The Latest
Starship Technologies raises another $42M to fuel the growth of its fleet of self-driving delivery robots
Starship Technologies, one of the bigger players in the world of autonomous delivery robots — the small, boxy vehicles that self-drive around cities and closed campuses delivering food and ot...
VC firm Urban US rebrands to Third Sphere, doubles down on climate focus
Urban US is three funds deep into an eight-year venture capital journey of focusing on climate tech. The firm originally had a built-environment focus it described as “reimagining cities for ...
Payhawk becomes a unicorn as it extends its Series B
European spend management startup Payhawk has added $100 million to its Series B round that I already covered back in November. The startup confirms that it has reached a post-money valuation of $1...
Singapore-based Volopay accelerates APAC and MENA expansion with $29M Series A
Volopay, a Singapore-based fintech startup, raised a $29 million Series A in debt and equity financing as it seeks to further expand its footprint in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa....
Benchmark’s Sarah Tavel on the “bifurcation” coming to the world of web3
One of just five general partners at the storied early-stage venture firm Benchmark, Sarah Tavel may be leaning the most into crypto, but that hardly means she’s actively writing related chec...
Waymo to begin charging for robotaxi rides in San Francisco
Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet, has scored a permit with the California Public Utilities Commission that allows it to charge riders for ride-hailing trips in its autonomous vehicles in Sa...
NASA extends SpaceX’s Commercial Crew contract by three missions for $900 million
NASA announced today that it has officially awarded SpaceX the Crew-7, Crew-8, and Crew-9 missions to the International Space Station, bringing SpaceX’s total Commercial Crew Transportation Capabil...
This imaging sensor sees right through you with terahertz waves
You may not be able to see ’em with your eyes, but in the space between infrared light and microwaves is an invisible stretch of the electromagnetic spectrum where neither electronics nor opt...
Daily Crunch: Asian and Hispanic e-grocer Weee! bags $425 million Series E
Hello friends and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Test automation platform Tricentis acquires Tx3 Services
Tricentis, a well-funded enterprise-centric test automation platform, is on a bit of an acquisition spree these days. Last year, it acquired performance testing service Neotys. Earlier this month, ...
Rocket Lab’s Neutron will be built, launched and landed at Wallops Island, Virginia
Rocket Lab has announced the latest expansion of its growing empire of rocket building and launching facilities. While its existing pads in New Zealand and the U.S. will continue to field the compa...
Where we’ll be next
EU confirms ban on Kremlin-backed media is expected to cover online platforms
The EU’s ban on Kremlin-backed media outlets, Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik (plus any subsidiaries), is expected to cover online platforms and apps as well as traditional broadcast channels, ...
Max Q: International space collaboration under threat
This week, the biggest story in the space industry is understandably the biggest story in world events overall: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Of course, the most immediate and devastating impact of...
Lucid rolls back production goals even as demand for luxury EV rises
Earnings season rolled along today with notes from Lucid Motors’ fourth-quarter results. The company, like other electric vehicle (EV) companies, is nascent in revenue terms, albeit further along t...
China’s social media giants remove ‘inappropriate’ Ukraine content
China has stuck to its position of refusing to call Russia’s military actions in Ukraine an “invasion” or condemn Moscow, but its people are taking to social media to express thei...
BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover resigns from board amid turmoil at Indian fintech
Ashneer Grover, a founder and the public face of BharatPe, has resigned from the board and left the managing director position he held at the Tiger Global-backed Indian fintech startup following we...
Instagram is shutting down its standalone IGTV app
Instagram is ending support for its standalone app for IGTV, the company announced on Monday. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, confirmed to TechCrunch that the app will be removed from app s...
After 2 rejected deals, Zendesk considers its next steps
Zendesk now has to prove to investors that it can keep up its improving growth rates while defending its gross margins. And it has to avoid getting acquired while it does so.
Leverage early investors when raising a Series A, says DeepScribe’s Akilesh Bapu
“When I walked out of the meeting, I went immediately to one of my partners, and was like, ‘Finally, I found the company that is following the right approach,” said Index Ventures...
Second-time founder of climate tech company Supercritical discusses learning how to balance motherhood and being a CEO
In this week’s episode of Found, we’re joined by Michelle You, co-founder and CEO of Supercritical, who is on a mission to help companies get to net-zero — but she refuses to sacr...
