Startups

VC Jennifer Neundorfer explains how founders can stand out in a crowded AI market

Venture /

January Ventures co-founder Jennifer Neundorfer stopped by the Equity podcast during TechCrunch Disrupt to chat about fundraising in this very AI-driven market.   Founders and investors alike are obsessed with AI, and even Neundorfer said her firm is looking at ways to use AI to make their work more efficient, such as helping to do due diligence on the market and competition. […]

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How startups can lure good talent fairly without big tech bank accounts 

Venture /

Startups have never been able to offer the same sizable salaries as big tech companies. Now with companies like Meta and OpenAI willing to pay million-dollar salaries amid the AI race — the compensation divide has grown even larger. Early-stage startups are not doomed though. If they develop a compensation strategy that is generous, fair,

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Tattd gave four TechCrunch writers tattoos at Startup Battlefield

Startups /

On Tuesday morning at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, our Senior Producer Maggie Nye rolled up her jacket sleeve to show me her new tattoo: a classic, pixelated cursor arrow. TechCrunch’s Becca Szkutak got a matching cursor, while Theresa Loconsolo got a smiling moon. I guessed that at some point during all the Disrupt hoopla, Maggie and

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David Sacks’ Craft leads $42 million Series A in govtech startup Starbridge

Startups /

Justin Wenig remembers his days at Y Combinator in 2019. Back then, he was working with his first startup, Coursedog, which looked to provide more modern tools to higher educational facilities, including those that work with state departments. He learned quickly that his peers didn’t like working with the public sector — too much bureaucracy.

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Sesame, the conversational AI startup from Oculus founders, raises $250M and launches beta

AI /

Sesame, a conversational AI startup and smart glasses maker, has raised a $250 million Series B round and is opening up its beta to a select group of testers, the company announced Tuesday. The startup, headed by former Oculus co-founder and CEO Brendan Iribe and Ankit Kumar, former CTO of AR startup Ubiquity6, is working

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A16z-backed Codi launches AI agent office manager

Startups /

Codi, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup founded by Christelle Rohaut and Dave Schuman, is launching what it hails as the first AI-powered platform to fully automate office management.   Codi was founded in 2018, in a pre-pandemic world, with a mission to help companies find flexible office spaces. It was more of a marketplace, as TechCrunch previously reported, that matched companies

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Aura introduces a $499 e-ink digital photo frame that lets you go cordless

Startups /

Aura is introducing its newest model, the $499 Ink frame, which brings a 13-inch color e-paper display to the company’s otherwise LCD-based lineup. The technology, similar to that found in the Kindle Colorsoft e-reader, uses a six-color ink system to create the illusion of millions of tones. More importantly, using e-ink technology allows the frame

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How a headphone site operator built loyalty startup Lantern to solve his own problems

Fundraising /

Andrew Lissimore has been running the audio apparel site Headphones.com for nearly a decade now. While audiophiles have a high affinity towards their gear and want to try out new gadgets, Lissimore wasn’t satisfied with continuously spending money on platforms like Meta and Google to acquire new customers; he wanted to find a way to

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