Venture

Bridgit Mendler, Even Rogers, and Max Hoat join the Space Stage at Disrupt 2025

The space economy isn’t just about rockets and satellites anymore — it’s about building resilient infrastructure, deploying autonomous systems, and creating entirely new models for how we operate and defend assets off-Earth. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, taking place October 27–29 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, the Space Stage is where these seismic shifts in space […]

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OpenAI is the world’s most valuable private company after private stock sale

OpenAI has sold $6.6 billion in shares held by current and former employees, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The sale pushed OpenAI’s total valuation to $500 billion, the highest ever achieved by a privately held company. Purchasers included SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX, and T. Rowe Price, the report said. The

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Better Tomorrow Ventures closes $140M, remains bullish on fintech

Sheel Mohnot, co-founder and general partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV) has one simple answer for anyone claiming that investing in fintech has lost some of its attractiveness. “The world of finance is huge. About 20% of global GDP is financial services, and it’s still not digital enough,” he told TechCrunch. Many financial transactions are

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Chamath warns retail investors to avoid his new SPAC

On Tuesday, a new SPAC from VC and All-In podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya became a public company. Dubbed with the lofty name “American Exceptionalism,” it raised $345 million with a mission to acquire one or more startups in the fields of energy, AI, crypto/DeFi, or defense, then convert those companies into publicly-traded entities. But Palihapitiya

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Sources: Gusto paid $600M to acquire Guideline, plans to divest customers linked to rivals

Last month, Gusto, a payroll and HR software company, announced that it agreed to acquire Guideline, a startup offering retirement plans to small and medium businesses.   The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Gusto paid approximately $600 million, according to a source familiar with the deal, although TechCrunch could not confirm how much of

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Kevin Hart’s VC firm leads $35M Series B for weight-loss app Simple

Mike Prytkov said he knows what it’s like to let stress take over one’s life.  While building his first company, he said he worked long hours and gained weight. After exiting his company (an adtech company called Appness), he said he tried many things to lose the pounds: extreme workouts, calorie tracking, and fasting. “While

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Last 3 days to get extra discounts on community passes to Disrupt 2025

There are only 3 days left to lock in even bigger savings on group passes to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025! Founders and investors — save up to 20% on groups of 4–9 until Friday, October 3 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Disrupt 2025 takes place October 27–29 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, uniting over 10,000 founders, investors,

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Notion Capital raises $130M growth fund to tackle Europe’s follow-on gap

The lack of growth capital in Europe is such a persisting issue that some early-stage firms have taken the matter into their own hands. London-headquartered firm Notion Capital is one of them. In 2017, Notion Capital was one of the first in Europe to close an opportunities fund to provide its portfolio companies with follow-on

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AI recruiter Alex raises $17M to automate initial job interviews

Job seekers in all fields can expect to soon be doing a lot more initial screening interviews. While that may sound like positive news, it doesn’t mean that there will suddenly be more open positions. Instead, recruiters, often bogged down with determining which applicants are qualified for the next round, will outsource the routine screening

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