Milk deliveries may not sound like an industry in need of disruption, but that’s exactly what one startup in India is working to do. Supr Daily — the company in question — graduated the Y Combinator accelerator program this year and now it has raised $1.5 million from a range …
Read More »Japan passes law legalizing Airbnb and other sharing economy rentals
There’s good news for Airbnb in Japan where the government has approved legislation that legalizes its service, and others like it, in the country. The law, which was passed by Japan’s upper house on Friday, will allow home-owners to let out their property to paying guests for up to 180 …
Read More »African trading platform WaystoCap raises $3M right after graduating Y Combinator
Cross-border commerce platform WaystoCap has raised new funding to expand its reach in Africa, the startup confirmed to TechCrunch today. A recent graduate from the Y Combinator accelerator program in the U.S., WaystoCap is an online destination for buyers and sellers of business-to-business goods in Africa. Founded in Casablanca, Morocco, it …
Read More »Why Apple’s HomePod won’t just collect dust on your shelf
Apple brought its smart speaker into the world with a shoddy name and an unconventional pitch, but anyone brash enough to cast the device to the side so easily will surely pay the price. Apple, unlike Amazon and Google, understands that selling glorified intelligence-in-a-box as a method of human computer …
Read More »Join Didi and bike-sharing pioneers Ofo and Mobike at our Shenzhen event this month
TechCrunch is excited to announce that representatives from China’s top on-demand startups will be speaking at our inaugural event in Shenzhen. Didi Chuxing, the company that beat Uber out of China, and red-hot bike-sharing startups Ofo and Mobike — which have pioneered a new kind of point-to-point transportation in China — are …
Read More »Partnering with Urban Us, BMW MINI’s Urban-X reboots its urban tech incubator program
In the year since Urban-X launched as a partnership between BMW’s “MINIi” brand and the hardware accelerator HAX, the incubator has backed 17 new startups and learned several lessons, according to Micah Kotch, the managing director of the incubator for Mini. One of those lessons involved switching partners, because the firm is …
Read More »Pointing the way to the power grid of the future, Drift launches a low cost utility in New York
Meet Drift, the startup that’s hoping to change the way people pay for, and receive, the resource that makes modern life possible — power. Using a combination of machine learning, predictive analytics, energy management, and high-frequency trading tools, the Seattle-based company is looking to provide its customers with lower cost …
Read More »Top Ten Automotive Startups competition open for submissions
For the past few years, the Los Angeles Auto Show has hosted the Top Ten Automotive Startups competition. The event is now open for submissions through July 15, so if you’ve got an automotive app, service or cool bit of tech, now’s your chance. The 10 winners will be featured …
Read More »Ballmer explains why he invested in Twitter
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage at Code Conference on Tuesday and talked about why he owns a large position in Twitter. “There’s a real opportunity to make that a valuable economic asset,” said Ballmer, defending his decision to invest in what has been a volatile ride for …
Read More »Partnering with Urban Us, BMW’s Urban-X reboots its urban tech incubator program
In the year since Urban-X launched as a partnership between BMW’s “Mini” brand and the hardware accelerator HAX, the incubator has backed 17 new startups and learned several lessons, according to Micah Kotch, the managing director of the incubator for Mini. One of those lessons involved switching partners, because the firm is …
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