“Microinfluencers” are gaining clout among marketers. Though they may have as little as a thousand followers, microinfluencers tend to focus on specific content and be seen as more engaging and trustworthy by their audience, said Allan Ko, founder and chief executive officer of Influenxio. The Taipei-based startup, which connects brands with Instagram microinfluencers through its […]

Kia started the year by dropping “motor company” from its corporate name and revealing a new logo and slogan as part of Plan S, a strategy to shift its business away from internal combustion engines and towards EVs, mobility services and autonomous vehicle technology. Now, the South Korean automaker is starting to share more details […]

Krafton, the developer of popular gaming title PUBG Mobile, has invested $22.4 million in Indian esports firm Nodwin Gaming, the two firms said Tuesday as the South Korean firm looks to maintain some presence in what was once its key overseas market. Nodwin Gaming, a subsidiary of local gaming giant Nazara, has established itself as […]

Apple has released a set of security updates for iPhones, iPads, Macs and Watches. There are no new features — but these are updates you will still want to install. As part of these security fixes, iPhones and iPads will update to iOS and iPadOS 14.4.1, watchOS users will update to 7.3.2 and macOS Big Sur […]

Max Q is a weekly newsletter from TechCrunch all about space. Sign up here to receive it weekly on Mondays in your inbox. Sometimes even the biggest successes look like failures on video. That’s the theme of this week, because the biggest news by far was SpaceX’s test launch of its latest Starship prototype in […]

PayPal acquires a cryptocurrency startup, Apple discontinues the iMac Pro and McAfee sells its enterprise business. This is your Daily Crunch for March 8, 2021. The big story: PayPal acquires Curv This deal will grow PayPal’s cryptocurrency team by bringing on Curv, a startup working with exchanges, brokers and over-the-counter desks to help their users […]

Zapier, a well-known no-code automation tool, has purchased Makerpad, a no-code education service and community. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. TechCrunch has covered Zapier often during its life, including its first, and only, fundraising event, a $1.2 million round back in 2012 that tapped Bessemer, DFJ and others. Since then the company has […]

The voice assistant that can personalize podcasts and help listeners search, sample and discover content through sharable bite-sized pieces will win the voice wars.

As an early-stage founder, how do you identify the right investors? Or know how to hire the best possible team to set up your company for growth? Should you bootstrap, and if so, how do you do it successfully? How do you nail virtual pitch meetings? What about product-market fit? Board construction and good governance? […]

"Obviously, we venture beyond electrification into autonomous vehicles and connectivity. There will be a lot of value creation once OEMs are able to surface their APIs."

Cosi Group, a Berlin-based startup offering an alternative to boutique hotels and managed short-stay apartments, is disclosing €20 million in new investment. Backing the round is Vienna-based Soravia, a leading real estate group in German-speaking countries. Existing investors Cherry Ventures, e.ventures, Kreos Capital and Bremke followed on, along with a number of individual investors. They […]

In the nearly 10 years since it launched as a whole animal butchery out of a storefront in East Nashville, the founders of Porter Road have wanted to herd America’s meat industry down a new path. Now the company has $10 million in financing from investors including L37 Ventures, River Park Ventures, Middleland, FJ Labs, […]

Apple announced this morning it’s teaming up with Common Sense Media to curate a selection of kid-friendly podcasts in the U.S. in light of what appears to be growing interest in spoken-word entertainment among families. That interest, in part, may have been prompted by the pandemic and parents’ desire to reduce kids’ screen time for […]

It’s been over a year since Google began auctioning slots for a search engine “choice” screen on Android in Europe, following a major antitrust intervention by the European Commission back in 2018. But despite hitting Google with a record-breaking fine over two years ago, almost nothing has changed. The tech giant’s search market share remains […]