Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri will testify before the Senate on teen mental heath

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri will testify before the Senate for the first time as part of a series of hearings about online safety for children and teens. Per The New York Times, Mosseri’s hearing will take place on December 6. Mosseri’s upcoming testimony comes after Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote a letter to Facebook […]

Niantic raises $300M at a $9B valuation to build the ‘real-world metaverse’

Niantic, the augmented reality platform that’s developing games like Pokémon GO, raised $300 million from Coatue, valuing the company at $9 billion. The San Fransisco-based startup, which initially spun out of Google, will use this money to build what it calls the “real-world metaverse.” As early as August, Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke has […]

Netflix to acquire German visual effects studio behind ‘Stranger Things’ and more

Netflix is acquiring Munich-based visual effects studio Scanline VFX for an undisclosed amount. The company expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Scanline has done work on several Netflix originals, including “Stranger Things” and “Cowboy Bebop.” The studio has also provided special effects for […]

TikTok brings its TV app to more devices across the US and Canada

Just ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holidays, TikTok is expanding its footprint in the living room. The company earlier this month launched its TV app in North America in partnership with Amazon Fire TV. Today, TikTok is rolling out its TV app to more TV platforms across North America, including Google TV and other Android […]

San Diego-based startup LifeVoxel raises $5 million seed funding for its AI diagnostic visualization platform

San Diego-based startup LifeVoxel has raised $5 million in a seed round to bolster data intelligence of its AI diagnostic visualization platform for faster and precise prognosis. The platform, dubbed Prescient, is used for diagnostics, workflow management and triage, taking away the stress of managing software and hardware technology from physicians and hospitals — and […]

This Week in Apps: Apple defends app ad buying, Spotify gains lyrics, Instagram kills Threads

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spending in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes […]

Grammarly raises $200M at a $13B valuation to make you an even better writer using AI

Grammarly, the popular auto-editing tool for writing, has raised $200 million in funding at a $13 billion valuation from new investors including Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, among others. The company plans to use the investment to accelerate product innovation and team growth. “We believe this funding round is a great […]