Month: May 2020

Get this free weekly recap of TechCrunch news that any startup can use by email every Saturday morning (7am PT). Subscribe here. Most tech companies base compensation on an employee’s local cost of living, in addition to their skills and responsibilities. The pandemic-era push to remote work seems to be reinforcing that — if you only … Continue reading Startups Weekly: Remote-first work will mean ‘globally fair compensation’ Continue Reading →

It’s an improvement over the Smart Keyboard in every way but price. The past year has brought big changes to the iPad. First, the branch from iOS to iPadOS—and some accompanying changes to the software—signaled an effort by Apple to make real productivity possible on the platform. Second, Apple introduced trackpad support, bringing a whole … Continue reading Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro mini-review: A vast improvement Continue Reading →

“This space program that we have in this country unites people, period.” 3:30pm ET Update: The weather was good, and right on cue a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. The first stage performed nominally, and separating, it successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, the … Continue reading SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit [Updated Continue Reading →

Steganography? Check? Living off the land? Yep. Triple-encoded payloads? Uh-huh. Attackers are putting considerable skill and effort into penetrating industrial companies in multiple countries, with hacks that use multiple evasion mechanisms, an innovative encryption scheme, and exploits that are customized for each target with pinpoint accuracy. The attacks begin with emails that are customized for … Continue reading An advanced and unconventional hack is targeting industrial firms Continue Reading →

“SpaceX really delivered something that is magnificent, and that is speed.” The rain showers ended. The clouds parted. And so on Saturday afternoon, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had blue skies above it during the final minutes of a countdown to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket had launched 84 times … Continue reading “The trampoline is working”—SpaceX returns human spaceflight to America Continue Reading →

Pie Insurance, a Washington, D.C.-based startup offering workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses, announced this morning that it has closed on a $127 million in new financing. Gallatin Point Capital joined Pie’s existing backers in the capital raise. Those investors include Greycroft, SVB Capital, Aspect Ventures, Elefund and Sirius International Insurance Group Ltd.  The investment is structured a bit differently than a … Continue reading Pie Insurance Secures $127M To Provide Workers’ Comp To Small Businesses Continue Reading →

Berlin-based Smava, a credit comparison platform that offers cheaper loan options to consumers, has raised €57 million from Kreos Capital, along with existing investors Earlybird, Verdane, Vitruvian Partners and Runa Capital. The round includes a mix of capital and growth debt. The fintech platform offers an overview of 70 loans between €1,000 and €120,000 from over … Continue reading Berlin-based fintech scale-up smava secures €57 million in financing to maintain growth through economic downturn Continue Reading →

Freepik, a Malaga-Spain based website which offers a curated freemium marketplace of vector graphics and stock photos fed by a community of contributing designers and photographers, is being acquired by investment and private equity firm EQT. The EQT  Mid Market Europe fund has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake of Freepik from its founders … Continue reading EQT acquires freemium graphics and stock photo marketplace, Freepik Continue Reading →

Effort to join Silicon Valley tech giants including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon with the White House to fight the coronavirus is faltering SAN FRANCISCO—A heralded effort to bring together Silicon Valley tech giants, investors and the White House on tools to fight the new coronavirus is fizzling. Months later, the Technology and Research Task Force’s biggest … Continue reading Tech’s First Big Plan to Tackle Covid-19 Stumbles: ‘An App Is Not Going to Fix This’ Continue Reading →

It’s probably no coincidence that three major crypto firms – Coinbase, Genesis Trading and BitGo – have almost simultaneously announced plans to become prime brokers, a kind of fixer when it comes to financing and facilitating trades for institutional investors. This type of vertical integration happens in every business, whether that’s Amazon running the internet … Continue reading Behind ‘Prime Broker’ Buzzword Lies a Complex Strategy Game for Crypto Firms Continue Reading →