The 20 best startups from Y Combinator’s W20 Demo Day
With world events overtaking the tech world’s preferences to meet for coffees and convene at events, Y Combinator skipped its famous two-day live Demo event and went for a radical experiment: no demos at all, but instead a long list of the nearly 200 startups in its Winter 2020 batch, with links to their sites…
UNESCO updates distance-learning guide for the 776.7 million children worldwide affected by school closures
As schools around the world close or move classes online to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, many parents and educators are scrambling for ideas. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has assembled an online guide with links to distance learning apps and other resources. According to UNESCO, “an unprecedented number of children,…
Join General Catalyst’s Niko Bonatsos on a live WFH conference call tomorrow at 12pm PT
Coronavirus is spreading, work from home is the new open office layout and YC Demo Day just finished yesterday, completely online. There is huge change underway in the world these days, but one thing is not changing: the enthusiasm of VC investors for finding and backing the next great generation of founders. We are hosting…
‘It’s part of my job as a VC to remain calm,’ says Anorak’s Greg Castle
‘In the short term, it’s going to hurt’ As the venture landscape adjusts to the COVID-19 pandemic and seismic shifts in public markets, early-stage VCs are reassessing which bets they’re making, along with questions they’re asking of founders who are exploring bleeding-edge technology. Anorak’s Greg Castle Anorak Ventures is a small seed-investment firm that bets…
Join prolific enterprise/SaaS seed investor Jonathan Lehr April 6 at 2pm EDT for a live conference call
It’s a tough fundraising environment out there, but one of the few glimmers of hope lies in the enterprise and SaaS markets. Critical customer problems + recurring revenues is probably where you want to be right now to weather the storm that’s hitting the startup world these days. That’s why we are excited to bring…
A Norwegian school quit using video calls after a naked man ‘guessed’ the meeting link
A school in Norway has stopped using popular video conferencing service Whereby after a naked man apparently “guessed” the link to a video lesson. According to Norwegian state broadcaster NRK, the man exposed himself in front of several young children over the video call. The theory, according to the report, is that the man guessed…
Bored at home? Come hang out with TechCrunch at 12:30pm PT on a live call
Are you working from home? Are you lonely? Do you miss human interaction? Did you finally get your home office setup looking good? Then join us today for our first-ever (and possibly last) TechCrunch -Equity Livestream-Hangout Extravaganza. From Team Equity we’ll have Danny Crichton, Alex Wilhelm, new addition Natasha Mascarenhas, our producer Chris Gates, TechCrunch…
Listen to the TechCrunch staff’s YC Demo Day wrap-up call here
It’s been a bonkers week in the world, with markets gyrating, companies fretting, investors tweeting and founders re-cutting their 2020 forecasts. But for one collection of startups, the past few days weren’t about work crises or the latest Slack share price. Instead, for Y Combinator’s Winter batch, it was Demo Day week. TechCrunch has covered…
As remote work booms, Slack stumbles
Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. As COVID-19 continues to change how many workers and students approach their daily labors, demand for some remote work friendly products is booming. As TechCrunch recently explored, some startups are seeing interest accelerate for their products,…
Zencastr waives hobbyist limits, since we’re all stuck at home podcasting now
I know, I know, don’t start a podcast just because you’re bored. Let’s be real though, the COVID-19 situation is going to be the event that launches a million podcasts, as we’re all stuck at home with hours to prattle on about things into the void. Zencastr, one of the better tools for remote podcasters,…