News

Let’s just get this out of the way: for the past several years, I’ve contributed the “Best Gifts for Frequent Travelers” segment to TechCrunch’s annual gift guide. I love it. It was easily my favorite gift guide to write, and it was an audience favorite, as well. But I am no longer a frequent traveler. […]

The capital market boom might be temporary, but the emergence of a new economy in Brazil supported by new local investors and new players is a trend that has been building up for some time

Two large job search and recruiting platforms are coming together, with Vettery acquiring Hired. The news follows a report last week in The Information claiming that Hired had begun to sell off its assets and wind down the company. The report also stated that Hired CEO Mehul Patel “abruptly resigned” via Zoom in early October. […]

General Motors is changing sides in a battle over whether states — and specifically California — can set tailpipe emissions regulations and other rules meant to mitigate climate change that are stricter than the federal government. The automaker said Monday it will no longer back the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to prevent California from s

Lunewave, the Arizona-based startup developing a novel technology for radars for autonomous vehicles, has raised $7 million in financing as it gets ready for the commercial rollout of its systems. The company’s latest financing came from Proeza Ventures, Blue 9 Capital, Tsingyuan Ventures and Intact Ventures, the company said. With the latest fun

I wasn’t super impressed when I reviewed the Echo Buds around this time last year, but Amazon’s first shot at Alexa-powered fully wireless earbuds was passable. And while they’ve already been on the market for a while now, the company’s continuing to deliver some key updates, including today’s addition of new fitness features. Say “Alex

I believe we are seeing the downfall of ad tech as we know it with social media boycotts and data privacy leading the charge.

Sequoia Capital, the renowned Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has backed companies like Apple, Google, Dropbox, Airbnb and Stripe, recently disclosed that it had opened its first office in Europe. To staff up, it hired partner Luciana Lixandru away from rival Accel Partners. Even without an official European presence, Sequoia has quietly o

This holiday season, next-gen gamers, bless their hearts, will be hoping to receive next-gen gaming consoles. But confusing branding by the console makers could lead to disappointment.

Strong e-commerce sales are predicted to help lift overall holiday retail spending in the U.S., according to forecasts released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and eMarketer. Both firms expect to see overall retail sales growth during November and December, though the market may be impacted by slowing brick-and-mortar sales. Of the tw

“The Queen’s Gambit” is setting viewership records at Netflix, the streaming service said today. Like all the viewership data that Netflix has released this year, these new numbers reflect how many people “chose to watch” — in other words, how many people watched at least two minutes of a given show or movie. In the case […]

CEO and co-founder of music tech startup Stem Milana Lewis explains how she landed several superstar investors and raised a little under $22 million.

SpaceX is set to launch its sixteenth Starlink mission on Monday at 9:34 p.m. EST (6:34 p.m. PST). This launch will carry 60 of the company’s broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit, where they’ll join the existing constellation and contribute to its growing network of eventually global coverage. The launch is also significant because

The space industry, once dominated by government-funded programs and a small handful of corporations, has seen a surge in startups in recent years. And with startups aplenty, the venture firms can never be far behind. Venture capital has played an increasingly important role in rooting out the best and most promising of these startups. The […]

Uber has been refused permission to dismiss 11 people at its EMEA headquarters in Amsterdam by the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV), the ride hailing company has confirmed. The affected individuals did not take up an earlier severance offer as part of wider Uber layoffs earlier this year. Uber announced major global layoffs of around […]

3D-printed rocket startup Relativity Space has closed $500 million in Series D funding (making official the earlier reported raise), the company announced today. This funding was led by Tiger Global Management, and included participation by a host of new investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Iconiq Capita

The EPA just released its findings on the Mustang Mach-E, and it’s a mixture of good news and bad news. Depending on the model, the EPA says the Mach-E is good for just 211 miles to 300 miles on a charge. On the one hand, the Mach-E matched Ford’s range target, with the EPA agreeing […]

A spate of startups focused on mental health recently made enough noise as a group that they caught the eye of the Equity podcast crew. Sadly, the segment we’d planned to discuss this topic was swept away by a blizzard of IPO filings that piled up like fresh snow. But in preparation, I reached out […]

Superpeer, a startup that helps experts share and monetize their knowledge online, is announcing that it has raised $8 million in additional funding. As I wrote in March, the Superpeer platform allows experts to promote, schedule and charge for one-on-one video calls with anyone who might want to ask for their advice. In addition to […]

Gatik, the autonomous vehicle startup focused on the “middle mile,” is already using its self-driving box trucks to deliver customer online grocery orders for Walmart. Now, the company — freshly stocked with $25 million in Series A funding — is expanding up into Canada with a partnership with retail giant Loblaw. Gatik said Monday that […