Reinvent Technology Partners, a new special purpose acquisition company formed by famed investor and serial entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, Zynga founder Mark Pincus and veteran hedge fund manager Michael Thompson, filed Monday for a $600 million initial public offering. The SPAC was formed by Hoffman, Pincus and Thompson, formerly of BHR Capital, with the intention of…
Read MoreMonth: September 2020
Virtual Mobility startup pitch night applications open
TechCrunch is on the hunt to feature 10 early-stage mobility startups at our virtual TC Sessions: Mobility 2020 pitch night. The pitch-off event, originally set for May, will now be held October 5th — the evening before Mobility 2020. The top five companies from pitch night will take the stage at the main event with…
Read MoreDaily Crunch: Netflix sets some content free
Netflix tests a free promotional offering, Amazon’s drone delivery gets trial flight approval from the FAA and Neuralink shows off its human-brain tech. This is your Daily Crunch for August 31, 2020. The big story: Netflix sets some content free Netflix has taken some of its best-known Originals out from behind the paywall. The company…
Read MorePayPal joins the ‘buy now, pay later’ race with new ‘Pay in 4’ installment program
PayPal today introduced a new installment credit option for PayPal users called “Pay in 4.” The name itself explains what the service offers — basically, it’s the ability for customers to pay for purchases, interest-free, over four separate payments. The service is an expansion on PayPal’s existing lineup of Pay Later solutions, which also includes…
Read MoreDecrypted: Tesla’s ransomware near miss, Palantir’s S-1 risk factors
Another busy week in cybersecurity. In case you missed it: A widely used messaging app used by over a million protesters has several major security flaws; a little-known loophole has let the DMV sell driver’s licenses and Social Security records to private investigators; and the U.S. government is suing to reclaim over $2.5 million in…
Read MoreDorian raises $3.25M for its no-code, interactive storytelling platform
With Dorian, co-founder and CEO Julia Palatovska said she’s hoping to empower fiction writers and other storytellers to create their own games. The startup is announcing that it has raised $3.25 million in seed funding led by March Capital Partners, with participation from VGames, Konvoy Ventures, London Venture Partners, Michael Chow (co-creator of the Twitch…
Read MoreWhat pandemic? Inside Boston’s scorching VC summer
Filled with innovation labs, co-working spaces and students, Boston has a ton of entrepreneurial characteristics baked into its DNA. However, when the coronavirus swept through the country, the area’s startup scene was stress-tested as badly as other entrepreneurial hubs. Could Boston’s startups still thrive without the city’s robust in-person ecosystems? Last month, we answered this…
Read MoreApple will now allow developers stuck in App Store jail to push bug fixes to their apps
Apple’s App Store policies have gotten quite a bit more attention in the past few months, and while it seems likely that Apple’s team will fight tooth and nail to avoid dismantling any of the core pillars of their Store economy, the company did announce a small policy change today that will hopefully keep users…
Read MoreIn a post-NDA world, does transparency help founders identify conflicts of interest?
Once upon a time, fintech founders could pitch 10 investors before closing a round in a relatively hushed way. Entrepreneurs could even ask VCs to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to keep their information confidential. Today, everyone is a fintech investor and no one signs NDAs. This changed dynamic puts founders in a difficult position. Nabeel…
Read MoreOn the matter of who was really behind @VCBrags
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