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Flex, a Brex for business owners, has raised $25M at a $250M valuation

Fundraising /

Flex, which offers personal finance software and payments infrastructure for business owners, has raised $25 million in equity funding while securing a $200 million credit facility, it told TechCrunch exclusively. The equity funds were raised at a valuation of “just under $250 million.” The company last raised a $20 million Series A announced in September […]

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From high school science project to $18.3M: AI-accelerated enzymes are coming for fast fashion’s plastic waste

Climate /

A U.K. startup, originating from founder Jacob Nathan’s high school science project on using enzymes to break down plastic waste, has secured an oversubscribed $18.3 million in Series A funding. Founded in 2019 in London, Epoch Biodesign now a 30+ strong multidisciplinary team of chemists, biologists and software engineers. It will be using the new

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Mach Industries, founded by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton, lands US Army contract, builds weapons factory

Startups /

Sequoia-backed Mach Industries, the defense tech founded by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton, landed a contract with the U.S. Army and has plans for its first factory, Thornton told TechCrunch. The factory will be 115,000 square feet in Huntington Beach, California, where Mach’s headquarters is located, CEO Thorton said. While that sounds like an expensive zip code

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General Catalyst loses three top investors as the firm expands beyond venture, contemplates IPO

Venture /

Three key investors have left General Catalyst amidst a series of recent changes at the firm, which now describes itself as an “investment and transformation company,” TechCrunch has learned. The departed managing directors include Deep Nishar and Kyle Doherty, who co-led General Catalyst’s late-stage strategy known as Endurance, and Adam Valkin, one of the three

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Ramp has more than doubled its annualized revenue to $700 million

Startups /

Fintech startup Ramp has crossed $700 million in annualized revenue as of January of this year, according to a source familiar with the company’s internal operations. The company had crossed $100 million in annualized revenue before its third birthday in March 2022, passed $300 million by August 2023, and now effectively more than doubled that

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Lee Enterprises ransomware attack hits freelance and contractor payments

Security /

As disruption from a suspected ransomware attack on newspaper publishing giant Lee Enterprises span into its second month, the cyberattack is also affecting payments to freelancers and contractors who work for the company, TechCrunch has learned. The cyberattack on Lee Enterprises on February 3 sparked widescale outages and ongoing disruption at dozens of newspapers across

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HackerPulse wants to help enterprises spot engineering bottlenecks

Fundraising /

For years, startups have tried to fill various gaps in how enterprises operate to ostensibly improve processes, eliminate grunt work, and help managers identify and address where their teams are wasting time. The latest to join this cohort is HackerPulse, which has built a platform that gives enterprises more information about what their engineering teams

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Spyzie stalkerware is spying on thousands of Android and iPhone users

Security /

A little-known phone surveillance operation called Spyzie has compromised more than half a million Android devices and thousands of iPhones and iPads, according to data shared by a security researcher.  Most of the affected device owners, who are unknown, are likely unaware that their phone data has been compromised. The security researcher told TechCrunch that

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