Meta starts testing ‘members-only worlds’ in Horizon Worlds

Meta is starting to test closed spaces called “members-only worlds” in Horizon Worlds, its social VR experience. The company has begun a limited alpha test to give creators the ability to grow and moderate their own communities. Meta has selected a small group of creators to...

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Teal unwraps $8.8M to build out a telehealth platform for women — starting with cervical cancer screening

Female-focused telehealth startup, Teal Health, is popping up today to announce an $8.8 million seed round with a roster of heavy hitting investors on board — including (Serena Williams’) Serena Ventures, (Chelsea Clinton’s) Metrodora Ventures, and (Laurene Powell Jobs’) Emerson Collective. The February 2020-founded San Francisco-based startup’s first...

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Thrive Capital believed to be leading new multi-billion dollar investment in Stripe

Thrive Capital has reportedly committed $1 billion in fresh capital to payments giant Stripe as part of a new investment in the works that would value the fintech company at between $55 billion and $60 billion. TechCrunch reported last week that Stripe was seeking to raise $2 billion but the number could actually be closer to $2.5 billion to $3 billion,...

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Practice your startup pitch on TechCrunch Live with Benchmark and Cambly

TechCrunch Live is back! The weekly show resumes this week, and we’re excited to bring back a popular segment. Called Pitch Practice, it should be self-explanatory. Participants have a chance to practice their pitch by presenting to another founder and investor. This show’s guests are fantastic too. You want their feedback on your pitch. Our first...

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Lost your crypto amid Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings? You’re probably not getting it back

If you lost access to your money when the crypto firm holding your assets filed for bankruptcy, then you’re probably out of luck. As Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings move forward for several big-name crypto companies, those who lost funds are surely hoping to get all — or at least some — of their money back. Lawyers and experts shared their thoughts...

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Privacy assistant Jumbo tears down its paywall

Jumbo, an app that lets you control your privacy on the web, is hitting the reset button — sort of. While the company is still focused on privacy and security, users can now download and use all features for free as the premium subscription is gone. In addition to this pricing...

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Instagram’s co-founders introduce a new social app…for news reading

Can lightning strike twice? That’s apparently the question being raised today with the public introduction of the next social app built by Instagram’s co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The duo have launched a new venture to explore social apps, according to a report published in The Verge, which includes the debut product Artifact, a personalized...

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Haun Ventures leads Sovereign Labs’ $7.4M seed round to help scale blockchains

Sovereign Labs has raised $7.4 million in seed funding led by Haun Ventures, co-founders Preston Evans and Cem Özer told TechCrunch. The startup is building an “open, interconnected rollup ecosystem” with a software development kit (SDK) to provide a framework for secure and interoperable zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-rollups). “Sovereign’s goal has always...

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Three months ago, he was laid off from Twitter. Now, his competing app Spill is funded.

“I can’t explain it. It’s weird,” Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell said. After losing his job at Twitter when Elon Musk took over, the former global head of Social & Editorial didn’t want to rest — he wanted to build. “Coming straight out of it, I was just like, ‘Oh, it’s time. It’s time to build, whether we get support or not.'” Luckily for Terrell, his...

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EV company Arrival to cut workforce by 50% in third restructuring effort

Arrival is going through another restructuring — this time led by a newly appointed CEO — that will slash its workforce by about 50% as the the U.K.-based commercial EV company attempts to reduce operating costs and preserve cash. The company said Monday that Igor Torgov, former executive VP of digital at the company, has been hired as its CEO. Prior...

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Hacker finds bug that allowed anyone to bypass Facebook 2FA

A bug in a new centralized system that Meta created for users to manage their logins for Facebook and Instagram could have allowed malicious hackers to switch off an account’s two-factor protections just by knowing their email address or phone number. Gtm Mänôz, a security researcher...

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Meta is killing Move, another experimental social app from its in-house incubator NPE Team

Meta is killing off yet another project from its in-house R&D group, the NPE Team, following the company’s sizable layoffs announced in November, impacting 13% of its workforce. The latest experiment to be wound down is the social to-do list app called Move, launched last spring, which allowed users to earn points for completing tasks on either...

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Raylo raises $136M to build out its gadget lease-and-reuse ‘fintech’ platform

With the economy teetering on recession, and sales of mobile phones and other consumer electronics slowing right down globally, a U.K. startup called Raylo that’s leaning into both of those themes has picked up £110 million ($136 million) to grow its business, offering consumers access to new gadgets by way of short-term leases. The London-based company...

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What do recent changes to state taxes mean for US SaaS startups?

Ardy Esmaeili Contributor Share on Twitter Ardy Esmaeili, CPA, is a startup tax accountant and managing director of tax services at Burkland. More posts by this contributor Starting up remotely? Keep these labor laws and tax guidelines in mind What US startup founders need to know about the R&D tax credit Trends indicate that a majority...

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Sorare teams up with the Premier League for its NFT fantasy football game

French startup Sorare has signed a four-year licensing partnership with the Premier League. This is an important move for the company as the English football league is one of the most-watched sports league in the world. Sorare is a fantasy sports gaming experience based on NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. In particular, Sorare has partnered with many...

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Walmart-backed PhonePe’s nine-month 2022 revenue surged to $234 million

PhonePe clocked a revenue of $234.3 million in the first nine months of 2022, the most valuable Indian fintech startup has disclosed in a filing. The nine-month financials marks a jump from the $201.6 million revenue that the Bengaluru-headquartered generated in the 12-month...

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China smartphone market slumps to 10-year low in 2022

After a decade of frantic growth, China’s smartphone market is hitting a speed bump as COVID-19 roils the world’s second-largest economy. The country’s smartphone shipments dropped 14% year-over-year in 2022, reaching a ten-year low, according to research firm Counterpoint. It was also the first time that China’s handset sales had slid below 300 million...

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