Venture

Our venture capital news features interviews and analysis on all the VCs, the VC-backed startups, and the investment trends that founders, investors, students, academics – and anyone else interested in the way that tech is transforming the world – should be tracking.

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A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs

The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the…

A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs

AI companies are gobbling up investor money and securing sky-high valuations early in their life cycle. This dynamic has many calling the AI industry a bubble. Nick Frosst, a co-founder…

Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst thinks everyone needs to be more realistic about what AI can and cannot do

Flint Capital just closed its third fund at $160 million. Its has a unique strategy for finding its limited partner investors. 

Flint Capital raises a $160M through an unusual fund-raising strategy

Last year’s investor dreams of a strong 2024 IPO pipeline have faded, if not fully disappeared, as we settle in to the second half of the year. This year delivered…

From Skims to Stripe, here are the startups that are likely — or definitely — not having IPOs this year

Techstars is cutting 17% of its staff and will end its $80 million J.P. Morgan-backed AdvancingCities program once the fund is completely deployed.

Techstars is laying off 17%, ending its J.P. Morgan-backed programs

In today’s episode of Equity Podcast, Mary Ann Azevedo talked to Flourish Ventures co-founders Tilman Ehrbeck, Emmalyn Shaw and Arjuna Costa about a variety of…

Flourish Ventures on repeat founders, emerging markets and when not to hop on the AI bandwagon

When Nick Frosst was in college over a decade ago, he was worried he was a little late to the AI game. Frosst, a co-founder…

Nearly a decade before co-founding Cohere, Nick Frosst thought he was late to AI

COVID-19 pushed people to take up outdoor activities. Now, startups are helping companies and consumers keep up with demand.

From golf to hunting, a new crop of startups want to make these experiences even better

AI hardware has taken on a new shape with Friend’s $99 necklace — a pendant that gives you an AI friend to talk to and…

AI friends, deepfake foes and which Tiger Global partner is leaving now

Payments infrastructure firm Infibeam Avenues has acquired a majority 54% stake in Rediff.com for up to $3 million, a dramatic twist of fate for the 28-year-old business that was the…

Rediff, once an internet pioneer in India, sells majority stake for $3M

Molly Alter wears a lot of hats. She’s a mocumentary filmmaker working on a project about an alternate reality where charades is big business. She’s a caesar salad connoisseur and…

How filming a cappella concerts and dance recitals led Northzone’s newest partner Molly Alter to a career in VC

The San Jose-based startup raised $60 million in a round that values it lower than the $500 million valuation it garnered in its most recent round, according to multiple sources.

Sequoia-backed Knowde raises Series C at a valuation cut

More than 100 VCs, including Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla and Mark Cuban have pledged to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Mobilizing under the…

Over 100 VCs pledge support for Kamala Harris

Startups are attracting serious funding to provide fun, alcohol-free drink options at the bar and in other social contexts. Earlier this year, canned water company…

TechCrunch Minute: Investors pour money into non-alcoholic beverages

Global startup funding was up 16% in the second quarter, according to Crunchbase data, led by an uptick in mega-rounds. That increase was led, unsurprisingly,…

Global startup funding is picking up with AI still in the spotlight

Farms produce a lot of data. From machines to irrigation systems, farms generate a lot of information that could be helpful to both them and the companies that serve them.…

Leaf helps farms decipher the troves of data they generate

Alex Cook, a partner at Tiger Global who oversaw some of its largest fintech investments and India deals, is departing the firm after a tenure of nearly seven years, three…

Tiger Global partner Alex Cook to leave firm, sources say

The founder of once-hyped crypto startup BitClout is facing trouble. On Tuesday, the SEC charged him with fraud and other offenses.

SEC charges BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji with fraud; says proceeds paid for L.A. mansion, gifts

Europe is routinely castigated by tech industry observers for having too few “growth capital” funds, and, compared to the U.S., that’s true. That said, it is nowhere near nonexistent on…

Hey, there ARE growth funds in Europe — Kennet raises $287M for its largest fund to date

The fundraising environment is challenging for emerging managers, defined as VC firms raising their first through third time. But Katie Jacobs Stanton, a former head of media at Twitter who…

Moxxie Ventures, led by ex-Twitter media head, raises $95M third fund

Siddhi Capital’s second fund of $135 million is double the size of the venture capital firm’s first fund and will go into CPG and food tech startups.

Siddhi Capital grabs $135M for Fund II to invest in consumer packaged goods startups

Zoe sends customers at-home testing materials to collect blood or feces to test blood fat, blood sugar, and gut microbiome health. Following those results, the company scores every food (on…

Zoe, a microbiome-focused nutrition company, raises $15M to expand in the US

Featured Article

DEI backlash: Stay up-to-date on the latest legal and corporate challenges

It’s clear that this year will be a turning point for DEI.

DEI backlash: Stay up-to-date on the latest legal and corporate challenges

Welcome back to another recap of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups. Today’s episode is packed with M&A talk, how one YouTuber…

Stripe’s easy-peasy acquisition and why is Twitch still losing money?

Government websites aren’t known for cutting-edge tech. GovWell co-founder and CTO Ben Cohen discovered this while trying to help his dad, a contractor, apply for building permits. Cohen worked as…

GovWell is bringing automation and efficiency to local governments

Featured Article

Stay up-to-date on the amount of venture dollars going to underrepresented founders

Stay up-to-date on the latest funding news for Black and women founders.

Stay up-to-date on the amount of venture dollars going to underrepresented founders

Welcome back to another recap of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups. This episode is packed with some significant fundraises, a potentially…

Alphabet is clearly looking to buy, so who’s selling, and why did Wiz say no?

A decade-old drama involving VC David Sacks and Rippling founder Parker Conrad has blown up on X with many among the Silicon Valley elite taking sides.

Here’s why David Sacks, Paul Graham and other big Silicon Valley names had a brawl on X over VC behavior

Until a year ago, Arjun Pillai had the comfortable yet important role of chief data officer at ZoomInfo, a B2B database company. But the serial entrepreneur was getting antsy. He…

ZoomInfo alum raises $15M for startup that builds AI sales engineers

Featured Article

Endeavor CEO says long-term capital needs to be prioritized in emerging ecosystems

Venture capital has become a more global industry as the tech sector slowly decentralizes. In 2022, more than 50% of VC deployed globally was invested in startups outside the U.S., according to data available from the National Science Foundation (NSF) — a stark contrast to 20 years ago, when nearly…

Endeavor CEO says long-term capital needs to be prioritized in emerging ecosystems