How the anti-vaccine movement used an information void to inject itself into the top results.
Source: Wired
The newly overhauled version of the 2004 niche classic is a reintroduction to one of the best puzzle games of all time.
Source: Wired
For some researchers it’s a personal choice; other academic departments have to pay carbon offset fees.
Source: Wired
The giant hogweed is set to bloom just around the Fourth of July every year—and every year, it spreads a little further.
Source: Wired
Our TC Sessions: Blockchain event takes place in Zug, Switzerland, this coming Friday (July 6), but we are also excited to host the TechCrunch Ethereum Meetup the very next day.
We are putting on the Meetup with support from the Ethereum Foundation and other members of the Ethereum community, and now we can reveal the agenda for the follow-on event — which will run from 1-6 PM.
All tickets for the TC Sessions: Blockchain event are sold out, but we do have an allocation remaining for the TechCrunch Ethereum Meetup. However, attendees of the TC Sessions: Blockchain event who wish to attend the Ethereum Meetup will need to purchase a separate pass.
Tickets for the meetup can be purchased here — they are priced at 50 CHF plus VAT, that’s around $50 at current rates.
1:00 PM — 1:05 PM
Opening Remarks
Ned Desmond (TechCrunch) and Aya Miyaguchi (Ethereum Foundation)
1:05 PM — 1:30 PM
Keynote
Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation)
1:30 PM — 1:55 PM
A Governance Discussion
Vlad Zamfir (Ethereum Foundation)
1:55 PM — 2:15 PM
Intro to Cryptoeconomics
Karl Floersch (Ethereum Foundation)
2:15 PM — 2:45 PM
Crypto-finance: Exchanges & DExs
Vansa Chatikavanij (OmiseGo), Aya Miyaguchi (Ethereum Foundation), Balaji Srinivasan (Coinbase) and Changpeng Zhao (Binance)
2:45 PM — 3:15 PM
Community and Funding
Joe Lubin (ConsenSys), Aya Miyaguchi (Ethereum Foundation), Cassandra Shi (Ethereum Community Fund), Vivek Singh (Gitcoin) and Jutta Steiner (Parity Technologies)
3:15 PM — 3:35 PM
BREAK
3:35 PM — 4:05 PM
DApp Panel: What does success look like?
Rune Christensen (MakerDAO), Mona El Isa (MelonPort), Roham Gharegozlou (Axiom Zen), Jarrad Hope (Status), Aleksandra Skrzypczak (Golem) and Jinglan Wang (Blockchain Education Network)
4:05 PM — 4:30 PM
Research and Sharding
Justin Drake (Ethereum Foundation)
4:30 PM — 4:55 PM
What’s at Stake? Decentralizing Consensus
David Knott (OmiseGo)
4:55 PM — 5:25 PM
Tackling Scalability
Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation), Karl Floersch (Ethereum Foundation), Heiko Hees (Raiden), Liam Horne (L4) and Hsiao-Wei Wang (Ethereum Foundation)
5:25 PM — 6:00 PM
Proof of Stake
Adrian Brink (Tendermint), Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation), Peter Czaban (Web3 Foundation), David Knott (OmiseGo) and Vlad Zamfir (Ethereum Foundation)
6:00 PM
FINISH
Source: TechCrunch
MeetFrank, aka a ‘secret’ recruitment app that uses machine learning plus a chatbot wrapper to take the strain out of passive job hunting and talent-to-vacancy matching, has closed a €1 million (~$1.1M) seed funding round to fuel market expansion in Europe.
Hummingbird VC, Karma VC, and Change Ventures are the investors.
The Estonian startup was only founded last September but says it has ~125,000 active users in its first markets: Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, plus its most recent market addition, Germany, an expansion this seed has financed.
Around 2,000 companies are using the app to try to attract talent. In Germany employers on board with MeetFrank include Daimler, Eon, Delivery Hero, SumUp, Blinkist, High Mobility and MyTaxi.
“The average company profile we have at the moment is a start-up/scale-up company that develops their product in-house,” says co-founder Kaarel Holm.
“At the moment we are mainly focused on technology related companies — so positions you can find from average start-up or a scale-up,” he tells TechCrunch. “Around 50% of the position are engineering and other 50% is marketing, sales, customer support, legal, data science, product/project management etc.”
