Author: TechBrunch
Meesho became India's first horizontal e-commerce company to generate positive cash flow, disrupting a market that had long remained unprofitable despite the emergence of new competitive threats. The SoftBank and Prosus-backed startup serves customers in India's smaller cities and towns and has a positive revenue of 232 million rupees ($27.6 million) in the fiscal year ending March 2024. Reported operating cash flow, operating revenue increased by 33% to 761.5 billion rupees ($905.6 million). Adjusted losses fell by 97% from Rs 1,569 billion to just Rs 53 billion. Meesho's growth still outpaces the surge in e-commerce in India. Analysts at Bank…
African venture capital firm Django Capital has closed its second fund with €73 million ($78 million), 20% more than its initial target of €60 million ($63 million). The firm has secured limited partners including the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), and achieved the fund's first close in 2022 at €26 million. Both anchor investors also participated in the fund's second closing, Janngo Capital founder Fatoumata Bâ told TechCrunch. Other institutional investors are also participating, including three with African mandates: the Mastercard Foundation African Growth Fund, Tunisia's Fund of Funds ANAVA, and Ghana-based university Assisi…
It's finally time to announce the five finalists of Startup Battlefield. It all started earlier this year, when the TechCrunch editorial team selected 200 companies from thousands of companies that applied. From there, the team selected 20 finalists who took to the stage this week at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in front of a jury of investors and a packed audience. This year's finalists will follow in the footsteps of Startup Battlefield legends like Dropbox, Discord, Cloudflare, Mint, and more on the Disrupt Stage. With more than 1,500 alumni participating in the program, Startup Battlefield Alumni has collectively raised more than…
iPod developer Nest Labs founder and investor Tony Fadell attacked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday during a lively interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in San Francisco. Commenting on the long history of AI development prior to the LLM epidemic and understanding the serious issues surrounding LLM hallucinations, he said: Not Sam Altman, okay? ” The comment drew surprised “oohs” from the shocked crowd, amid a handful of applause. Mr. Fadel was on a roll throughout the interview, touching on topics ranging from what kind of “holes” can create great products to what's wrong with LLMs today. While he acknowledged…
Tony Fadell, the father of the iPod and founder of Nest, took to the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Tuesday to talk about how mission-driven a**holes are needed to build the next generation of deep tech startups. The entrepreneur and investor didn't hold back on stage to shout out Silicon Valley's rights and mock LLMs for being “know-it-alls,” sparking waves of laughter and applause throughout the packed venue. . Fadel explained why he believes “mission-driven a**holes are a good thing and, in fact, necessary to create and ship world-class technology products.” “People work with very difficult people, and they…
The rise of modern AI applications has once again emphasized the importance of supporting data. However, simply having data is not enough. You also need tools to manage and protect data and build pipelines that flow between applications. Watch our conversation with Datastax Chairman and CEO, NEA Partner Vanessa Larco, and Fivetran CEO George. Fraser, leaders working to build tools that enable new data pipelines. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagramTikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktokX: tcrn.ch/xThread: https://tcrn.ch/threadsFacebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebookBluesky: https://tcrn.ch/blueskyMastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdnRead more: https://techcrunch.com/ Source link
A clear and compelling pitch presentation is critical to successful fundraising, but it's relatively rare for founders to get candid feedback about how they communicated their problem, solution, and path to success. is. During the pitch deck breakdown, Index Ventures Partner Sofia Dolfe, Lux Capital General Partner Deena Shakir, and Greycroft Partner Marcie Vu provided live feedback on decks submitted by viewers. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagramTikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktokX: tcrn.ch/xThread: https://tcrn.ch/threadsFacebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebookBluesky: https://tcrn.ch/blueskyMastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdnRead more: https://techcrunch.com/ Source link
Ashton Kutcher's VC firm Sound Ventures (co-led by general partners Guy Oseary and Effie Epstein) is betting on AI, including an investment in Fei-Fei Li's World Labs. investors confirmed on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Tuesday. The startup, founded by Professor Lee of Stanford University, known as the “Godmother of AI,” has already raised $230 million from investors including a16z, NEA, and Radical Ventures, and is valued at more than $1 billion. It is evaluated as. The company aims to develop “big world models” that can understand and interact with 3D worlds, and is targeting game companies and movie…
Smartphones and navigation apps are commonplace these days. However, for people who are completely blind or have low vision, it is not so convenient. Haptic has been building a non-visual, non-verbal way to tell people where to go, and we decided it was time to scale it up and take it globally. Today, Haptic presented on stage as part of the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, showcasing the company's progress from concept to prototype to platform. The company was founded in 2017, and after a friend lost his eyesight in an accident, he started looking into ways groups of…
Ashton Kutcher, co-founder of Sound Ventures, believes that every company will become an AI company, but that there may be no winners in this space. The actor and investor spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Tuesday alongside Sound co-founder Guy Oseary and partner Effie Epstein and discussed what the company looks for in founders and startups. , and detailed how they believe fundamental AI companies are setting the stage for the future. “Foundation layer AI companies are going to be some of the most valuable companies in human history,” Kutcher said. He said it's easy to underestimate how important AI…