When you or your kid have any sort of respiratory issue, figuring out what’s happening minute-by-minute — and how well treatment is working — is a stressful, frustrating, and anxiety-filled process. I imagine it’s all of the above and more in the middle of a friggin’ RESPIRATORY DISEASE pandemic. StethoMe, a team competing in this […]
Nymbull wants to guard your next Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace item for sale
Buying and selling on marketplace websites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace often lead to meeting a stranger somewhere to complete the purchase and pick up the item. With over 1 billion Facebook Marketplace users per month, Nymbull founder Jackson Wegelin doesn’t think that’s necessary for peer-to-peer transactions. And he estimates that between interacting with potential […]
What Canva CEO Melanie Perkins looks for in a potential acquisition
We sat down with Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins at Disrupt 2021 to talk about how she has approached fundraising, and how she’s managed to grow Canva’s free and paid user base at a rapid clip.
Microsoft now more focused on ‘killing Zoom’ than Slack, says Stewart Butterfield
“I do feel like that preoccupation has shifted. I think Microsoft believes that in order to kill Slack, they’re going to have to kill Zoom first.”
Cellino is using AI and machine learning to scale production of stem cell therapies
Cellino, a company developing a platform to automate stem cell production, presented today at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 to detail how its system, which combines A.I. technology, machine learning, hardware, software — and yes, lasers! — could eventually democratize access to cell therapies. It aims to bring down costs associated with the manufacturing of human cells, […]
Koa is helping African consumers make better money moves
While Delila Kidanu grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, mobile money platform M-Pesa was the go-to fintech platform for her and most Kenyans. The Safaricom-owned product provides basic access to financial services like sending and receiving money and purchasing airtime. Yet, some Kenyans still lack other digital financial services from savings to investments. Last year, people […]
Straffr is a smart resistance band that helps you exercise on the go
Smart fitness gear is often limited by being static and non-portable. (And, well, eye-wateringly expensive.) Think Peloton‘s stationary bike for spin classes or wall-mounted strength training rig Tonal. Great if you’re at home and can afford to shell out thousands on a fancy home gym, but what if you want to take your workout with […]
Adventr uses patented voice-control tech to allow anyone to create interactive videos
We’ve all been there — you’re watching a horror movie, and you know that the main character definitely shouldn’t go into that creepy house, but no matter how much you yell at your TV, you can’t change his fate. But what if you told the guy on screen to steer clear of the house, and […]
RoboDeck is a robot that keeps your house’s deck looking good
If your house has a wooden deck, keeping it in good shape is costly and time consuming. If you don’t keep up with the regular maintenance, it becomes even more costly and time consuming to fix — or, eventually, it all just starts to rot and fall apart. We’ve got robots that can clean our […]
Animal Alternative makes a platform play in the growing market of cultured meat
Traditional meat production is about as far from a sustainable process as we’ve got, but our chances of getting everyone to give up “real” meat are lean. Animal Alternative is one of several companies looking to make meat indistinguishable from the animal-based kind using bioreactors and cultured cells, and it aims to empower local producers […]