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Crunch Network
Startups are (still) making weird name choices
First names, foods and animals have been quite popular lately with founders choosing startup names. Meanwhile, other naming styles are getting more fashionable. We take a look at what’s hot now and what might be in vogue next. Read More
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Crunch Network
Understanding the Mendoza Line for SaaS growth
“How fast do I need to be growing to be interesting to a venture investor?” This is a question we get asked all the time by CEOs, and we realize “it depends” is not the most actionable answer to give. Instead, we have come up with a simple model that allows us to give a clear numerical answer to this question. Read More
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Snapchat almost acqui-hired anonymous app Secret
Evan Spiegel secretly tried to hire away the team at Secret, but the price was too high. That’s according to three sources familiar with the deal who spoke to TechCrunch. The information expands and clarifies a report from the new book about Snapchat’s origin story coming out next week called “How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars” by former TechCrunch writer Billy Gallagher. Read More
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Grove raises $2.1M to find the sweet spot between old-school financial advisers and chatbots
Right now if you want financial guidance and planning help you basically have two options – shell out thousands (or more) a year for an old-school Wall Street-affiliated advisor, or test your luck with one of the free financial planning chatbot startups that have been popping up over the past few years. Neither of these are ideal for most people; traditional advisors give good advice but… Read More
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Human sequencing pioneer George Church wants to give you the power to sell your DNA on the blockchain
The blockchain is the buzziest thing on the internet these days and now MIT professor and godfather of the Human Genome Project George Church wants to put your genes on it. His new startup Nebula Genomics plans to sequence your genome for less than $1,000 and then add your data to the blockchain through the purchase of a “Nebula Token.” Read More
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PAX Labs brings on Bharat Vasan as new CEO
PAX Labs has a new CEO. The company, which makes loose-leaf vaporizers, has brought on Bharat Vasan as Chief Executive Officer. Vasan has spent the last 15 years in consumer hardware, serving as the President and COO of August Home, which was acquired by Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy in 2017. Before August, Vasan was the cofounder of Basis (a fitness-based wearable company), which was acquired… Read More
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TapCommerce’s founders are back with Attentive, a messaging startup that’s raised $13M
Attentive is coming out of stealth today with the announcement that it’s raised $13 million in Series A funding. The company was founded by Brian Long and Andrew Jones. They previously founded TapCommerce, a mobile ad startup that was acquired by Twitter for a reported price of $100 million. Long and Jones both worked at Twitter for a couple of years before leaving to start something… Read More
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Tronc starts its new digital strategy with a majority stake in product review site BestReviews
Tronc, the company formerly known as Tribune Publishing, announced today that it now owns a majority stake in BestReviews, which publishes in-depth reviews of consumer products. According to an SEC filing, Tronc agreed to pay a total of $66 million, including $30 million in cash and $36 million in Tronc’s common shares, for a 60% stake in BestReviews. Read More
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ClearBrain uses AI to help advertisers target the right users
ClearBrain has a big goal: “Our mission is to democratize AI for marketers.” That’s how co-founder and CEO Bilal Mahmood put it, though he and his co-founder Eric Pollman aren’t trying to do all that at once. Instead, they’re tackling a more specific challenge — helping companies target ads toward the users most likely to sign up for a subscription, buy… Read More
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Fitness startup Studio is bringing its audio running classes to Life Fitness treadmills
Studio, a startup that delivers coaching, music and competition to treadmill runners’ smartphones and smartwatches, is getting a boost from treadmill maker Life Fitness. Studio founder and CEO Jason Baptiste explained that through this partnership, Studio’s classes will be available on Life Fitness treadmills in gyms, starting with the ones equipped with the company’s… Read More
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NYC-based Notation Capital raises $27 million for second fund
Notation Capital, the NY-based pre-seed fund that launched in 2015, has just picked up a fresh $27 million in capital to invest in to super early stage startups in the NYC area. The fund is called Notation II, and it’s still run by Nick Chirls, who led seed investment at betaworks and helped build Alphaworks, and Alex Lines, an architect at betaworks who contributed to products like… Read More
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‘Instagram for classwork’ Seesaw in 1/2 of US schools
Kids don’t try their hardest unless they think someone’s watching. Overcrowded classrooms and distracted parents can make pouring effort into school work feel pointless. But Seesaw’s app turns their assignments into social media they share with teachers, peers and mom and dad. Now it’s invading schools across the country and just raised a Series A round from LinkedIn… Read More
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Highfive raises $32M Series C for its video conferencing platform
Highfive, a startup that’s building an integrated software and hardware video conferencing solution, today announced that it has raised a $32 million Series C round, which brings the Redwood City-based company’s total funding to $77.4 million. The lead investor for this round was Dimension Data, a major global technology integrator and managed services subsidiary of Japan’s… Read More
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Cityscoot raises $50 million for its European electric scooter service
French startup Cityscoot announced a $50 million round of financing yesterday (€40 million). RATP Capital Innovation and Inventure Partners are leading the round, with existing investors Caisse des Dépôts and LeasePlan also participating. Cityscoot operates an electric scooter-sharing service in Paris and plans to expand to other cities in France and Europe. You can now find around… Read More
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Viacom acquires VidCon, a gathering of YouTube stars and fans
Viacom has acquired VidCon, a move that seems designed to help the media giant connect with younger audiences. Viacom’s blog post describes VidCon as “the premier event for the worldwide online video community,” drawing more than 30,000 attendees to its flagship conference in Anaheim, Calif. (It’s also held smaller events in Amsterdam and Melbourne.) The company was… Read More
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Captain401, now Human Interest, raises $11M to build a 401(k) for small businesses
Pushing through a funding round is never an easy process — and for Captain401 co-founder Roger Lee, it was even more tricky this time around. That’s because Lee and his team raised $11 million right around the birth of his first baby. That gave Lee an even deeper appreciation and understanding for the need of robust employee benefits, which was part of the original goal of… Read More
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Aperio raises a $4.5M seed round to protect power plants from hackers
Protecting critical infrastructure like power plants and other industrial plants is just as important as it’s challenging. It’s one thing to take over a remote machine to mine some Bitcoin, but you’ve got a totally different problem when those hackers try to manipulate the physical infrastructure of your power plant with the goal of causing an explosion. With their thousands… Read More
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David Sacks’s new startup wants to make it safer for old-guard industries to jump into crypto
SEC chairman Jay Clayton made clear today that his agency, along with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, remains acutely concerned about initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency trades. In fact, toward that end, they’re now looking for more expansive powers when it comes to protecting customers on cryptocurrency exchanges from fraud. Read More
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Placements.io raises $3.8M to help digital publishers manage their ad revenue
Placements.io says it’s helping online publishers get paid on time for ads. Placements.io offers a system for publishers to manage ad inventory, orders, payments and billing, all across multiple sales channels. It also integrates with a variety of different adtech systems. Read More
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