Uber’s Southeast Asia rival Grab is in the process of buying up Indonesia-based online payment startup Kudo in its first major acquisition. A source close to discussions confirmed to TechCrunch that talks are ongoing and a deal could be announced as soon this week. Reuters first reported the deal, which it said would be over $100 million however our source suggested that the figure… Read More
The concept, which Koutsomitis first pitched on the U.K. television show back in 2015, promises to ‘gamify’ the online dating experience by having users work through a series of mini-games or quizzes. Read More
Another tech firm is raising its prices in the UK by up to 25 per cent following the June 2016 Brexit referendum vote which triggered a massive drop in the value of pound sterling. Read More
Jaguar Land Rover’s venture arm is launching a new accelerator targeting startups in the mobility and transportation space — part of its wider bid to avoid innovator’s dilemma.
The rolling six-month InMotion Accelerator programme will offer funding for up to 15 startups across two cohorts per year. Read More
Hey, Barcelona! Here’s a reminder! TechCrunch is holding a Mini-Meetup during Mobile World Congress, on Tuesday Feb. 28. We will hold a “Pitch-Off” of startups at the event. Grab tickets here. You can apply to pitch your Barcelona-based startup here. We’ll select approximately 10 great Barcelona-based startups to explain to our panel of VCs and TechCrunch editors in… Read More
Uber is beginning to map roads in Asia for the first time as it aims to improve its service in the region. The company said today that it has deployed mapping cars in Singapore, the first such country in Asia, in a bid to gather information that can improve its service for both drivers and passengers. It isn’t immediately clear when the initiative will be expanded and which countries in… Read More
Immigration into the U.S. is a hot political topic right now, but, unless you’re Native American, pretty much everyone here has a family history involving some sort of immigration story. Now AncestryDNA, a consumer genetics subsidiary of the genealogy research site Ancestry.com, wants to help you know more about your family’s immigration journey. To do so, the research… Read More
When I hear about the need to push gender diversity in tech and improve gender disparity in the industry, it takes me a second to appreciate the full reality of the situation. When the industry’s playing field is devised and maintained mostly by men, it leaves women at an inherent disadvantage. The bias is hardwired into the system, making it hard for men to see the problem. Read More
Long ago, people believed that the eye emitted invisible rays that struck the world outside, causing it to become visible to the beholder. That’s not the case, of course, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a perfectly good way to see. In fact, it’s the basic idea behind lidar, a form of digital imaging that’s proven very useful in everything from archaeology… Read More
Some very big brands outside the tech space have been stepping in to acquire technology companies as the pressure to keep up with consumer-powered digital trends touches more industries. Add in a deregulating President Trump and the mercury could keep rising for tech company valuations this year, suggests John Stiffler, senior M&A director at business and technology consulting firm West… Read More
In 2016, blockchain startups raised some $200 million in Initial Coin Offerings, a new form of crowdfunding based on cryptocurrency tokens. Some of the startups have raked in millions of dollars; several have failed to deliver. Expert opinion is highly polarized on the crypto-token crowdfunding hype, its reliability, its legality and its future. Here’s what you need to know. Read More
Bradley Tusk has long been known in political circles. He was once deputy governor of Illinois, working for the now-incarcerated former governor Rod Blagojevich. He also worked for Michael Bloomberg during one of his tenures as mayor of New York City and in 2009 ran Bloomberg’s successful, third re-election campaign. In fact, thanks to a generous bonus check from Bloomberg, Tusk was… Read More
Let’s talk about something non-awful that Donald Trump has done. (Shouldn’t take long, right? Ba-dum-bump-wince.) Specifically, let’s talk about the draft executive order floating around which calls for H-1B visas to be allotted not by lottery, as they are today, but by auction, so that only highly-paid jobs are filled by H-1B holders. Read More
The turn of the calendar is cathartic for entrepreneurs — there’s something about starting a new year that inspires folks to launch a new startup, build a new product or raise capital. If you’re starting to raise capital, this is your guide. Let’s get to it. Read More
The Gillmor Gang — Doc Searls, Keith Teare, Frank Radice, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, February 10, 2017. Plus the latest G3 (below) with Halley Suitt Tucker, Elisa Camahort Page, Denise Howell, Mary Hodder, and Tina Chase Gillmor. @stevegillmor, @dsearls, @kteare, @fradice Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor Liner Notes Live chat stream The Gillmor Gang… Read More
Statsbot is giving companies a new way to look at their data — in their chatrooms on Slack.
Co-founder and CEO Artyom Keydunov said that the product was inspired by his previous work leading a remote engineering team, when he realized that it would be “a good idea to bring data from Google Analytics or Mixpanel to the place where all collaboration happens — to Slack.”… Read More
It’s clear Republicans hitched their wagon to a demographic they have successfully exploited at historic levels the last couple of decades. Yet in doing that they’ve still lost six of the last seven popular votes, and as the data shows they’ve now pretty much run out of white evangelicals to add to the mix. Read More
Hellocar, a new car buying website out of the UK, has secured a £1m investment round. The round was led by JamJar Investments, the Innocent Drinks founders’ venture capital fund, and Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Zoopla Property Group. Henry Lane Fox, part of the founding team behind lastminute.com and CEO of Founders Factory, will join the Hellocar board as a Director. The… Read More
Today’s Stories
Prince returns to Spotify and Napster this weekend
WhatsApp now supports two-step authentication
Amazon’s Tap speaker gets a hands-free update in defiance of its name
Beats X bring Apple’s wireless headphone tech to a tethered form factor
Credits
Written and hosted by: Anthony Ha
Edited by: Joe Zolnoski
Filmed by: Matthew Mauro
Teleprompter: Tomas… Read More
