“Is Greta Thunberg a hypocrite?” Google that phrase and you will get thousands of results. It just goes to show that, to a large extent, the “Q&A” model is broken on the internet. Where once Yahoo Answers and Quora were considered the bright young things of Web 2.0’s “Read/Write Web,” today there is only the […]

Chris Lynch, a founder and former general partner at Boston-based seed-stage fund Accomplice, remembers “VC Mountain in Waltham.” Back then, entrepreneurs on funding quests would visit a building overlooking the Waltham Reservoir near Boston where they pitched to a few investors: Matrix Partners, Charles River Ventures and Highland Capital Partners. “And if they didn’t invest in […]

TikTok, the widely popular video sharing app developed by one of the world’s most valued startups (ByteDance), continues to grow rapidly despite suspicion from the U.S. as more people look for ways to keep themselves entertained amid the coronavirus pandemic. The global app and its Chinese version, called Douyin, have amassed over 2 billion downloads […]

Hooq, a five-year-old on-demand video streaming service that aimed to become “Netflix for Southeast Asia,” has shut down weeks after filing for liquidation and terminated its partnerships with Disney’s Hotstar, ride-hailing giant Grab, and Indonesia’s VideoMax. Hooq Digital, a joint venture among Singapore telecom group Singtel (majority owner), Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros Entertainment, discontinued […]

At the end of March, a coalition of grassroots UK tech initiatives came together to coordinate the key groups of tech industry people supporting the UK’s response to the coronavirus. The Code4Covid.org initiative came out of a milieu of other projects such as Covidmutualaid.org and Covid Tech Support, but it was the CoronavirusTechHandbook (CTH), an initiative […]

By the summer of 2016, Marie Outtier had spent eight years as a consultant advising media agencies and martech companies on marketing growth strategy. Pierre-Jean “PJ” Camillieri started as a music software engineer before joining one of Apple’s consumer electronics divisions. Inspired by Siri, he left to start Timista, a smart lifestyle assistant. When the […]

At the start of the year, it looked like Europe would be in for a “Summer E-Scooters / E-Bike War,” as both regional startups and U.S.-backed unicorns vied for the pockets of city commuters. Consolidation came when German startup Circ was taken over by U.S. competitor Bird at the start of the year. Still on […]

“Is Greta Thunberg a hypocrite?” Google that phrase and you will get thousands of results. It just goes to show that, to a large extent, the “Q&A” model is broken on the internet. Where once Yahoo Answers and Quora were considered the bright young things of Web 2.0’s “Read/Write Web,” today there is only the […]

Financial education has an important role to play to prepare children for an uncertain future

Many put a company’s economic recovery before ESG commitments in coronavirus crisis

Two-thirds of companies with lowly ratings from Moody’s were bought by PE groups

Share price surges after news breaks of deal with Games Workshop

Countries in region issue debt at close to fastest rate in a decade due to pandemic

World’s largest auto group enjoys earnings boost and increases dividend

Past and present economic success offers base for manufacturing

Heavy toll on jobs through lay-offs and cuts in pay and hours as one of region’s key industries comes to ‘abrupt halt’

“Is Greta Thunberg a hypocrite?” Google that phrase and you will get thousands of results. It just goes to show that, to a large extent, the “Q&A” model is broken on the internet. Where once Yahoo Answers and Quora were considered the bright young things of Web 2.0’s “Read/Write Web,” today there is only the […]

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Every week we write this post with some opening line akin to wow, what a week, huh? This is yet another one of those weeks. Perhaps this is just life now, and every week will stretch before us, similar to […]

Chris Lynch, a founder and former general partner at Boston-based seed-stage fund Accomplice, remembers “VC Mountain in Waltham.” Back then, entrepreneurs on funding quests would visit a building overlooking the Waltham Reservoir near Boston where they pitched to a few investors: Matrix Partners, Charles River Ventures and Highland Capital Partners. “And if they didn’t invest in […]

Given the endless drumbeat of layoff announcements — with deep cuts by Airbnb and Uber garnering much of the industry’s attention this week — it’s reasonable to wonder: what happens to all of the talent that’s being laid off? How does the changing supply and demand balance impact pay? Is anyone safe in this market? […]

