The newest companies that could change the world
- CRUNCH NETWORK
Wired For Extremes
Chris McNamara stood at the overhang of what would be his final wingsuit BASE jump (parachuting or wingsuit flying from a fixed structure: building, antenna, span and Earth). A 1,500-foot drop was a conservative risk in a community that saw around 30 deaths last year. “After I took flight I had never realized how much physical strength was required in wingsuit BASE. I wasn’t nervous… Read More Sources: YC Alums Club Together For Crystal Towers, A $100M VC Fund For Promising YC Startups
Y Combinator has helped over 800 startups come to market that are today worth a collective $30 billion (and possibly even more very soon). Now it looks like a new VC is emerging out of it that will be dedicated to help the most promising of these grow. TechCrunch has learned of a new VC fund called Crystal Towers. Backed by several YC founders, it will start out with between $90 million… Read MorePicoBrew’s Zymatic Beer Making Machine Made A Brewer Out Of A Noob Like Me
PicoBrew is a beer-centered startup in Seattle, founded by brothers Bill and Jim Mitchell and Avi Geiger. The machine at the heart of their operation is The Zymatic—an apparatus that simplifies beer-making by reducing the need to monitor the cooking process of creating Wort (unfermented beer). Did their device turn a beer drinker like me, with zero brewing experience, into a beer maker? Read MoreStartup Sues A Domain Name Owner To Grab A 16-Year-Old URL
Jason Kneen is a programmer and happens to own about a hundred domain names picked up over a sixteen year period. One of those, workbetter.com, he purchased in 1999 and it has been available on his site for years. In late April 2014 a company, OfficeLinks, approached him about buying the domain for use as a URL for their co-working space. @jasonkneen @hjmehta Jason: We're sorry about… Read MoreY Combinator-backed Gemnote Saves Companies From Cheesy Gift Baskets
This may come as a surprise to anyone who has ever received a rattan basket packed with novelty cheese logs, but corporate gifts are a huge business. According to research from the Advertising Specialty Institute, U.S. companies spend about $19 billion a year sending swag to clients and employees. Gemnote, which just launched from Y Combinator, gives companies an alternative. Read MoreInterview: Tim Draper Doubles Down On Europe
DFJ, the storied Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has built out a global presence not just through direct investments but through a network of firms that are affiliated with the mothership yet raising and investing from their own funds. Now that network is going through some changes, and with it comes a new role for one of the firm’s founders. The DFJ Network has rebranded to… Read MoreIndia’s BankBazaar Raises $60M Series C Led By Amazon
BankBazaar, a startup that lets Indian consumers compare financial products online, has scored a $60 million Series C led by Amazon, with participation from Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners, and returning investors Sequoia Capital and Walden International. Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
Tips For Finding Success As A Female Engineer
It was apparent from the first time I took a computer programming class in high school that it was one of the few subjects that really excited me. Initially, it was just an option I was trying out, but I soon knew that engineering was what I wanted to major in and pursue for my lifelong career. The thing I love most about engineering is that there are limitless opportunities to do meaningful… Read More Smigin Is a Foreign Language Tool That Doesn’t Make You Sound Like A Tourist
If you’ve ever tried to learn a foreign language, you probably know that most existing methods focus on aspects of the language that aren’t very helpful in everyday life. For example, newcomers to a language are often first taught the names of animals or colors, words that aren’t normally applicable to the common traveler. Smigin aims to fix this problem with its app… Read More
An Interview With Blue Apron CEO Matt Salzberg
Blue Apron, the NY-based startup that delivers weekly pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to your home, has been cooking over the past year. The company recently announced that it had surpassed 1 million meals shipped monthly, putting estimated yearly revenue at $120 million. And if that weren’t enough, the company raised $135 million in Series D at a $2 billion valuation. We sat… Read MoreIn Wake Of Apple Music, SoundCloud Update Focuses On Music Discovery, Better User Experience
All the buzz this week may be about the launch of Apple Music, but another popular streaming music application, SoundCloud, has also now rolled out a notable update to its mobile application. The update – which delivers new features including related tracks, shuffle, direct playlist editing, and more – is aimed at both improving music discovery and the overall user… Read MoreOn-Demand Cleaning Startup Hassle Merges With Rocket Internet’s Helpling
According to multiple sources, the U.K. on-demand home cleaning startup Hassle.com, which also operates in Ireland and France, has been acquired by Rocket Internet’s Helpling. Both companies declined to comment. However, TechCrunch understands that this is now a done deal. Read MoreTrash-Focused Rubicon Global Hires Its First CTO
Rubicon Global, a startup helping customers find money-saving, environmentally-friendly ways to handle their waste and recycling, is announcing the hire of its first chief technology officer — Phil Rodoni, previously vice president of software at Esurance. Atlanta-based Rubicon doesn’t haul trash itself, but instead connects businesses with waste hauling and recycling companies… Read More- CRUNCH NETWORK
Read This Before Meeting VCs For Pre-Pitch “Advice”
Startups often ask VCs for pre-pitch meetings. These requests usually are positioned along the lines of, “We aren’t looking for money yet, just advice.” Of course, we all know this is just a nice way of getting your foot in the door for a soft pitch. And that’s ok; these meetings enable both sides to get acquainted before the real ask. However, when startups come… Read More Prêt d’Union Grabs $34 Million For Its Online Credit Marketplace
French startup Prêt d’Union just raised $34 million (€31 million) from Eurazeo, Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet as well as its existing investors. Prêt d’Union is a European online credit marketplace that matches lenders and borrowers without any financial institution in-between. You can call it a sort of Lending Club for Europe. Read MoreGozoomo Gets $5M To Make Buying Used Cars In India Easier
When Arnav Kumar started looking for his first car, he was determined to buy a used one to save money. The process of sorting through online listings and trying to figure out which ones were legitimate was so tedious that he gave up after a day. To save other buyers from the same headache, Kumar founded Gozoomo, which just landed a $5 million Series A from returning investors SAIF Partners. Read MoreHomeToGo, The European Metasearch Engine For Holiday Rentals, Raises €6M
HomeToGo, the European ‘metasearch’ engine for holiday rentals, has raised €6 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is DN capital, and Acton Capital Partners, adding to the €2 million previously raised from various angel investors. Read MoreYour.MD Scores $5M For Its AI-Driven Health Assistant
Your.MD is on a mission to improve the way we seek health-related, namely self-diagnosis, information online. If you’ve ever tried to google your symptoms, you know it’s not for the feint hearted. The U.K. health startup wants to change that via its ‘smart health assistant’ app for smartphones. Read MoreRakuten Acquires Tokyo-Based Travel Startup Voyagin
Rakuten not only runs Japan’s largest e-commerce site, but also one of its leading online travel agencies, booking over 3.8 million hotel nights each month. Now the company is expanding its horizons beyond hotels and flights with the acquisition of Voyagin, a Tokyo-based tour planning startup. Read MoreCEO Kevin Gibbon On Why Shyp Is Converting Its 1099 Workers Into W2 Employees
This morning, Shyp, the San Francisco-based shipping services company, announced that, “After careful consideration, we’ve decided to transition Shyp couriers, the individuals who complete pickups at our customers’ homes and offices, to W2 employees.” Read More
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