E-commerce loan startup Wayflyer secures $1B deal from Neuberger Berman

September 5, 2023
Wayflyer, which provides financing to e-commerce startups in exchange for a portion of their future revenue, today announced that it secured $1 billion in capital from investment management firm Neuberger Berman. In a press release, Wayflyer describes the funding as an “off-balance sheet program,” meaning that the company was allowed to keep certain assets and […]

Okra raises $12M as it brings solar power to grids in developing areas

September 5, 2023
It’s been fun watching Okra Solar’s journey over the last few years. I first encountered the firm on a trip to Shenzhen, before it won our 2019 Hardware Battlefield competition in that city. Today it’s announcing a $12 million Series A aimed at serving wide swaths of the world that presently lack access to electricity. […]

Using AI to talk to trees with Graham Hine from ePlant

September 5, 2023
Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups.  This week Becca and Dom are joined by Graham Hine, the co-founder and CEO of ePlant, a startup that creates sensors that monitor the health of trees. Hine talked about what got him interested in the tree space to begin with and […]

Last call! Volunteer your way to attend TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

September 5, 2023
It takes a small army to produce a world-class tech conference, and we’re searching for a battalion of smart, eager volunteers to lend a hand at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 on September 19–21 in San Francisco. If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and help us make Disrupt an amazing experience for more than 10,000 […]

U.S. App Store downloads are dropping, new data indicates

September 5, 2023
There’s a concerning new trend taking place on the U.S. App Store which is impacting companies large and small: many apps are seeing their downloads decline, even as overall App Store revenue grows. The data, which comes from app intelligence firm Appfigures, suggests that some of the biggest apps on the market are slowly losing […]