Latent AI, a startup that was spun out of SRI International, makes it easier to run AI workloads at the edge by dynamically managing workloads as necessary. Using its proprietary compression and compilation process, Latent AI promises to compress library files by 10x and run them with 5x lower latency …...Read More

Happy Disrupt 2020 Eve, startup fans! It’s been a crazy mad dash to transform our annual flagship San Francisco event at Moscone Center into the first all-virtual Disrupt (thanks, COVID-19). Then again, going global seems an appropriate way to celebrate 10 years of Disruption. It all starts tomorrow with a …...Read More

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the TechCrunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. …...Read More

Disney’s live-action remake of “Mulan” comes with some serious baggage. First, the film has drawn political controversy for its star’s statements in support of the action Hong Kong police against protestors, as well as the fact that “Mulan” was filmed, in part, in the Xinjiang region, where the Chinese government …...Read More

Alameda-based rocket launch startup Astra finally got the chance to launch its first orbital test mission from its Alaska-based facility on Saturday, after the attempt had been delayed multiple times due to weather and other issues. The 8:19 PM PT lift-off of Astra’s ‘Rocket 3.1’ test vehicle went well – …...Read More

David Chao, the cofounder of the cross-border venture firm DCM, speaks English, Japanese, and Mandarin. But he also knows how to talk to founders. It’s worth a lot. Consider that DCM should see more than $1 billion from the $26.4 million it invested across 14 years in the cloud-based business-to-business …...Read More

I live in San Francisco, but I work an East Coast schedule to get a jump on the news day. So I’d already been at my desk for a couple of hours on Wednesday morning when I looked up and saw this: What color is the sky this morning pic.twitter.com/nt5dZp5wWc …...Read More

Alex Zajaczkowski was just months into her role at Toast, a restaurant point-of-sale software company, when she was let go during COVID-19 layoffs. Toast, last valued at $5 billion, cut 50% of its staff through layoffs and furloughs. Zajaczkowski said she started applying for jobs within a week. “I think …...Read More

As COVID-19 era drags on, VCs look beyond Zoom calls for due diligence and sourcing While the coronavirus has accelerated the dealmaking pace for many early-stage startups, activity has not come without adaptation. Remote investment struggles for investors were clear from the get go: it’s challenging to invest millions in …...Read More

Apple’s making App Store changes, China might stop TikTok’s acquisition and we talk to Polish venture capitalists about the startup scene. This is your Daily Crunch for September 11, 2020. The big story: Apple revises App Store rules Apple announced a bunch of changes to its App Store guidelines today, …...Read More