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23/02/2022

21/02/2022

Our technologies are on the verge of being able to save us. But it will be close.

21/02/2022

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency privacy features have issued a stunning blow to Facebook, costing it $10 billion. Now Google has joined the battle with its Android Privacy Sandbox.

18/02/2022

Wall Street's embrace of the cloud has allowed it to innovate like never before. But more reliance on the tech will force change upon its workers.

16/02/2022

he YC-backed CrowdForce still runs its MobileForms products. But it’s PayForce, its second product, that the company has placed in the driving seat. PayForce is a POS-enabled system merchants — who double as agents — use to provide ATM services, transfer and bill payments to consumers in areas where banks are traditionally absent and with high cash demand. For agents, PayForce helps manage their cash float safely and allows them to earn extra income by acting as an agent.

But at some point, these agents’ liquidity is affected when they run out of cash. Liquidity becomes a problem when it happens often because there’s a tendency to lose customers’ trust.

So typically, how over 200,000 agents across Nigeria refinance their working capital is by taking long walks to the banks or from the fintechs they work for like TeamApt. There are newer methods, such as the one brought on by another YC-backed float-as-a-service startup Moni, where agents are offered low-interest loans through a referral and vetting system.

But CrowdForce employs a different approach. The company strikes partnerships with larger brick-and-mortar businesses such as gas stations and turns them into mobile bank branches that offer float services while storing their cash on a PayForce digital wallet.

15/02/2022

A coordinated enforcement action focused on public sector bodies’ use of cloud services is kicking off across the European Union.

More than 80 public bodies in a wide range of sectors, including health, finance, tax, education and IT service supply and procurement, will face contact from local data protection authorities — ranging from fact-finding exercises and questionnaires to — potentially — formal investigations if privacy concerns are identified.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) announced the plan to target public sector cloud services use last October but today marks the start of action at a national level which it expects to take the best part of this year — with a “state of play” report slated to be published by the Board before the end of 2022, per a spokeswoman.

“In 2021, EDPB members examined a list of possible options for the first CEF [coordinated enforcement framework] action: they prioritised the use of cloud services by public services,” she also said, adding: “This was a collective choice. Individual members may have prioritised this topic for various reasons, including the fact that they have already launched some work on that topic or that they were planning to do so in the near future.”

The EDPB said the goal for the CEF is to harmonize the approach taken by individual supervisory authorities to ensure a more consistency application of EU data protection law.

“Intense preparatory work has been done since October and the EDPB is now implementing the actions at national level,” the spokewoman added. “National SAs [supervisory authorities] will study, in particular, the safeguards implemented when acquiring cloud services, including issues relating to international transfers.”

14/02/2022

TechCrunch Early Stage is the ultimate educational resource for a founder who is just getting started. We’ve tapped experts across myriad startup core competencies, from fundraising to operations to marketing, to outline step-by-step guides on how you can set up and grow your business.

Wondering how to recruit talent in this landscape? We’ve got a session for it. Struggling to find product market fit? We’ve got you covered. Curious about the ideal process for raising a Series A? We’re one step ahead of you.

TechCrunch Early Stage marks our first in-person event since the pandemic started, and we’re absolutely thrilled to be back in the same room as our audience and speakers (with full precautions taken, of course).

The format is unique to most TC Events, in that our speakers are giving presentations around their topics (all attendees will get transcripts and visual assets from those sessions) and then dedicating the majority of their time to audience Q&A. We’ll also have roundtables focused on fundraising, operations and more where founders can chat amongst themselves to resolve some of the biggest challenges facing early-stage startups today.

It’s going to be an incredible event, and we’re more than excited to share the agenda with you:

12/02/2022

Meet Insify, an insurtech startup that raised a $17 million (€15 million) Series A round led by Accel. The company wants to modernize the insurance market. Instead of focusing on the consumer market like many insurtech startups, Insify has picked a different path. It’s a pure B2B play as Insify focuses on Europe’s small and medium companies.

In addition to Accel, Visionaries Club, existing investors Frontline Ventures and Fly Ventures, and several business angels also participated in the round.

Originally started in the Netherlands, Insify founder and CEO Koen Thijssen previously worked on Bloomon, a flower e-commerce startup. After selling this company to Bloom & Wild, he wanted to fix a pain point that he encountered while building Bloomon — business insurance hasn’t changed much and can slow you down.

With Insify, companies that are just getting started can get property and casualty insurance without much effort. The company currently mostly relies on direct subscriptions on its website. More recently, it has started embedding its insurance products in other products, such as Bol.com.

Insify tries to price its insurance contracts thanks to several data sources so you don’t have to fill out complicated forms. Its insurance products are backed by Munich Re. So far, 1,500 companies have become Insify clients.

The startup focuses on small companies because it’s an underserved market. Freelancers or teams of two, five or 10 people don’t have a ton of options. Insurers mostly serve this market through brokers. And those brokers sometimes aren’t very responsive.

“Legacy insurers and brokers find it more complex to service small businesses than consumers, yet premiums are much lower than with medium-size or large businesses. Hence, the segment of freelancers and small businesses has long been neglected,” Thijssen said.

If you want to get started as a freelancer and you already have found your first client, chances are you’ll need to share your insurance contract before you can close the deal. With Insify, you don’t have to wait several days to receive your insurance document.