Every day at 3 p.m., you'll get a rundown of the biggest and most important stories from TechCrunch. You can subscribe here.
We are continuing to stick our heads in the sand regarding the war in Ukraine and the Earth slowly roasting itself to a crisp in favor of a loudmouthed billionaire wanting to buy a deranged bird sanctuary.
Alex andNatasha dug into the topic of social fintech on the Equity podcast. Are you coming to our mobility event? If you want to pitch, it is your last chance. Found, the tech startup talk show, is nominated for a Webby for best technology show. You can cast your vote before April 21.
The TechCrunch Top 3
Twitter adopts ‘poison pill’ to block Elon Musk’s proposed purchase: For what seems like the whole week now, Twitter is in the news again today. This time, it announced that it was taking steps to block the purchase by “he who shall not be named.” Literally, the company did not mention Elon Musk by name. Hopefully, you’re not like, “What happened?” but if you are: Musk said he wanted to buy the social media giant. Some of his language in the proposal suggested a hostile takeover, so Kyle took a look at hostile takeover history and what it might mean for Twitter’s case.
U.S. links North Korea to latest crypto hack: The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said that a North Korean state-backed hacking group known as Lazarus is responsible for the recent theft of $625 million in cryptocurrency from the Ronin Network, an Ethereum-based sidechain made for the popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity. We report that “this is the largest decentralized finance hack to date.”
Europe startups are having a good year so far: We’ve written about a slowdown in venture-backed deals in different regions, including the U.S., Asia and Latin America, so it is refreshing to see Europe come out ahead in the first quarter — a 20% quarter-on-quarter increase, in fact.
Startups and VC
As you file your expenses, you will be forgiven for humming a bit of Aloe Blacc under your breath. Those on the other side of expense reports tend to be more prone to swearing than whistling a tune, and Itilite just raised $29 million to put a smile on their faces and a spring in their step.
One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go, cat, go, and don't you, step on my weighed views.
Like Affirm, but for your business: The buy now, pay later market, spearheaded by Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna and others, is mostly focused on consumer spending. Slope wants to bring the same mechanics to B2B purchases and just raised $24 million to put that dream on layaway.
Like Uber, but on two wheels: Indian food delivery giant Swiggy just plunged $180 million into the bike taxi startup Rapido.
Like Chrome, but scrambled: Opera is one of those companies that just refuses to die, even though it has only found an extremely niche audience. Today, it launched an iOS version of its web3 and crypto-friendly browser.
Like HubSpot, but HubSport: TeamSnap is making it easier to manage youth sports organizations — scheduling, team management, etc. The company has been around since 2009 and just launched a new set of tools.
MLB forays into the future with new tech for the old ball game
Alex Trautwig is the image credit.
Baseball has come a long way since 1897, when a math professor designed a pitching machine that ran on gunpowder.
Baseball is a technology-driven enterprise where team owners, players, media organizations and individual fans have access to raw statistics.
The head of engineering at Major League Baseball, Vasanth Williams, was interviewed by enterprise reporter Ron Miller.
He said that MLB has a long history of using data and technology and that he loves doing it.
Techcrunch+ helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.
MLB forays into the future with new tech for the old ball game
Big Tech Inc.
China changes its foreign games policy: Continuing from yesterday with some news out of China, it looks like the country is getting ready to close a loophole that was left open for people to access unauthorized video games. This week, online gaming company Tencent said it will “terminate its gaming booster that allows users to play overseas games,” meaning any games without the government-issued license to operate in the country will go bye-bye.
Meta bringing Horizon Worlds to the web: Meta’s social virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds is getting a web facelift so that people with Quest VR headsets can try it out. We point out that with all of the company’s talk about the metaverse, it seems counterintuitive to have VR and web versions of the same things, but we’re guessing lots of someones asked for this, otherwise it would not be made.
Take a trip inside the 2023 Toyota bZ4X: Buckle up, we have the “nuts and volts” on one of Toyota’s newest electric vehicles. For a rather awkward name, we report this one promises an all-in price tag of just under $50,000 for what is an “impressive” range on a single charge.
The parent company of Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast will buy D&D Beyond, the role-playing game’s popular digital suite of tools. The company announced the news thi...TC Sessions: Mobility is back, and this year we are bringing together the best and brightest founders, investors, engineers and experts on the future of transportation for a two-day, in-person even...Ukrainian IT did not break down — it shrank a little, but it is standing firm, providing employment to people, paying taxes, organizing humanitarian help and assisting the Ukrainian army.
Electric vehicles took center stage at the New York International Auto Show this year, with an indoor track as part of the show’s 250,000-square-foot EV display leaving no doubt that EVs are part o...Throughout the web3 world, companies, protocols and projects alike are pushing to onboard a billion users — what they see as the tipping point for cryptocurrency use to grow exponentially. The U.S. is the world’s largest cannabis market, but as more European countries consider legalizing recreational use, investors are looking for opportunities in production, distribution and retail....TeamSnap, a web service for managing recreational and competitive sports teams and groups, announced the launch of its all-in-one multi-program management system for youth sports organizations. Wit...For years, China has left a loophole open for people to access unauthorized video games, but it’s ready to close it. Many foreign titles lack a Chinese publishing partner like Tencent to help...Twitter’s board of directors announced in a press release that the company is adopting a limited duration shareholder rights plan — a “poison pill” in merger and acquisition lingo. While the compan...Meta is working on a web version of its social virtual reality Horizon Worlds platform, the company’s CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth revealed in a tweet. The expansion would allow users to try out...Calling all mobility founders! The clock is ticking and we’re down to seven days left to apply to pitch at TC Sessions: Mobility taking place on May 18-19 in San Mateo, California, with onlin...Opera has launched the iOS version of their Crypto Browser, designed for accessing web3, with a non-custodial crypto wallet built-in. The browser was previously available on Windows, Mac and Androi...U.S. officials have linked North Korean state-backed hacking group Lazarus to the recent theft of $625 million in cryptocurrency from the Ronin Network, an Ethereum-based sidechain made for the pop...Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This week was TechCrunch Early Stage, so Natasha and Alex go...Its API technology can approve businesses for the BNPL in seconds so they can begin offering the installments.
Swiggy has led a $180 million financing round into bike taxi startup Rapido as the Indian food delivery giant looks to broaden its fleet network across the country, the two firms said on Friday. Ra...
