Founders

Krutrim, an AI startup founded by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, said it has raised a funding round that values it at $1 billion. The startup, founded last year, is the fastest to become a unicorn in India, it claimed in a press statement. It’s also the first Indian AI startup to become a unicorn, it said. Matrix Partners India — which has also backed Aggarwal’s other two startups, ride-hailing platform Ola and EV startup Ola Electric — led the $50 million “first round” in Krutrim. TechCrunch…

European VC Plural has carved out a reputation for itself as being one of the few VCs in the region started and led by entrepreneurs who grew their own startups. Its founders include Taavet Hinrikus from TransferWise/Wise; Sten Tamkivi; and Ian Hogarth, the founder of Songkick who more recently has also added a role with the U.K. government in AI safety strategy. Now Plural itself is scaling up, with a fresh €400 million fund to back what Hogarth refers to as “transformational” startups in the region, bringing more…

When TechCrunch’s former editor-in-chief Matthew Panzarino joined a startup, we knew it was one that would pique our interest. Panzarino, well-known among TC staff as an avid collector of everything from shoes to novel cooking appliances to iPhones, recently became the latest addition at TipTop, a new startup from Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann. The app, which includes instant cash offers and pickup, promises an easier way to sell your stuff. Such “stuff” is something Panzarino would know a bit about, having once…

Artifact, the buzzy news app from Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is less than a year after its launch. In a note on Medium, Systrom said the app’s “core news reading” features would be online through the end of February, but that it would remove commenting and posting abilities immediately.Besides its famous founding team, the app was known for AI-centric features as well as commenting and posting abilities. The app had won praise from journalists who appreciated reporter-friendly features like…

Google has laid off hundreds of people in a fresh round of layoffs. The tech giant laid people off mainly from its voice assistant and hardware divisions, like the ike Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit. Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman are also leaving as part of this restructuring…

There’s a new task on the 2024 to-do list for founders: Make sure you can’t get Altmaned. While startups have ousted leaders before, the entrepreneur world was stunned to see the board of hot artificial-intelligence company OpenAI fire Sam Altman just before Thanksgiving. He had been the face of one of the biggest successes of the year and suddenly he was out. In startup land, founders and advisers say they started discussing new ways to protect themselves.Copyright ©2024Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.…

Exponent Founders Capital, an early-stage venture firm founded by alumni of startups such as Plaid, Robinhood and Ramp, has closed on $75 million in capital commitments, TechCrunch is the first to report.  The firm, which is emerging from stealth today, raised $50 million for its first fund in November of 2021. Managing Partners Charley Ma and Mahdi Raza co-founded Exponent after meeting while Ma was leading fintech growth at Plaid, and Raza was leading growth and payments at Robinhood. At the time, Robinhood was one…

A majority of Indian startup founders are unwilling to raise money at a lower valuation than the last round, even as they expect the funding drought to continue in the first six months of 2024, according to ETtech's annual State of Startups survey.Nearly 80% of the respondents to the survey conducted among 80 of India’s top founders, investors and internet executives, said they would not accept a lower valuation for their companies, while 74% said the funding freeze would only start to ease up in the second half of next…

In a year marked by layoffs and business restructuring in the Indian startup sector, several top-level executives exited companies and are yet to take on new assignments, data shows. In fact, 2023 also saw founders of some struggling firms move on from their operating roles.Startups like Dunzo and Dealshare have seen their cofounders leave, while top executives like Byju's chief technology officer Anil Goel, chief business officer Prathyusha Agarwal, and Flipkart head of new business Adarsh Menon are among the top “free”…

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects people with the businesses and opportunities that expand their lives. More posts by this contributor Ask Sophie: How do we transfer H-1Bs? Can we transfer green cards too? Ask Sophie: Does the H-1B visa require…