TikTok, the widely popular video sharing app developed by one of the world’s most valued startups (ByteDance), continues to grow rapidly despite suspicion from the U.S. as more people look for ways to keep themselves entertained amid the coronavirus pandemic. The global app and its Chinese version, called Douyin, have amassed over 2 billion downloads […]

Facebook Messenger is finally getting desktop apps almost 9 years after its debut. After seeing over a 100% increase in desktop browser audio and video calling, Messenger today releases its Mac and Windows desktop apps. They bring the same features as the browser version, but make it easier to keep your chat threads handy than […]

“I didn’t know what the term ‘freight forwarder’ meant until a year into starting the business.” Considering his shipping logistics startup Flexport was last valued at $3.2 billion, that quote from my first interview with CEO and founder Ryan Petersen back in 2016 seems even more surprising now. But it also hints at why he’s […]

The tech industry (and the world at large) is not experiencing temporary anxiety — the uncertainty we’re all coping with is the new normal. Sudden shifts in behavior have made some startups targeting slow-moving, old-school industries more relevant than they could have imagined, such as those in telehealth, distance learning and remote work. Most, however […]

Founders have always faced big challenges, but they pale in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Moving your business forward will require new thinking, new tools and new opportunities along with tried-and-true essentials. We’ve got you covered on all fronts. Case in point — catching investor attention in this climate will require a pitch par […]

Figma, the design platform that lets folks work collaboratively and in the cloud, has today announced the close of a $50 million Series D financing. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with partner Peter Levine and cofounding partner Marc Andreessen managing the deal for the firm. New angel investors, including Henry Ellenbogen from Durable […]

Sequoia’s Roelof Botha, who runs the firm’s US business, has a portfolio that’s rather impressive. It includes 23andMe, MongoDB, Eventbrite, Evernote, Bird, Square, Tumblr, Unity, YouTube, and Xoom to name just a few. And his perspective on the startup ecosystem as a whole is unique in that Sequoia invests in companies at the very early […]

Food security is increasingly dependent on international trade, making it critical to keep trade in food flowing, WTO Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff noted on 30 April. In remarks delivered on his behalf by WTO Agriculture Division Director Edwini Kessie at the “Trade Dialogues on Food” webinar, he said that, on balance, governments have been quick to recognize the value of international trade for global food security during the COVID-19 crisis and are taking concrete action to protect the global food supply chain from disruption. His remarks are below:

In remarks delivered to a virtual meeting on 7 May hosted by the Foreign Trade Authority of Saudi Arabia, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff said governments must step up international cooperation to respond to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the multilateral trading system, this includes addressing measures to deal with the global health emergency, cooperation to support the needed economic recovery, and assuring the system is more resilient and effective in underwriting future global economic growth. DDG Wolff’s remarks are below

Growth means different things at different companies, but correctly identifying avenues for sustainable and scalable growth is a universal priority.

TC Early Stage SF goes down on April 28, and we are getting pretty damn excited about it! The show will bring together 50+ experts across startup core competencies, such as fundraising, operations and marketing. We’ll hear from VCs on how to create the perfect pitch deck and how to identify the right investors for […]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released updated projections of future U.S. energy production and use in its Annual Energy Outlook 2020 (AEO2020) today.

Layoffs are having a big impact on industries across the board due to COVID-19. This week alone news came out of massive cuts for TripAdvisor, Lyft, and reportedly Juul and Uber. But according to data tracker Layoffs.fyi, the cuts have affected certain job roles more than others. Sales and customer success roles are the most […]

The world has changed dramatically since May 2019 when we last surveyed venture capitalists about the trends they were seeing in media, entertainment and gaming. Since then, COVID-19 and the resulting physical distancing measures have created plenty of demand for companies helping to inform and entertain us as we’re stuck at home. At the same […]

Creatively was supposed to launch this summer, according to CEO Greg Gittrich. And then COVID-19 happened. “We made the decision to fast-track the launch when the pandemic hit, because we felt like launching as a beta would really help the creative community,” Gittrich told me. The startup was founded by Stacey Bendet and Joe Indriolo, […]

