Startups Weekly: What countries want your startup?

Editor’s note: Get this free weekly recap of TechCrunch news that any startup can use by email every Saturday morning (7am PT). Subscribe here. They say business needs certainty to succeed, but new tech startups are still getting funded aggressively despite the pandemic, recession, trade wars and various large disasters created by nature or humans. But before we get to the positive data, let’s spend some time reviewing the hard news — there is a lot of it to process. TikTok is on track to get banned if it doesn’t get sold first, and leading...

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How to pick the right Series A investors

Early-stage startup founders who are embarking on a Series A fundraising round should consider this: their relationship with the members of their board might last longer than the average American marriage. In other words, who invests in a startup matters as much — or more — than the total capital they’re bringing with them. It’s important for founders to get to know the people coming onto their board because they’ll likely be a part of the company for a long time, and it’s really hard to fire them, Jake Saper of Emergence Capital noted during TechCrunch’s...

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IoT and data science will boost foodtech in the post-pandemic era

Sunny Dhillon Contributor Share on Twitter Sunny Dhillon is an early-stage investor at Signia Ventures in San Francisco where he invests in retail tech, e-commerce infrastructure and logistics, alongside consumer and enterprise software startups. More posts by this contributor An optimistic view of deepfakes Digital influencers and the dollars that follow them Even as e-grocery usage has skyrocketed in our coronavirus-catalyzed world, brick-and-mortar grocery stores have soldiered on. While strict in-store safety guidelines may gradually...

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mmhmm, the virtual presentation software from Phil Libin, launches its Beta 2

mmhmm, the latest project from Evernote founder Phil Libin and All Turtles, has today announced the launch of the mmhmm Beta 2. The 100,000-strong waitlist of people who have requested access are getting their invite to the platform today. Also part of the beta 2: a handful of new features for the video presentation software. Most notable among them is Co-Pilot. Co-Pilot allows two users to ‘drive’ the presentation simultaneously, with one user speaking and visible and the other running the controls of that presentation, switching slides, playing...

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Conversational analytics are about to change customer experiences forever

Evan Kohn Contributor Share on Twitter A digital marketing and customer experience leader, Evan Kohn is chief business officer at Pypestream, where he created PypePro, an AI onboarding methodology used by Fortune 500 firms. Companies have long relied on web analytics data like click rates, page views and session lengths to gain customer behavior insights.This method looks at how customers react to what is presented to them, reactions driven by design and copy. But traditional web analytics fail to capture customers’ desires accurately....

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Sign up for the next Pitchers & Pitches competition on 8/13

Here’s a shout out to all the early-stage founders attending Disrupt 2020. Don’t forget to register for our next Pitchers & Pitches — on August 13 — and get ready to hone your 60-second pitch to a razor’s edge. If you’re not in the know, our ongoing Pitchers and Pitches webinar series is a pitch-off-masterclass-mashup. It’s a chance to deliver your best pitch to a panel of experts who will provide invaluable critique to help you craft a more compelling pitch. Better pitches equal more opportunities, amirite? Anyone can benefit by attending...

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Extra Crunch Live: Join Eric Hippeau for a live Q&A on August 13 at 11am PT/2pm ET

The media landscape is changing rapidly. Even before COVID, media companies were looking at new revenue models beyond your standard banner ad, all the while trying to navigate the oft-changing world of social media and search, where a minor algorithm change can boost or tank traffic. Anytime an industry is in the midst of a transformation is a great time for startups to capitalize. That’s why we’re amped to have Lerer Hippeau’s Managing Partner Eric Hippeau join us for an episode of Extra Crunch Live. The episode will air at 2pm ET/11am PT on August...

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Clean.io raises $5M to continue its battle against malicious adtech

Clean.io, a startup that helps digital publishers protect themselves from malicious ads, recently announced that it has raised $5 million in Series A funding. The Baltimore-based company isn’t the only organization promising to fight malvertising (such as ads that force visitors to redirect to another website). But as co-founder wrote Seth Demsey told me last year, Clean.io provides “granular control over who gets to load JavaScript.” CEO Matt Gillis told me via email this week that the challenge will “always” be evolving.” “Just like an antivirus...

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Sign up to attend Dos and Don’ts of Working with the Press

If you’re exhibiting in Digital Startup Alley during Disrupt 2020 — or you plan to — do not miss this opportunity to sharpen your media skills. The first of our three-part interactive webinar series takes place on August 12th with, The Dos and Don’ts of Working with the Press. Pro tip: Our August webinar series is open only to folks exhibiting at Disrupt 2020. Don’t miss out — buy a Disrupt Digital Startup Alley Package now and gain entry to all three exclusive webinars. Then get ready to introduce your startup to thousands of global Disrupt 2020...

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Last chance to save on Disrupt 2020 passes

It’s last call startup fans, last call. We’re not talking about International Beer Day (which is a thing and it’s today — look it up). No, we mean August 7 is your absolute last chance to save up to $300 on a pass to Disrupt 2020. Beat the clock, buy your early-bird pass before 11:59 p.m. (PT), and then hoist a beer to celebrate your savvy shopping. We’ll drink to that! Every new challenge presents new opportunities and that holds true for TechCrunch’s first all-virtual Disrupt. Now Disrupt is bigger, more accessible and more global than ever....

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Mashroom raises £4M for its ‘end-to-end’ lettings and property management service

Mashroom, the London proptech that offers an “end-to-end” lettings and property management service, has raised £4 million in new funding. Backing comes from existing unnamed private investors and matched funding from the U.K. taxpayer-funded Future Fund. It brings total funding to date for the company to £7 million. Pitching itself as going “beyond the tenant-finding service” to include the entire rental journey — from property advertising, arranging viewings, credit history checks and maintenance to end of tenancy and dispute resolution — the...

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Google launches the final beta of Android 11

{rss:content:encoded} Google launches the final beta of Android 11 https://ift.tt/2EY6PAq https://ift.tt/3gAF2np August 06, 2020 at 07:00PM With the launch of Android 11 getting closer, Google today launched the third and final beta of its mobile operating system ahead of its general availability. Google had previously delayed the beta program by about a month because of the coronavirus pandemic. Image Credits: Google Since Android 11 had already reached platform stability with Beta 2, most of the changes here are fixes and optimizations. As...

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Hypotenuse AI wants to take the strain out of copywriting for ecommerce

Imagine buying a dress online because a piece of code sold you on its ‘flattering, feminine flair’ — or convinced you ‘romantic floral details’ would outline your figure with ‘timeless style’. The very same day your friend buy the same dress from the same website but she’s sold on a description of ‘vibrant tones’, ‘fresh cotton feel’ and ‘statement sleeves’. This is not a detail from a sci-fi short story but the reality and big picture vision of Hypotenuse AI, a YC-backed startup that’s using computer vision and machine learning to automate product...

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LivingPackets hopes to nurture a circular economy with its smart parcels

More than ever before, people are getting life’s essentials delivered — good news for Amazon, but bad news for the environment, which must bear the consequences of the resulting waste. LivingPackets is a Berlin-based startup that aims to replace the familiar cardboard box with a smarter alternative that’s smarter, more secure, and possibly the building block of a new circular economy. The primary product created by LivingPackets is called The Box, and it’s just that: a box. But not just any box. This one is reusable, durable, digitally locked and...

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