Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy startups and venture capital news. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I wrote about Uber’s new “money” team. Before that, I told you about how SoftBank is screwing up. Remember, you can send me tips, suggestions and feedback to kate.clark@techcrunch.com or on Twitter @KateClarkTweets. If you don’t subscribe…
Medopad raises $25M led by Bayer to develop biomarkers tracked via apps and wearables
Medopad, the U.K. startup that has been working with Tencent to develop AI-based methods for building and tracking “digital” biomarkers — measurable indicators of the progression of illnesses and diseases that are picked up not with blood samples or in-doctor visits but using apps and wearables — has announced another round of funding to expand the scope of its developments. The startup has picked up $25 million, led by pharmaceuticals…
Daily Crunch: Google announces open-source chip project
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Google launches OpenTitan, an open-source secure chip design project The aim of the new coalition is to build trustworthy chip designs for use in data centers, storage and computer peripherals. The project will allow anyone to…
Daily Crunch: Google is buying Fitbit
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Google is acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 billion Google will pay $7.35 per share for the wearables company — an all-cash deal that values Fitbit at $2.1 billion. While Google has invested plenty in its own in-house…
Can a combined Google/Fitbit take on the Apple Watch?
In January 2014Initially, the company existed as a subsidiary of the newly-formed Alphabet Inc., but in early 2018, Google tightened its grip and integrated it directly into its hardware division. Over the next year and a half, Nest became the face and name of Google’s smart home offering, a division that’s grown quickly as Google Home/Google Nest has become one of the top two players in the U.S. smart home…
Googles Fitbit purchase could reshape its healthcare ambitions
Google has reached into parent company Alphabet’s $121 billion cash reserves to spend $2.1 billion on Fitbit, a move into the key consumer health market that places them in more direct competition with rival Apple. For more than a year, Ftibit and Google have partnered on healthcare applications; last April, Fitbit announced that it would work with Google’s application programming interface to connect data with electronic medical records via Google’s…
Google to buy Fitbit in $2.1 billion deal
New York (CNN)Google announced plans on Friday to acquire Fitbit, the world’s leading maker of wearable fitness activity trackers. The wearable fitness tracker company also said it never sells personal information and that its health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads. The acquisition deal is expected to be finalized in 2020. Earlier this year, Fitbit (FIT) lowered the price on some of its devices and launched…
Daily Crunch: Twitter is banning political ads
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Jack Dorsey says Twitter will ban all political ads Arguing that “internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse,” CEO Jack Dorsey announced that Twitter will be banning all political advertising — albeit with…
Apple reports $64bn in revenue, citing strong wearables and services sales
The favorable report drove the tech giants stocks up 2.5% on Wednesday, as the company expands its focus beyond the iPhone Apple reported record-high quarter four earnings on Wednesday, citing strong performances in wearables and other services as the company continues to expand its focus beyond flagship products such as the iPhone. The company reported a revenue of $64bn, beating a $63bn estimate from analysts. In an earnings call, the…
IPhone sales are in a major slump. AirPods and iPad are helping Apple grow
New York (CNN Business)Apple’s iPhone sales slump isn’t going away. But the company has invented new revenue streams and it’s relying on an old one to keep growing. But Apple has diversified. Apple’s AirPods are ubiquitous. Apple Pay is a hit. So is the Apple Watch. Even the iPad is suddenly making a comeback after years of dormancy.