TechCrunch Industry News
Episodes
Apple just released the first iOS 15 beta to everyone
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is your opportunity to get a glimpse of the future of iOS, iPadOS and watchOS. Apple just released the first public beta of iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and...
Branson aims to beat Bezos to orbit in final stretch of billionaire space race
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two billionaires are neck and neck in the final sprint to the Kármán line, but Richard Branson may clinch it with a July 11 flight on a Virgin Galac...
Paris court fines Airbnb $9.6 million for illegal listings
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A court in Paris has fined Airbnb, the popular marketplace for vacation rentals. According to the court, the tech company has failed to comply with lo...
Barracuda acquires Skout Cybersecurity to enter the XDR market
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Barracuda Networks has purchased Skout Cybersecurity, a New York-based channel-only provider of extended detection and response (XDR) services. ...
Twitter is making NFTs now, apparently
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
No, it’s not April Fool’s Day. But Twitter’s entire account has been taken over by NFTs. As its new header reads: “I’ve stopped moisturizing...
FightCamp punches its way to a $90M round
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
FightCamp, an interactive at-home training system for boxing/kickboxing, is announcing this morning that it has raised a $90M round from a long list o...
Consumer spending on apps hit record $64.9B in first half of 2021, but install growth slowed to 1.7%
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Consumer spending in mobile apps hit a record $64.9 billion during the first half of 2021, according to preliminary data from app store intelligence f...
SpaceX plans to use its Starlink internet on Starship orbital launch to demonstrate connection quality
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
SpaceX’s upcoming Starship orbital test flight could end up being a veritable smorgasbord of its technological capabilities, as the company has file...
Discord acquires augmented reality startup Ubiquity6
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After raising tens of millions from investors and executing a pretty substantial pivot earlier this year, augmented reality startup Ubiquity6 and its ...
Robotic beverage maker Botrista raises $10M
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Drink making probably isn’t at the top of your list of jobs most likely to be fully automated. The past year-and-a-half have, however, brought into ...
Snap makes a deal with Universal Music Group, adding its catalog to Sounds
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Snap today announced a multi-year deal with Universal Music Group, one of the largest music companies in the world. From Queen to Justin Bieber, users...
Sneaker marketplace GOAT hits $3.7 billion valuation in Series F raise
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sneaker and streetwear empire GOAT just doubled its valuation in a massive new raise. The GOAT Group parent company shared today that it has raised $1...
SPAC charts are exercises in the limits of hype
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Having read more SPAC investor decks in the last twelve months than I’d like to admit to, I thought I was over being irked by their bullishness. Cal...
TikTok’s Chinese nemesis Kuaishou hits 1 billion monthly users worldwide
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a big day for Kuaishou, TikTok’s largest rival in China. The Chinese short video company, known overseas for one of its video apps Kwai, anno...
An interview with a leading venture capitalist
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by this Hunter Walk tweet and the ensuing chatter. TechCrunch recently sat down with Leading Investor from Well Known Firm to chat about thei...
Forto raises $240M in funding round led by Softbank, taking its valuation to $1.2Bn
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Freight technology startup, Forto, which we most recently covered when it raised $50 million late last year, is upping the stakes. It’s now raised $...
Apple is opening a store in downtown LA’s nearly 100-year-old Tower Theatre
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This Thursday, Apple will mark the opening of a new store in downtown Los Angeles. The space occupies the newly renovated Tower Theatre, which opened ...
Chinese sellers on Amazon in hot demand by VCs and e-commerce roll-ups
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chinese merchants selling on Amazon are having a moment. The scruffy exporters are used to roaming about suburban factory areas and dealing with const...
TikTok launches Jump, a third-party integration tool
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
TikTok announced today the launch of its Jump program, which expands the app’s potential for third-party integrations. TikTok began beta-testing thi...
Music licensing marketplace Songtradr raises $50M
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Music licensing marketplace Songtradr this morning announced a $50 million Series D. The oversubscribed round – which features Regal, Aware Super, P...
Delivery service Gopuff acquires rideOS for $115 million-plus
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On-demand goods, food and alcohol delivery service Gopuff has acquired fleet management platform rideOS for $115 million to $125 million, sources fami...
Tiger Global in talks to back BharatPe at $2.5 billion valuation
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Indian fintech startup BharatPe is in advanced stages of talks to raise about $250 million in a new financing round led by Tiger Global, two sources f...
Instagram’s TikTok rival, Reels, rolls out ads worldwide
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Instagram Reels are getting ads. The company announced today it’s launching ads in its short-form video platform and TikTok rival, Reels, to busines...
Lincoln’s first EV will arrive in 2022 with three more to follow
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first EV will come to market just in time for Lincoln’s 100th birthday celebration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/a...
