Could Supernova be an ‘ethical alternative’ to the social media giants?

Supernova is a new app that has now gone live on the Apple and Android app stores billing itself as a new “ethical alternative” to Instagram and Facebook, where most of the ad revenues go to charities. Does it have a chance? It would be fair to say that after many years of either watching […]

India’s Cars24, a used-vehicle sales platform, raises $400M, now at a $3.3B valuation, to double down on growth

With supply chains in the automotive industry continuing to be disrupted due to Covid-19, demand has surged in the used-car market. Today, one of the startups that’s seeing a lot of growth as a result of that is announcing a big round of funding to further tap the opportunity. Cars24, a startup out of India […]

Nigerian mobility-tech startup MAX bags $31 million in Series B round, set to expand across Africa, build EV infrastructure

Nigerian mobility tech startup Metro Africa Xpress Inc. (MAX) is planning to enter more markets across Africa as it races towards formalizing the continent’s transportation sector after securing $31 million in Series B funding. The startup told TechCrunch that it will use the funding to enter Ghana and Egypt by the end of the first […]

Kurly lands $210M pre-IPO at a $3.3B valuation months after its last funding

Just half a year after its last Series F round announcement, Korean online grocery startup Kurly has closed $210 million in a pre-IPO round from single backer Anchor Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm.  The latest funding brings its total raised to approximately $761 million and values the company at $3.3 billion.   The Seoul-based startup that […]

This Week in Apps: Apple’s App Privacy Report arrives, Google details Android 12 Go edition, Instagram tops 2B users

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 number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the […]

South Park Commons, an “anti incubator” founded by early FB and Dropbox engineers, gains momentum

When South Park Commons (SPC), a community of tens of engineers in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood, came together, it mostly flew under the radar, save for a New York Times profile in 2017, a year after it was formed. Founded by Facebook’s first female engineer, Ruchi Sanghvi, she explained at the time that her […]