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To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Midweek? More like mid-weak! Okay, terrible pun, but we’re a little low energy in this heat wave today, so it kinda made sense. Oh! And good news, btw, we’re offering 15% off Disrupt tickets (excluding online or expo tickets) for you, our trusty Daily Crunch readers. Use promo code “DC” to claim your discount ! See you tomorrow!  — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Slumdog $5-illonnaire : Landa is the latest startup to attract venture capital, in this case $33 million, to democratize real estate ownership, Mary Ann writes. Its approach enables people to invest in the real estate sector, which is known for providing generational wealth, but in a less expensive, more fractional way, and in some cases, for as little as $5 initially. Snap, crackle and . . . fizzle : Despite the myriad of news and new revenue streams we’ve reported about ...

California lawmakers have passed a bill that seeks to make apps and other online spaces safer for kids in the absence of robust federal standards. The bill, if signed into law, would impose a set of new protections for people under the age of 18 in California, potentially punishing tech companies with thousands in fines for every child affected by any violation. The bill, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act , still needs to be signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom before becoming law. If signed, its provisions would go into effect on July 1, 2024, giving platforms an interval of time to come into compliance. The new privacy rules would apply to social apps like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube — frequent targets of criticism for their mishandling of young users’ safety and mental health — but also to other businesses that offer “an online service, product, or feature likely to be accessed by children.” That broader definition would also extend the bill’s requirements to...

Few startups in the crypto world boast the market dominance that OpenSea currently enjoys, but numerous venture-backed startups are looking to chip away at their lead. Welcome back to Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto news, drama and trends, breaking things down block by block for the crypto curious. For our Tuesday episode this week, we talked to Jack Lu, the co-founder and CEO of fast-rising NFT marketplace Magic Eden. The venture-backed startup was founded last year and has already reached unicorn status — raising at a $1.6 billion valuation. The startup has become the default way for NFT traders in the Solana ecosystem to transact, but as the marketplace has grown, its team has refocused its ambitions to take on OpenSea on its home turf — the Ethereum network, which they’ve recently begun rolling out early support for. The startup is looking to differentiate itself inside the broader NFT marketplace space, shying away from being a hub for online ...

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Hey, hey, hey! Good to have you back with us again. Today, we’re mostly amazed at how quiet Twitter gets during Burning Man, and excited that we’re doing a Labor Day sale for TechCrunch Plus , if you’ve been wanting to read our subscription site but you’ve been holding off for whatever reason. — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Embed that finance : Pezesha, a Kenyan-based fintech startup, is flush with $11 million in new capital as it seeks to bridge the gap between access to financial products and what is a “$330 billion financing deficit for the small enterprises that make up 90% of Africa’s businesses,”  Annie  reports. We’re all connected : If you haven’t yet seen yourself in one of your Twitter connection’s Circles, you may soon. The social media giant is launching the “Close Friends” features globally, Ivan reports...

Hello and welcome back to Max Q. I’m writing to you from Florida, where NASA scrubbed Monday’s launch attempt of the Artemis I mission. In this issue: NASA’s Artemis I launch is scrubbed T-Mobile and SpaceX’s new partnership News from Astrobotic, Violet Labs and more By the way … TechCrunch Disrupt finally returns — live and in person — to San Francisco on October 18-20. We’re excited to share the complete agenda , you’ll hear from game-changing leaders like: Serena Williams (Serena Ventures), Mark Lore (Wonder Group), Ami Gan (Onlyfans), Johanna Faries (Call of Duty), Chris Dixon (a16z), and many more! In addition to hearing from these leaders, you can get your how-to on over at the TechCrunch+ stage, and check out roundtable discussions and breakout sessions. Whatever you do, start planning your schedule now so you don’t miss a lick of all this startup goodness. Register before September 16 and save $1,100.  NASA scrubs Artemis I launch due to technical issue After much ...

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Hey, hey, hey! Good to have you back with us again. Today, we’re mostly amazed at how quiet Twitter gets during Burning Man, and excited that we’re doing a Labor Day sale for TechCrunch Plus , if you’ve been wanting to read our subscription site but you’ve been holding off for whatever reason. — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Embed that finance : Pezesha, a Kenyan-based fintech startup, is flush with $11 million in new capital as it seeks to bridge the gap between access to financial products and what is a “$330 billion financing deficit for the small enterprises that make up 90% of Africa’s businesses,”  Annie  reports. We’re all connected : If you haven’t yet seen yourself in one of your Twitter connection’s Circles, you may soon. The social media giant is launching the “Close Friends” features globally, Ivan reports...

