Helpling, the Rocket Internet-founded company that lets you book a range of home services online, is disclosing €10 million in new funding. The round was led by Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), the joint venture between Rocket Internet and Ooredoo, and also includes a number of other existing investors. Read More
Starling Bank, one of a number of digital-only or so-called “challenger” banks in the U.K., is launching a beta of the app that powers its current account, the first time it has been available beyond a very small group of private testers close to the company. Read More
Remember when kids could simply play with their toys? They still can. But parents are increasingly spending on toys that are chockablock with tech components, and that promise to turn their kids into software developers or robotics engineers. The Toy Industry Association, which held its International Toy Fair in New York last month, has even identified robotics-education as a major trend… Read More
After launching its first car last year, Alibaba is digging deeper into the automobile industry. The Chinese Internet and e-commerce behemoth is the lead investor in smart car tech developer WayRay’s $18 million Series B round, the startup announced. Read More
SeedPlus, the early stage investment firm launched by Singapore-based VC firm Jungle Ventures last year, has snagged a strategic investment from IFC, the investment and asset management firm within the World Bank Group. IFC confirmed today that it has invested $2 million in the SeedPlus fund, the size of which has not been disclosed. The firm is also an LP with Jungle Ventures, which… Read More
DOJ accuses four people of a 2014 Yahoo hack, Reid Hoffman joins Microsoft’s board of directors, a new process for visualizing chips and solving Uber’s navigation problem. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Google has just one-upped Apple on mobile in a significant way: today the company today announced the launch of Family Link, an application for parents that lets them establish a child’s first Google account, as well as utilize a series of parental controls to manage and track screen time, daily limits, device “bedtimes,” and which apps kids can use. While all the… Read More
Seattle-based OceanGate Inc. this week announced plans for a manned expedition to study the R.M.S. Titanic, the world’s most famous shipwreck. Fewer than 200 people have ever visited the Titanic since it sank in April 1912 according to historians’ estimates. To put that in perspective, more people have scaled the summit of Mt. Everest, or flown in space. The new expedition,… Read More
More tough news for GoPro as it pre-announced its first-quarter earnings earlier today. While the company announced that revenue for the first part of 2017 will hit toward the high end of guidance, the positivity was tempered by its plans to cut 270 more jobs. That number that comes in addition to the 100 it announced in January 2016 and 200 back in November, amounting to seven- and 15-percent… Read More
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and California Representative Ted Lieu are pressing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on a mobile network vulnerability that they consider to be a systemic digital threat. Read More
When someone invents a robot specifically made to drill into the skulls of unconscious, immobile humans, you’d be forgiven for feeling a natural reaction along the lines of “for the love of God, why?” But trust me, this particular robotic trepanation station is a good idea. Read More
Photos apparently stolen from Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried and other female celebrities have been posted on 4Chan and Reddit, drawing comparisons to a 2014 hack, grossly dubbed “The Fappening” that exposed nude photos and video of several celebrities. Read More
Big news, folks! Today, TechCrunch is announcing a new series of events: Sessions. These events will dive deep on a single topic, bringing together experts in the field and those interested in the theme to discuss what matters. Obviously, this is going to be huge! These events will be single-day affairs with limited seating. Some will have intimate discussions with audience participation.… Read More
Simon Vallee is exactly the kind of person who venture capitalists like to keep on their radar. He’s Canadian, for one thing. (Everyone knows how nice Canadians are.) He has also co-founded — and sold — a number of small companies over the last decade. First, there was SiteMasher, a site-creation platform that was purchased a couple of years later, in 2009, to Saleforce… Read More
Lending platform Credy is looking to change the way people gain access to personal loans in India. The company, which is currently a part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 batch, is digitizing the process and improving access to capital for residents by opening up peer-to-peer loans to a wider group of borrowers and lenders. Read More
One of the hackers alleged to be responsible for a 2014 hack of Yahoo that affected half a billion users also manipulated search results in his favor to make some money on the side, according to the indictment filed today by the Justice Department. Read More
This week on Bullish, I sat down with DoorDash CEO Tony Xu to talk about the future of on-demand food delivery. In January, DoorDash teamed up with Starship Technologies to test food delivery via robots. On this episode of Bullish, Xu and I discussed the evolution of the on-demand space, challenges to profitability, predictions for the future and autonomous delivery. Read More
Wi-Fi, DSRC, Bluetooth, NFC — there are so many ways to connect without cables that ethernet seems retro, like a flip phone. But ethernet is staging a comeback in our cars. Manufacturers are using this old-school technology to connect the sensors that allow for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and baby steps toward self-driving cars. Read More
The chips in our devices are powered by transistors and circuits so small they can barely be detected by our most advanced imaging techniques. How chip makers manage to do quality control when they can’t even see what they’re working on is a really good question. Read More
A startup called LimeBike has raised $12 million in venture funding to make Chinese-style bike sharing mainstream in the U.S. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, joined by IDG Ventures, DCM Ventures and other investors who declined to be named. Read More
