Monthly Archives: July 2022

Fundraising in turbulent markets: Why we moved up our Series B

Mahyar Raissi Contributor Share on Twitter Mahyar Raissi is co-founder and CEO of OpenPhone. No matter the stage your company is in, raising growth funding is stressful, unpredictable and enormously distracting from actually running the business. And it’s become even worse in the last nine months as the turbulent global economy leaves the public and…

Snap’s new creator fund will award independent musicians up to $100,000 per month

Snap is launching a new Sounds Creator Fund to financially support independent artists who are distributing music on Snapchat via DistroKid. Starting in August, the company will distribute payments for up to 20 songs per month at $5,000 per song. Snap anticipates awarding up to $100,000 in grants each month. The company told TechCrunch that…

Check out the first Disrupt Audience Choice roundtable winners

Roundtables — some of the most popular sessions at TechCrunch Disrupt — are 30-minute expert-led discussions designed for up to 20 attendees who share an interest in a particular subject. The format allows for deeper conversation, questions and answers, as well as time for attendees to connect and explore collaborative opportunities. The roundtables listed below…

Did Russia’s biggest ISP just try and steal Apple network traffic?

Russia’s biggest internet services provider has apparently tried to re-route traffic made by Apple service users through its own servers.  Experts have claimed Rostelecom announced routes for part of Apple’s network, a practice known as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) hijacking. The internet works in a way that the users don’t get to choose the data…

The housing market could be in a recession, even if the rest of the economy isn’t

An American neighborhood. Getty images. Rising inflation and interest rates are discouraging buyer demand.  Chris Low, the chief economist at FHN Financial, says the housing market may already be in a recession. Experts have told Insider the real estate market is bracing for a “soft landing.” The US economy on the whole may not be…

The ‘broken student loan system’ has jeopardized Black borrowers’ civil rights, Elizabeth Warren says. Here’s how Biden can prevent that.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images The student-loan industry has disproportionately targeted borrowers of color. A new report, supported by Elizabeth Warren, aims to crack down on schools violating civil rights. It suggests a collaboration with Federal Student Aid and the Office of Civil Rights to monitor institutions.  The student-loan industry…

Congress will try to put an end to Nancy Pelosi’s closely watched stock trades with a trading-ban proposal in August, report says

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (center) leaves her weekly news conference accompanied by staff and security. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Congress will introduce a proposal to ban individual stock trading among its members and their spouses, according to a report from Punchbowl News.Members of Congress, their spouses, and senior staff will be able to own…

Today’s GDP numbers don’t tell us if we’re in a recession – and we won’t know for sure until we’re already in the middle of a crisis

Pedestrians walk past a Sears store is seen on October 18, 2021 in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images The US economy shrank by 0.9% in the second quarter, following a 1.6% decline in the first quarter. Two consecutive quarters of contraction is often used as a shorthand…