Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy news pertaining to startups and venture capital. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. I’ve been on a bit of startup profile kick as of late. Last week, I wrote a little bit about Landline,…
Tesla broke national labor laws when it unfairly prevented workers from unionizing, an administrative law judge in California ruled Friday. The ruling, which will likely be appealed, was first reported by Bloomberg. Tesla has not responded to a request for comment. TechCrunch will update the article if Tesla responds. The automaker and CEO Elon Musk…
At least a dozen people have died of an acute lung condition related to vaping, and while officials aren’t ready to pin it on any one chemical or brand, they are warning that many of the patients reported buying THC cartridges from “informal sources” — which is to say off the street or online. “The…
If you’re a founder facing a tough immigration question, we have a special workshop session for you next week at Disrupt SF. One of our resident legal experts, Sophie Alcorn, is going to be hosting a special workshop where you can ask any immigration question you may have. Here are some of the main topics…
A major drone incident at the UK’s second business airport last year continues to baffle police. Last December a series of drone sightings near Gatwick Airport caused chaos as scores of flights were grounded and thousands of travellers had their holiday plans disrupted. The incident, which took place during a peak travel period ahead of…
Founders. The clock is ticking. Applications for Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2019 are closing in just about 24 hours. On December 11-12, TechCrunch will feature the top early-stage startups from around the world in the most renowned on-stage pitch competition in the world – Startup Battlefield. Companies are battling for $50,000 in equity-free prize money, the…
Sophia Wood is a Principal at Magma Partners, a Latin America-focused seed-stage VC firm with offices in Latin America, Asia, and the U.S. Sophia is also the co-founder of LatAm List, an English language Latin American tech news source. SoftBank did not let up the flow of capital to Brazil this month, staying busy despite…
At the Oculus Connect developer conference, one of the company’s veteran executives offered some insights on the end of its best-selling product. “As we move forward into the future with Quest, it is probably time for me to give a bit of a eulogy for Gear VR,” CTO John Carmack told the audience Carmack detailed…
Two of Africa’s powerhouse tech incubators will join forces. Nigerian innovation center and seed-fund CcHub has acquired Nairobi based iHub — CcHub CEO Bosun Tijani confirmed to TechCrunch. The purchase amount is undisclosed, but Tijani said CcHub will finance the deal out of its real-estate project to build a new 10 story innovation center to…
On-demand video streaming giant Netflix, which is increasingly expanding its footprint in developing markets, now has a new competitor in Indonesia: Gojek. The Indonesian ride-hailing giant on Thursday launched a video streaming service called GoPlay that features exclusive access to “hundreds of movies and TV shows” as well as snackable short clips. The service, which…
