Welcome to Startups Weekly — A weekly roundup of everything you can't miss from the world of startups. sign up here Delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Oh my god, how about another Friday? I feel like just yesterday he wrote one of these newsletters. But there's a lot of exciting movement in the startup world. There are highs, lows, drama, and fun new trends.
My big contribution this week was a deep dive into the world of crowdfunding and whether you should use it to raise money for your startup.
So what else happened this week? . .
The most interesting startup stories
Image credits: Corey Green/Yahoo
Now, my newsletter is called “Startups Weekly,” and I'd like to dedicate a portion of it to Apple. why? Because, as I wrote last year, I think Apple's Vision Pro will be a game-changer for startups.
Apple's face-worn computers are finally wearing mittens. And what can I say, it's pretty amazing.
Brian spent an hour with the Apple Vision Pro in January, and then when the Vision Pro finally arrived at his home, he shared his story in a series of fascinating (and often hilarious) posts covering the first and second days. I wrote my heart on my blog. After a thorough review, we conclude that this is the best consumer headset out there, and we're hopeful that in a generation or two, the current experience won't start to feel outdated. That's what it means. However, there is currently a powerful use case for immersive mindfulness.
However, there is an opportunity here, especially for businesses.
600 apps available now: Developers are rapidly preparing over 600 new apps and games, joining over 1 million iOS and iPadOS compatible apps. This surge in app development comes in the face of concerns over developer interest due to Apple's compliance with controversial EU digital markets laws.
If you don't have the YouTube app: With the release of the Apple Vision Pro headset, third-party developers stepped in to fill the YouTube app gap with Juno, a $5 one-time app that leverages YouTube's embedding API for a native experience. The app offers features such as resizable windows and playback controls, with further enhancements planned.
Reasons to be excited: Lauren and Ivan have collected several visionOS apps from small developers that users can try out once their headset arrives.
This week's most interesting fundraisers
Image credits: Getty Images/pkfawcett
In a world where throwing food into landfills seems as American as apple pie, startups are popping up like mushrooms to tackle the absurdity of food waste. He decided enough was enough and joined ProducePay. With a mission that honestly sounds more like a superhero oath than a business plan, ProducePay aims to subdue disruptions in the fresh food supply chain into submission. Armed with a hefty $38 million in funding from its latest round of funding, the company plans to launch a global campaign. Because, really, on this planet where throwing away food is a pastime, what's the point of millions of dollars among friends? Let's hope their plans don't rot.
Alas, the vast VC funding has dried up to a trickle for cybersecurity startups. After a deluge that casually showered the sector with $23 billion in 2021, these startups raised less than a third of that in 2023. Bucking the tide of the financial drought, NinjaOne strode in with a bang, raising $230 million in Series C funding like it was no big deal. Apparently they weren't even trying and investors couldn't resist putting their money into them. This round brings NinjaOne's valuation to $1.9 billion. In a world where cash is king, NinjaOne is grinning all the way to the bank, planning to put some of that VC money toward expanding its empire and making IT woes a thing of the past.
A few more:
It's impressive: Armed with $20 million in new funding and a dream of making fusion power simpler, Thea Energy is betting big on the software that does the heavy lifting. Forget about painstakingly precise magnet construction. Thea's plan is to use some clever coding to play plasma puppeteer.
Transformers, er, Transformers: On the power grid, transformers have faithfully performed one-trick pony acts since the 1800s. Amperesand is poised to bring these grid guardians into his 21st century with solid-state technology, as he brandishes a $12.5 million seed round.
Bitcoin in the stock market: We asked TechCrunch readers whether they intend to buy Bitcoin through one of the new spot ETFs, whether they own Bitcoin elsewhere, and how these new investment vehicles will add to the value of Bitcoin. We asked them what kind of impact they expected to have on cryptocurrencies.
This week's big trend: Always social
Image credits: Snap Co., Ltd.
