TechCrunch

Last updated

TechCrunch
TechCrunch logo.svg
Type of site
Technology news and analysis
Available inEnglish
Chinese
French
Japanese
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States [1]
Owner AOL (2010–2017)
Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present)
Created by Michael Arrington, Keith Teare
EditorMatthew Panzarino [2]
URL techcrunch.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationNone
LaunchedJune 10, 2005;18 years ago (2005-06-10) [3]
Current statusActive

TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. [4]

Contents

In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $25 million. Following the 2015 acquisition of AOL and Yahoo by Verizon, the site was owned by Verizon Media from 2015 through 2021. In 2021 Verizon sold its media assets, including AOL, Yahoo, and TechCrunch, to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and Apollo integrated them into a new entity called Yahoo! Inc.

In addition to its news reporting, TechCrunch is also known for its Disrupt conference, an annual technology event hosted in several cities across the United States, Europe, and China.

History

TechCrunch was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare.

In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $25 million. [5]

As of 2013, TechCrunch was available in English, Chinese (managed by Chinese tech news company TechNode), [6] [7] and Japanese. [8] TechCrunch France was folded into the main TechCrunch.com site in October 2012. [9] Boundless (formerly Verizon Media Japan), the Japanese subsidiary of the TechCrunch's parent company, closed TechCrunch Japan in May 2022 according to its "global strategy". [10] [11]

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin at the TechCrunch event in 2015 Vitalik Buterin TechCrunch London 2015.jpg
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin at the TechCrunch event in 2015

Following the acquisition of AOL and Yahoo by Verizon, TechCrunch was owned by Verizon Media from 2015 through 2021. [12]

In August 2020, the COO of TechCrunch, Ned Desmond, stepped down after eight years in the company. He announced that he would join the venture capital firm SOSV in December 2020 as a senior operating partner. [13] [14] His former role at TechCrunch was replaced by Matthew Panzarino, [15] former editor-in-chief, and Joey Hinson, director of business operations. [16] [17]

In 2021, Verizon sold its media assets, including AOL, Yahoo, and TechCrunch, to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and Apollo integrated them into a new entity called Yahoo. [18]

Events

TechCrunch Disrupt

Starting in New York City in 2010, [19] [20] TechCrunch hosts an annual tech conference, TechCrunch Disrupt, in several cities in the United States and Europe.

Startup Battlefield

Startup Battlefield is a startup competition. Monetary awards are presented at the TechCrunch Disrupt conferences. Notable startups that have been involved in the competition include Dropbox, Intuit Mint, Yammer, and CrateDB. [21] [22] [23]

Former features

Crunchbase

From 2007 to 2015, TechCrunch operated Crunchbase, a website and online encyclopedia of information on startups, key people, funds, funding rounds, and events. In 2015, Crunchbase spun out of TechCrunch to become a private entity, and is no longer a part of TechCrunch. [24] [25]

Crunchies

From 2007 to 2017, TechCrunch sponsored the annual Crunchies award ceremony to award startups, internet, and technology innovations. [26] At the first award ceremony in 2007, Facebook won the award for best startup. TechCrunch announced in 2017 that it would end the Crunchies. [27] [28]

Controversies

The company was criticized for allowing developers to present the Titstare application, created by participants in a hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013. The application allows users to "stare at tits". [29] [30] [31]

In 2011, the site's editors and writers were criticized for possible ethics violations. These included claims that Arrington's investments in certain firms which the site had covered created a conflict of interest. [32] The controversy that ensued eventually led to Arrington's departure, and other writers, including Paul Carr and Sarah Lacy, moved to another technology investment based media company. [33] [34]

In 2014, TechCrunch Disrupt was featured in an arc of the HBO series Silicon Valley . [35] The characters' startup "Pied Piper" participates in a startup battle at TechCrunch Disrupt. [35]

Related Research Articles

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Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles, and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be attributed to a smaller number of breakout titles, as was typical of most large-scale successful blog networks of the mid-2000s. Popular blogs included Engadget, Autoblog, TUAW, Joystiq, Luxist, Slashfood, Cinematical, TV Squad, Download Squad, Blogging Baby, Gadling, AdJab, and Blogging Stocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Arrington</span> Founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch

J. Michael Arrington is the American founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in America and elsewhere. Magazines such as Wired and Forbes have named Arrington one of the most powerful people on the Internet. In 2008, he was selected by TIME Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world.

