How one VC firm wound up with no-code startups as part of its investing thesis

Welcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s broadly based on the daily column that appears on Extra Crunch, but free, and made for your weekend reading.  Ready? Let’s talk money, startups and spicy IPO rumors. How one VC firm wound up with no-code startups as part of its investing thesis Throughout all the chaos of 2020’s economic upheaval in the startup world, I’ve worked to pay more attention to low-code and no-code services. The short gist of chats I’ve had with investors and founders and public...

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Grab a Labor Day flash sale pass to Disrupt 2020 and save $100

No matter how you celebrate Labor Day weekend, we urge you to mask up, keep your distance when grilling burgers and dogs and — most of all — take advantage of our flash sale on Digital Pro passes to Disrupt 2020. Right now, you can save $100 on your pass — whether you observe the holiday or not. We don’t judge. This sweet deal won’t last long. Buy your Digital Pro pass before Monday, September 7 at 11:59 p.m. (PT) when this sale disappears in, well, a flash. A Digital Pro pass provides access to everything Disrupt 2020 offers from September 14-18....

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The future of retail and office space is up in the air, and proptech investors are optimistic

Editor’s note: Get this free weekly recap of TechCrunch news that any startup can use by email every Saturday morning (7 a.m. PT). Subscribe here. The malls and grocery stores of the 20th century are being converted into industrial conveyor belts of goods and services traveling from the internet to your home. The customer is no longer even allowed inside, as Connie Loizos details this week in a closer look at Amazon and other online-first companies taking over commercial spaces near you. Americans sort of knew this was coming. Still,...

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Local governments that embrace digital services during challenging times can make real change happen

Bob Ainsbury Contributor Share on Twitter Bob Ainsbury is the Chief Product Officer at Granicus. It has been a hard year. We wake up every morning to new developments in the tragedies of the moment spanning a pandemic, the greatest unexpected loss of life since 9/11, national civil unrest, natural disasters and a looming economic collapse. In the face of these developments, a completely understandable message from government agencies to the public might be: We can’t serve you right now. Please take a number and we’ll get back to you as...

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Brands that hyper-personalize will win the next decade

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. More posts by this contributor Conversational analytics are about to change customer experiences forever When people reach out to customer service, they’re seeking more than a solution to their immediate problem. They want empathy and understanding. What they’re often met with is a queue. Nothing frustrates people...

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3 views on the future of geographic-focused funds

For many investors, the coronavirus has effectively taken geography out of the equation when it comes to vetting new opportunities. While this dynamic opens up startups to more investment opportunities, venture capital firms that focus on a specific region are in a thornier spot. The competitive advantage they once had when raising — the notion that they’re focused on an area no one else is — is potentially threatened. Natasha Mascarenhas, Danny Crichton and Alex Wilhelm of the TechCrunch Equity crew discussed the future of geographic-focused funds...

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Qualcomm-powered Chinese XR startup Nreal raises $40 million

Nreal, one of the most-watched mixed reality startups in China, just secured $40 million from a group of high-profile investors in a Series B round that could potentially bring more adoption to its portable augmented headsets. Kuaishou, the archrival to TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin, led the round, marking yet another video platform to establish links with Nreal, following existing investor iQiyi, China’s own Netflix. Like other major video streaming sites around the world, Kuaishou and iQiyi have dabbled in making augmented reality content,...

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Tinder’s interactive video event ‘Swipe Night’ will launch in international markets this month

Tinder’s “Swipe Night” is going global. The dating app announced today that its interactive video series will be available in Asia and other international markets starting on September 12, giving users another way to connect as they continue to stay at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As in the United States, where “Swipe Night” first launched last October, the international version of “Swipe Night” will be broadcast on the weekend. For audiences outside the U.S., three consecutive episodes are planned, starting with the first one on September...

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Palantir’s concentrated governance is great for execs, but what about shareholders?

A few days ago I wrote down a few notes making a bullish case for Palantir, searching to find good news amidst the company’s huge historical deficits. Heading into the next phase of Palantir’s march to the public markets, I was very curious to see how the company would hone its S-1 filing to give itself the best possible shot during its impending debut. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. You can read it every morning on Extra Crunch, or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday. And we finally did get a new S-1/A filing, a document...

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Mustard raises $1.7M to improve athletic mechanics with AI

Athletic coaching is a massive, multi-billion-dollar industry. No surprise, really, given the massive revenue some top athletes are able to generate. Mustard is working to supplant — or at least augment — some of that pricey coaching with the launch of a new mobile app designed to analyze an athlete’s mechanics and offer corrective tips to help them improve. The company was co-founded by Tom House, a former reliever whose coaching career has earned him the reputation as one the “father[s] of modern pitching mechanics.” “Too many kids miss out on...

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Teemyco creates virtual offices so that you can grab a room and talk with colleagues

Meet Teemyco, a Stockholm-based startup that wants to reproduce office interactions in a virtual environment. The company wants to foster spontaneous interactions and casual collaboration with a room-based interface. Each employee moves from one room to another just like in a physical office. If you’re no longer working from an office, chances are you rely heavily on email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet or a combination of all those tools. While those tools work perfectly fine for what they’re designed to achieve, many companies feel...

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Cyber threat startup Cygilant hit by ransomware

Cygilant, a threat detection cybersecurity company, has confirmed a ransomware attack. Christina Lattuca, Cygilant’s chief financial officer, said in a statement that the company was “aware of a ransomware attack impacting a portion of Cygilant’s technology environment.” “Our Cyber Defense and Response Center team took immediate and decisive action to stop the progression of the attack. We are working closely with third-party forensic investigators and law enforcement to understand the full nature and impact of the attack. Cygilant is...

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How to craft the right pitch deck for your company at Disrupt 2020

Your startup is special and different, and you need to explain that to distracted investors in just a few short slides. The pandemic has added to your challenge, because more investors have been looking through more decks than ever online — and spending less time on each. To help you create the right fundraising presentation, we’ve put together a panel of expert investors at Disrupt 2020 from September 14-18 who have been backing early-stage companies through good times and bad. We’re also providing daily pitch deck teardown sessions that can serve...

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Exhibitors at Disrupt 2020: Register now to meet accelerators next week

Disrupt 2020 is all about helping startups find and create ways to drive their business forward in these most challenging times. We partnered with cela to give exhibitors in Digital Startup Alley one sweet opportunity — networking with 13 accelerators. If you’re exhibiting — or plan to — don’t miss out on your chance to meet with up to 13 accelerators and pre-interview for their upcoming virtual cohorts. The first in our series of accelerator sessions — where you’ll gather information and pitch your product — takes place next week. Here’s everything...

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