When I first met Bustle Digital Group’s Jason Wagenheim, New York City was just beginning to go into lockdown. The BDG offices were empty thanks to the company’s newly instituted work-from-home policy, but it still seemed reasonable to meet in-person to learn more about BDG’s broader vision. At the time, Wagenheim — a former Fusion […]

Henry Hub natural gas spot prices averaged $2.02 per million British thermal units in January according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Typically, January natural gas prices are among the highest of the year; however, warmer-than-normal January temperatures across much of the northern hemisphere contributed to the lowest average January spot price in many years. After beginning 2018 and 2019 with low U.S. working natural gas inventories, EIA forecasted that normal winter temperatures in the first quarter of 2020, along with production growth, would bring total inventories back over the five-year average this winter. So far this winter, temperatures have actually been warmer than normal, and EIA estimates that in January there were 18% fewer heating degree days in the United States than the prior ten-year average. As a result of reduced space heating demand, U.S. natural gas working inventories ended January 9% above the five-year average, higher than previously forecasted. In its February Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA forecasts that at the close of the April-October injection season, working inventories will reach almost 4.1 trillion cubic feet on October 31, which would be the highest end-of-October inventory record on level. Expecting inventories to remain elevated as winter heating season winds down, EIA forecasts that Henry Hub natural gas prices will average $2.21 per million British thermal units in 2020, down from $2.57 per million British thermal units in 2019. In 2021, EIA expects natural gas prices to increase, reaching an average annual price of $2.53 per million British thermal units.

In its March 2020 update, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) significantly revised its Short-Term Energy Outlook for global oil supply, demand, and prices compared with the February Short-Term Energy Outlook. These updates largely resulted from updated data and assumptions about the effects of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on global oil demand and assumptions regarding the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude oil production following its meeting on March 6. EIA now forecasts that OPEC will target market share instead of a balanced global oil market. As a result, EIA expects that OPEC crude oil production will increase to an average 29.1 million barrels per day in the second and third quarters of 2020. EIA forecasts that global demand for liquid fuels will grow by 0.4 million barrels per day from 2019 to 2020, down from the 1.0 million barrels per day increase EIA previously forecasted in February. The revised March estimate is driven by EIA's expectations of slowing economic growth, primarily related to the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. EIA expects the decline in global liquid fuels demand, combined with the increase in OPEC production, to result in significant global oil inventory builds in the first half of 2020-putting continued downward pressure on prices. EIA forecasts Brent oil prices will average 43 dollars per barrel in 2020 and 55 dollars per barrel in 2021.

CEOs are more optimistic about growth than international counterparts, despite concerns about over-regulation and the Government's response to Australia's fiscal deficit, according to a PwC report launched today.

The sale of New South Wales' and Queensland's utility assets will be among the most eagerly anticipated power deals globally in 2015, according to a PwC report released today.

PwC has acquired infrastructure advisory firm Appian Group, bolstering the firm’s focus on health and social infrastructure, PwC Managing Partner, Deals Sean Gregory announced today.

The workplace gender gap is at its widest among the expat community with only one in four Australian females currently working overseas, PwC People Business Partner Jonathan Dunlea said today while launching a new report.

The key to Japan's economic future lies in growing it's engagement with the countries on its doorstep, according to a PwC report released today.

While technology and innovation are transforming our economy, they are also the solution to our workforce and growth challenge.

Australia’s four major banks delivered combined underlying cash earnings of $15.5 billion for the first-half to March 2015.

The pace and scale of disruption in the power and utilities sector is happening faster than expected.

The needs of all Australians - affordable housing, a secure job, a decent education for their children, a good health system and a comfortable retirement - will not be met if we don't achieve major tax reform.

Australian entertainment and media market is forecast to grow to $43.4 billion by 2019, a compound annual growth rate of 4.2 percent.

PwC Australia welcomes Murray Deakin as a Partner in PwC Australia’s Tax & Legal Practice to drive further growth in their legal team.

Australian small businesses can unlock an additional $49.2 billion in output over the next ten years by making better use of existing technology, PwC analysis commissioned by Google released today shows.