London-based CityStasher is building what it calls an ‘Airbnb for luggage’, a network of brick and mortar businesses across Europe that will store your luggage for a few hours after you have checked out or are waiting to check into your travel accommodation. To help with this mission, CityStasher has raised $1.1 million in seed
Some nice momentum for Barcelona based Red Points which has closed a $12M Series B, led by Northzone. Previous investors Mangrove and Sabadell Venture Capital also participated in the round. This follows a $2.2M Series A in September 2016 when customers numbered in the region of 75. It’s now reporting customer numbers have passed 300, up from 100
I guess it had to happen sooner or later. TechCrunch has decided to get to the bottom of the Crypto and Blockchain boom by heading to one of its main geographical centers. Since welcoming the regulation of Initial Coin Offerings with open arms, Zug, the Swiss Canton just outside of Zurich, has come to be
French authorities are investigating whether Apple deliberately slows down older iPhones in order to increase sales, AFP reports. The move follows a complaint by a French consumer group, HOP, that campaigns against planned obsolescence and which filed a complaint against Apple in December. Programmed obsolescence is illegal in France under a 2015 law which prohibits
We just could not stay away! In December, TechCrunch held Disrupt at the Berlin Arena. We were wowed by the Berlin startup scene and just couldn’t get enough. In fact, Germany’s own Blik became the 2017 runner-up of Startup Battlefield Berlin. Well now we are back, and we want to meet more of your startups. TechCrunch is
Libratone has been around for almost ten years, but for the longest time, the company was mostly known for its Bluetooth speakers. With the launch of the Pixel 2, Google chose Libratone as one of its first “Made for Google” headset partners, which gave the company’s headset lineup a bit of a boost. Now, at
There’s a startup in Texas that’s been quietly building the technology that powers mobile banking apps. Plano-based Alkami has developed a white label service that credit unions and banks use across digital platforms. And Alkami’s 4.5 million users have generated enough revenue for the company to justify a $70 million Series D round, led by
We get to play with Buddy, a roaming robot with a smile, at CES 2018. Made by Blue Frog Robotics, Buddy is all about connectivity. It interacts with, endears itself to and protects your entire…
Wonderschool, a network of in-home daycare and preschools, plans to open 150 programs in New York City after raising $2.1 million in new funding. The capital comes from non-profit investment firm Omidyar Network, Be Curious Partners, Rethink Education, Edelweiss Partners and Learn Capital and brings the startup’s total raised so far to more than $4
Attic Labs, the creator of Noms, an open-source decentralized database, announced today that is being acquired by Salesforce. Terms of the deal, Salesforce’s first acquisition of 2018, were undisclosed. Last year, the company only bought digital creative agency Sequence, according to Crunchbase, taking a break from an acquisition spree in 2016 when it snapped up
Money transfer company TransferWise has begun a private launch of its “Borderless account” for consumers. It marks the first time the European unicorn has offered a debit card (pictured below), a move that is bound to draw further comparisons with newer fintech upstarts such as Revolut. Initially rolling out to a thousand customers, with several
SolarWinds, the company behind services like Pingdom, Papertrail and AppOptics, today announced that it has acquired the cloud-based log-monitoring and analytics service Loggly. The two companies did not disclose the price of the acquisition, but Loggly, which was founded in 2009, had raised about $47 million over the years, including an $11.5 million Series D
Debating is at the core of a robust society — as are online social networks. When combined, they transmute each other into a minefield of negativity, abuse and destruction. With products today, we are either living in an echo chamber of like-minded people who agree with us all the time, or we’re duking it out
While Google dominates the world when it comes to search, portals for those looking for products and services in specific niches continue to have a place in our online world. In one of the latest developments, Smava, a German startup that has built a marketplace/portal for people to search for and take out loans, has
VTech, the maker of smart toys whose poor security practices exposed data from millions of parents and children, has been slapped on the wrist by the FTC to the tune of $650,000 and probation. It seems a light penalty for such a multifaceted failure affecting so many. The Hong Kong company makes a variety of
Toyota took advantage of CES 2018 to signal a major shift in its business, becoming what company president Akio Toyoda termed a “mobility service company” during his keynote presentation. Toyota seems poised to embrace mobility services as a core part of its overall business, rather than an offshoot or subsidiary concern, based on Toyoda’s comments
If you’ve gotten three apps and a Fitbit so you can get skinnier this year, don’t worry so much about summer beach season or holiday weight gain. Instead, worry about Thursday. Researchers at University of South Carolina found that self-reporting of food was integral to weight loss but that self-reporters often fell off, seemingly around
Ring, the connected home security gadget startup, has acquired Mr. Beams, a maker of LED lighting with wireless connectivity and motion-sensing capabilities. The Mr. Beams acquisition is intended to help Ring bolster its existing portfolio of connected doorbells, video cameras and combination floodlight/cameras with affordable, modular lighting that can integrated with Ring’s software and services.
