This Week in Apps: Twitter launches livestream shopping, Netflix snags new games, Tile gets acquired

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 spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes […]

The 2022 Polestar 2 is more appealing, affordable and repairable

When Polestar launched its first all-electric vehicle last year, it came in a single flavor: a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration that cost around $50,000 before incentives. Next year, the automaker is adding some variety. Polestar is rolling out a more affordable, single-motor, two-wheel-drive version of the sedan that still offers many of the features of the dual-motor […]

Vauban, an AngelList-like platform for VCs and angels to run and raise funds, closes $6.3m

It’s always been a slight puzzle why AngelList never really properly took off in Europe, especially when, a few years ago, there was such a dearth of funding options for poorly served European startups. But the reasons are fairly simple when you look at them. For starters, the US tech industry boomed in the last […]

Astroscale raises $109M for its on-orbit services technology

Japanese space startup Astroscale has raised $109 million in a new Series F round of financing, bringing the company’s total funding raised to date to $300 million. The company specializes in on-orbit servicing technology, designed to help reduce the amount of debris that exists in operating orbital altitudes, and also to extend the life of […]

How Pilot convinced Index Ventures to think long-term about margins

Whether you agree or not, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the multipliers in Silicon Valley and the growth of software businesses have changed the way we think about a startup’s timeline.