A new dawn for maker tech startups

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. The startup train just keeps on rumblin’ down the tracks, and I’m back with a smattering of “what happened in the world of startups this week.”…

It’s critical to protect equity investments in minority businesses from activist organizations

Lyneir Richardson Contributor Lyneir Richardson is the co-founder of the Chicago TREND Corporation, a social enterprise funded by prestigious impact investors to stimulate urban retail development. He is also a professor of professional practice in the Department of Management and Global Business at Rutgers Business School, and serves as the executive director of the Center…

General Catalyst eyes VC deal in India push

General Catalyst, one of the largest U.S. venture capital firms, is in talks to acquire an India-focused VC as part of efforts to expand its presence in the fast-growing South Asian startup market, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The deal would allow General Catalyst to tap deeper into India’s vibrant technology scene…

Bitcoin spot ETF volume rose, Coinbase went to court, Solana Mobile announces new device and Google cuts crypto apps in India

Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. Alongside our regularly scheduled news bits, I’ll be testing out some recurring segments and features — so if you do (or don’t) like what you see, let me know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important crypto stories delivered to your…

Welcome back to the Unicorn Club, 10 years later

Aileen Lee is the founder of Cowboy Ventures. She partners at the earliest stages with enterprise and consumer-oriented startup teams to build products customers love, and to help teams build aspirational companies. She has over two decades of experience starting at seed stage and staying involved for many years beyond. Allegra Simon loves working closely with incredible…

YouTube to eliminate 100 employees as layoffs at Google continue

Yet another series of layoffs has hit Google, this time at its video-sharing platform, YouTube. The company will eliminate 100 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. Last week, Google laid off more than 1,000 workers across several divisions, including engineering, services and voice-activated product Google Assistant. “As we’ve said, we’re responsibly investing in our company’s…