As a serial entrepreneur who has famously endured some ups and downs, Parker Conrad thought he’d seen it all. Still, he never imagined that there would be a run on Silicon Valley Bank that would upend Rippling, his six-year-old workforce management company, a run so severe that Rippling would liquidate $130 million in money market…
Ab Gaur is the founder and CEO of Verticurl and also serves as Ogilvy’s chief data and technology officer. In many ways, this year will come to be remembered as the one when artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) finally broke through the hype, delivering consumer-focused products that amazed millions of people. Generative AI,…
PhonePe has raised another $200 million as part of an ongoing round, a deliberation that has now helped it pull $650 million in recent weeks despite the market slump, as the Indian fintech giant bulks up its war chest following the recent separation from the parent firm Flipkart. Walmart, which owns the majority of PhonePe,…
The Biden administration is escalating its pressure campaign against TikTok, threatening a U.S. ban against the world’s most popular app if the company doesn’t split with its Chinese ownership. The current administration’s public concerns around the hit app have ratcheted up considerably in recent days. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the U.S.…
There’s no shortage of “upskilling” startups out there, but it’s rare to see one raise a $41 million round. That’s what Spanish startup StudentFinance pulled off a couple of weeks ago. Today, we are taking a closer look at the pitch deck the company used to make that happen. We’re looking for more unique pitch…
There’s a long-standing debate in the world of logistics robotics. On one side stand the greenfield folk, who insist that the best possible experience is one built from the ground up, with these automated systems at its core. Brownfield proponents, on the other hand, point to the time and money required for a full rebuild.…
Deeploi, a Germany-based startup that is building an IT-as-a-Service platform, today announced that it has raised a €3 million seed funding round led by Berlin’s Cherry Ventures, with participation from a group of angels that includes the founders of Taktile, Moss, Vay and sennder. The company was founded by Julian Luebke and Philipp Hoffmann. Luebke…
Walter Thompson Contributor Editorial Manager Walter Thompson edits staff and guest articles for TechCrunch+ and manages TechCrunch’s guest contributor program. Previously, he worked at a number of startups in various roles and as City Editor of Hoodline. He is the host of The Golden City, a podcast about San Francisco. More posts by this contributor…
“Greetings, meatbag.” Carrot Weather, the snarky weather app that delivers daily forecasts, has launched a ChatGPT-based chatbot that delivers even more sass. The feature is rolling out globally today on iOS devices. There’s a lot you can do with the Carrot AI beyond just chatting about the weather and getting insulted. Users can also play…
Open source observability platform Grafana Labs today announced that it has acquired Pyroscope, the company behind the eponymous open source continuous profiling platform. Founded in 2020, the Y Combinator-backed Pyroscope raised a seed round in 2021 and counts the likes of Sensor Tower, Confluent, Line and Plaid among its customers. Grafana plans to integrate Pyroscope…
