Author: TechBrunch

A few years ago, Darren Shimkus, former president of Udemy, sat down with Dennis Yang about skill building. Mr. Shimkus believed that building skills in the corporate sector was a difficult but not intractable challenge that could perhaps be solved with the right technology. He took it to Mr. Yang, then the CEO of Udemy. “At Udemy, Jan and I have solved the problem of 'access' to learning. Anyone at any company can find great video content about the skills they want to learn,” Shimkus told TechCrunch. . “But it turns out that solving video access alone is not enough.”…

The average spreadsheet doesn't have a lot of thought put into it. But spreadsheets are becoming an increasingly essential tool for data teams. Entrepreneur David Kirkos knows this all too well. He previously worked at his Techstars, an accelerator program, building financial models for startups. “Building data models is best done in Python, but many of our team members only understood spreadsheets,” Kirkos told TechCrunch. “So I wrote code to generate a spreadsheet. It was a pain. I spent about 10% of my time doing valuable analysis and 90% building the infrastructure and pipeline to create the report. I was…

Odd Ball is a company that makes bouncy, fun electronic balls. You can generate MIDI sounds by tapping or bouncing the ball. The company is adding new gestures to the device, including spins, twists, moves, shakes, and air throws, allowing you to generate sounds in new ways. With the latest app update, the company now lets you become a DJ at your home party with these gestures. This includes a DJ mode with several background tracks and on-screen instructions for gestures for that track. When you combine one or more gestures, the app plays a sound effect on top of…

The funding landscape for AI chip startups, once sunny as a mid-July day, is starting to look shady as Nvidia asserts its dominance. US chip companies raised just $881 million in funding from January 2023 to September 2023, down from $1.79 billion in the first three quarters of 2022, according to a recent report. . Mythic, an AI chip company, ran out of cash in 2022 and was close to being forced to shut down operations. Meanwhile, rival Graphcore, once well-capitalized, is now facing mounting losses. But one startup appears to have found success in the ultra-competitive and increasingly crowded…

Immigrant workers are an important workforce for U.S. farms, but bringing them into the country with the appropriate H-2A visas can be complex, and the compliance surrounding these employees can be burdensome for farms. Masu. Seso was founded five years ago with the aim of streamlining that process and is now aiming to expand into a one-stop HR platform for the agriculture industry. Michael Guirguis co-founded the startup after his cousin asked for advice on whether to expand their organic farm. Despite the demand for the crop, Guirgis, whose entire career has been involved in job creation and the labor…

In the world of technology, there are no limits to innovation. And AI stands proudly at the forefront of this ever-evolving world, casting its magic on everything it touches. But amidst all the noise, one important question emerges. How will AI shape the journey of founders? We'll be taking a deep dive into this research at TechCrunch's Early Stage conference, and we're excited to announce that we'll be hosting a special Women's Breakfast event in Boston on April 25th. This exclusive gathering will focus on exploring the complex ways that AI is reshaping the entrepreneurial journey for women in tech.…

Millions of people around the world are affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Both in childhood and later in life, these individuals and their families need better detection, treatment, and support solutions to help them live with autism. But until recently, it wasn't an area open to startups or investors. Autism Impact Fund (AIF) pioneered when it was founded in 2021, three years after co-founder and managing partner Chris Mehl's son was diagnosed with ASD. The goal of the company, which Marais and others worked together on, was to become “the investment and innovation arm of the autism community,” Marais…

Employment portal Indeed has redesigned its profile page for users, allowing individuals to fill out work history using an AI-powered writer, and also added support for multiple resumes. The company also launched a suite of smart sourcing suites for recruiters, with features such as AI-powered candidate summaries and custom messages. Indeed, a Recruiter Holdings company, is revamping its profile pages and adding AI-powered features to better compete with rivals like LinkedIn, Talent.com and ZipRecruiter. The new AI-powered Work Experience Writer helps you create better descriptions for different projects. The company is also adding support for saving up to 5 resumes…

In 2023, rising egg prices provided an opportunity for alternative protein companies to demonstrate that they can compete with traditional egg manufacturers. A year later, prices have calmed down, but activity to develop more sustainable egg products remains active. One place where we're seeing a lot of activity is Onego Bio, a food biotech company based in Finland. The company uses a fungus called Trichoderma reesei and precision fermentation to create an animal-free egg white alternative called bioalbumen. Maiya Itkonen, co-founder and CEO of Onego Bio (pronounced on-e-go), spun off the company in 2022 with precision fermentation expert Kristofer Landovski…

TikTok continues to face increasing pressure in the US and UK, where the company has announced efforts to foster educational content on its app. The company announced Tuesday that it will expand its dedicated His STEM feed across Europe, starting with the UK and Ireland, after first launching it in the US last year. The STEM feed will automatically appear alongside the “For You” and “Following” feeds for users under the age of 18. Users over the age of 18 can enable her STEM feed through the app's “Content Settings” settings. The feed contains English content with automatically translated subtitles.…