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Crunch Network
Designing better conversations online
Automattic, MIT Center for Civic Media, and The Mash-Up Americans have been working together to have honest dialogues, build empathy, and help make the world a more inclusive and compassionate place. So far, we’ve laid out the problem and explored our assumptions. In this, our third Design and Exclusion conversation, it’s time to talk about how we engage with one another… Read More
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Crunch Network
At AI bot startups, cool kids rule
You would think at least one AI-powered humanoid bot would have a properly nerdy name. Maybe a Poindexter or Hildegarde to add some natural language processing to your customer chat app? No such luck. Instead, it sounds like the cool kids are in charge at most digital assistant and bot startups. Think short, peppy names that top the popular baby name lists. There’s Aiden and Riley putting… Read More
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A discussion about AI’s conflicts and challenges
“The competition for talent at the moment is absolutely ferocious,” agrees Professor Andrew Blake, whose computer vision PhD was obtained in 1983, but who is now, among other things, a scientific advisor to UK-based autonomous vehicle software startup, FiveAI, which is aiming to trial driverless cars on London’s roads in 2019… Read More
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Columbus could be the next startup city
Ever since I wrote about the Midwest last year I’ve been keeping my eyes on Columbus. I decided to hold a small pitch-off to meet some of the startups I saw last time I had driven through. The pitch-off was a success and a company called Wyzzer took first place and the quirky Hopper Carts came in second. But what I really came away with was a new respect for Columbus as a startup… Read More
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Winners and losers in Amazon’s $13.7B purchase of Whole Foods
Amazon is taking a huge bite out of the fresh food business with its bid for Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion. But even though this is a deal between two companies, it’s not just the two of them being touched by it. The intersection between the food and tech industries has been playing out for years now, sprouting dozens of food startups; efforts from large tech companies to move… Read More
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What do E3 attendees think of mobile gaming?
The smartphone has changed the gaming industry landscape dramatically. As our pocket computers advance, so too does the possibility of fully satisfying mobilegaming experiences. Companies like Nintendo are blurring the lines between portable and console/PC gaming with the Switch. At the same time, big studios have largely moved away from attempts to integrate mobile content into the home… Read More
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1500+ startups graduate Y Combinator’s first online Startup School
That’s out of 2,820 startups accepted from the 13,321 companies that applied to Y Combinator’s 10-week program of one-on-one mentorship from past YC startup founders, virtual office hours with a group of fellow students, and an online lecture series. The leading accelerator typically teaches two batches of about 100 startups per year through an in-person program where YC partners… Read More
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Emmanuel Macron proves that he still cares about startups
There’s a weird annual tradition in French politics. French presidents, ministers and hopeful candidates all go to the Agricultural Show in the Porte de Versailles convention center. Somehow, old ideas die hard, and it’s important to show that you still care about people in the food industry. Yesterday, Macron spent three to four hours walking down the hallways of the very same… Read More
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Workwell wants to make your corporate intranet suck less
If you’ve been working for a large company, chances are that your intranet sucks. It takes too much time to find the right information, it’s not tailored for mobile and it doesn’t integrate well with the services you actually use. French startup Workwell is a mobile intranet that you’ll actually like. It seems like a tough task, but so far Workwell is ticking all the… Read More
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Now is the time to apply for Startup Battlefield Africa
We’re looking for a few good startups based in sub-Saharan Africa to participate in our inaugural Startup Battlefield Africa, and all you startup folks out there in the region aren’t going to want to miss this. TechCrunch is excited to be partnering with Facebook to bring our illustrious startup competition, the Startup Battlefield, to Nairobi, Kenya, later this year. The… Read More
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Entelo steps up its AI game with $20M Series C
The race to crown a winner in the AI-powered recruiting software space is on. With both Workey and Mya nabbing rounds in the last few weeks, the timing is prime for a few players to seek advantage in the form of growth capital. This seems to be exactly what Entelo, a six-year-old player in the space, is doing. The company is announcing a $20 million Series C round of financing today led by U.S. Read More
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Justin Kan confirms $10.5 million in funding for his legal tech startup Atrium LTS
In April we reported that Justin.tv founder and Y Combinator alum Justin Kan had assembled a team to “disrupt the legal industry” and was raising $10 million to do so. This week Kan confirmed that the company has completed its fundraising process, raising $10.5 million in what ended up being one of the biggest “party rounds” I’ve ever seen. Read More
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CamSoda jumps into the world of paid life-streaming
Have you always wanted to show your messy room to hundreds of people? Want to get paid for the pleasure of streaming your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners? Feel a real need to share how long you can stare idly at your phone? CamSoda has a deal for you. CamSoda is a streaming cam service featuring men and women in various states of undress and it is now offering a unique life-streaming program… Read More
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Slack is reportedly raising another huge $500M round of funding
Slack is in the midst of raising another $500 million in financing at what could be a $5 billion valuation — money it will likely critically need as it goes after major corporate clients and construct a functional business — according to a report by Recode. Slack also got some interest with a $9 billion price tag from Amazon, according to a report from Bloomberg last night. All… Read More
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Mobile gaming company Scopely raises $60M
Scopely just announced that it has raised $60 million in Series C funding. The round was led by Revolution Growth, a firm led by former AOL executives Steve Case and Ted Leonsis (AOL owns TechCrunch), which targets startups outside Silicon Valley and New York. (Scopely is headquartered in Los Angeles.) Revolution’s Donn Davis is joining Scopely’s board of directors, while… Read More
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Codota raises $2M from Khosla as autocomplete for developers
In recent years, GitHub has fundamentally changed developer workflows. By centralizing code on an easily accessible platform, the company was able to rapidly change the way people code. Following in these footsteps, Israeli startup Codota wants to further optimize workflows for the often neglected developer community — this time with machine intelligence. The company is announcing a… Read More
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Hardware Club raises $28 million for its hardware seed fund
Hardware Club is not just a club — it’s now also a venture firm focused on hardware companies. The team has raised $28 million for the first closing of its inaugural fund from Bpifrance, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Foxconn, Mistletoe and others. At its core, the vision of the club hasn’t changed much. I’ve already covered the original idea, and everything is still true… Read More
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