Author: Editor-in-Chief

Grindr’s majority owners are scrambling to take the LGBTQ+ dating app private after a stock decline triggered a personal financial crisis, according to a report from Semafor. The owners in question are Raymond Zage, a former hedge fund manager and U.S. expat now based in Singapore, and James Lu, a Chinese-American entrepreneur and former Amazon and Baidu exec. Together they led the 2020 acquisition of Grindr from Chinese ownership for over $600 million, then took the app public in 2022 through a blank-check merger. Reportedly, Zage and Lu, who together control more than 60% of Grindr, pledged nearly all their…

Get ready for one of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025’s most electrifying moments — literally. Chris Barman, CEO of Slate Auto, is rolling one of her company’s brand-new electric trucks onto the Disrupt Stage before anyone else in the world sees it on the road. Be in the room for this live EV unveiling on the main stage. Save up to $624this week when you register before October 17. Bringing a team? Save an additional 15% to 30% on group passes. How Slate is reinventing the commercial EV market — live onstage Barman will give attendees an insider’s look at how Slate…

If you’ve been thinking about joining 10,000+ startup and VC leaders at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco on October 27–29, the time to act is now. Lock in your place on the Expo floor, where ideas, capital, and connections collide. As of now, there are only 7 exhibit tables available, and we expect them to sell out before the deadline. And yes, this is the same inventory your competitors have their eyes on too. Act fast, as this is the absolute end of available inventory on the expo floor. Deadline is October 17 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Book here and get more details. IMAGE CREDITS:TECHCRUNCH Your spot on the expo floor is the catalyst that moves the needle Real investor exposure: We’re talking foot traffic from the likes of Sequoia, a16z, General Catalyst, Khosla…

Strava, the 16-year-old fitness tracking app, is gearing up to go public, the Financial Times reports. CEO Michael Martin told the FT that the San Francisco company plans to list “at some point,” eyeing capital for more acquisitions. The company, backed by Sequoia Capital, TCV, and Jackson Square Ventures, was last valued at $2.2 billion in May. Strava has the wind at its back, certainly. The app’s user base has exploded to 50 million monthly active users in 2025, according to Sensor Tower – nearly double its closest competitor, with downloads up 80% year-over-year. Strava’s growth coincides with a cultural…

Apart from antivirus apps, the cybersecurity industry has traditionally been business to business, with regular internet users left on their own to protect themselves. And older people, who did not grow up with the internet and smartphones, are perhaps the most vulnerable. ZoraSafe, a startup founded by sisters Catherine Karow and Ellie King Karow wants to step in and help them out. Their idea is to create an app that not only protects older people against scammers and hackers, but also teaches them how to stay safe through gamified microlearning, as Catherine and Ellie told TechCrunch ahead of the TechCrunch…

Elon Musk has never had the best relationship with regulators, often bumping up against or outright sidestepping local and state laws where his numerous companies operate. This week has been particularly active on the regulatory front. Musk’s tunneling and infrastructure firm The Boring Company is accused of nearly 800 violations by Nevada regulators, including digging without approval, dumping untreated water onto city streets, failing to install silt fences, and tracking dirt from construction sites onto nearby roadways, a ProPublica investigation discovered. Then there is Tesla, which was hit with an enforcement action by California’s Department of Insurance for routinely denying…

It’s a universally acknowledged truth that the current dating scene sucks, no matter what city you live in. Everyone has a story. And everyone has a grievance. Take Myles Slayton, who completed a banking internship in New York City and saw how he and his friends struggled to find significant others in the city’s ruthless dating scene. “We’re on our phones more than ever,” he told TechCrunch. ”I thought to myself, ‘Why are dating apps terrible?’” He figured that it must not be a problem with dating apps, per se, but rather the way the products work these days. Many…

Israeli spyware maker NSO Group has confirmed to TechCrunch that a U.S. investment group has acquired the company. NSO spokesperson Oded Hershowitz told TechCrunch on Friday that “an American investment group has invested tens of millions of dollars in the company and has acquired controlling ownership.” Confirmation of the deal came soon after Israeli tech news website Calcalist reported Friday that a group led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds agreed to purchase the surveillance tech maker in a deal valued in the tens of millions of dollars. Hershowitz declined to specify the amount invested, as well as who the investors are.…

Marc Benioff has long been San Francisco’s liberal-leaning billionaire, the tech executive who funded homeless services, donated to the city’s public schools, and hosted Hillary Clinton fundraisers. But in a new, wide-ranging phone interview with the New York Times from his private plane, Benioff revealed a political transformation that seemed to surprise even his own communications team, despite that Salesforce has hundreds of contracts with the federal government. The Salesforce founder declared he “fully supported” President Trump and thought National Guard troops should patrol San Francisco streets. He gushed about sitting across from Trump at a Windsor Castle state dinner,…

Corporate travel management company Navan — once known as TripActions — filed updated IPO documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, even though the federal government is currently shut down. Navan is proceeding under new SEC rules that allows wanna-be public companies that are in limbo during the shutdown to file updated information, including share count and pricing, and have their statements automatically okayed in 20 days without staff scrutiny. Once the filings are declared effective, Navan can kick off its roadshow. The rule, however, doesn’t mean that staff can’t ask questions or require amended filings later. Navan declined to comment to TechCrunch about its updated IPO documents. The going thought was that the shutdown would cool and possibly freeze…