He names TransferWise, Taxify, Testlio, Smartly and High-Mobility as other early customers.
Here’s how MeetFrank works on the talent side: The person downloads the app and goes through a relatively quick onboarding chat with ‘Frank’ (the emoji-loving chatbot) where they are asked to specify their skills and experience — choosing from pre-set lists, rather than needing to type — plus to state their current job title and salary.
So while MeetFrank’s target is passive job seekers, these people do still need to actively download the app and input some data.
Hence the chatbot having a strong emoji + GIF game to convince talent that a little upfront effort will go a long way…
The bot also asks what would convince them to switch jobs — offering options to choose from such as a higher salary, more flexible or remote working working, relocation, a startup culture and so on.
The anonymous aspect comes in because there’s no requirement for users to provide their real name or any other identifying personal information in order to get matches with potential positions.
Talent is therefore assessed on its merits, at least at this stage of the job hunt.
And while people are asked up front to specify their current salary, which you might think puts them at a potential disadvantage during any pay negotiations, Holm says the aim of MeetFrank’s platform is also to encourage greater openness from employers and steer away from traditional pay negotiation situations.
“We use salary as one datapoint for matching and we try to make sure that offers we make to the user are match their preferences. In lot of cases the salary is the main deal breaker and we would like to present the information as early as possible,” he explains. “Companies on the other side of the marketplace disclose their salary for the users as well — in that case we can avoid the negotiating disadvantage.”
“The policy of MeetFrank platform is that companies have to be extremely open about the position they are trying to fill — this also includes the salary information,” he adds.
Employers are not at all anonymous on the platform. On the contrary, they have to write detailed job advertisements — including levels of pay for advertised roles.
And a pay range will be disclosed to applicants that the app deems potentially suitable — i.e. after its matching process — by displaying a percentage of how much more they could earn above their current salary.
So employers need to be comfortable showing their hand to people who may just be curious what’s out there.
For employers, MeetFrank takes over the ad placement process — using its machine learning to algorithmically match potential candidates to positions. So its proposition is automatic pre-selection across “thousands” of potential job applicants.
And also the possibility of reaching talent which might otherwise not realize that company is hiring. Or think about working for a certain brand.
The app is mainly focused on a “passive talent pool” — aka “currently or recently employed talent that is open for offers”, as Holm puts it. So it’s certainly cherrypicking easier types of jobs to match and fill.
“Entry level jobs is bit out of reach for us at the moment but we will launch a beta project with couple of universities in the autumn this year,” he adds when we ask if the app is open to matching people who don’t currently have a job or are looking for a first job.
Holm says MeetFrank is currently showing 50% MRR growth. It’s already out of the pre-revenue phase — so is charging employers to advertise (the service remains free for the talent side).
The main monetization model is a daily subscription, with employers being charged on a pay-as-you-go basis. Holm says the price per day for employers is €9, and MeetFrank lets them cancel at any time — with no minimum time commitment required to sign up.
“We believe that the new-aged classifieds will only monetize on that kind of on-demand model and should only pay when they find us useful. This also lowers the barrier of entry to most of the start-ups and allows them to vet the market and get visibility with low budgets,” he adds.
Source: TechCrunch
TechCrunch is headed to Lagos to host our second Startup Battlefield Africa competition on December 11! Last year, we held our first Startup Battlefield Africa in Nairobi, where startups from across the continent highlighted how technology is optimizing supply chains, increasing access to education, strengthening farmers’ revenues and so much more.
Since the last Startup Battlefield Africa, the continent’s tech scene has continued to develop at a rapid pace. VC investment in African startups doubled between 2015-2017. Overall, there’s been an uptick in committed VC for Africa’s startups and accelerators, including $2.1 billion across at least four funds. There are more than 300 tech hubs across the continent (and counting) that are building, supporting and bringing together African startups, mentors and innovators.
We’re looking for Sub-Saharan Africa’s best innovators, makers and technical entrepreneurs to participate in TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa 2018. We’re looking for startups most likely to produce an exit or IPO; startups of any kind may apply. TechCrunch will host the event in Lagos in front of a live audience and top judges, and the show will be covered on TechCrunch. The judges will choose a winner, “Sub-Saharan Africa’s Most Promising Startup,” whose founders will win US$25,000 in no-equity cash plus a trip for two to compete in the Battlefield at TechCrunch’s flagship event, Disrupt 2019 (assuming the company still qualifies to compete at the time). Applications are open now and you can submit your startup here.
