TechCrunch

Hello friends and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.

Years of data from hundreds of successful startups show the impact of relevant executive expertise is even greater than anticipated — it doubles the rate of return on a venture investment.

Move over, Xbox and PlayStation. A new foe has appeared in the world of online multiplayer gaming! It’s the… uh, Game Boy. As in that unbreakable, gray, 4.19Mhz tank from 1989. While the Game Boy has had a handful of locally multiplayer games since the beginning, using it meant physically connecting your Game Boy to […]

Amount, a company that provides technology to banks and financial institutions, has raised $99 million in a Series D funding round at a valuation of just over $1 billion. WestCap, a growth equity firm founded by ex-Airbnb and Blackstone CFO Laurence Tosi, led the round. Hanaco Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Invus Opportunities and Barclays Principal Investments […]

Germany electric aviation startup Volocopter revealed Monday a new electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft targeting the suburban-to-city commuter. The four-seater VoloConnect is designed to have a range of 62 miles, making it well-suited for trips between the suburbs and the city, the company said. The aircraft design is a significant departure from the VoloCity, […]

After the transaction is consummated, the startup will sport an anticipated equity valuation of $1.6 billion.

French startup Ankorstore has raised a $102 million Series B funding round (€84 million). Tiger Global and Bain Capital Ventures are leading today’s funding round with existing investors Index Ventures, GFC, Alven and Aglaé also participating. This is a significant funding round, as it comes just a few months after the company raised €25 million. […]

Rocket Lab may have experienced mission failure and total payload loss during the company’s 20th planned mission on May 15, but it wasn’t all bad news, the company said in an update Monday. Importantly, the Electron rocket’s first stage — which contains nine Rutherford engines — performed as designed and did not contribute to the […]

Every branch of science is increasingly reliant on big data sets and analysis, which means a growing confusion of formats and platforms — more than inconvenient, this can hinder the process of peer review and replication of research. Code Ocean hopes to make it easier for scientists to collaborate by making a flexible, shareable format […]

Los Angeles-based electric vehicle startup Canoo is bringing its first vehicle to market next year. The company said Monday its electric microbus-slash-van will be available to buy in 2022 at a base price of $34,750 before tax incentives or add-ons. It’s now taking preorders in the United States for the “lifestyle” vehicle, as well as […]

Once a feature only for luxury vehicles, voice recognition has moved into the mainstream as manufacturers promise a seamless connection between vehicles, homes and personal devices.

The global pandemic made some industries and utterly decimated others. The world of connected fitness falls firmly into the former. Along with top names like Peloton, Mirror had a banner year, including, most notably, sportwear company Lululemon’s acquisition of the brand for $500 million in June. It’s an impressive number for the five-year-old company, which […]

SpaceX successfully launched another 52 Starlink internet broadband satellites into orbit on Saturday, less than one week after it sent up the last batch. A small satellite from startup Capella Space and a Tyvak observation satellite also hitched a ride on the launch, which took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday evening. […]

When thousands of mobility mavens from around the world gather at TC Sessions: Mobility 2021 on June 9, you’re going to need an efficient, organized way to tap all that opportunity. Meeting folks is easy. Meeting the people who align with your goals and can help move your business forward — that’s even better. We’ve […]

Merge, a startup that helps its users build customer-facing integrations with third-party tools, today announced that it has raised a $4.5 million seed round led by NEA. Additional angel investors include former MuleSoft CEO Greg Schott, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, Expanse co-founders Tim Junio and Matt Kraning, and Jumpstart CEO Ben Herman. Launched in 2020, […]

When Art Agrawal was growing up in India, a car ride was a rare treat, and car ownership was a dream. When he moved to the U.S. and bought his first car, he was shocked by how much it cost and how difficult it was to maintain a car. In 2012, he co-founded a company […]

The countdown to this IPO filing has been ticking for several quarters, so seeing the document drop on a Monday morning was just good fun.

The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive it every weekend in your inbox. Hello and welcome back to The Station, a weekly newsletter dedicated to all the ways people and packages move (today and in the future) from Point A to […]

From today until midnight on May 18 (PT), we’re offering a free Disrupt Innovator pass (a $99 value) to anyone who purchases an annual or two-year Extra Crunch membership. Grab an annual or two-year Extra Crunch membership here.  TechCrunch Disrupt is a three-day virtual event with founders and investors shaping the future of disruptive technology […]

After seven years at Google, Jacquelle Amankonah Horton knew there was a white space in social between fans and creators. She built Fave to fill in that gap, and the company today announced the close of a $2.2 million seed round. Female Founders Fund, HYBE, Sony Music, Warner Music, Concord Music, Quality Control, Right Hand […]