Union Square Ventures and Learn Capital file paperwork indicating new funds

As 2020 comes to a long-awaited end, a series of filings indicate that venture capitalists are ending the year with fresh money. According to SEC paperwork, Learn Capital and USV have filed paperwork that shows the firms have raised new, multimillion-dollar funds. If you’ve been paying attention to news this past year, it’s clear that much of venture capital isn’t just surviving 2020 – it’s flourishing through it. Zoom investing, it seems, is working just fine for cash-rich firms looking to double down on bets in categories from edtech to climate. First...

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Extra Crunch’s Top 10 stories of 2020

I edited hundreds of stories in 2020, so choosing my favorites would be an exercise in futility. Instead, I’ve tried to gather a sample of Extra Crunch stories that taught me something new. (Which means this top 10 list betrays my ignorance, a humbling admission for a know-it-all like myself.) While narrowing down the field of candidates, I realized that we’re covering each of the topics on this list in greater depth next year. We already have stories in the works about no-code software, the emergence of edtech, proptech and B2B marketplaces, to...

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Goodbye Flash, goodbye FarmVille

While much of what made 2020 such an absolute nightmare will still be with us on January 1 (sorry!), we will really, truly be leaving Adobe Flash and FarmVille behind as we enter the new year. The end of Flash has been a long time coming. The plugin, which was first released in 1996 and once supported a broad swath online content, has become increasingly irrelevant in a smartphone-centric world: iPhones never supported Flash, and it’s been just over 10 years since Apple’s then-CEO Steve Jobs published an open letter outlining the technology’s shortcomings. Adobe...

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The Equity crew predicts what’s to come in 2021

What could go wrong? Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture-capital-focused podcast (now on Twitter!), where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. As you can see, this is our yearly predictions episode. Our behind-the-scenes guru Chris Gates joins us on the mic, we take shots at our prior prognostications, and nosh on what we feel is positively persaged. As always, this episode is in good fun. If you don’t agree with we think is up ahead, that’s fine. You’re probably right. But we’re nothing if not up for a challenge,...

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Amazon acquires podcast network Wondery

Amazon just announced that it’s acquiring Wondery, the network behind podcasts including “Dirty John” and “Dr. Death.” Wondery will become part of Amazon Music, which added support for podcasts (including its own original shows) in September. At the same time, the announcement claims that “nothing will change for listeners” and that the network’s podcasts will continue to be available from “a variety of providers.” Media companies and streaming audio platforms are all making big bets on podcasting, with Spotify making a series of acquisitions...

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Dear Sophie: Tips for getting a National Interest green card by myself?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects people with the businesses and opportunities that expand their lives. More posts by this contributor Dear Sophie: What’s ahead for US immigration in 2021? Dear Sophie: How did immigration change for startup founders in 2020? Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers...

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Student-founded Develop for Good surpasses 25,000 volunteer hours connecting students with nonprofits

This has been the year of the social organization. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world and the United States, governments and a patchwork of nonprofits and volunteer organizations sprang into action, offering everything from food and medical supplies to children’s books and clothing to individuals and families struggling in the virus’s wake. Perhaps the biggest divide though to getting people help has been digital — non-profits need to connect with their beneficiaries over the internet just as much as any retailer today. Unfortunately,...

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On the diversity front, 2020 may prove a tipping point

Since Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd in May and kicked off months of nationwide protests, the corporate world — including venture capitalists — have attempted to respond to the Black Lives Matter movement. Indeed, many quickly took to social media to voice their support, broadcast their new diversity-focused networking groups and pledge to do better, particularly when it comes to finding and funding more Black founders and other underrepresented entrepreneurs. As of 2018, 81% of venture firms still lacked a single Black investor. It...

