Natasha Mascarenhas
The Latest from Natasha Mascarenhas
Reddit ups Series E round by another $116 million
Reddit, which announced a $250 million Series E earlier this month, has added over $116 million to the financing event, upping the round’s most recent total to $367 million, according to a new SEC f
Contra wants to be the community that independent workers are missing
Whether you’re working on something new according to your Twitter bio, or self-employed, according to your LinkedIn bio, founder Ben Huffman thinks his platform, Contra, will be the best way for ind
Codecademy eyes the enterprise with $40 million in new capital
After going over four years without raising any capital, coding class platform Codecademy has raised a new tranche of money: a $40 million Series D round led by Owl Ventures, with participation from P
Chief community officer is the new CMO
Community isn’t a single Slack group or event or newsletter. It’s an aggregation of all of these touch points, and includes both customers, eventual customers and one-time users. Despite this nebu
A16z doesn’t invest, it manifests
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat th
YC-backed Queenly launches a marketplace for formalwear
Queenly, a marketplace for formalwear, launched into a world where its core product of dresses and gowns had a massive competitor, bigger and more elusive than Poshmark: quarantine. The coronavirus pa
Tired of ‘Zoom University’? So is edtech
The rise of “Zoom University” was only possible because edtech wasn’t ready to address the biggest opportunity of the past year: remote learning at scale. Of course, the term encapsulate
Pandemic-era growth and SPACs are helping edtech startups graduate early
Is there anything specific to SPACs that makes them a better route for edtech companies than a traditional IPO or direct listing?
Multiplayer fintech, and the muddled world of startup data
There’s always a fintech angle, even on Valentine’s Day. This week, I covered Zeta, a new startup working on joint finances for modern couples. It aims to take away the money chores of a relations
Does SoftBank have 20 more DoorDashes?
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat th
TechCrunch’s favorites from Techstars’ Boston, Chicago and workforce accelerators
Building off TechCrunch’s coverage of the recent 500 Startups demo day, we’re back today to talk about some favorites from three more accelerator classes. This time we’re digging int
Goldman Sachs and Sesame Workshop pour money into this edtech firm’s newest fund
Shauntel Garvey and Jennifer Carolan liked edtech before the sector was cool, so the duo co-founded Reach Capital in 2015 with a $53 million debut fund. The San Francisco-based venture firm has since
Equity Shot: What’s next for the startup software market
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace noticed last week that w
Labster gets millions from a16z to bring virtual science lab software to the world
Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm with $16.5 billion in assets under management, has poured millions into an edtech startup that sells virtual STEM lab simulations to institutions. Copenhage
What should banking look like for modern couples?
Zeta co-founder Aditi Shekar has spent the past three years tracking the ways couples share and manage their finances, from each card swipe to every split bill. Her effort led to tens of thousands of
Ethena, which sends bite-sized nudges for compliance training, shifts its focus amid new capital
Ethena co-founders Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen began their company with a clear goal: There needs to be a more modern, and effective, way to deploy anti-harassment training to employees. Ethena
Bumble’s first date with the public markets
The public markets have been so active lately that it’s hard to drum up excitement for yet another company making its way to the bull market. But, in the case of Bumble, a dating app where women mes
5 creator economy VCs see startup opportunities in monetization, discovery and much more
Everyone knows YouTubers and other creators are popular with internet users of all ages. But today, these influencers also have real businesses powered by a range of software tools and service provide
Why these co-founders turned their sustainability podcast into a VC-backed business
When Laura Wittig and Liza Moiseeva met as guests on a podcast about sustainable fashion, they jibed so well together that they began one of their own: Good Together. Their show’s goal was to provid
A lake house architect, a Miami VC and a homeowner walk into a wine bar
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat th