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Alta Resource breaks down e-waste for rare earth metals that electronics need

Climate /

Rare earth metals are largely unknown to the general public, but are used in a huge variety of products. The elements, including neodymium, and praesodymium, and cerium, themselves aren’t rare. But they’re concentrated in certain parts of the globe and are very challenging to refine into anything useful. Their unique electric and magnetic properties make […]

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From forced landings to stuffed animal heads, headhunter Peterson Conway is defense tech’s wildest power broker

Venture /

In 2023, defense tech recruiter Peterson Conway VIII pulled up to the offices of nuclear fusion startup Fuse in a black suburban, donning his signature cowboy hat. He picked up a recent Fuse hire and proceeded to regale her with stories of his old recruiting days. One story involved prostitutes attending a recruiting event (“not

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Inside the wild fall and last-minute revival of Bench, the VC-backed accounting startup that imploded over the holidays

Startups /

Friday, December 27, was supposed to be the start of a relaxing holiday weekend. But it was chaos for thousands of small business owners who use Bench, an accounting and tax startup based in Canada that raised $113 million from investors like Bain Capital Ventures and Shopify. That morning, they found themselves unable to log

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Generative AI funding reached new heights in 2024

Startups /

If there was any doubt, the generative AI bubble didn’t burst in 2024. Investments in generative AI, which encompasses a range of AI-powered apps, tools, and services to generate text, images, videos, speech, music, and more, reached new heights last year. According to data from financial tracker PitchBook compiled for TechCrunch, generative AI companies worldwide

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Electra found a cheap, clean way to purify iron, and it’s raising $257M to make it happen

Fundraising /

Electra has raised $76.3 million to clean up the dirty ironmaking industry, TechCrunch has learned. The startup has developed a novel method of using electricity to coax pure iron out of low-grade ores, opening the door to cleaner steel. The new funding round, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing, seeks to raise a total

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Online gift card store exposed hundreds of thousands of people’s identity documents

Security /

A U.S. online gift card store has secured an online storage server that was publicly exposing hundreds of thousands of customer government-issued identity documents to the internet. A security researcher, who goes by the online handle JayeLTee, found the publicly exposed storage server late last year containing driving licenses, passports and other identity documents belonging

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Peter Thiel-backed venture debt firm Tacora raises $268.7M for new fund

Venture /

Tacora Capital, a Texas firm that specializes in venture debt, has raised $268.7 million for its second fund, according to a new SEC filing. Tacora’s inaugural fund in 2022 raised about $350 million, including $250 million from Peter Thiel — the prominent Republican billionaire and investor — in what was considered an “unusually large investment”

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Bench to be acquired after abruptly shutting down

Startups /

Bench, the VC-backed accounting startup that left thousands of customers locked out of their accounts after it suddenly shut down last week, will be acquired by Employer.com for an undisclosed price in a last-minute deal, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The San Francisco-based HR tech company Employer.com focuses on payroll and onboarding, in contrast to Bench,

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Calo raises $25 million to expand its ready-to-eat meal service beyond the Middle East

Startups /

A business built around increasingly customized ready-to-eat meals has netted Middle Eastern startup Calo a sizeable funding injection as it looks to expand both what it can offer its time-strapped customers and where it delivers its growing range of just-heat-to-eat dishes. The meal delivery market in the Middle East will hit $11.2 billion by 2030,

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