Browsing Category: Startups

  • Bandit opens a ‘mobile-only’ coffee shop in New York

    If you wander into the Bandit coffee shop in Midtown New York, you won’t be able to just walk up to the counter and order something. Instead, you’ll need to download a mobile app. I experienced it for myself yesterday afternoon, when I — along with several other customers — pulled out my phone, downloaded …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • VEnvirotech transforms organic waste into bioplastics

    After a year of testing out environmental technologies for a private company, co-founder Patricia Ayma developed a process for bioplastic production using bacteria. The system turns organic matter, such as food waste, into a product that can be used as a biodegradable alternative to single-use plastics. “I realized that it was a simple technology for …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • Announcing TechCrunch Early Stage, a new event series all about founders

    TechCrunch covers a lot of bases in the tech startup world, but none is more important than supporting founders — especially early-stage founders. That’s what our new event series, TechCrunch Early Stage, is all about. These single-day events debuting next year will be highly interactive opportunities for founders to tap experts in the core startup …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • Circ, the Berlin-based e-scooter company, makes layoffs following ‘operational learnings’

    Circ, the Berlin-based e-scooter rentals — or so-called micromobility — company founded by Lukasz Gadowski of Delivery Hero fame, has made a number of layoffs, TechCrunch has learned. This has seen a reduction in headcount in its HQ and other regional operations. The exact number isn’t clear, although one source placed it at around 50 …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • Kleiner Perkins joins $25.5M funding led by Blockchain Capital for Bison Trails

    Kleiner Perkins has joined a $25.5 million Series A funding round for Bison Trails, a provider of blockchain protocols, which was led by Blockchain Capital to develop the firm’s infrastructure services. Other participants included Coinbase Ventures, ConsenSys, A Capital, Collaborative Fund and Sound Ventures as new investors. Galaxy Digital and Initialized, as early backers, joined …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • Cheq raises another $16M to fight ad fraud

    Cheq, a startup focused on preventing ad fraud and ensuring that ads run in brand-safe environments, has raised $16 million in Series B funding. When the company raised its $5 million Series A last year, CEO Guy Tytunovich contrasted Cheq’s approach with what he called “first generation solutions for ad verification” — rather than identifying …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • Front announces Front Calendar to integrate scheduling with shared inboxes

    Front, the company that lets you manage your inboxes as a team, acquired Meetingbird last year. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Front is about to roll out its own calendar. This way, you can manage meetings within Front and find time that works for everyone. Integrating emails with your calendar makes a …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • Vouch raises $45M led by YC Continuity for business insurance that targets startups

    “Move fast and break things” is a term we usually associate with Facebook (at least, until 2014) and the general startup ethos of being disruptive. Now in true entrepreneurial fashion, the phrase is finding itself as the center of — what else — a startup idea, which today is announcing a sizeable Series B as …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel
  • WHILL brings its autonomous wheelchairs to North American airports

    After trials in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Tokyo’s Haneda airport and Abu Dhabi airport earlier this year, WHILL, the developer of autonomous wheelchairs, is bringing its robotic mobility tech to North America. At airports in Dallas and Winnipeg, travelers with mobility limitations can book a WHILL through Scootaround and test out the company’s products. Using sensing …

    November 20, 2019 | by Raheel