To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for October 5, 2021. We warned you that a bunch of tech startups were going to go public in Q4. That’s coming true. But we also […]
Technical interview platform Byteboard spins out of Google’s Area 120, takes on new funding
Byteboard, a service designed to replace the on-site technical interview part of a company’s hiring process with a web-based alternative, will be spinning out of Google, TechCrunch learned and Google confirmed. The product was originally incubated as part of the company’s internal R&D lab known as Area 120, where it’s been led by General Manager […]
Improving startup results through female leadership
Leah Edwards Contributor Share on Twitter Leah Edwards is a passionate fan and connector in technology and impact, a lecturer at UC Berkeley and Stanford and a partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm. During my career — spanning entrepreneurship, academia, arts management and venture capital — I’ve learned the importance of […]
Kellogg’s U.S. cereal plant workers go on strike
October 5, 2021 (Reuters) – About 1,400 Kellogg Co cereal plant employees went on a strike on Tuesday, hoping to get the packaged foods maker to negotiate what a labor union called a “fair contract” for the workers. The Froot Loops and Corn Flakes cereal maker has been negotiating with union workers for a while […]
Masterworks raises $110M to sell fractional shares of physical art — not NFTs
As investors look to diversify their holding amid exceptionally top-heavy traditional asset markets, more tech-enabled platforms are popping up to make the case for their alternative investment platform of choice. Masterworks, a startup that sells fractionalized shares of paintings and other works by famous artists, has achieved a unicorn valuation as it looks to corner […]
TechCrunch+ roundup: Palihapitiya on SPACs, inside Rivian’s IPO, BaaS pros talk shop
I have worked in startups for more than half of my life, and for most of that time, I was the only Black person in the room. As a result, the lack of representation in tech isn’t abstract to me. Besides my experience, I read and talk about diversity in tech every day, so when […]
U.S. risks losing its ‘edge’ without big infrastructure spending, Biden says
October 5, 2021 By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt HOWELL, Mich. (Reuters) -President Joe Biden made a pitch in Michigan on Tuesday for his huge social spending package which he vowed would help modernize America and benefit the middle class, while lawmakers in his Democratic Party back in Washington wrangled over its price tag. Squabbling […]
Distraction-free reading service Scroll is shutting down and becoming a feature of Twitter Blue
Distraction-free reading service Scroll will shut down in approximately 30 days and become a feature of Twitter Blue, Twitter confirmed in an email to TechCrunch. Twitter acquired Scroll in May and had said it planned to offer Scroll as a premium feature on its platform. Once Scroll shuts down as an independent service, it will […]
Tennis-After ‘very cool’ three weeks, U.S. Open champ Raducanu ready to get back to business
October 5, 2021 (Reuters) – Red carpet galas, top-tier endorsement deals and hitting with British Royalty — the past three weeks have been a whirlwind for 18-year-old U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu. But now the British sensation says she is eager to get back to business. “I’d say it has been a very cool three […]
LVMH buys perfume company Officine Universelle Buly 1803
October 5, 2021 PARIS (Reuters) – Luxury group LVMH has purchased French perfume and cosmetics company Officine Universelle Buly 1803 with an eye to expanding it abroad, adding to its sprawling empire of high end labels. The purchase comes four years after the group’s initial investment in the perfumer, through its minority investment fund LVMH […]
U.S. Senate to vote on debt ceiling, Republicans say they will oppose
October 5, 2021 By David Morgan and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden’s Democrats planned a Wednesday vote in the Senate to suspend the U.S. debt ceiling, setting up yet another confrontation with Republicans that risks an economically crippling federal credit default. The effort seemed destined to fail as the chamber’s top Republican, Mitch […]
Their prospects dim, Haitian migrants strain Mexico’s asylum system
October 5, 2021 By Daina Beth Solomon MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico could see asylum applications jump 70% this year compared with 2019 as requests from Haitians soar, though most of those Caribbean migrants do not meet the criteria under current rules, according to Mexico’s top asylum official. Haiti is currently the second-most common country […]
Proposal to allow Chileans to draw down pensions would hurt business climate, group says
October 5, 2021 SANTIAGO (Reuters) – An association of U.S. businesses in Chile warned on Tuesday that a proposal to allow Chileans to draw money from their pension funds for the fourth time since the coronavirus pandemic began could seriously harm the country’s business climate. Chile’s lower chamber of Congress approved the bill late last […]
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies before the Senate
After revealing her identity on Sunday night, Frances Haugen — the whistleblower who leaked controversial Facebook documents to The Wall Street Journal — testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation on Tuesday. Haugen’s testimony came after a hearing last week, when Facebook Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis was questioned about the company’s […]
Finding product-market fit, from the earliest stages through growth
At this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt, we assembled an all-star panel of venture capitalists working across the entire range of startup growth and got their insights on assessing product-market fit — a perennial and evergreen challenge for entrepreneurs at all levels of experience. Human Ventures’ Heather Hartnett, Greylock’s David Thacker, and Felicis’ Victoria Treyger all shared […]
Al Gore: China could surprise the world at Glasgow climate talks
October 5, 2021 By Axel Threlfall and Timothy Gardner (Reuters) -Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is hopeful China and the United States will set aside their differences at U.N. climate change talks in Glasgow, just as they came together in 2015 to help hammer out the Paris Agreement. Speaking in an interview broadcast on […]
This new platform is teaching emerging fund managers how to survive and thrive
More people have begun turning to venture investing as a full-time pursuit, only to discover that it’s not as easy as it looks. That realization explains the rise of Oper8r, a for-profit, venture-backed accelerator that launched last year as a kind of Y Combinator for emerging fund managers. It explains the broad appeal of AngelList, […]
Motor racing-Renault’s Alpine announces new endurance entry from 2024
October 5, 2021 By Alan Baldwin (Reuters) – Renault-owned Alpine will continue in endurance racing, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a new hybrid car built to Daytona (LMDh) rules from 2024, the sportscar brand announced on Tuesday. Endurance racing has a convergence agreement from 2022 for cars conforming to the North American-based […]
Exclusive-Athletics-Jamaica’s Carter tests positive, faces disciplinary hearing
October 5, 2021 By Kayon Raynor KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) – Jamaica’s Olympic and world championship medallist Nesta Carter, whose positive doping test caused Usain Bolt to be stripped of his Beijing 2008 Olympic 4×100 metres relay gold, has tested positive again and faces an anti-doping hearing next week. Confirmation of the now-retired Carter’s positive test came from […]
Alpine aiming to ‘max out’ car sales in Europe before any global expansion
October 5, 2021 By Alan Baldwin (Reuters) – Renault-owned sportscar brand Alpine wants to expand its global footprint but has to be well established in Europe before looking further afield, Chief Executive Laurent Rossi said on Tuesday. Speaking to Reuters ahead of the announcement of Alpine’s plans for endurance racing, Rossi did not rule out […]