consumer
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…
As VC firms invest more in B2B startups, Intuition is a new VC fund focusing on consumer tech
Intuition, a new VC firm based in Paris, is doing something radical by betting on consumer tech as its exclusive investment vertical.
Bumble, a once-powerful force in online dating, is facing a reckoning. The company posted weak Q4 2023 results today showing a $32 million net loss and $273.6 million in revenue.…
The company saw revenue grow 24x between 2020 and 2023, and is expecting to double its year over year revenue at the end of this year.
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Retro is a deeply personal photo journaling app for close friends
When is the last time you uploaded your vacation photos to a social network? And which app do you use to keep up with long-distance friends? A new social app called Retro wants to help you share what’s happening in your life with a small group of friends and family…
Snap’s head of growth and previously longtime product head Jacob Andreou is leaving the social media company after eight years to join Greylock as a general partner. The exec announced…
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Why this consumer investor is switching VC firms after making partner last year
Maria Salamanca, one of the few Latina investors at a partner level within the often homogenous world of venture capital, is shaking things up. The investor tells TechCrunch that she is leaving Unshackled Ventures, a pre-seed venture firm that bets on immigrant founders, after seven years to become a partner…
Kim Kardashian becomes a private equity dealmaker in collab with ex-Carlyle partner
America’s favorite reality star is leveling up her repertoire and levering up businesses. Kim Kardashian, who passed the “baby bar” exam in preparation to become a lawyer last year, just…
Women-led mobile gaming startup Robin Games raised funding around the idea of carving out a new niche in the market of “lifestyle gaming.” The idea, the company explained at the…
Investors are preparing for a time of going heads down, helping their portfolio companies that want to prioritize growth instead of raising more capital, and rethinking their metrics of success.
Edtech is facing a reality check in the form of discipline. Investors explained that while the whole startup ecosystem is slower this year, edtech hasn’t escaped that trend.
After pulling open roles across its Office and Windows divisions and letting go of a portion of its 180,000-person workforce in July, Microsoft made additional cuts this week. This layoff…
Google launches a website version of its Read Along education app for children
Google has launched a website for its Read Along app for encouraging young children to practice reading. The website, which is introduced as a public beta, works with Chrome, Firefox…
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Haus, a VC-backed aperitif startup, is up for sale after Series A falls through
Haus launched in 2019 as an answer to a generation’s craving for a more transparent alcohol brand, raising millions in venture funding from angels such as Casey Neistat, Away co-founder Jen Rubio and funds including Homebrew, Haystack Ventures, Coatue, Shrug Capital and Worklife Ventures. Haus has raised $17 million on…
The cybersecurity industry has taken a hit recently, with economic headwinds prompting layoffs and a broad investor pullback. But some firms have escaped unscathed, like cybersecurity training platform Cybrary, which…
Vetted, the startup formerly known as Lustre, today announced that it secured $14 million to fund development of its AI-powered platform for product reviews. The cash infusion comes as part…
Twitter is increasing the price of its subscription service, Twitter Blue, from $2.99 to $4.99 per month. Starting in October, existing subscribers will have to pay more. New users will…
Babbel, the popular subscription-based online language learning service, today announced a couple of updates about its U.S. businesses — the Berlin-based company’s largest market by overall revenue and its fastest-growing…
A few years ago, I got in the habit of asking researchers the titular question: Are universities doing enough to foster robotics startups? To a one, the answer was invariably,…
Karti Chidambaram, an Indian lawmaker, has called for an investigation into the finances of Byju’s, the country’s most valuable startup, for not submitting its statements for the financial year that…
Today during an event focused on Alexa developer and partner news, Amazon announced new features and integrations, including a collection of APIs and software development kits (SDKs) aimed at making…
The European edtech ecosystem has managed to maintain most of its momentum, with the sector securing $1.4 billion so far in 2022, 40% more than a year earlier.
Coding school Holberton today announced that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by African Leadership Group (ALG). The seven-year-old company, with physical schools across the globe in…
Conscience VC raises oversubscribed fund for consumer companies rooted in science
Ariana Thacker likes to say that science was her first love and startups were her second. Now, she gets to combine the two into a thesis for her new venture…
Byju’s has yet to receive $250 million of the $800 million funding it announced in March this year, the company said, as India’s most valuable startup comes under scrutiny. Sumeru…
Unacademy, one of India’s high-profile startups, is undertaking several cost-cutting measures, including salary reduction for founders and shutting down “certain businesses” as it pledges to become frugal and a public…
GoHenry, the U.K.-based financial education app and pre-paid debit card provider for kids, has expanded into Europe for the first time with the acquisition of French startup Pixpay. Terms of…
Byju’s, India’s most valuable startup, has eliminated hundreds of jobs in recent days and pushed back on payments for a $1 billion acquisition it announced last year. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup,…
Kukua, a Nairobi- and London-based educational entertainment company and the creators of “Super Sema,” the first African animated superhero franchise, has raised $6 million in its latest round of investment.…
WhiteHat Jr, the kids-focused coding platform that edtech giant Byju’s acquired for $300 million two years ago, has eliminated about 300 roles in recent days, and is the latest in…