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Google pilots a search feature that aggregates short-form videos from TikTok and Instagram

{rss:content:encoded} Google pilots a search feature that aggregates short-form videos from TikTok and Instagram https://ift.tt/38JBa0T https://ift.tt/34TKMVL December 29, 2020 at 10:08PM Google is testing a new feature that will surface Instagram and TikTok videos in their own dedicated carousel in the Google app for mobile devices — a move that could help the company retain users in search of social video entertainment from fully leaving Google’s platform. The feature itself expands on a test launched earlier this year, where Google had first...

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CommonGround raises $19M to rethink online communication

CommonGround, a startup developing technology for what its founders describe as “4D collaboration,” is announcing that it has raised $19 million in funding. This isn’t the first time Amir Bassan-Eskenazi and Ran Oz have launched a startup together — they also founded video networking company BigBand Networks, which won two technology-related Emmy Awards, went public in 2007 and was acquired by Arris Group in 2011. And before that, they worked together at digital compression company Optibase, which Oz co-founded and where Bassan-Eskenazi served...

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Startup cynicism and Substack, or Clubhouse, or Miami, or …

If you build it, they will come, but they sure as hell are going to complain about everything until they do. There were millions of bets made in the tech industry last year. Some of those bets involved actual venture capital dollars. Others involved individual decisions on where to live: do you bet on the future of San Francisco or do you want to partake in the growth of some other startup hub? Are you going to launch this new feature in your product or improve one of your existing ones? Do you switch jobs or stay and double down? Yet, for all...

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Skyroot successfully test fires India’s first privately-made solid rocket stage

Rocket launch startup Skyroot is closing out 2020 with a key milestone in the development program for their Vikram-I launch vehicle: A successful test firing of a solid rocket propulsion stage that serves as a demonstrator of the same tech to be used in the production Vikram. This is the first time that a private Indian company has designed, built and tested a solid rocket propulsion stage in its entirety, and follows a successful engine burn test of an upper stage prototype earlier this year. Skyroot also created its solid rocket stage using a...

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Estonian proptech Rendin raises €1.2M seed for its long-term rental platform

Rendin, an Estonian proptech startup that wants to improve the home rental experience, including offering a no-deposit feature, has raised €1.2 million in seed funding. Backing the round is Tera Ventures, Iron Wolf Capital, Truesight Ventures, Atomico’s Angel Programme, and Startup Wise Guys. Launched in Estonia in March this year and currently expanding to Poland, Rendin operates a long-term rental platform that promises to smooth out the process between landlords and tenants. Its headline feature is an insurance-backed solution that means no...

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How Niantic evolved Pokémon GO for the year no one could go anywhere

Pokémon GO was created to encourage players to explore the world while coordinating impromptu large group gatherings — activities we’ve all been encouraged to avoid since the pandemic began. And yet, analysts estimate that 2020 was Pokémon GO’s highest-earning year yet. By twisting some knobs and tweaking variables, Pokémon GO became much easier to play without leaving the house. Niantic’s approach to 2020 was full of carefully considered changes, and I’ve highlighted many of their key decisions below. Consider this something of an addendum to...

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Unpacking Qualtrics’ brand-new S-1 filing

The Exchange is taking a break from vacation to dig into the new Qualtrics S-1 filing. Then the column and newsletter are back on hold until January 4th. This afternoon, Qualtrics, a software company that helps companies poll their employee base, customers, and others, filed to go public. It’s the second time that the Utah-based unicorn has done so, failing the first time to complete its offering after SAP swooped in and bought it for around $8 billion in cash. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on Extra Crunch,...

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How Niantic evolved Pokémon GO for the year no one could go anywhere

Pokémon GO was created to encourage players to explore the world while coordinating impromptu large group gatherings — activities we’ve all been encouraged to avoid since the pandemic began. And yet, analysts estimate that 2020 was Pokémon GO’s highest-earning year yet. By twisting some knobs and tweaking variables, Pokémon GO became much easier to play without leaving the house. Niantic’s approach to 2020 was full of carefully considered changes, and I’ve highlighted many of their key decisions below. Consider this something of an addendum to...

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