Estibot review: Strong on some domains, weak on others

Estibot is strong for valuable one word domains, but struggles with multi-word domains. This is part of Domain Name Wire’s review of automated domain appraisal tools. Estibot is the oldest continuously running automated appraisal system. Like many appraisal systems, people bash it when they aren’t happy with the results it provides. But it’s also a [...]

You don’t need to be an AI startup to raise. Lucra has $20M to prove it. 

Slapping “AI” on your startup’s pitch deck is basically table stakes right now. When a founder raised $20 million from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest for an eSports gamification loyalty startup without those two letters in the spotlight, it got us wondering how the conversation even started — especially when ARK had already been burned by a company operating in the same space.  On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Julie [...]

How Lucra raised $20M as an eSports play when every VC only wants AI

Slapping “AI” on your startup’s pitch deck is basically table stakes right now. When a founder raised $20 million from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest for an eSports gamification loyalty startup without those two letters in the spotlight, it got us wondering how the conversation even started — especially when ARK had already been burned by a company operating in the same space.  On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Julie [...]