘de-risk’ the whole process of IVF fertility treatment, using products like personalized insurance an...

3D social network BUD raises $15M in Series A+ round

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Investors are justling to find the next killer app for the metaverse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chasing Cruise and Waymo, Chinese AV company AutoX plans to begin testing in San Francisco

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

AutoX, a Chinese autonomous vehicle company that has made plays in both the U.S. and its home country, is now making a move into San Francisco, an are...

Indiegogo will designate legit crowdfunders with a ‘Trust-Proven’ badge

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Indiegogo has a trust problem. It’s something the company is keenly aware of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sardine’s algorithm helps crypto and fintech companies detect fraud

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a great time to be in the fraud detection business in crypto and fintech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tinder introduces a way for members to go on virtual ‘blind dates’

10 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tinder is bringing back the idea of the “blind date” through a new in-app feature, launching today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcas...

eAgronom closes $7.4M Series A to create a farming-based carbon credits platform

10 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There are plenty of competitors in so-called FMS (Farm Management Software), but so far no global dominant leader has emerged. Agrivi has rai...

SpaceX loses 40 Starlink satellites to a geomagnetic storm

09 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

80% of Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX on February 3 won't reach their intended orbit. SpaceX has revealed that a geomagnetic storm had a sever...

Artiphon drops the hardware requirement for its musical camera app, Orbacam

09 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve been following Artiphon closely over the years. Back in late 2020, I took a liking to the music startup’s latest smart instrument, the Orba....

American Express launches its first all-digital consumer checking account

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

American Express has launched its first all-digital consumer checking account, the company announced on Tuesday. The new offering, American Express Re...

Joby Aviation to launch air taxi service in South Korea

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing startup Joby Aviation plans to offer an air taxi service in South Korea in partnership with SK ...

A Twitter slap fight goes wrong

07 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Certain VCs who tweet a lot have grown a little vituperative of late, with some of the most powerful people in the industry lashing out in unprecedent...

Apple to charge 27% fee for Dutch dating apps using alternative payment options

07 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Following a court order, developers working on dating apps don’t have to use Apple’s in-app purchase system in the Netherlands. Learn more about y...

In Ford’s transition to EVs, cost-cutting takes center stage

04 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ford has made cost-cutting a key piece of its EV strategy as the company works to improve profit margins while meeting what CEO Jim Farley has call...