Mike Butcher
TechCrunch
United Kingdom
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Recent articles by Mike:
UK’s National Health Service launches £500,000 COVID19 tech competition –
The innovation arm of the UK’s National Health Service, NHSx has launched a £500,000 funding competition for innovators and startups who can find digital ways to support people in need during the Coronavirus outbreak. The fund will concentrate on tech initiatives that help people with mental health support and those with social care needs, and […] → Read More
LetsBeatCOVID.net launches to track the spread of the Coronavirus in the UK/US –
A startup behind one of the world’s most successful tech platforms for doctors has launched a new initiative to try and track the spread of the Coronavirus, initially in the UK but soon in the US. Developed by MedShr – the app used by a million doctors to aid them in the diagnostic process – […] → Read More
Here’s a wrap of the main tech-related Coronavirus news in the last 24 hours –
Much of the world is waking up to a strange new reality. As the Coronavirus COVID-19 swept across the planet, today may go down in history as the day when huge numbers of countries were largely united in a global shut-down to address the pandemic. TechCrunch brings you a wrap of the technology world’s response […] → Read More
Refurbished electronics startup Refurbed raises $17M round, led by Evli Growth Partners –
Renewed phones, laptops and tablets can be as much as 40% cheaper than their brand new cousins, working equally as well and, because they have been saved from the scrapheap, are therefore a great deal more environmentally friendly. Players in this space include Back Market (raised €48M), Swappa (US) and Amazon Renew. Refurbed, a marketplace […] → Read More
Insurtech startup Akur8 raises $8.9M from BlackFin and MTech Capital –
Far from replacing humans, Artificial Intelligence is actually coming to the aid of a very old profession that has fallen out of fashion to such an extent that people are increasingly not joining it. I speak of the rarified world of the Actuary. Actuaries deal with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty using […] → Read More
XYZ Reality secures £5M to bring a hologram headset to the construction industry –
Augmented Reality technology did not, it turned out, light the touch paper on a booming new industry. What we got instead was a few cute applications on smartphones and devices like Microsoft’s Hololens, which has seen pretty limited success. Where AR has proved that it may have a future is in industry, allowing workers to […] → Read More
Insurance AI startup Synthesized raises $2.8M from IQ Capital and Mundi Ventures –
The insurance industry depends on data to support a number of functions the average person in the street is usually completely unaware of such as “informed risk selection”, underwriting and claims management. Like many industries, it would like to automate much of this but it’s just not that simple. Synthesized is a UK startup that […] → Read More
Ada Health built an AI-driven startup by moving slowly and not breaking things –
When Ada Health was founded nine years ago, hardly anyone was talking about combining artificial intelligence and physician care — outside of a handful of futurists. But the chatbot boom gave way to a powerful combination of AI-augmented health care which others, like Babylon Health in 2013 and KRY in 2015, also capitalized on. The […] → Read More
Frontline Ventures raises new $80M fund focused on bringing US firms into Europe –
Frontline Ventures, based between Dublin and London, has announced a new $80 million fund designed to assist US tech companies expanding into Europe. The new FrontlineX fund — which means the firm now has $200 million under management — focuses mainly on growth-stage B2B companies and invest up to $5 million per company alongside lead […] → Read More
Could lessons from the challenger bank revolution kick-start innovation on the climate crisis? –
Now that the world is swimming in data we may be able to address the climate and environmental risks to the planet. But while there is plenty of capital to invest in things like ClimateTech, a lot of the data that’s needed to tackle this big issue is badly applied, leading to a big misallocation […] → Read More
Google, Toyota invest in WhereIsMyTransport to map transport in emerging cities –
In emerging markets, up to 80% of the population may have to rely on informally-run public transport to get around. Literally, privately-run buses and cars. But journey-planning apps that work well for commuters in developed markets like New York or London do not work well in emerging markets, which is why you can’t just flip […] → Read More
Founders Factory backs Creator Fund, student-led VC to back EU student startups –
It seems like everyone wants student entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur First makes startups out of raw student material, for instance. Most countries want high-skilled students to stick around and make new companies. Only the UK likes to charge them a fortune for an education and then kick them out if they don’t earn enough. But I digress! […] → Read More
Meet the first wave of speakers & enter your startup for The Europas Awards, 25 June –
Excitement for The Europas Awards for European Tech Startups is heating up. Here is the first wave of speakers and judges — with more coming! The Awards — which have been running for over 10 years — will be held on 25 June 2020 in London, U.K. on the front lawn of the Geffrye Museum […] → Read More
Long term room-rental platform Badi launches its service in NYC –
As things stand in many countries, renting houses and whole apartments is relatively straightforward, if you can afford it. But trying to find rooms in those apartments and houses to rent has been chaotic for many years and relies on hugely informal networks. Some startups have launched in recent years to address this problem of […] → Read More
App Samurai closes a $2.4M Series A funding round led by 212 Ventures –
App Samurai, a platform to market mobile apps, has closed an investment of $2.4 million in Series A funding, led by 212 Ventures and co-invested by Collective Spark, 500 Startups and Degerhan Usluel. It’s now raised a total of $4.6 million which will be used to develop the mobile advertising group’s product portfolio and global […] → Read More
Insurance platform Collective Benefits raises £3.3M to give gig economy workers a safety net –
The famous phrase “software eats the world” was originally coined to describe how technology gradually replaces the old industrial norms of production. But few realized that when Uber started to “eat” the taxi industry it would also be among the first harbingers of a new wave of what it meant to be “employed.” As similar […] → Read More
Here’s our pick of the top six startups from Pause Fest –
We’ve been dropping into the Australian startup scene increasingly over the years as the ecosystem has been building at an increasingly faster pace, most notably at our own TechCrunch Battlefield Australia in 2017. Further evidence that the scene is growing has come recently in the shape of the Pause Fest conference in Melbourne. This event […] → Read More
Tim Draper puts $1M into the Aragon blockchain project to create digital courts –
In the murky world of crypto and blockchain, taking disputes to a traditional court would either land both the plaintiff and the defendant in jail or confuse the court to the point of total befuddlement. You can just imagine the scenario: “What is a DAO?” “It’s a Decentralized autonomous organization, your honor.” “Please speak in […] → Read More
Noom competitor OurPath rebrands as Second Nature, raises $10M Series A –
Back in 2018 OurPath emerged as a startup in the UK tackling the problem of diabetes. The company helped customers tackle the disease, and raised a $3m round of funding by combining advice from health experts with tracking technology via a smartphone app to help people build healthy habits and lose weight. Now rebranded as […] → Read More
Tradeshift cuts headcount by three figures in effort to turn towards profitability –
Last month Tradeshift, a platform for supply chain payments which has achieved unicorn startups in recent years, had some good news and some bad news. It announced a Series F funding round of $240 million in equity and debt, raised from a combination of existing and new investors. It’s now raised a total of $661M […] → Read More