Archives for June 2020

Lyft’s self-driving test vehicles are back on public roads in California Lyft’s self-driving vehicle division has restarted testing on public roads in California, several months after pausing operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lyft’s Level 5 program said Tuesday some of its autonomous vehicles are back on the road in Palo Alto and at its closed […]

NASA pays out $51 million to small businesses with big ideas NASA has announced its latest batch of small business grants, providing more than 300 businesses a total of $51 million in crucial early-stage funding. These “phase I” projects receive up to $125,000 to help bring new technologies to market. The Small Business Innovation Research/Technology […]

Dfinity demo’s its TikTok clone, opens up its ‘Internet Computer’ to outside developers Dfinity appeared in 2018, amid the flurry of investments in the blockchain space, It raised $102 million in funding at a $2 billion valuation in a round jointly led by Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, along with other investors including KR1. I must admit that […]

SpaceX successfully launches GPS III space vehicle on behalf of the U.S. Space Force SpaceX successfully launched a GPS III satellite for the U.S. Space Force today. The Space Force took over the U.S. in-space GPS assets from the Air Force when it became its own dedicated wing of the U.S. armed forces. The launch […]

Oculus co-founder and games industry vets form Mountaintop Studios Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell is heading up a new game development house called Mountaintop Studios, joined by colleagues from around the gaming industry. The company aims to leave the crunch and toxic culture pervasive in game studios behind and make one that’s “collaborative, anti-crunch, diverse, and […]

With advertiser boycott growing, lawmakers press Facebook on white supremacy In a new letter to Mark Zuckerberg, three Democratic lawmakers pressed the Facebook chief executive for accountability on his company’s role in amplifying white supremacy and allowing violent extremists, like those in “boogaloo” groups, to organize on its platform. Citing the “long-overdue” national reckoning around […]

Decrypted: Police leaks, iOS 14 kills ad-tracking, anti-encryption bill What would the world look like if encryption were outlawed? If three Republican senators get their way, it might just happen. Under the guise of national security, the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed through a draft bill that would end “warrant-proof” encryption — that is strong, near-impossible […]

Tune-up your pitch tomorrow at Pitchers & Pitches Ready to breathe some life into your 60-second pitch? Turn your internet dial to our next Pitchers & Pitches webinar tomorrow, July 1 at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT. It’s free for everyone, and all you need to do is register right here. Tune in as […]

What Is Unconscious Bias (And How to Reduce It for Good) Many conversations are being held nowadays regarding unconscious bias, but what does it really mean and how can it affect your life and the people around you? With many types of biases, it can get quite confusing. In this article, we’ll touch on cognitive […]

How to Organize Tasks With A Weekly To-Do List It takes commitment to remain focused and make your week productive. A research conducted by the University of California revealed that you need 30 minutes to refocus after being distracted on a task [1]. With so many distractions pulling at our attention, how can we complete […]

How to Set OKRs to Keep Your Goals on Track Goals typically fail for several reasons, the main one being they lack purpose or a tangible reason why they have been set in the first place. If you don’t honestly believe in a goal or have an emotional attachment to why it’s been created, you’ll […]

The Small Business Guide to Surviving the Coronavirus Crisis—and Thriving Afterwards By Monica Logani In past recessions, the best companies not only survived tough economic times, but emerged stronger. Research by Bain & Company found that the top 10% of companies not only endured the Great Recession, but flourished in the following years as measured […]

RIOS comes out of stealth to announce $5M in funding for ‘industry-agnostic’ robotics Bay Area-based robotics startup RIOS is coming out of stealth today to announce $5 million in funding. The round is being led by Valley Capital Partners and Morpheus Ventures, with participation from a long list of investors, including Grit Ventures, Motus Ventures, […]

What It Takes to Launch a Successful Online Clothing Brand in 2020 June 30, 2020 5 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Per usual, clothing brands like Nike, Zara, Adidas, Hermes and H&M were some of the most popular in 2019. What about 2020, though? In spite of new, obvious obstacles, […]

The simple cure for writer’s block Write. People with writer’s block don’t have a problem typing. They have a problem living with bad writing, imperfect writing, writing that might expose something that they fear. The best way to address this isn’t to wait to be perfect. Because if you wait, you’ll never get there. The […]

Fivetran snares $100M Series C on $1.2B valuation for data connectivity solution A big problem for companies these days is finding ways to connect to various data sources to their data repositories, and Fivetran is a startup with a solution to solve that very problem. No surprise then that even during a pandemic, the company […]

As Uber hunts for a deal, can Postmates leverage an IPO? It’s been a busy last 24 hours or so for on-demand delivery company Postmates. According to reporting, the company is reviving its IPO plans, possibly selling to Uber, or perhaps looking to go public with the help of a special purpose acquisition vehicle, also […]

13 Boston-focused venture capitalists talk green shoots and startup recovery Welcome back to the second half of our two-part Boston investor survey. Catching you up, TechCrunch reached out to a host of Boston-area venture capitalists to get their take on the current state of their market, and what they think might be coming up in […]

Willa secures $3M from EQT Ventures to let freelancers get paid immediately Willa, the Sweden and U.S.-based fintech that wants to help freelancers request payment and get paid immediately for a fee, has raised $3 million in funding. The company’s founders are former early members of Spotify’s growth team and also created influencer marketing platform […]

Berlin’s DeepSpin raises seed funding for its ‘portable, ultra-low-cost’ MRI system DeepSpin, a Berlin-based startup that is developing what it describes as a “next-generation, AI-powered MRI imaging machine”, has raised €600,000 in seed funding. Backing the round is APEX Digital Health, with participation from existing investors Entrepreneur First (EF) and SOSV, along with a number […]