Browsing Category: Startups

  • BounceX cuts staff, reduces salaries in wake of COVID-19 economic disruptions

    TechCrunch confirmed today that BounceX (the firm is rebranding this year) has executed layoffs and salary cuts in the wake of recent COVID-19-led economic disruptions. Many startups are undergoing staff cuts as the domestic and global economies slow, making individual reductions less newsworthy as the layoff tally rises. However, as BounceX is a company we’ve …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson on shifting a 3,000-person company to fully remote

    What’s it like to take a company with 3,000 employees distributed across 25 offices and make it fully remote with just a few weeks’ notice? I hopped on a call with Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson to hear about how their transition has gone so far, and what he’s learned from the process. Twilio CEO Jeff …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Foursquare merges with Factual

    Foursquare, the 10-year-old location platform based in New York City, has today announced its plan to merge with Factual. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The merged company will keep the Foursquare moniker, and Foursquare CEO David Shim will remain at the helm, with Factual’s founder and now-former CEO Gil Elbaz joining Foursquare …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Creative Destruction Lab launches a new startup program dedicated to COVID-19 response

    Global academic science and tech startup accelerator program Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is adding a dedicated stream to its existing areas of focus, which include AI, health sciences, space, quantum computing, blockchain, energy and oceans. The new addition is a timely one: CDL Recovery, which is designed to help turn science and research work into …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Daily Crunch: Quibi finally launches its mobile streaming app

    Quibi launches its mobile streaming service, Apple sources 20 million protective masks and Red Hat announces a new CEO. Here’s your Daily Crunch for April 6, 2020. 1. Quibi launches its mobile streaming service in the middle of the quarantine era The much-hyped mobile app promising to deliver “quick bites” of video entertainment is finally …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Why AI startups’ economics will likely improve over time

    Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. If you can recall February, we dug into the question of AI startup gross margins. Venture shop a16z had published an interesting blog on the subject, arguing that it may be the case that AI-focused …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Equity Monday: Hunting for green shoots amid the startup data

    Good morning friends, and welcome back to TechCrunch’s Equity Monday, a short-form audio hit to kickstart your week. Before we jump into today’s show, don’t forget that the long-form Equity that we’ve done for more than three years still drops on Friday. Last week’s was a particular delight, so make sure you’re caught up. Ready? Let’s …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Myriota raises $19.3 million to expand its IoT satellite constellation

    Internet of things satellite connectivity startup Myriota has raises a $19.3 million Series B funding round, led by Hostplus and Main Sequence Ventures, with additional funding from Boeing, former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull, Singtel Innov8 and others. The company has now raised $37 million in Funding, and has four satellites on orbit already, with a …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel
  • Lydia lets you donate to hospitals and charities

    Fintech startup Lydia is the dominating mobile payment app in France with most of its 3.3 million users in its home country. That’s why the startup has been working hard over the past ten days to ship a feature that was originally planned for this summer — donations to charities and hospitals. Starting today, Lydia users …

    April 6, 2020 | by Raheel