In case you haven’t heard the information, TechCrunch has a shiny new house. After years beneath the possession of Yahoo — which, in flip, is backed by Apollo Group — the model is now in contemporary arms. Its new father or mother firm: Regent, a dynamic non-public fairness agency with a various portfolio spanning media, retail, and manufacturing. Regent was based 12 years in the past by Michael Reinstein, a personable one-time startup founder who shortly realized he may need a brighter future as a PE govt and who has an simple ardour for TechCrunch.
Whereas the monetary phrases stay undisclosed, one factor is evident: Regent is buying an iconic model. TechCrunch isn’t only a tech information website; it’s essentially the most influential voice chronicling innovation in Silicon Valley and past. Getting featured in TechCrunch has lengthy been a ceremony of passage for startups, however our mission extends far past the trade insiders who make up our core readership. We intention to offer completely everybody a front-row seat to the way forward for know-how. Whether or not you’re a founder, an investor, or somebody who’s interested by how tech is reshaping the world, we provide help to to see what’s subsequent by reporting the information, then placing the items collectively to share the larger image.
The perfect half: This deal is structured to make sure minimal disruption to TechCrunch’s operations. You may nearly consider it extra like a software program replace quite than a system overhaul. In San Francisco and New York, we’ll be shifting into new places of work leased by Regent. (Goodbye, Monetary District; good day, SoMa!) And Yahoo isn’t severing ties completely — it’s retaining a small curiosity within the firm. (What can we are saying? It’s exhausting to let go of TechCrunch.) Relatedly, my private due to Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone, who has been an unbelievable mentor and sounding board and to whom I’m deeply grateful.
However right here’s what actually issues: The identical group of skilled journalists and belief will proceed bringing you the must-read tales of the tech world. No doubt, that is the strongest TechCrunch group we’ve ever had, and we’ve been lucky to work with some wonderful expertise over time.
TechCrunch has been on the coronary heart of Silicon Valley since Michael Arrington and Keith Teare based it in 2005. With the continued help of our readers and advertisers, we’ve coated each main tech pattern, each billionaire brawl, and each trade shake-up. And we’re simply getting began. Lots of the founders and executives we’ve written about over time at the moment are shaping insurance policies in Washington, and we’ll be proper there, reporting on what occurs subsequent.
Yahoo determined to promote TechCrunch as a result of, ultimately, our DNA is just totally different from the remainder of its portfolio. Whereas Yahoo Sports activities, Yahoo Information, and Yahoo Finance excel at aggregation, TechCrunch has all the time been about authentic reporting and information evaluation. The timing of the sale additionally is smart. Whereas a lot of the information trade has been punched within the face by a bunch of challenges — from AI-generated summaries to Twitter’s evolution into X — TechCrunch has bucked the pattern over the past yr, steadily regrowing its readership. Our secret? We put readers first, ship must-know information with out bias, and showcase the wild, usually ridiculous, human facet of the tech world.
As shut followers of TechCrunch already know, this isn’t our first rodeo in the case of new possession (all of us nonetheless have swag from AOL and Verizon). However what mattered most on this transition was guaranteeing that our group retains the liberty and help to do what we do greatest. With Regent, we have now precisely that.
So to Yahoo, thanks for standing by us by means of some harder occasions. And to Regent, we love your enthusiasm for what we do and we’re excited to embark on this subsequent chapter with you. Now, let’s do that thang.
P.S. Sure, our StrictlyVC model is a part of the general package deal, and by the best way, our first occasion of the yr in San Francisco takes place in a couple of weeks, with SF Mayor Daniel Lurie, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, Forerunner founder Kirsten Inexperienced, and others. Don’t wait to enroll; we’re practically offered out.
