Today, Skymind, a company developing an open-source deep-learning library for Java, along with tools for implementation, closed $3 million in financing from Tencent, SV Angel, GreatPoint Ventures, Mandra Capital, and Y Combinator. Skymind was previously a part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2016 batch and has taken money from Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures and a number […]
startups
Interface design collaboration tool Figma is launching its Multiplayer feature, which allows designers to collaborate in real time on the same projects. The service, now available for everyone, is kind of like a Google Docs for interface design in that it wants to bring all of the pieces of the design process together so individual […]
Tyra Banks rang the closing bell at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco this afternoon. The supermodel turned entrepreneur and startup investor was there to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of Tyra Beauty. Tyra Beauty is both “beauty business and badassery,” Banks quipped in a video chat […]
Tinder is introducing a new premium feature called Tinder Boost. The feature will let users pay to have their profiles displayed first to other users on the app in the same locale for thirty minutes. According to the announcement, it’s all about saving users’ time and making sure that the […]
Be honest: Have you ever spent an entire day working at a coffee shop, despite only buying a single cup of coffee? I’ve definitely been guilty of this, and I’ve also been to coffee shops that try to fight back by removing outlets, turning off their WiFi or outlawing laptops […]
Ludovic Ulrich Crunch Network Contributor Ludovic Ulrich is head of startup relations at Salesforce. How to join the network The startup world moves at breakneck speed — what’s hot one minute is old news the next, and it can feel like the rules of the game change every day. For […]
ClassPass, the subscription service for fitness classes, became a household name because of one simple innovation. The business model. Combining the breadth of a marketplace with a subscription pricing structure sparked a handful of similar startup launches (like Vive, which does the same thing with hair blowouts). But more importantly, it […]
Hinge, the dating app that uses Facebook to connect you with friends of friends, has today announced that it will be sunsetting its original app. In its place, Hinge will be launching an entirely new version of the app, focused on relationships. The new app, built from the ground up, […]
Othman Laraki and Elad Gil were sitting on Twitter’s roof deck after their previous company Mixer Labs had been acquired. Gil had brought a small hard drive with him — which happened to contain data on his genome being sequenced — and Laraki wanted to take a look at the […]
French startup Zenly has raised $22.5 million over the summer from Benchmark and a few other investors. Business Insider first reported the round and TechCrunch got an official confirmation. Here’s what we know. Benchmark is leading the round with Peter Fenton joining the board of the company. Fenton has invested […]
Josh Rochlin Crunch Network Contributor Josh Rochlin recently retired from IBM. He was the CEO of Xtify and later the big fish @ IBM’s mobile engagement business. Josh can be found on the Prowler 5 off the Atlantic Highlands working on his next project. How to join the network I […]
Inverse, a new-ish digital media startup founded by Bleacher Report’s Dave Nemetz, is announcing that it has raised $6 million in Series A funding. The Inverse site launched in August 2015 and covers a mix of science, technology and entertainment news — as I write this, the front page features […]
Now that the dust has settled from Foursquare’s big split, the company is pushing forward with a few new executives and a brand new office in Los Angeles. The company has recently brought on Gareth Jones — former head of mobile partner integrations at Twitter, who previously held positions at […]
Unless you plan on bumping into stuff, don’t expect to record after-dark concerts and parties on your Snap Inc Spectacles. The company formerly known as Snapchat (they really should have just changed it to the ? emoji, Prince-style) confirms to me its new camera glasses are not currently built to be […]
Matt Klein Crunch Network Contributor Matt Klein studies the effects of the internet on mind, behavior, culture and business while working with brands at M&C Saatchi Mobile. How to join the network It has been declared that Twitter has an abuse problem. Whether it was the Milo and Leslie Jones […]
As TechCrunch has previously reported, there’s been an exodus of talent from the Rothenberg “ecosystem,” amid claims of a significant breach of fiduciary responsibilities and other unconventional behavior by the venture firm’s founder, Mike Rothenberg. This week, we have learned more details about alleged employee abuses within Rothenberg Ventures, recently […]
This week I got the chance to talk to a private hero of mine, Brian Solis. Solis is a digital analyst and speaker who talks about the future and how big brands – Coke, IBM – will interact with humans. His new book X is out now and it’s designed […]
The art of the lip sync has had a profound impact on the state of our…ok no, but dammit is lip synching fun. For those of you locked in a Faraday cage, pretending to sing has become all the rage these days. You have Michelle Obama doing it for Carpool Karaoke, […]
There’s no denying that your smartphone’s camera is getting better and better for every generation, but what’s a poor photography nerd to do about controllability? Miggo’s Kickstarter-funded Pictar is shipping soon, and might be just the thing to teach your iPhone some additional photography skills. At Photokina, I had a […]
You may know Yi Technologies from its action cameras or its fancy, carbon-fiber drones, but at Photokina, the company launched its first mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera, the Yi M1. Sporting a 20 mpx Sony IMX269 sensor, a high-quality 3-inch touch-screen and a raft of sharing-friendly features, it’s crashing into a […]
Skateboarders make great startup investors, according to Rob Dyrdek and Tony Hawk. The legendary skaters spoke to us about a mindset that helps them be on the lookout for the next big thing. “The skater mentality is you’re always looking at what’s next,” said Dyrdek. He also spoke of the […]
As we romp further into this silly and messy political season it’s come to light that Tyler Luckey, creator of the Oculus Rift and the boy who was last seen floating in a tropical paradise on the cover of time magazine, was the money man behind a group of Trump […]
Cuff, the smart jewelry maker that promised a line of fashion wearables capable of sending emergency alerts to trusted family and friends, shut down earlier this year leaving a number of customer orders unfilled and vendors unpaid. Now, the company is being named in a bankruptcy suit filed by five of […]
After a smash-hit success crowdfunding campaign last year, Podo is back to do it all over again with the sequel to its Cruel Intentions-inspired camera. Turning any surface into an impromptu tripod with its sticky-backed superpowers, the $49 Podo already zoomed past its $50,000 crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter. Apparently, it can […]
