TechCrunch is an American global

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical. Goin ...

focusing on topics regarding high-tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $25 million. Following the 2015 acquisition of AOL and Yahoo! by

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

, the site was owned by Verizon Media from 2015 through 2021. In 2021, Verizon sold its media assets, including AOL, Yahoo!, and TechCrunch, to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Apollo integrated them into a new entity called Yahoo! Inc. In addition to its news reporting, TechCrunch is also known for its annual Disrupt conference, a technology event hosted in several cities across the United States, Europe, and China.

History

TechCrunch was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $25 million. TechCrunch was available in English, Chinese (managed by Chinese tech news company TechNode), and Japanese. TechCrunch France was folded into the main TechCrunch.com site in October 2012. Boundless (formerly Verizon Media Japan), the Japanese subsidiary of the TechCrunch's parent company, closed TechCrunch Japan in May 2022 according to its "global strategy". Vitalik Buterin TechCrunch London 2015

Following the acquisition of AOL and Yahoo by

, TechCrunch was owned by Verizon Media from 2015 through 2021. In August 2020, the COO of TechCrunch, Ned Desmond, stepped down after eight years in the company. He announced that he would join the

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm SOSV in December 2020 as a senior operating partner. His former role at TechCrunch was replaced by Matthew Panzarino, former editor-in-chief, and Joey Hinson, director of business operations. In 2021, Verizon sold its media assets, including AOL, Yahoo, and TechCrunch, to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and Apollo integrated them into a new entity called

Yahoo! Inc Yahoo Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!l ...

. TechCrunch's monthly visitors in September 2024 were 12.12 million, according to data from SEMRush. In March 2025, Yahoo! Inc. sold TechCrunch to private equity firm Regent LP. A few months later the website shut down its European operations.

Events

TechCrunch Disrupt

Starting in New York City in 2010, TechCrunch hosts an annual tech conference, TechCrunch Disrupt, in several cities in the United States and Europe. The event brings entrepreneurs, investors and tech enthusiasts together to watch startups pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, participate in networking events, listen to keynote speeches and panel discussions.

Startup Battlefield

Startup Battlefield is a startup competition. Monetary awards are presented at the TechCrunch Disrupt conferences. Startup Battlefield has a reputation for launching some of the most successful companies in the tech industry. Notable startups that have been involved in the competition include Dropbox, Intuit Mint, Yammer, and CrateDB.

Former features

Crunchbase

From 2007 to 2015, TechCrunch operated Crunchbase, a website and

online encyclopedia An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, is a digital encyclopedia accessible through the Internet. Some examples include pre-World Wide Web services that offered the '' Academic American Encyclopedia'' beginning in 1980, Enc ...

of information on startups, key people, funds, funding rounds, and events. In 2015, Crunchbase became a private entity and is no longer part of TechCrunch.

Crunchies

From 2007 to 2017, TechCrunch sponsored the annual Crunchies award ceremony to award startups, internet, and technology innovations. At the first award ceremony in 2007, Facebook won the award for best startup. TechCrunch announced in 2017 that it would end the Crunchies.

Controversies

The company was criticized for allowing developers to present the Titstare application created by participants in a

hackathon A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of '' hacking'' and ''marathon'') is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 h ...

at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013. The application allows users to "stare at tits". In 2011, the site's editors and writers were criticized for possible ethics violations. These included claims that Arrington's investments in certain firms that the site had covered created a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

. The controversy that ensued eventually led to Arrington's departure, and other writers, including Paul Carr and Sarah Lacy, moved to another technology investment based media company.

In popular culture

In 2014, TechCrunch Disrupt was featured in an arc of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

''. The characters' startup "Pied Piper" participates in a startup battle at TechCrunch Disrupt.

References

External links

* {{Yahoo, Inc. Yahoo! Online publishing companies of the United States Internet properties established in 2005 Technology blogs Technology conferences American technology news websites Webby Award winners Web-related conferences 2005 establishments in the United States 2010 mergers and acquisitions 2017 mergers and acquisitions 2025 mergers and acquisitions Newspaper companies Newspapers published in the United States