How to use grants and partnerships to fund early stage robotic startups

Attabotics provides warehouses with a novel robotic solution that is reinventing supply chain management. The company has attracted investment from a wide range of investors, including Gordon Food Service, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension fund, and traditional firms like Coatue Management and Forerunner Ventures. Hear from Scott Gravelle, founder and CEO at Attabotics, about how the…

Twitter lays off 30% of its talent acquisition team

Twitter laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team today, two months into a companywide hiring freeze. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed these layoffs but declined to share the exact number of employees affected. The company spokesperson added that employees will receive severance packages (but declined to share specifics) and said that the remaining recruitment staff…

Daily Crunch: China criticizes India for ‘frequent investigations’ of local Chinese firms

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Greetings on this fine Thursday. We are still reeling about Elon Musk and the twins. Connie has more on that. Amanda also covered the verdict in the case against Theranos’ Sunny Balwani….

Another fatal Tesla crash is being investigated by US safety regulators

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla, according to documents viewed by TechCrunch. The investigation, which was opened in July, is the latest in a long string of inquiries by NHTSA’s Special Investigations program into crashes involving Tesla vehicles. This fatal crash, in which a…

Sequoia wants to invest $1 million in your idea, then teach you how to really sell it

The investment firm Sequoia Capital has no shortage of internal programs for the founders it backs. The idea is to help its startups not merely by sheer dint of their affiliation with Sequoia but by helping them at the outset with everything from storytelling to recruiting strategies in order to give them an edge over…