The following is a timeline of events of Yahoo!, an American web services provider founded in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Cohler</span> American venture capitalist

Matt Cohler is an American venture capitalist. He worked as Vice President of Product Management for Facebook until June 2008 and was formerly a general partner at Benchmark. Cohler has been named to the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors and in 2019 was named to the New York Times and CB Insights list of top 10 venture capital investors. Cohler made the Forbes 'America's 40 Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40' list in 2015.

Crunchbase is a company that provides information about businesses. Their content includes investment and funding information, individuals in leadership positions, and corporate news.

Edgecast Networks, Inc. was a subsidiary of Yahoo! Inc. and provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming services. Founded in 2006, it was notable for being a self-provisioning CDN technology used by the telecommunication and hosting industries.

DAG Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. DAG Ventures works with startups in providing early stage and growth stage funding. Since its founding in 2004, by Tom Goodrich and John Cadeddu, the firm has backed nearly 180 ventures, including Ambarella Inc., Armo Biosciences, Eventbrite, Fireeye, Glassdoor, Grubhub, Nextdoor, Wealthfront, Wix.com, Yelp, and Zettle.

Andreessen Horowitz is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management.

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Qwiki was a New York City–based startup automated video production company acquired by Yahoo! on July 2, 2013 for a reported $50 million. Qwiki released an iPhone app that automatically turns the pictures and videos from a user's camera roll into movies to share. The company's initial product, an iPad application that created video summaries of over 3 million search terms, was downloaded more than 3 million times and named by Apple as the best "Search and Reference" application of 2011.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SOSV</span> Venture capital firm

SOSV is a venture capital firm that provides pre-seed, seed, venture and growth stage funding to startups in the technology sector. The company conducts seed accelerator programs in Asia and the United States of America.

Titstare is a fictional mobile application centred on pictures of men staring at women and their breasts. It was introduced at a 2013 hackathon at TechCrunch's TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, California by two Australian developers. Titstare became the subject of public controversy, with the skit being described as symptomatic of sexist attitudes in Silicon Valley's startup culture. Conference organizers later apologized for the misogynistic presentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present)</span> American technology company

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K. Guru Gowrappan is the President of Viasat Inc. He is the former CEO of Yahoo and previously held leadership positions with Apollo Global Management, Alibaba Group, Zynga, Overture, and Quixey.

References

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  2. "Matthew Panzarino". TechCrunch. August 16, 2023.
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  4. "About TechCrunch". Archived from the original on October 24, 2005. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  5. Sweney, Mark (September 29, 2010). "AOL buys TechCrunch". The Guardian .
  6. Desmond, Ned (June 5, 2013). "TechCrunch Returns To China, For Keeps, COO of TechCrunch and CrunchBase and General Manager of AOL Tech".
  7. "We Catch Up With Our TechCrunch China Partner, TechNode, At Disrupt [TCTV]". TechCrunch. September 11, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  8. Yutaira, Iwamoto (November 16, 2012). "TechCrunch Tokyo 2012". CNET .
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  10. 「TechCrunch Japan」および「エンガジェット日本版」終了のお知らせ (in Japanese). Boudless. February 15, 2022.
  11. 「エンガジェット日本版」「TechCrunch Japan」終了へ 5月1日で閉鎖 (in Japanese). ITmedia. February 15, 2022.
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  14. Tan, Wilfred (July 21, 2020). "COO of popular tech news site, TechCrunch, is stepping down". News Asia Today. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
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