Facebook will begin beaming advertisements into virtual reality
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Well, it was only a matter of time. Advertising giant Facebook announced Wednesday that they’re going to begin testing advertising inside virtual re...
Everyone you know is a Disney princess, which means AR is queen
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend, all of your friends morphed one by one into animated, Pixar-inspired characters. This isn’t a fever dream, and you’re not alone. On ...
Intel announces two new 11th-gen chips and a 5G M.2 laptop module at Computex
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jaguar Land Rover to develop a Defender-like hydrogen fuel cell EV
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jaguar Land Rover is developing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle based on the new Defender SUV and plans to begin testing the prototype next year. The pro...
Supreme Court revives LinkedIn case to protect user data from web scrapers
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court has given LinkedIn another chance to stop a rival company from scraping personal information from users’ public profiles, a practi...
Niantic is working with Hasbro on a Pokémon GO-style Transformers game
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Niantic has encouraged the world to roam the streets as Pokémon trainers and wizards… next up? Time to transform and roll out. 80’s mega toy Tran...
NASA seeking proposals for two new private astronaut missions to ISS
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
NASA said Friday it was seeking proposals from commercial companies for two new private crewed missions to the International Space Station. The first ...
U.S. PC shipments soar 73% in the first quarter as Apple falls from top spot
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With pent up demand from the pandemic, Canalys reports that U.S. PC shipments were up 73% over the same period last year. That added up to a total of ...
Dark Sky iOS app and website are likely shutting down at the end of 2022
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After Apple acquired Dark Sky in March of 2020, we all knew the super-granular weather app was probably headed for shutdown. But while the company ann...
Apple is bringing Shortcuts to the Mac and starts transition from Automator
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Apple has announced the next major version of macOS at WWDC 2021 —Â macOS Monterey. Among other features, Apple is going to release Shortcuts on m...
Paytm, India’s most valuable startup, confirms plan for an IPO
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Paytm, India’s most valuable startup, confirmed to its shareholders and employees on Monday that it plans to file for an IPO. In a letter to shareho...
Global smartphone market continues rebound with 26% Q1 bump
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More signs of the global market righting the ship after a disastrous 2020. New figures from Gartner point to 26% increase in global sales year over ye...
Turntable.fm competitor tt.fm launches beta app for iOS and Android
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You’d be forgiven for being confused. I’ve been following this story and am currently writing it and I’m still fairly confused. But Turntable (o...
Apple releases torrent of updates, and Wall Street yawns
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s WWDC keynote from Apple covered a huge range of updates. From a new macOS to a refreshed watchOS to a new iOS, better privacy controls, Face...
Apple unveils macOS 12 Monterey
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The past year has seen some of the most dramatic updates to Macs in recent memory. At last year’s WWDC, Apple announced its long-awaited move from I...
Elon Musk officially hits the brakes on Tesla Model S Plaid+
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tesla CEO Elon has made it official and publicly cancelled plans to produce the Model S Plaid+, a supercharged version of the upcoming Plaid version o...
Facebook will reconsider Trump’s ban in two years
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The clock is ticking on former President Donald Trump’s ban from Facebook, formerly indefinite and now for a period of two years, the maximum penalt...
Waymo’s driverless taxi service can now be accessed on Google Maps
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Waymo One, the ride-hailing service that uses driverless vehicles in the suburbs of Phoenix, can now be accessed and booked through Google Maps. This ...
Google’s Pixel Buds A Series are an exercise in earbud cost cutting
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Google does a lot of things well. But hardware strategy has never really been among them. The last several years have seen the company at least findin...
LeoLabs raises $65M Series B for its satellite monitoring and collision detection service
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Low Earth orbit is full of stuff: not only bits of debris and junk, but also satellites — the number of which is growing rapidly alongside the decre...
Taking Lyft’s new e-bike for a spin
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The bike had none of the usual signage when I took it for a spin around the chaotic and construction-filled streets of Manhattan. It very much looked ...
Rocket Lab cleared by the FAA to resume launches after mission failure last month
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rocket Lab has already received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume its launch activities, following a failure during th...
Twitter to begin pilot testing Fleet ads starting today
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ads are coming to Twitter’s version of Stories, known as Fleets. The company announced today it will began pilot testing Fleet ads in the U.S., whic...
Truebill raises $45 million for its personal finance app
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Personal finance startup Truebill has raised a $45 million Series D funding round led by Accel. This comes just a few months after the company raised ...
SpaceX’s first ocean spaceport is being built and will host launches next year
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
SpaceX is already underway on building its first floating spaceport platform, and the plan is for it to start hosting launches as early as next year. ...
Indian logistics giant Delhivery raises $277 million ahead of IPO
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Delhivery, India’s largest independent e-commerce logistics startup, has raised $277 million in what is expected to be the final funding round befor...
Rock picking robotics startup TerraClear raises $25 million
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rock picking is probably not the first thing you think about when you think agricultural robotics. Understandably so. There are a number of companies ...
