Watch out for these 10 hot startups from South Korea

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Image Credits: Sean Pavone (opens in a new window) / Shutterstock (opens in a new window)

The South Korean startup ecosystem has grown over the last decade as major tech firms and venture capital from the West has sought to make inroads in the country. No surprise there: South Korea has long been one of Asia’s strongest economies. Startups here have enjoyed good access to funding, benefiting from Big Tech companies like Google, Meta, Qualcomm and Samsung setting up operations locally, as well as from dedicated venture arms. It also helps that the Korean government has spurred investment by setting up innovation hubs, incubators and accelerators.

Today, South Korea ranks ninth on the list of countries with the highest number of unicorns, per Statista, and its capital city, Seoul, is considered one of the top destinations to build a tech startup.

But like elsewhere in the world, startups here have not been immune to economic turmoil — tech firms have been cutting costs and laying people off to make the most of a diminished funding environment, startup valuations have dipped, and growth-stage funding has proved hard to come by. Asian startups in general have struggled to raise capital since the market turned in early 2022, and in 2023, venture capital investments in South Korea dipped to around 5.4 trillion KRW ($4 billion) from 6.8 trillion KRW ($5.1 billion) a year earlier, according to Statista.

It seems that 2024 will prove to be a pivotal year for many startups in the country, especially as some big names intend to go public either domestically or in the U.S. Here’s a list of the top startups to look out for:

Yanolja

Founder: Su-jin LeeTotal funding raised: $1.95 billionKey investors: SoftBank Vision Fund, GIC, Booking, SkyLake InvestmentRevenue in 2023: $578 million (766.7 billion KRW)

A travel booking platform founded in 2005 by Su-jin Lee, Yanolja is best known for revisiting and pivoting the concept behind love hotels in Korea — turning them from places known best for amorous assignations (rented for as little as one hour) into attractive short-term rental options for hip young people and travelers. Today, it has operations in more than 200 countries.

The startup joined the unicorn club in June 2019 with a $180 million Series D round led by Singapore’s sovereign fund, GIC and Booking. And in 2021, SoftBank Vision Fund II invested about $1.7 billion in a Series E that valued the startup between $7 billion and $9 billion.

Earlier this year, Yanolja set up a subsidiary in Manhattan, Yanolja US, to speed up its move toward a Nasdaq listing. Last December, the company hired Alexandre Ibrahim, who had a stint at the New York Stock Exchange, as its new chief financial officer. Yanolja is reportedly preparing to raise $400 million in its initial public offering in the U.S., which could value the company between $7 billion and $9 billion.

However, Singaporean e-commerce platform Qoo10’s liquidity crisis has emerged as an important variable in Yanolja’s listing on the Nasdaq. Yanolja sold Interpark Commerce to Qoo10 in April 2023 and was promised to be paid $127.8 million in installments by 2026, but Yanolja has not yet received the remaining amount.

Viva Republica (Toss)  

Founder: Seung-gun LeeTotal funding raised: $1.34 billionKey investors: Alkeon Capital, Altos Ventures, Aspex Management, Bond Capital, Goodwater Capital, GIC, Greyhound Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Korea Development Bank, PayPal, Qualcomm Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia ChinaRevenue in 2023: $994.1 million (1.37 trillion KRW)

Seung-gun Lee, a former dentist, founded Viva Republica in 2015, the company behind the finance super app Toss, because he was fed up with the complexity of South Korea’s online payment systems. Lee was apparently not the only one tired of jumping through hoops to make payments, and his app quickly took off. Three years later, Viva Republica hit unicorn status after raising $80 million. The company was last valued at about $7 billion (9.1 billion KRW) in December 2022 after a $405 million Series G round. Today, Toss has more than 19 million monthly active users.

Earlier this year, Viva Republica hired advisers to go public next year in South Korea. It posted revenue of $994.1 million (1.37 trillion KRW) in 2023, and the company said it is likely to reach profitability this year.