TechCrunch is eager to take part in covering Africa’s burgeoning tech sector more fully. We love to see startup ecosystems develop, and Startup Battlefield is one of the best platforms in the world to spotlight the most promising ventures for investors, partners and even future employees. Our editors carefully pick the best startups to compete from tons of applications, and recruit world-class judges to ask tough questions and pick the winners. And the Startup Battlefield editors coach the founders to make brilliant pitches onstage at the Startup Battlefield event.
At the end of the day, that’s why the more than 765 companies that have competed in Startup Battlefield have raised over $8 billion and produced over 105 exits to date.
Here’s how to participate:
Fifteen startups will be selected to join us onstage for the Battlefield Africa in Lagos.
Qualifying startups should:
What do the winners receive?
Apart from the exposure that comes from pitching to the global TechCrunch audience as well as the live audience of distinguished technologists, entrepreneurs and investors in Lagos, the overall winner will receive US$25,000 in no-equity cash plus an all-expense paid trip for two to compete in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch’s flagship event, Disrupt 2019 (assuming the company still qualifies to compete at the time).
Are costs to attend the pitch-off covered?
No, but TechCrunch will try to find financial assistance for a startup in need of assistance to reach the Lagos event.
Who picks the startups that will compete?
The TechCrunch editors who run the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition will choose the finalists from the application pool.
Who will judge the pitch-offs?
TechCrunch will select four judges for each theme. They will be noted entrepreneurs, investors and technologists with experience relevant to the category. A TechCrunch editor will moderate the judging, and cast the tie-breaker ballot, if needed.
What is the pitch-off format?
Each company will have six minutes to present. The judges will have six minutes to ask questions.
What are the judging criteria?
The judges will pick the startup with the product or service most likely to go into full commercial production and have the biggest impact on human potential and/or the largest exit.
When is the application deadline?
September 3, 2018 at 5pm PST.
When will you notify the finalists?
October 19, 2018 at 5pm PST.
Will TechCrunch’s team help prepare startups for the pitch-off?
Yes, in-person training and rehearsal sessions will be required, as well in-person rehearsal on December 10.
Which countries are eligible?
Residents in the following countries may apply: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the foregoing language, the “Applicable Countries” does not include any country to or on which the United States has embargoed goods or imposed targeted sanctions (including, but not limited to, Sudan).
If you would like to apply — please click here.
Want to refer innovators you admire or have any questions? Get in touch at BattlefieldAfrica@TechCrunch.com
See you in Lagos!
Source: TechCrunch
The robotic monk is facing a wall, charging up when I first approach the Longquan Temple’s booth at TechCrunch’s event in Hangzhou, China. There’s probably a good metaphor here for meditation or mindfulness, but as a terrible meditator who semi-regularly runs into objects while his mind is somewhere else entirely, I’m struggling to find the right one.
The whole spectacle is an unusual one, alongside row after row of the Chinese companies that dot Startup Alley. Robe-wearing monks meander around, in front of cartoon drawings and figures of Xian’er, the “Worthy Stupid Robot Monk.” He’s a two-foot-high robot who’s something akin to a Buddhist version of Softbank’s Pepper. He’s an adorable little ‘bot with little in the way of articulation, who sports a small tablet atop his belly.
This particular model is one of three version of the robot that currently exist in the world, designed to greet young visitors at Longquan Temple in Beijing. Children can interact with the robot through the touchscreen or a voice remote, asking it one 100+ questions. Rather than utilizing some bit of consumer AI like Alexa or Siri, however, the robot is trained to offer up answers provided by the temple’s masters.
The robotic version of Xian’er, who is also the subject of books and cartoons, was created in 2015 with help from a number of key Chinese tech firms, including Tencent and iFlytek. He’s designed to serve as an ambassador, helping to help educate, children about the ways of Longquan and help bring the temple into the 21st century.
Source: TechCrunch
But the rapper’s new album Scorpion did hit more than 10 million streams every hour, according to the music streaming service.
Source: CNET
The annual fire-sale event is approaching rapidly. Here are the details.
Source: CNET