To fund Y Combinator’s top startups, VCs scoop them before Demo Day

Meet the startups that raised venture capital, or got acquired, before Demo Day.

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Former Dropbox exec Dennis Woodside joins Impossible Foods as its first President

Former Google and Dropbox executive Dennis Woodside has joined the meat replacement developer Impossible Foods as the company’s first President. Woodside, who previously shepherded Dropbox through its initial public offering, is a longtime technology executive who is making his first foray into the food business. The 25-year tech industry veteran most recently served as the […]

View More Former Dropbox exec Dennis Woodside joins Impossible Foods as its first President

Flight-hailing startup Blackbird raises $10 million to replace driving with flying

The origin story of Blackbird, a startup that links travelers to planes and commercial pilots through an app, didn’t begin with air travel. It was prompted by car sickness. Blackbird CEO and founder Rudd Davis, who was getting his pilot’s license at the time, asked his flight instructor if he would fly his family to […]

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With $90 million in funding, the Ginkgo spinoff Motif joins the fight for the future of food

Continuing its quest to become the Amazon Web Services for biomanufacturing, Ginkgo Bioworks has launched a new spinoff called Motif Ingredients with $90 million in funding to develop proteins that can serve as meat and dairy replacements. It’s the second spinout for Ginkgo since late 2017 when the company partnered with Bayer to launch Joyn […]

View More With $90 million in funding, the Ginkgo spinoff Motif joins the fight for the future of food

China’s second-largest gaming company to sell comics assets to rival

China’s online youth entertainment platform Bilibili said it has agreed to buy major assets from the comics arm of gaming giant NetEase, which helped introduce Marvel’s first batch of Chinese superheroes in May. The deal announced on Wednesday will see Bilibili acquire the copyrights of a large number of popular storylines from NetEase to beef up […]

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With a new deal for customers and a fresh $23 million, Mayvenn extends its hair care business

Pitching customers a new, all-inclusive service for buying and installing hair, Mayvenn is looking to significantly expand its haircare business and just raised $23 million in a new round of funding to do it. The new financing was led by Essence Ventures — and it represents the first outside investment by the  holding company owned […]

View More With a new deal for customers and a fresh $23 million, Mayvenn extends its hair care business

Vishal Makhijani steps down as chief executive of Udacity

Vishal Makhijani, the long time chief executive of online education company Udacity, is stepping down as its chief executive officer, TechCrunch has learned. Makhijani first joined the company in 2013 as chief operating officer under Sebastian Thrun, the company’s founder and chief executive at the time. In 2016, Thrun, the original architect of Alphabet’s self-driving […]

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Shopify opens its first brick-and-mortar space in Los Angeles

Shopify, the provider of payment and logistics management software and services for retailers, has opened its first physical storefront in Los Angeles. The first brick and mortar location for the Toronto-based company, is nestled in a warren of downtown Los Angeles boutique shops in a complex known as the Row DTLA. For Shopify, Los Angeles […]

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The next big restaurant chain may not own any kitchens

If investors at some of the biggest technology companies are right, the next big restaurant chain could have no kitchens of its own. These venture capitalists think the same forces that have transformed transportation, media, retail and logistics will also work their way through prepared food businesses. The Battle Is For The Customer Interface Investors […]

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Recent departures hint at turmoil at Quartet Health, a mental health startup backed by GV

Quartet Health, a startup backed with nearly $100 million from GV, Oak HC/FT and more, has quietly lost its COO, CPO and replaced its CEO this month.

View More Recent departures hint at turmoil at Quartet Health, a mental health startup backed by GV

Sneaker market GOAT hires COO Lizzie Francis and makes a play for women sneaker shoppers

GOAT, the secondary marketplace for sneakers that recently merged with Flight Club, is announcing a new hire. Lizzie Francis will join the company as Chief Operating Officer, coming from Brilliant Ventures where she will remain a managing partner. Francis formerly acted as CMO at Gilt Group and CMO at JustFab.com. She’s been running Brilliant for […]

View More Sneaker market GOAT hires COO Lizzie Francis and makes a play for women sneaker shoppers

Coya raises $30 million to launch its insurance service in Europe

Coya, a Berlin-based insurance startup, has raised $30 million in new cash as investors around the world continue to see opportunities in modernizing the insurance industry. Founded by two early employees at the European credit and risk assessment unicorn startup Kreditech (which raised EUR110 million from the Naspers subsidiary PayU) and two seasoned executives from […]

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