North America
The latest startup and technology news coming out of North America.
Senators urge owners, partners and VC backers of fintech Synapse to restore customers’ access to their money
A group of senators has banded together to urge Synapse’s owners and bank and fintech partners to “immediately restore customers’ access to their money.” As part of their demands, the…
Vaire Computing raises $4.5M for ‘reversible computing’ moonshot which could drastically reduce energy needs
Vaire Computing, based in London and Seattle, is betting that chips that can do reversible computing are going to be the way forward for the world.
Identity.vc is bringing capital and community to Europe’s LGBTQ+ venture ecosystem
Identity.vc writes checks that range from €250,000 to €1.5 million into companies from the pre-seed to Series A stages.
Plaid, once aimed at mostly fintechs, is growing its enterprise business and now has over 1,000 customers signed on
Plaid’s expansion into being a multi-product company has led to real traction beyond traditional fintech customers.
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son announced on Thursday that the Japanese tech giant has set up a joint venture in the country with Chicago-based health tech company Tempus. Together, the…
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…
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…
How Jobright uses AI to help foreign workers navigate the US job market
Leveraging large languge models, Jobright created an AI agent that acts as a headhunter tailored to individual job seekers.
Foray Bioscience is breaking down the barriers of bringing biomanufacturing to plants
Ashley Beckwith spent years of her academic and professional career focused on the intersection of biology, materials and manufacturing to build medical solutions more efficiently. When she realized the tech…
Snapchat introduces new safety features to limit bad actors from contacting users
Snapchat on Tuesday announced a new suite of safety features, including updates to its account blocking functionality and enhanced friending safeguards, making it difficult for strangers to contact users on…
Rocketlane snags $24M to bring AI-led experiences for professional services teams
Rocketlane initially aimed to support customer onboarding. However, it has broadened its scope and doubled down on addressing the needs of professional services teams.
Deal Dive: Sir Jack A Lot returns with a startup for retail traders
When former YouTube product manager Kevin Xu, known as “Sir Jack A Lot” on Reddit, turned $35,000 into $8 million trading stocks between 2020 and 2022, many people thought his…
Cruise clears key hurdle to getting robotaxis back on roads in California
Cruise, the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, has agreed to pay a $112,500 fine for failing to provide full information about an accident involving one of its robotaxis last year.…
Kevin Hartz’s A* raises its second oversubscribed fund in three years
Venture firms raised $9.3 billion in Q1 according to PitchBook data, which means this year likely won’t match or surpass 2023’s $81.8 billion total. While emerging managers are feeling the…
PayPal Ventures leads $20M round into Gynger, which offers companies ‘buy now, pay later’ for technology purchases
Gynger, a platform that lends capital to companies for technology purchases, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by PayPal Ventures, it told TechCrunch exclusively. The financing…
The U.S. is facing an accountant shortage. Fewer first-time candidates took the CPA exam in 2022 than in 2006, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. One possible…
Loop Golf looks to take the stress out of booking a tee time
Golf has exploded in popularity in recent years thanks to the pandemic and the popularity of Netflix’s Full Swing documentary series. More than 531 million rounds of golf were played…
Autify launches Zenes, an AI agent for software quality assurance
With the advent of generative AI, AI applications are transforming and reshaping various industries and changing how people work. Software development is no exception. San Francisco- and Tokyo-based startup Autify…
After announcing a strategic partnership with SoftBank in April, Perplexity — the AI search engine that has ambitions to take on Google — is now using the deal to expand…
YC-backed Hona looks to reduce the communication friction between law firms and their consumer clients
When Manny Griffiths worked with a personal injury lawyer after his wife’s car accident, he was surprised by the lack of information and communication from their lawyer regarding their claim.…
There has been a lot of bad news about social media startups lately. Multiple companies, including Twitter alternative Post News, and IRL have shut down. And ShareChat’s valuation has dropped…
What StepStone’s $3.3B venture secondaries fund tells us about LPs’ current appetite for venture
StepStone raised the largest fund dedicated to investing in venture secondaries ever, the firm announced last week. This fundraise doesn’t just say a lot about StepStone’s venture secondaries investing prowess,…
WhatsApp adds new features to the calling experience, including support for 32-person video calls
WhatsApp updated the video calling experience across devices on Thursday by introducing screen sharing with audio support and a new speaker spotlight feature. It’s also increasing the limit for video…
When Jordan Nathan launched his DTC nontoxic cookware company, Caraway, in 2019, he knew he was not the only founder trying to sell a new brand of pots and pans…
Fintech Brex abandons co-CEO model, talks IPO, cash burn and plans for a secondary sale
Since fintech startup Brex’s inception in 2017, its two co-founders Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi have run the company as co-CEOs. But starting today, the pair told TechCrunch in an…
Linq raises $6.6M to use AI to make research easier for financial analysts
When generative AI tools started making waves in late 2022 after the launch of ChatGPT, the finance industry was one of the first to recognize these tools’ potential for speeding…
How Urvashi Barooah broke into venture after everyone told her she couldn’t
When Urvashi Barooah applied to MBA programs in 2015, she focused her applications around her dream of becoming a venture capitalist. She got rejected from every school, and was told…
Cat-sitting startup Meowtel clawed its way to profitability despite trouble raising from dog-focused VCs
Dogs are the most popular pet in the U.S.: 65.1 million households have one, according to the American Pet Products Association. But while cats are not far off, with 46.5…
Featured Article
In 2024, many Y Combinator startups only want tiny seed rounds — but there’s a catch
When Bowery Capital general partner Loren Straub started talking to a startup from the latest Y Combinator accelerator batch a few months ago, she thought it was strange that the company didn’t have a lead investor for the round it was raising. Even stranger, the founders didn’t seem to be…
Revel to lay off 1,000 staff ride-hail drivers, saying they’d rather be contractors anyway
New York-based Revel has made a lot of pivots since initially launching in 2018 as a dockless e-moped sharing service. The BlackRock-backed startup briefly stepped into the e-bike subscription business.…