Hello and welcome back to Max Q. I’m writing to you from Florida, where NASA scrubbed Monday’s launch attempt of the Artemis I mission. In this issue: NASA’s Artemis I launch is scrubbed T-Mobile and SpaceX’s new partnership News from Astrobotic, Violet Labs and more By the way … TechCrunch Disrupt finally returns — live and in person — to San Francisco on October 18-20. We’re excited to share the complete agenda , you’ll hear from game-changing leaders like: Serena Williams (Serena Ventures), Mark Lore (Wonder Group), Ami Gan (Onlyfans), Johanna Faries (Call of Duty), Chris Dixon (a16z), and many more! In addition to hearing from these leaders, you can get your how-to on over at the TechCrunch+ stage, and check out roundtable discussions and breakout sessions. Whatever you do, start planning your schedule now so you don’t miss a lick of all this startup goodness. Register before September 16 and save $1,100.  NASA scrubs Artemis I launch due to technical issue After much ...

Headquartered in Singapore, proptech startup Propseller is on a mission to make real estate transactions more efficient and data-driven for sellers and buyers alike. Its platform is able to tell users the likelihood of a conversion each step of the way. Today Propseller announced it has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.   Other investors participating in the round include returning backers Hustle Fund, Iterative and Rapzo Capital, along with new investors Partech, ICCP SBIT, Vulpes Ventures and Redbadge Pacific. It also includes several prominent proptech founders, like PropertyGuru’s Jani Rautiainen, OpenAgent’s Marta Higuera, Homeday’s Steffen Wicker and Tushar Garg of Flyhomes.   Founded in 2018, Propseller will use its Series A to scale its business model, expand its offerings (including adding services like moving) and enter overseas markets. It currently has about 50 employees, including 20 salaried real estate age...

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Good morning, you crunchy ol’ pirates. Good to see you again, and hope you had a swell weekend. On Wednesday, we’re hosting a healthcare-focused TechCrunch Live. It’ll be fun! Tune in here , and if you want to be part of the 2-minute pitch practice , Haje will be on the lookout for your applications. Now, grab yourself a glass of water, and settle in with some tech-newsy goodness from the TC team! — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Order up : Meta joined forces with Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms two years ago to test grocery shopping on WhatsApp in India, and Manish and Jagmeet write that customers can now “browse JioMart’s entire grocery catalog on WhatsApp, add items to a cart and make the payments via local payments rail UPI without ever leaving the instant messaging service.” Welcome back : Former Amplify co-founder and CEO Segu...

Don’t you hate it when, after going just five or 10 meters underwater, you lose signal completely? Now this vexing limitation of modern technology is being addressed by researchers at the University of Washington, who have made an underwater communication app that uses sonic signals to pass messages to your other submerged friends. It may sound silly, but millions of people could use this tech in both recreational and professional diving situations. The communication problem underwater is simple: Rradio waves are absorbed by water, and no signal our phones send or receive can travel more than a few inches without being completely lost. That’s one reason submersibles and the like need a tether: to pass data back and forth to the surface. Sound waves, on the other hand, travel through water quite readily, and are used by countless aquatic species to communicate. Not humans, though — because the way we make sound only works well in air. So for as long as anyone can remember, divers have...

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Good morning, you crunchy ol’ pirates. Good to see you again, and hope you had a swell weekend. On Wednesday, we’re hosting a healthcare-focused TechCrunch Live. It’ll be fun! Tune in here , and if you want to be part of the 2-minute pitch practice , Haje will be on the lookout for your applications. Now, grab yourself a glass of water, and settle in with some tech-newsy goodness from the TC team! — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Order up : Meta joined forces with Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms two years ago to test grocery shopping on WhatsApp in India, and Manish and Jagmeet write that customers can now “browse JioMart’s entire grocery catalog on WhatsApp, add items to a cart and make the payments via local payments rail UPI without ever leaving the instant messaging service.” Welcome back : Former Amplify co-founder and CEO Segu...