Menlo Security, a company with a unique plan to battle malware, emerged from stealth today and also announced $25M in Series B funding. The idea is an intriguing one. Many security problems emanate from malware, which can give hackers a path into a system where they can find their way deeper in and eventually compromise the entire network. But what if you could prevent the malware from… Read More
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Paying at a local coffee shop or superstore with your smartphone instead of your bank card is convenient, but not much more convenient than using a credit card. While there is significant disruption in some fintech areas, such as international money transfer by companies like TransferWise and Azimo, other innovations can seem a bit cosmetic to Western users. Read More
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There was a time, not very long ago when Latinos living in the U.S. could only point to two successful Internet/software startups in their countries of origin: Mercado Libre and Despegar/Decolar.
While these companies were very successful, it was difficult for us to explain why no other startups in Latin America had flourished. Read More
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Fans of tech blog ReadWrite got a grim message last week. A new page is asking them to “Bring ReadWrite Back,” and it declares, “To be completely frank, we’re struggling — and not just financially.” This is actually the latest iteration of ReadWrite’s crowdfunding campaign. Or, to be more precise, it’s the run-up to a campaign that’s… Read More
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Amid talk of the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law, one may be tempted to ask: so what? Three years before co-founding Intel, Gordon Moore observed that transistors would decrease in cost and increase in performance at an exponential rate. Moore made his observation in a now-defunct trade rag in April 1965 to… not much fanfare. Most people – including Moore – don’t… Read More
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The many success and failures of mobile payments and related solutions witnessed so far brings home a very simple fact-one mobile-based financial solution will not cater to all markets. After all, how can it? The mobile finance space itself is so vast: you have payments, payment-related services and commerce. Read More
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We hear a lot of startup origin stories here at TechCrunch, and sometimes they can blur together. But this one’s a little different.
It’s about Ramesh Haridas, an entrepreneur and angel investor. He’s backed some successful startups, including Rapportive, which was acquired by LinkedIn. What Haridas told me about, however, was the one that got away — namely, Uber. Read More
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Matt is huddled in Vail, Colorado. Why? To hang out with GoPro, as they “throw stuff into pools and dogs chase after it.” But more seriously, GoPro is reportedly unveiling a service that allows you to record something on your GoPro and instantly view/share it on the cloud. Big deal. Meanwhile, we discuss the Pebble Time (Darrell just finished his review), which Mr. Etherington… Read More
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There are very good reasons for Apple’s recent change to the App Store’s listings, especially for games, as the charts had become over-dominated by incumbents at the expense of newer developers. At the same time is this change really enough? 
One of the most pronounced misalignments between investors and entrepreneurs is around the concept of “optionality.” I’m not talking about stock options, but the freedom to choose from a variety of different strategic and tactical options when running your startup.