Fez Delivery, a Lagos-based last-mile logistics startup with hubs across Nigeria, has raised $1 million led by pan-African investor Ventures Platform with participation from Voltron Capital, Acasia Ventures and other angel investors. CEO Seun Alley, in a statement, said the company plans to use the seed investment to deepen its work in Nigeria (which has […]
Techstars-backed Fez Delivery gets funding to scale its last-mile logistics platform by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch
Concrete. Ubiquitous. A mainstay of the construction industry — over 10 billion cubic meters of concrete are used every year. And also responsible for up to 8% of CO2 emissions — one ton of ordinary Portland cement creates somewhere between 800 and 900 kilograms of CO2 emissions. Finnish startup Carbonaide has just raised €1.8 million (~$1.9 […]
When life gives you carbon, make Carbonaide by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch
Early-stage investments inherently have a higher risk of failing, but these risks also come with potentially higher rewards — getting in at the ground floor of a startup’s journey gives VCs more negotiation clout. This is particularly true at the very early pre-seed stage, where companies might barely have a functioning product to shout about. […]
‘High conviction, low volume’: Playfair launches $70M pre-seed fund for European startups by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch
Walt Disney Co. has eliminated its metaverse division as part of staff cuts that promise to reduce head count by around 7,000 across the company over the next two months, reports The Wall Street Journal. CEO Bob Iger said Monday that those layoffs would begin this week. Disney’s next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences unit, the […]
Disney cuts metaverse division as part of broader restructuring by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
Tesla is bringing back its referral program to Europe, a strategy that taps into the brand loyalty of customers as it seeks to preserve market share and boost sales before the first quarter of 2023 closes. The referral program follows Tesla’s move to reduce prices in a variety of markets, including Europe, China and North […]
Tesla brings back European referral program as end of Q1 nears by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
In this issue of Max Q: Relativity Space’s Terran 1 reaches Max Q; NRO lines up hyperspectral imagery providers; News from Virgin Orbit, and more.
Max Q: A lifeline by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch
If the past few years, and even the past week, has reminded us soundly of anything – it’s that the startup world will never be predictable. To meet the changing startup landscape, we’re refreshing and re-imagining TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 in a big way with more of what you love and new ways to accelerate your […]
Disrupt 2023 — we’re shipping a big new release by Matthew Panzarino originally published on TechCrunch
It’s been tough to raise funds in the last few years for most sectors, and many VCs will tell you that a startup needs to have a killer product-market fit before getting that check. But Eric Tarczynski of Contrary Capital believes in investing in people over businesses, and the wisdom to this approach has been […]
Why some VCs bet on people over businesses by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
Generative AI is disrupting industries — with understandable controversy. Earlier this month, Danny Postma, the founder of Headlime, an AI-powered marketing copy startup that was recently acquired by Jasper, announced Deep Agency, a platform he describes as an “AI photo studio and modeling agency.” Using art-generating AI, Deep Agency creates and offers “virtual models” for […]
Deep Agency shows the perils of applying AI to the fashion industry by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch