Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. … Read more
Merging physical and digital: A crowd at The International, Valve’s Dota 2 eSports tournament in Seattle in 2017, three years before the pandemic. (GeekWire file photo / Kevin Lisota) The pandemic had a seismic impact on face-to-face meetings and events, requiring organizers and attendees to adapt to a whole new reality. The aftermath could prove … Read more
Click to enlarge: Icons on a map represent the places where Factal, based in Seattle, reported relevant incidents worldwide within 24 hours from February 3rd to 4th, 2021. (Factal image) New funding: Factal, the Seattle-based startup that monitors breaking news to help companies assess risk to their business, raised $ 3.3 million in a Series … Read more
Liquid Death, a four-year LA-based canned mountain water startup that has steadily gained market share and press coverage by amusingly promising to “kill your thirst,” has just raised $ 15 million to Series-C -Means applied. The round brings the company’s previous support to $ 50 million. The new funding – after a Series B round … Read more
As promised, Disney is adding support for UFC pay-per-view events to Hulu. Starting today, you can purchase access to these directly through the app. However, you have to pay for the ESPN + add-on or the Disney streaming bundle for the privilege first. Additionally, the feature is only available to those who receive their monthly … Read more
Join TechCrunch for the first edition of 2021 ask me something Series in which TechCrunch interviews experts and answers your burning questions about virtual events. Our first guest is Xiaoyin Qu, co-founder and CEO of Rule the world. Friday, February 26, 1 p.m. PT Register here Run The World is a platform for virtual events … Read more