Amazon is now letting Indians read magazine articles in its shopping app
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon, in its ever-growing desire to become a super app in India, is testing a new category to persuade users to spend more time on the shopping serv...
Meme-based dating is here: Meet Schmooze
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Vidya Madhavan always wanted to be in business. Growing up in India, she thought she might be in the business of running a factory, given the power an...
Tesla has installed 200,000 Powerwalls around the world so far
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tesla has installed its 200,000th Powerwall, the company’s home battery storage product, the company said in a tweet on Wednesday. Tesla’s CFO Zac...
Whatnot raises $50M to let people sell Pokémon cards, Funko Pops, and more via livestream
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Whatnot exists with one primary goal in mind: to give people a place to buy and sell collectibles (like Pokémon cards, sports cards, pins, etc) in a ...
Flexibits updates contacts app Cardhop, adds deeper integration with Fantastical
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Flexibits, the company behind productivity apps Fantastical and Cardhop, is releasing a new version of Cardhop for both macOS and iOS. This is the sec...
Lyft, Uber kick off free COVID-19 vaccine rides program
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Uber and Lyft have officially started to offer free rides to anyone traveling to get a COVID-19 vaccine, two weeks after the ride-hailing companies an...
Germany gives greenlight to driverless vehicles on public roads
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Germany has adopted legislation that will allow driverless vehicles on public roads by 2022, laying out a path for companies to deploy robotaxis and d...
Apple just dropped a whole bunch of OS updates and WWDC info
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How’s your Monday going? If you’re Apple, the answer is probably somewhere between “very busy” to “gaaaaaaah.” The company just dropped a ...
Taking Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 for a spin
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
These days, the path of least resistance in laptop design is straight-up knocking off the MacBook. We’ve certainly seen our share of egregious cases...
Snap brings partner-centric Layers to its social map used by 250 million people
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Snap wants users to get a more personal view of the world around them. While products like Google Maps and Apple Maps have long-relied on data partner...
US Treasury calls for stricter cryptocurrency rules, IRS reporting for transfers over $10K
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Biden’s vision for an empowered, expanded IRS is poised to have a big impact on cryptocurrency trading. According to a new report from the...
Snap announces Story Studio, a new standalone app to edit stories
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During Snap Partner Summit, Snap announced a brand new app focused on creators. Named Story Studio, this standalone iOS app gives you several editing ...
So long, Internet Explorer, and your decades of security bugs
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pour one out for Internet Explorer, the long-enduring internet browser that’s been the butt of countless jokes about its speed, reliability, and pro...
Span introduces a new home electric panel
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As energy prices continue to rise and more home owners look to the viability of things like solar, consumers will no doubt be searching for more ways ...
Spotify launches a virtual concert series with The Black Keys and more
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The past year has been utterly devastating to the music industry generally, and live music in particular. Artists who make a living touring have been ...
Discovery’s new reality show ‘Who Wants to Be an Astronaut?’ will pick one winner to go to space
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discovery has ordered a new reality show, to air in 2022, which will be an eight episode competition series where competitors will vie for a chance to...
Gucci brings digital items and experiences to Roblox in new partnership
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As gaming platforms capitalize on pandemic-fueled traffic to their digital worlds, brands that drive culture in the physical world are fighting to ens...
Apple to add lossless audio to Apple Music at no additional cost
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Apple has announced that it is adding some new features to its music streaming service Apple Music. Starting next month, users will find some new o...
Google’s ‘DVD Screensaver’ Easter egg makes the logo bounce around your screen accordingly
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good Easter egg out of Google. Not too long ago it felt like someone would discover a new hidden gag in Googl...
GasBuddy tops the App Store for the first time due to Colonial Pipeline attack
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The GasBuddy mobile app, which typically helps consumers find the cheapest gas nearby, has now become the No. 1 app on the U.S. App Store for the firs...
Uber, Lyft to give free rides to COVID-19 vaccine sites in deal with White House
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Uber and Lyft will provide free rides to any user traveling to get the COVID-19 vaccine through an agreement reached with the White House. The free ri...
Chef Robotics raises $7.7M to help automate kitchens
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A year and a half’s worth of global pandemic has had a profound impact on virtually every sector of the workforce. Learn more about your ad choices....
Jumia’s Q1 earnings report continues to show falling losses, slow growth
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
African e-commerce giant Jumia today shared its earnings for the first quarter of 2021 that ended in March. While its customer count grew, a drop in t...
Amazon updates Echo Show line with a pan and zoom camera and a kids model
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon this morning announced a handful of updates across its Echo Show line of smart screens. The top-level most interesting bit here is the addition...
Orbite offers a five-star ‘space camp’ for would-be space travelers
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As private companies like Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX prepare to ferry private customers to the stars, a whole new market is ...
