Author: TechBrunch

The growth stage fundraising is again speeding up, but it's not the same game as before. At TechCrunch All Stage 2025, held on July 15th in Boston, we invite people who know how the rules will change and how to win in today's market. Gao supports breakout startups such as Culture Amp, Gem, Sword Health, and Eliseai. She sat on either side of the table as an investor and operator. At Gusto, she helped scale the Post Series B. Now she helps founders get through noise and land deals in an increasingly competitive environment. Don't miss out on Cathy's insights…

Instagram threads have rolled out the most requested features of users to date. It's a feature that sends messages directly to people without switching to another app like Instagram. The company said Direct Messages (DMS) will be rolled out to users globally starting Tuesday, along with a new visual element called Highlighter. The latter emphasizes interesting perspectives and conversations, and the meta starts with trending topics. At startup, thread DM provides a basic set of features. They support one-on-one chat, preset emoji responses, the ability to report spam, and Mute DMS (like Instagram). Other features such as group messaging, inbox…

Instagram threads have rolled out the most requested features of users to date. It's a feature that sends messages directly to people without switching to another app like Instagram. The company said Direct Messages (DMS) will be rolled out to users globally starting Tuesday, along with a new visual element called Highlighter. The latter emphasizes interesting perspectives and conversations, and the meta starts with trending topics. At startup, thread DM provides a basic set of features. They support one-on-one chat, preset emoji responses, the ability to report spam, and Mute DMS (like Instagram). Other features such as group messaging, inbox…

Grammarly announced on Tuesday its acquisition of superhuman human email clients to build AI for its productivity suite. Neither company provided details regarding the financial terms of the transaction. The Superhuman was founded by Rahul Vohra, Vivek Sodera, and Conrad Irwin. According to data from Venture Data Analytics company Traxcn, the company has raised more than $114 million in funding from its patrons, including A16Z, IVP and Tiger Global. “In superhuman, you can deliver that future to millions of experts while still providing existing users with another surface for agent collaboration that doesn't exist anywhere else. Email is more than…

WhatsApp adds AI capabilities to its business suite. The company announced Tuesday that it would introduce the ability for large businesses to reach customers through voice calls. The company is also considering using AI to recommend products to users. With over 200 million users per month, WhatsApp Business is a prominent revenue driver for Meta, as executives pointed out in revenue calls over the past quarter. The company makes money through What's ads from clicks and bills merchants for messaging features on the platform. We are not currently charged for AI features, but we may be able to add a…

TechCrunch Surpter 2025 will be coming to Moscone West in San Francisco on October 27-29 to bring together over 10,000 startups and VC leaders to chart the next thing in technology. And then, on October 27th, Andreessen Horowitz's David George will be on the premier industry stage to be revealed, taking the microphone for a side chat in the fireplace focusing on one of the most important and misunderstood decisions in the lifecycle of the company. What to expect from this fireside chat In this conversation, George unlocks what the next generation of scaled startups need to know. From the…

IPOs may not be on your short-term roadmap, but the best founders will start planning it long before the bankers appear. On all stages at the Sova Power Plant in Boston on July 15th, Mo Jomaa, partner of Capitalg (Alphabet's Independent Growth Fund), will lead a session on the scale stage entitled “What do you think if you want to IPO IPO?” In this session, Jomaa has spent years investing in companies such as Databricks, Grafana, Armis and Cribl, and will show founders what they actually need for their public debut. Whether you want to keep your doors open, Jomaa…

Appsforbharat, the Indian startup behind Hindu dedicated app SRI Mandir, has raised $20 million in just over nine months since securing $18 million as the app continues to attract strong interest not only devotees but investors. Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital led the Series C round with participation from existing investors including Indian billionaire and tech veteran Nandan Nilekani's basic partnership, Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners. Religious devotion is deep in India, with 53 temples for every 100,000 people. Nearly two million Hindu followers pray for peace and happiness at home in local priests and temples. According to a survey…

On Monday, Instagram announced it will finally add the ability to listen to previews of songs users have shared from Spotify to stories. Instagram has long allowed users to share Spotify songs with stories, but they do so without sound, simply providing a link to songs on streaming platforms. Now, when users post songs to their stories, viewers can listen to previews of the songs on Instagram. Small but notable changes make it easier to share and discover music on the platform without leaving the app. The move comes just a few weeks after social networks roll out similar features…

During the pre-seeding stage, VCs do not often analyze. No revenue curve, retention metrics, no CAC. That doesn't mean they're guessing. That means they're looking at everything else. At TechCrunch All Stage 2025 held in Boston on July 15th, Charles Hudson, Managing Partner and Founder of Precursor Ventures, will showcase the subtle, high-stakes signals that are important when data is scarce and pitch is everything. In his session, “All Ways to Know that VCS is valuing your company with a pre-seed,” Hudson pulls back the curtains on how investors evaluate early stage opportunities and why founders often underestimate the weight…