Year: 2021

Drones are neat and fun and all that good stuff (I should probably add the caveat here that I’m obviously not referring to the big, terrible military variety), but when it comes to quadcopters, there’s always been the looming question of general usefulness. The consumer-facing variety are pretty much the exclusive realm of hobbyists and imaging.

We’ve seen a number of interesting applications for things like agricultural surveillance, real estate and the like, all of which are effectively extensions of that imaging capability. But a lot can be done with a camera and the right processing. One of the more interesting applications I’ve seen cropping up here and there is the warehouse drone — something perhaps a bit counterintuitive, as you likely (and understandably) associate drones with the outdoors.

Looking back, it seems we’ve actually had two separate warehouse drone companies compete in Disrupt Battlefield. There was IFM (Intelligent Flying Machines) in 2016 and Vtrus two years later. That’s really the tip of the iceberg for a big list of startups effectively pushing to bring drones to warehouses and factory floors.

The list now also includes Corvus Robotics, a YC-backed startup presumably named for the genus of birds that includes surprisingly intelligent species like crows and ravens (though, presumably, these ones don’t also travel together in murders). The company calls its offering “the world’s first unmanned warehouse inventory drones,” which is potentially disputable.

But the offering is interesting, nonetheless, effectively flying around to scan pallets for inventory purposes. According to a piece from IEEE Spectrum, the level-four autonomous drone network is capable of scanning 200 to 400 pallets an hour, including the downtime spent recharging (flying is hard work).

Image Credits: Third Wave Automation

Speaking of that industry holy grail of full warehouse automation, Third Wave Automation just announced a $40 million Series B, led by Norwest Venture Partners and featuring Innovation Endeavors, Eclipse and Toyota Ventures. The latter has been working with the Bay Area-based startup to develop an autonomous forklift — because, among other things, forklift accidents hurt a lot of people every year.

Here’s CEO Arshan Poursohi:

We’ve covered just about every kind of robot there is. But all of these robots that we built ended up, you know, sitting in a closet somewhere because ultimately, Google or, in my case, Sun Microsystems, would decide it’s not worth scaling it out because it’s not the core business, or some other reason.

The company plans to have 100 units out in the world by the end of next year.

Image Credits: InVia Robotics

Fellow warehouse automator inVia Robotics, meanwhile, announced a $30 million Series C at the tail end of last month. Tech giants Microsoft (M12) and Qualcomm (Qualcomm Ventures LLC) led the round, which brings the California firm’s total funding up to $59 million to date. Hitachi Ventures also joined for the round. The company says it was able to grow pandemic-fueled growth to a 600% revenue increase in 2020.

And just because we couldn’t do all warehouse news this week (as tempting and easy as that might be), here’s a robot from General Electric named ATVer. The sundry tech conglomerate has been field testing the autonomous ‘bot with the U.S. Army. Military funding, mind, continues to be a pretty massive driver in robotics, for better and worse.

“Our project and partnership with the US Army has really enabled us to make some important advances in autonomous systems,” GE’s senior robotics Shiraj Sen says in a release. “We believe the advances made on this project will not only help accelerate the deployment of future driver-less vehicle technologies; they will help encourage more autonomous solutions in other industry sectors like energy, aviation and healthcare that people depend on every day.”

Image Credits: Sarcos

In just under the wire, Sarcos this morning announced a partnership with T-Mobile that will bring 5G teleoperation to the company’s  Guardian XT robot. Robotics are, of course, one of those things that frequently get tossed around when discussing the potential benefits of 5G’s low-latency connection. Honestly, it’s the sort of thing that gets rolled out on stage during press events (cough Verizon), because robots are surefire crowd pleasers. So, it’s nice seeing it applied to some actual systems here.

From the release,

The T-Mobile and Sarcos collaboration begins with the integration of 5G to develop a remote viewing system powered by T-Mobile’s high bandwidth, low latency 5G network. This enables workers, supervisors, outside experts, and others, whether they are based locally or remote, to watch tasks being performed by the robot as it is controlled by an operator in the field. The second phase of development is expected to include full T-Mobile 5G wireless network integration, allowing teleoperation of the Guardian XT robot over 5G, giving operators greater flexibility and increasing their safety by enabling them to perform tasks from a distance.

Great news for budget-conscious startuppers of every stripe. The early-bird price extension on passes to TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 remains in play for one more day. Buy an early-bird pass — Innovator, Founder or Investor — and you’ll revel in three full days of Disruption for less than $100.

This is what you call a “buy now or pay more later” situation, people — the deal disappears for good tomorrow, August 5 at 11:59 pm (PT).

Pro Tips: We also offer deep discounts on tickets for students, non-profits and government employees. Just want to explore the companies exhibiting in Startup Alley? Grab an Expo Pass for less than $50. Want to register more than five people? Email events@techcrunch.com for a group rate quote.

No matter where you and your business fall on the startup spectrum, you’ll find plenty of information, inspiration and opportunity at Disrupt 2021. Here’s why three of your contemporaries think going to Disrupt is an essential part of the startup experience.

I love Disrupt because it features incredible companies. My work exposes me to lots of companies all over the world but, inevitably, I run across startups at Disrupt I haven’t heard of yet. It’s always fascinating to explore opportunities and find ways to work together. — Rachael Wilcox, creative producer, Volvo Cars.

When you’re building a startup, you’re in the weeds. It’s hard to get a 30,000-foot view, see where your company is and where it can go. Going to Disrupt and seeing what other startups are doing gives you that important perspective. It’s a huge benefit. — Jessica McLean, Director of Marketing and Communications, Infinite-Compute.

As a cross-border VC fund manager, I’m always looking to identify new tech trends and how we can bring them to Latin America. Disrupt provides terrific insight on trends in different industries like e-grocery, AI and big data. — Daniel Lloreda, general partner at H20 Capital Innovation.

The Disrupt experience also includes watching the world-renown Startup Battlefield pitch competition. A field of 20 off-the-hook startups will take the stage and vie for $100,000 in equity-free prize money. Plenty of household tech names — like Vurb, Yammer, Dropbox and Mint — launched their company during Startup Battlefield. Watch the future giants of tech launch here.

Whether you consider networking an art, a science or a full-on contact sport, Disrupt offers exceptional opportunities to connect and collaborate with like-minded people who can help build your business. CrunchMatch, our free, AI-powered platform, makes finding those folks — out of 10,000+ global attendees — quick and painless.

And of course, we have a packed agenda, world-class speakers, vital trends, actionable tips and advice, pitch deck teardowns and breakout sessions. Plus, hundreds of innovative startups exhibiting in the Startup Alley expo area.

It all goes down on September 21 -23 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021. And it’s all available to you for less than $99 — if you buy your pass before tomorrow, August 5 at 11:59 pm (PT). What the heck are you waiting for?

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt 2021? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

The startup world can be a rollercoaster. While investment continues to pour in — with both founders and investors looking for the next unicorn — the reality is that 90% of startups fail, with over half of those going under in the first three years.

I’ve founded two companies that I grew and sold (Mezi and Dhingana). I encountered many of the issues that new founders face, learned on the job, and thankfully persevered. Using the knowledge that I acquired in my previous companies, I’ve founded a third — Zeni — to try and help founders make more informed, sustainable financial decisions.

Whether you’re just wrapping your seed round, or on to Series B, avoiding these common issues is the best way to ensure that you’re set on solid ground and free to focus on your vision.

Why most startups fail

Startups go under for a variety of reasons. Some fail to achieve product-market fit in a scalable way. Many others simply run out of money. While the above two reasons are often cited as the two primary reasons for startup failure, they’re also related. If you don’t solve a market problem and don’t generate customers, you’re eventually going to run out of money.

Unfortunately, many of the startups that fail shouldn’t. They’re led by bright entrepreneurs with a great idea. But for many founders, a transformative idea and initial outside investment doesn’t translate into understanding the underlying financial complexities of running a business.

When you break down the various complexities founders face in understanding business finances, there are three primary hurdles they face:

1. Fragmentation of financial systems.
2. Time-consuming manual tasks.
3. Lack of real-time financial insights.

All of the above issues put increased workload and strain on founders, which can lead to burnout. Owners, on average, spend around 40% of their working hours on tasks like hiring, HR and payroll. While hiring is integral to a founders’ day-to-day role, other administrative tasks related to finance, HR and payroll distract founders from focusing on their overall vision and goals.

The good news is that by being aware of the above issues, you can solve them and eliminate the consequences of burnout, distraction and, ultimately, failure. Let’s talk about how.

Consolidate fragmentation

The financial decision-making and tasks of most startups start and stop with the founder. This means that bookkeeping, bill paying, invoicing, financial projections, employee payments and taxes all run into a bottleneck. Even worse, each of these functions requires another employee, vendor or third-party expert — finance firms, admins, CFOs, CPA firms — each using its own software and applications to accomplish their goals.

Each of these parties is reporting back up to the founder, who is then in charge of making sense of it all and disseminating the information to the entities that need it. This means that not only is everything slower, but often things fall through the cracks, as communication can become a serious issue.

Worse still, this creates cash flow problems, as bills go unpaid, invoices go unsent, and important financial documents are delayed. I’ve seen revenue go unreported and invoices unsent and uncollectable due to the fragmentation-bottleneck system most founders experience.

During the thick of the pandemic last year, online food delivery company DoorDash expanded its offerings to include convenience store delivery. Now, DoorDash customers in the U.S. and Canada can shop across multiple stores and categories in a single order.

With DoubleDash, as the program is called, customers can now tack onto your order of a pad Thai dinner, some tampons and ice cream from the local 7-Eleven. In most cases, it’ll all be brought to them by the same delivery person in one bundle, allowing customers to forgo any additional service or delivery fees.

The goal for customers is to increase convenience while preserving price expectations. For local businesses, there’s a possibility that some light prodding of the customer while they’re hungry and uninterested in leaving their homes will lead to more business. And for DoorDash, this move is another step towards making the app the ever-coveted “one-stop-shop” for all things delivery.

Image Credits: DoorDash

“Ever since we began offering convenience as a category on DoorDash over a year ago, we’ve observed that many customers organically order their restaurant meal and then place another order for convenience items within a 30 minute window,” Fuad Hannon, DoorDash’s head of new verticals, told TechCrunch. “We are always thinking about ways to improve our platform to serve our customers’ needs and after observing this consumer behavior, we wanted to make this process easier and more affordable for consumers.”

With DoubleDash, after a customer place their original order, a pop up on the app will entice them with additional items from nearby stores. Customers can also look for the DoubleDash option on the in-app map to search for nearby stores. Depending on the customer’s location and proximity to the merchant, anywhere from one to five merchants will show up on the map. Customers can add on as much or as little as they want for the second order, as there’s no minimum order size.

Delivery workers, or “Dashers,” will be able to collect tip on both the first restaurant order and the second merchant order, according to the company. Dashers can use DoorDash’s logistics platform to accept both orders at once and deliver them together without deviating from the primary route, thus potentially increasing earnings without going too far out of their way.

This new feature is available with 7-Eleven, Walgreens, Wawa, QuickCheck, the Ice Cream Shop and DashMart, a DoorDash-owned convenience and grocery store. DoorDash is also piloting the ability to partner local restaurants with DoubleDash in several markets like Los Angeles, Denver and Portland, so if you want to start with sushi and end with a chocolate torte, it’ll be just a little bit cheaper and easier to do so.

“We are excited to be a part of DoorDash’s newest endeavor, DoubleDash, and for the opportunity to reach new customers and drive additional sales for our business,” said Benjamin D. Arreola, owner of Señor G’s Fresh & Healthy Mexican Food in Playa Del Rey, California, in a statement.

Refurbed, a European marketplace for refurbished electronics which raised a $17 million Series A round of funding last year has now raised a $54 million Series B funding led by Evli Growth Partners and Almaz Capital.

They are joined by existing investors such as Speedinvest, Bonsai Partners and All Iron Ventures, as well as a group of new backers — Hermes GPE, C4 Ventures, SevenVentures, Alpha Associates, Monkfish Equity (Trivago Founders), Kreos, Expon Capital, Isomer Capital and Creas Impact Fund.

Refurbed is an online marketplace for refurbished electronics that are tested and renewed. These then tend to be 40% cheaper than new, and come with a 12-month warranty included. The company claims that in 2020, it grew by 3x and reached more than €100M in GMV.

Operating in Germany, Austria, Ireland, France, Italy and Poland, the startup plans three other countries by the end of 2021.

Riku Asikainen at Evli Growth Partners said: “We see the huge potential behind the way refurbed contributes to a sustainable, circular economy.”

Peter Windischhofer, co-founder of refurbed, told me: “We are cheaper and have a wider product range, with an emphasis on quality. We focus on selling products that look new, so we end up with happy customers who then recommend us to others. It makes people proud to buy refurbished products.”

The startup has 130 refurbishers selling through its marketplace.

Other Players in this space include Back Market (raised €48M), Swappa (US) and Amazon Renew. Refurbed also competes with Rebuy in Germany, Swapbee in Finland.

Astra’s last test launch went better than expected, nearly achieving orbit — kind of a stretch goal for that specific mission. The company at the time said that it would only need to tweak software to reach an orbital destination, and now we know when it’s going to get the chance to prove it: Astra revealed a launch window today of August 27 for its first ever commercial orbital launch, a demonstration mission for the U.S. Space Force.

The contract Astra has with the Space Force also includes a second launch, set for sometime later this year, with the exact schedule for that launch yet to be finalized.

The payload that Astra’s rocket will carry for the Space Force will be a test spacecraft flown for the agency’s Space Test Program. The launch will take place from Astra’s spaceport in Kodiak, Alaska, which is where it has flown its test missions previously.

While the launch window officially opens at 1 PM PT on August 27, it will remain open all the way through Saturday, September 11, and Astra could easily shift the launch within that window based on weather conditions and other factors.

Astra, which become a publicly traded company at the start of July through a SPAC merger, builds it own launch vehicles at its factory in Alameda, California. The launch provider is targeting cheap, high-volume, low mass launches as its milieu, offering more flexible services relative to SpaceX, and a cost advantage when compared to Rocket Lab.