Lisbon’s Kitch raises $4M to help restaurants to take control of the delivery app mess
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lisbon-based food delivery startup Kitch hopes to hands back control to restaurants dogged by the mess of food delivery apps today, by aggregating the...
Nothing’s first product, the Ear 1 earbud, launches in June
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Say what you will, Nothing has been doing a fine job milking its upcoming launch for all it’s worth. The company has spent the last several month’...
Snack, a ‘Tinder meets TikTok’ dating app, opens to Gen Z investors
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Snack, a video-first mobile dating app designed with a younger generation in mind, is opening itself up to Gen Z investors. The startup today announce...
Cowboy launches the Cowboy 4 e-bike, with a step-through version and built-in phone charger
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
E-bike startup Cowboy has launched the Cowboy 4, its newest generation of urban electric bikes. The bike will come in two different frames, a traditio...
Sennheiser sells off its consumer brand
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Long-running German audio company Sennheiser today announced that it has found a buyer for its consumer brand. Swiss holding company Sonova — a gian...
How Robert Reffkin went from being a C-average student to the founder of Compass
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In April, real estate tech company Compass forged ahead with its initial public offering and is now valued at nearly $6.4 billion. At that time, TechC...
Peloton projects $165M revenue impact from treadmill recalls
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What would have been a celebratory earnings call in just about any other quarter ended on a somber note today, as Peloton CEO John Foley kicked things...
Evening Fund debuts with $2M micro fund focused on investments between $50K and $100K
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We tend to think of venture capital in tens or hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars, so it’s refreshing to find Evening Fund, a new $2 mil...
Chromebook shipments grew 275% in Q1
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New numbers from research firm Canalys point to continued growth for PCs in 2020/21, as the pandemic has forced many to rethink how – and where – ...
London’s Stride VC raised second $138.6M seed fund, hunts for third partner
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stride VC, a London-based seed investment fund, has raised its second fund, which will be £100M ($138.6M) – identical to its first fund. The fund w...
SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink satellites, claims over 500,000 service pre-orders so far
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
SpaceX has launched 60 more of its Starlink internet broadband satellites — on ‘Star Wars Day,’ no less, and only five days after it launched th...
Twitter expands Spaces to anyone with 600+ followers, details plans for tickets, reminders and more
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Twitter Spaces, the company’s new live audio rooms feature, is opening up more broadly. The company announced today it’s making Twitter Spaces ava...
Cloud infrastructure market keeps rolling in Q1 with almost $40B in revenue
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Conventional wisdom over the last year has suggested that the pandemic has driven companies to the cloud much faster than they ever would have gone wi...
Facebook rolls out vaccine finder tool in India, donates $10 million
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Facebook has announced a $10 million grant to support emergency response efforts in India and has rolled out its Vaccine Finder tool in the country as...
Basecamp sees mass employee exodus after CEO bans political discussions
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Following a controversial ban on political discussions earlier this week, Basecamp employees are heading for the exits. The company employs around 60 ...
Eclipse Ventures has $500 million more to digitize old-line industries and bring them up to speed
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two years ago, we talked with Lior Susan, the founder of now six-year-old Eclipse Ventures in Palo Alto, Ca. At the time, the outfit believed that the...
Biden’s labor secretary thinks many gig workers should be reclassified as employees
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Biden Labor Secretary Marty Walsh charged into the white hot issue of the gig economy Thursday, asserting that many people working without benefits in...
Google announces career and digital training initiative for formerly incarcerated individuals
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Google today announced the launch of Grow with Google Career Readiness for Reentry. The initiative — created in partnership with nonprofits The Last...
Facebook hides posts calling for PM Modi’s resignation in India
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Facebook has temporarily hidden all posts with hashtag “ResignModi” in India, days after the U.S. social juggernaut — along with Twitter — com...
Roam Robotics introduces a smart knee brace
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are lot of companies out there making robotic exoskeletons. In fact, it’s one of the more active categories in the space — and for good reas...
Amazon announces new Fire tablets and kids editions
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a bunch of tablet news coming from Amazon this morning. Leading the way is the release of two new 10-inch devices: the Fire HD 10 and Fire H...
The #8meals app from Habits of Waste helps people cut back on meaty meals to save the planet
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earth Day may have come and gone, but with apps like #8meals from the non-profit Habits of Waste, anyone can try and do their part to help reduce defo...
Lyft sells self-driving unit to Toyota’s Woven Planet for $550M
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ride-hailing company Lyft has sold off its autonomous vehicle unit to Toyota’s Woven Planet Holdings subsidiary for $550 million, the latest in a st...
Bobby Goodlatte has designs on how to succeed in venture, and so far, so good
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bobby Goodlatte has only been an investor for about a decade, but he appears to have already made tens of millions of dollars, contrary to the expecta...