I really liked Sarah's analysis of what's going on on Twitter this week. In the wake of Elon Musk's Twitter identity crisis, the social media world has blossomed into a buffet of short-form posting platforms, with alternatives like Mastodon, Bluesky, and Meta's Threads blossoming. It's a golden age for those running away from X (formerly Twitter), but a headache for early adopters juggling half a dozen apps. Amidst this chaos, Tapestry and other aggregators are aiming to be the Marie Kondo of social media, promising to sort out digital clutter with a unified app. Good luck in a world where even aggregators need aggregation.
There has been a lot of movement in the social media startup world in recent weeks. Perhaps most notably, Blue Sky is, er, reaching for the sky. His Bluesky, which was offered for nearly a year as an invite-only application funded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is now open to the public and has established itself as his platform for up-and-coming microblogging. Bluesky distinguishes itself from the AT protocol as an open source decentralized infrastructure, providing transparency and an opportunity for developers to build on top of it. His CEO faces his biggest challenge yet as the platform opens to the public, gaining almost 1 million new users overnight.
As Bluesky opens up, Meta's Facebook is moving in the opposite direction. The announcement of the closure of Meta's Facebook Groups API has thrown businesses and social media marketers into confusion and signals a major change in their operating philosophy. This closure is bad news for many startups building tools on top of the API. This is another reminder to build a company, not a feature.
With the release of Tucker Carlson's interview with President Vladimir Putin, X (née Twitter) has gained tremendous momentum this week, pushing the X app past Instagram threads to the top of the US App Store. It was Putin's first interview with Western media since the invasion of Ukraine, and a strategic move by Putin to try to appeal to a wider, potentially sympathetic audience through Karlsson, who is known for his controversial positions. It is believed that
Other social media news from this week in tweet-sized snippets:
Oh snap: Snap is once again restructuring its workforce by laying off 10% of its employees to “support growth,” which appears to be a sign that the company is “not making enough profits.” . The sequel to last year's layoff spree includes a $55 million to $75 million severance tab and a layer-cutting aspect. Meanwhile, Snap's hardware adventure has been a bigger failure than the Pixie drone due to recalls.
Leaving that aside: Meta is stepping up its fight against sextortion with new updates and a global awareness campaign. The company is enhancing its Take It Down tool, which allows teens to remove non-consensual intimate images from the internet. The initiative allows users to generate digital fingerprints of images without sharing the actual content.
TikTok is growing fast: Pew Research Center has once again shared its biennial peek into America's social media closet, revealing, to no one's surprise, that platforms ebb and flow like the tides. . This year, they discovered the startling news that TikTok is in a situation, BeReal is fleeting, and Facebook is somehow still clinging to relevance like a cat caught in a screen door.
Other must-see TechCrunch articles. . .
Each week, we have a few stories that don't fit into the categories above, but we'd like to share with you. It would be a shame if you missed it, so I'd like to introduce you to a bag containing random goods.
Baby Rivian: Rivian is gearing up to unveil its affordable electric SUV, the R2, at a swanky Laguna Beach event. Despite the current financial hemorrhage, they are betting big on this cheap vehicle to ultimately turn a profit. Just don't hold your breath. It will probably be common on roads in 2026.
New mobile phone users: In order to transform into a profitable unicorn, Okta fires 400 souls (7% of the crew) and is playing the firing game again. Even though revenue increased by 21% and he raked in cash, he's still working on cutting costs. Employees around the world are biting their nails and waiting for the dreaded email. Meanwhile, Proofpoint is also participating in the layoff league. Times are tough in tech town. . .
Oh, thankfully, it's so annoying to browse yourself: Arc Browser is on a mission to unseat Google by creating an AI that directly retrieves web content without going through search engine intermediaries. We aim to streamline the search process with new tools like “browse for me” and “instant links” to better serve the internet.
It worked last time: Controversial former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann is aiming to make a dramatic comeback by attempting to buy the bankrupt workspace giant.
Good ideas for water: Water filtration giant Brita has acquired L'Arc, the Bay Area innovator behind the smart water bottle. Larq's growth from a niche online brand to a key player in Brita's global strategy highlights the evolution of the consumer goods landscape in the digital age.