Startups
Tech startup news that breaks down the funding, growth, and long-term trajectory of companies across every stage and industry. Startup coverage includes climate, crypto, fintech, SaaS, transportation, and consumer tech.
TechCrunch Disrupt joins forces with Google Cloud for Startup Battlefield 200
TechCrunch is joining forces with Google Cloud as its lead partner for Startup Battlefield 200. This event will highlight and support the most promising startups from around the globe at…
Directo turns a TikTok travel hack into a deal-finding Chrome extension
A travel hack that went viral on TikTok teaches users how to save money on hotels and Airbnbs by booking directly with the properties themselves. Now, a new startup, Directo,…
Illumex is using GenAI to ease pain of getting good data into LLMs
By now we know how crucial it is to have quality data for use by large language models (LLMs), but getting data ready for the models has been an early…
Axelera designs AI-running chips and systems for applications like security, retail, automotive and robotics.
Orby AI, is building a generative AI platform that attempts to automate a range of different business workflows, including workflows that involve data entry, documents processing and forms validation.
Austin-based Ironspring Ventures raised $100M to invest in the industrial revolution
When Ironspring Ventures launched in 2020 to back startups in industrial sectors like construction and manufacturing, it was one of very few early-stage venture firms paying attention to those capital-intensive…
Dust grabs another $16M for its enterprise AI assistants connected to internal data
French startup Dust has raised a $16 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital. With Dust, companies can create custom AI assistants and share them with their employees…
Synthflow picks up $7.4M for no-code voice assistance for SMEs
What is AI good for? Automating repetitive tasks for the very busy people running small businesses, reckons Berlin-based startup Synthflow, which is announcing a $7.4 million seed round for its…
Can chatbots replace human therapists? Some startups — and patients — claim that they can. But it’s not exactly settled science. One study found that 80% of people who’ve used…
Why Tecovas sought out physical sales first despite its DTC dreams
When Paul Hedrick left his private equity career to launch Tecovas in 2015, he knew he wanted to sell the brand’s signature cowboy boots a…
Data lakehouse Onehouse nabs $35M to capitalize on GenAI revolution
You can barely go an hour these days without reading about generative AI. While we are still in the embryonic phase of what some have dubbed the “steam engine” of…
Unbabel among the first AI startups to win millions of GPU training hours on EU supercomputers
Four startups will share €1 million in prize money and 8 million GPU hours to train their models on a couple of the bloc’s HPC supercomputers over the next 12…
Formation builds tech-forward solutions for clinical trials and drug development.
Retool expands its low-code platform for creating internal apps to support external apps, too
Retool’s focus is on business apps, not the next social network.
Hyperplane focused on allowing banks to train their own models to power tools across their risk, collections and marketing departments.
Dappier is building a marketplace for publishers to sell their content to LLM builders
When Napster emerged in the late 1990s, it made it easy for people to grab music files without compensating the content owners. The iPod and the iTunes music store changed…
Rainforest lands $20M to challenge Stripe with embedded payments for SaaS providers
Rainforest, a startup that embeds payment processing into other software platforms, has raised $20 million in Series A funding — less than a year after announcing the close of its…
Samsara Eco is working to replace plastic packaging with fossil fuel-free alternatives
Samsara Eco makes and sells fossil-free polymer resins. These resins can be integrated into supply chains and potentially replace plastic packaging and textile products with more sustainable alternatives. The Australian…
Creatio raises $200M at a $1.2B valuation for its no-code CRM and workflow platform
Creatio CEO Katherine Kostereva argues that what sets her company apart is that it was always architected to work at an enterprise scale.
In a push to bolster profits, more airlines are turning to controversial dynamic pricing tech, which prices fares and amenities variably based on a traveler’s willingness to pay for them.
Sensi.AI grabs $31M Series B from Insight, Zeev to monitor seniors 24/7
Older adults increasingly want to age in their homes rather than nursing facilities. A study by the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) found that nearly 90% of people over…
10 of the most exciting digital health startups of 2024, according to VCs
In the post-COVID world, VCs say it’s not as easy to get excited about investing in digital health. Deal activity in healthcare IT was relatively flat in Q1 2024 at…
Fearless Fund’s founder has resigned, and it’s a sad reflection on the VC world for Black women
Fearless Fund’s co-founder and COO Ayana Parsons has announced that she was stepping down. The firm is being sued by a politically conservative group.
It’s unclear where Stability goes from here.
Payabli is building payment management tools for software startups
Payabli builds the infrastructure that allows companies, specifically software companies, to embed and facilitate payments through APIs.
Popular productivity tool Notion has long allowed its users to make any of their pages public. Now, the company is expanding on this with the launch of Notion Sites, which…
Tengo untangles the messy world of public sector procurement with AI
Tengo uses AI to find, evaluate and respond to public tenders. It’s a software-as-a-service tool that helps companies handle public tenders at scale — a bit like Govly in the…
Smashing, from Goodreads’ co-founder, curates the best of the web using AI and human recommendations
Smashing is an AI and community-powered content recommendation app, now launching into an invite-only beta.
Coder’s open-source software has around 1.2 million monthly active users, and Dropbox, Discord and Skydio are among the company’s paying customers.
Boeing’s Wisk Aero buys Verocel to boost software safety for its self-flying eVTOL
Wisk Aero, a subsidiary of Boeing, has acquired Verocel, a software verification and validation company that’s served the aerospace industry for 25 years.