Google is simplifying the way it presents its different payments tools to consumers, uniting them under a new brand called Google Pay. In a Google blog post, Vice President of Product Management for Payments Pali Bhat described this as more of a rebranding than a change to the underlying products or technology. He said the
Collibra, a company that wants to help firms understand data governance, announced a $58 million Series D funding round today led by Iconiq Capital and Battery Ventures. All of the investors involved in this round were coming back for another dip in the well. In addition to Iconiq and Battery Ventures, early Collibra investors Dawn
Concerns have been raised about a set of late stage government amendments inserted into the UK’s draft data protection bill. The clauses deal with the processing of public sector data. Health data privacy advocacy group MedConfidential believes ministers are trying to sneak in a data protection law carveout, in order to hand politicians the power
A team of former Tinder employees, led by Tinder’s original CTO Ryan Ogle, are today launching a new app aimed at professional networking. The app, called Ripple, aims to be a sort of mobile-first alternative to LinkedIn that addresses some of the problems common to the aging, now Microsoft-owned business networking platform. LinkedIn today has
Expanding and upgrading wireless networks requires an astounding amount of investment, both in terms of time and resources. As we head into the era of 5G connectivity, that investment only increases. But Starry Internet, founded by Chet Kanojia, is looking to lower the cost for the entire industry through a new partnership with Marvell. Partnering
Citiesocial, a Taipei-based startup that helps emerging brands break into Asia’s e-commerce market, has raised $2.75 million led by Alibaba Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund, a non-profit backed by Alibaba Group to support local startups. CDIB Capital and returning investor Cherubic Ventures also participated. The capital will be used to expand citiesocial into China, South Korea and
Encrypted messaging startup Telegram plans to launch its own blockchain platform and native cryptocurrency, powering payments on its chat app and beyond. According to multiple sources which have spoken to TechCrunch, the “Telegram Open Network” (TON) will be a new, ‘third generation’ blockchain with superior capabilities, after Bitcoin and, later, Ethereum paved the way. The
With its 4K 15.6-inch touchscreen, discrete graphics and more than 13 hours of promised battery life, this two-in-one looks perfect for power users. Subscribe to CNET: http://cnet.co/2heRhep…
Anker’s mobile division Roav is today announcing an in-vehicle Alexa device. Called Viva, the device plugs into a 12-volt cigarette lighter outlet and turns Alexa into a co-pilot of sorts. After using it on a 4 hour road trip, though, I found the device adequate but left much to be desired. For one, it doesn’t
Nvidia will power artificial intelligence technology built into its future vehicles, including the new I.D. Buzz, its all-electric retro-inspired camper van concept. The partnership between the two companies also extends to the future vehicles, and will initially focus on so-called “Intelligent Co-Pilot” features, including using sensor data to make driving easier, safer and more convenient
Relative autonomous driving industry newcomer Aurora has been revealing a lot of early traction lately, and now we know that it’s also working with GPU-maker Nvidia. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed that his company will be supplying Aurora with the tech underlying their compute platform. Aurora is building self-driving systems for both Volkswagen and Hyundai,
French company Netatmo is adding one more way to control your smart objects around your house. You can now talk and control with all your connected devices using a chatbot in Messenger. The feature is now live in English, with more languages coming later this year. Search for the Netatmo Smart Home Bot in Messenger