TechCrunch Startup News

Latest Episodes:

Novoloop’s upcycled plastic takes a step closer to production; and Knapsack picks up $10M to help bridge the gap between design and engineering teams Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

Novoloop has signed a deal with a contract manufacturer to produce its Lifecycled TPU material.

Also, Knapsack creates a unified workspace that integrates design and coding tools to ensure design and engineering teams are on the same page.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Base Power raises $1B to deploy home batteries everywhere Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

Base Power's Series C will help the company expand beyond Texas, its beachhead market, and build batteries in the United States.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump’s DOE proposes cutting billions in grants for GM, Ford, and lots of startups Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

Trump's Department of Energy wants to cancel billions more in awards that were granted by the Biden administration, and startups are in the crosshairs.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One startup’s paper-thin stainless steel could change how bridges are built Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

By coating regular rebar with a thin layer of stainless steel, Allium Engineering could reduce the amount of concrete needed to build a bridge while also prolonging its life.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alternative app store AltStore raises $6M, connects with the fediverse; also, ÄIO invented a method to make edible fat from ag waste like sawdust Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

The third-party app store known as AltStore, one of the first companies to offer an alternative app marketplace in the European Union, is preparing to connect its platform with the open social web known as the fediverse.

Also, ÄIO has developed a process to turn agricultural waste like sawdust into fats for the food and cosmetic industries.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A 19-year-old nabs backing from Google execs for his AI memory startup, Supermemory Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

19-year-old Dhravya Shah, who is originally from Mumbai, has built a memory layer for AI applications with Google's AI chief's backing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Heidi Health raises $65M Series B; also, Sugar Free Capital raises $32M inaugural fund Oct 06, 2025

Show notes

Heidi Health raised a $65 million Series B led by Steven Cohen’s Point72.

Also, Sugar Free Capital raises $32M inaugural fund to invest in MIT early-staged founders.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Event startup Partiful wasn’t stripping GPS locations from user-uploaded photos; plus, If you’re not an AI startup, good luck raising money from VCs Oct 06, 2025

Show notes

Social event planning app Partiful, which calls itself “Facebook events for hot people,” has firmly replaced Facebook as the go-to platform for sending party invitations. But what Partiful also has in common with Facebook is that it’s collecting a tsunami of user data, and Partiful could have done better at keeping that data secure.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new search engine raises $1.1M to let obsessive fans dive down internet rabbit holes; also, New deep tech fund Wave Function Ventures raises $15 million Oct 03, 2025

Show notes

Zehra Naqvi grew up as an obsessive fan girl in the 2010s and recently started Lore, a search platform for people to research and discover internet obsessions. The company has already raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding. It is set to emerge from stealth on October 6th.

Also, when Jamie Gull graduated from Stanford University in 2007 with a master’s degree in aeronautics, there was one place he wanted to go next: the desert.

The Mojave desert, to be specific. A company called Scaled Composites had spent years developing experimental aircraft out on that arid land, and Gull wanted in.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How startups could be affected by a prolonged government shutdown, plus Oneleet raises $33M to shake up the world of security compliance Oct 02, 2025

Show notes

The U.S. government shutdown could stifle deal flow, freeze visa processing for workers, and cause other problems for startups and the broader tech sector, especially if it lasts longer than a week, according to experts who spoke to TechCrunch.

Also, Bryan Onel’s father was a locksmith. As for Onel, he described himself as the digital equivalent. Ethical hacking was Onel’s hobby growing up. He studied AI at university and then turned that hacking hobby into a profession. Onel told TechCrunch, “I spent a decade performing penetration tests for over 150 companies across all sectors.” He added that he kept easily breaking into companies that had passed their security checks.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices