The $7 million in annual recurring revenue that Cluely co-founder and CEO Roy Lee shared with TechCrunch last summer was a lie, Lee admitted on Thursday on X. Wrote Lee, this “is the only blatantly dishonest thing i’ve said publicly online, so this is my formal retraction. ” Yet his …

A typical merger-and-acquisition process is time-consuming and expensive, even for the largest, well-staffed private equity firms. In addition to spending countless hours meeting with senior executives of potential targets and modeling financial outcomes, these groups spend millions of dollars on external advisers: accountants, lawyers, and management consultants. Since expenses for …

Want to tap into the energy of 1,100+ startup founders, investors, and tech leaders descending on Boston for the Founder Summit 2026 on June 9? Host your own Side Event during “Founder Summit Week,” happening June 4-10! Whether it’s a networking mixer, workshop, morning run, fireside chat, or cocktail hour …

Decagon, an AI-powered customer support startup, is set to announce the completion of its first tender offer, allowing its more than 300 employees to sell a portion of their vested shares at the company’s latest valuation of $4. The less-than-three-year-old company’s employee secondary is being led by the same investors …

Does a consumer hardware company need to get on the VC treadmill to succeed? Eleven years and 290 million products sold across 115 countries later, PopSockets has proven that the bootstrapped, low-dilution path more viable than the industry gives it credit for. The global consumer hardware brand was built on …

AI continues to dominate the venture world, per a new Crunchbase report. A record $189 billion of global venture capital flowed to startups in February, according to the report. AI startups overall raised $171 billion, or 90% of the capital raised last month. It’s a stunning number that feels like …

As competition among AI startups heats up, founders and VCs are turning to novel valuation mechanisms to manufacture a perception of market dominance. Until recently, the most sought-after companies raised multiple rounds of funding in quick succession at escalating valuations. However, because constant fundraising distracts founders from building their products, …

Tellez is the founder of the viral undergarments brand Parade, which at one point was seen as the Gen Z rival to Victoria’s Secret. Launched in 2019, when Tellez was just 21, the company went on to raise millions in funding and attract thousands of customers, but was sold in …

After deal talks lasting almost a year, MyFitnessPal has successfully acquired its up-and-coming rival Cal AI. Cal AI is the AI calorie counting app startup built by two high school teenagers that soared to over 15 million downloads and over $30 million in annual revenue in under two years, MyFitnessPal …

The customer service industry is in a bit of flux, thanks to AI. Investors and corporate leaders have rung alarm bells for the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry. On the other hand, AI-powered customer support startups such as Decagon, Parloa, and Sierra have picked up millions of dollars in funding …