Monthly Archives: August 2022

T-Mobile and SpaceX’s Satellite Connectivity Likely Won’t Require an iPhone 14

T-Mobile and SpaceX today announced a plan to offer smartphone connectivity nearly anywhere in the U.S. with a new “satellite-to-cellular” service. The new technology will leverage SpaceX’s second-generation Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit and T-Mobile’s nationwide mid-band 5G spectrum to provide “near complete coverage” in most areas across the U.S., in addition to territorial…

Apple Backs Out of Talks to Purchase Game Studio Electronic Arts, Amazon Reportedly Set to Make Offer Instead [Updated]

Apple has backed out of a potential purchase of the game studio Electronic Arts (EA) following talks that have been ongoing since as early as May of this year, with Amazon instead poised to make an offer, according to a report from USA Today vertical ForTheWin. Over the last couple of months, EA has been…

African genomics startup 54gene lays off 95 as COVID testing business struggles

African genomics startup 54gene has laid off 95 employees, or about 30% of its LinkedIn-sourced 290+ employees. A company’s spokesperson confirmed the news after several sources informed TechCrunch of the layoffs last week. Founded in 2019 by Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong, the three-year-old startup seeks to address the gap in the global genomics market where less…

Data analytics startup StarTree secures cash to expand its Apache Pinot–powered platform

StarTree, a company building what it describes as an “analytics-as-a-service” platform, today announced that it raised $47 million in a Series B round led by GGV Capital with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and CRV. In an email interview, co-founder and CEO Kishore Gopalakrishna said that the proceeds will be put toward doubling…

Mermade Seafoods swims in cell agriculture waters to make cultivated scallops

Mermade Seafoods is out to disrupt the $8 billion global scallops market with its circular cellular agriculture technology approach for producing cultivated scallops. The Israeli company was founded in July 2021 by CEO Daniel Einhorn, CTO Dr. Rotem Kadir and COO Dr. Tomer Halevy. Einhorn, who has Navy — which explains his love of the…