One of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies is getting into the NFT game. Larva Labs, the creator of CryptoPunks, just signed with United Talent Agency (UTA) in a representation deal that will bring one of the earliest and most iconic NFT projects into the entertainment and branding worlds. “I would say that it is one of […]
Tiger Global in talks to make Apna India’s fastest unicorn
Apna, a 21-month-old startup that is helping millions of blue- and gray-collar workers in India upskill themselves, find communities and land jobs, is inching closer to becoming the fastest tech firm in the world’s second-largest internet market to become a unicorn. Tiger Global is in advanced stages of talks to lead a $100 million round […]
Extra Crunch roundup: Toast and Freshworks S-1s, pre-pitch tips, flexible funding lessons
The digital transformation currently sweeping society has likely reached your favorite local restaurant. Since 2013, Boston-based Toast has offered bars and eateries a software platform that lets them manage orders, payments and deliveries. Over the last year, its customers have processed more than $38 billion in gross payment volume, so Alex Wilhelm analyzed the company’s […]
Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan will share their vision of our AI-powered future at Disrupt
We’ve had visionary investors onstage before, and we’ve had science fiction authors onstage — but never at the same time, let alone a pair who collaborated on a unique book of stories and essays that make an optimistic prediction of our AI-infused future. Sinovation founder Kai-Fu Lee and author of “Waste Tide” and others Chen […]
This YC Summer batch features the largest group of African startups yet
African startups also increased from 10 in the winter batch to 15 this time around, a record for African startups in a single YC cohort.
Compound Foods brews up $4.5M to make coffee without beans
Compound Foods uses synthetic biology to create coffee without coffee beans by extracting molecules.
Fundraising for your startup? We’ve got you covered at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021
Fundraising is a huge part of building a successful startup, and whether you’re looking for information about the latest trends, alternative funding or how to fine-tune your pitch to attract investors, you’ll find that and a whole lot more at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 on September 21-23. Disrupt always taps the top experts, visionaries, founders, investors […]
NVIDIA’s latest tech makes AI voices more expressive and realistic
The voices on Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and others still lack the rhythms and intonation that make speech human. NVIDIA has unveiled new tools that can capture those natural speech qualities.
Octane banks $2M for flexible billing software
Octane, a metered SaaS billing system, helps vendors create a plan, monitor usage and charge in a similar way to Snowflake and AWS.
Quip’s new $100M round will usher in more than just clean teeth
Quip is focused on growth, innovation and community building among its over 7.5 million customers in 100 countries.