Kurly

Founder: Sophie KimTotal funding raised: $761 millionKey investors: Anchor Equity Partners, Aspex Management, CJ Logistics, DST Global, Hillhouse, Hugh Ventures, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Sequoia Capital China, SK Networks, Translink Capital  Revenue in 2023: $1.5 billion (2.07 trillion KRW)

Kurly has harbored dreams of an IPO for years, but it may finally be able to resume its listing plan.

Riding high on pandemic-driven tailwinds, the grocery delivery service initially planned to list in the U.S. in 2021. But then it shelved those plans in favor of an IPO in Seoul in 2023. Those plans ended up getting shelved, too, after the IPO window failed to reopen fully in 2023.

The company last year started diversifying its offerings, selling everything from high-end cosmetics to personal care products and supplements as it sought to bolster its revenue and gross merchandise volume ahead of its IPO.

But an IPO may be on the cards soon: Kurly recorded its first profitable month in December 2023, marking a significant milestone since its establishment in 2015. The company has long expressed its intention to pursue a listing after becoming EBITDA-positive.

Kurly was last valued at around $3.3 billion when it raised a $210 million pre-IPO round in December 2021, but reports suggest the company’s price tag has since shrunk to $669 million.

Dunamu

Founder: Hyoung Kim and Chi-hyeong SongTotal funding raised: $522 million Key investors: Anchor Equity Partners, Altos Ventures Management, Hana Financial Group, Hanwha, Stonebridge Capital, Woori Technology InvestmentRevenue in 2023: $751 million (1.02 trillion KRW)

Dunamu, the operator of Seoul-based cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, started as a stock trading service in 2012 and launched a crypto exchange in 2017. And in 2021, it became the first company to acquire a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license in South Korea.

Currently South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange operator, Dunamu briefly enjoyed a juicy valuation of about $17 billion in 2022, when the crypto industry was still riding high. But as the hype around crypto faded in 2023 following the collapse of Luna and FTX, the company’s value similarly plummeted to $2.2 billion.

Dunamu saw an uptick in profit in the previous year, stemming from the recovery of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. This resulted in a net profit of approximately $594 million in 2023, reflecting a 515.4% increase from the previous year. Nevertheless, the company has encountered obstacles in diversifying its revenue sources and managing losses within its subsidiaries. Dunamu is reportedly aiming to go public on the Nasdaq.

Musinsa

Founder: Man-ho ChoTotal funding raised: $330 million (~ 430 billion KRW)Key investors: IMM Investment, KKR, Sequoia Capital and Wellington ManagementRevenue in 2023: $662.5 million (883 billion KRW)

Along with its Kakao’s fashion platform Zigzag, Korean retail giant Shinsegae’s W Concept, and Naver-backed Brandi, Seoul-based fashion marketplace Musinsa is one of the biggest and most popular fashion marketplaces in South Korea. It offers more than 8,000 local and foreign fashion brands spanning diverse categories, including casual, sports and luxury to 13 million users.

The startup claims its annual GMV crossed $2.35 billion (3 trillion KRW) in 2022 and that its revenue hit $662.5 million in 2022.

The company is reportedly in talks with investment banks to run its initial public offering in South Korea in 2025. Founded in 2012 by CEO Man-ho Cho, the Korean fashion platform raised a $190 million Series C round led by KKR that valued it at approximately $2.76 billion in July 2023.  

Danggeun Market

Co-Founders: Gary Kim, Paul KimTotal funding raised: $205 millionKey investors: Altos Ventures, Aspex Management, Capstone Partners, DST Global, Goodwater Capital, Kakao Ventures, Reverent Partners, SBVA and Strong VenturesRevenue in 2023: $96.3 million

Founded in 2015 by Gary Kim and Paul Kim, Danggeun Market runs Karrot, the hyperlocal marketplace app for owned goods. The platform has operations in South Korea, Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and Japan, and raised $162 million in a Series D round at a valuation of $2.7 billion in 2021.

The company posted its first profit in 2023 on the back of strong user growth in the U.S. and Canada. The company has since been expected to go public, but its CEO Gary Kim said in May that the company would consider an IPO after building a stronger financial base.

Bucketplace (O!House)

Founder: Seungjae LeeTotal funding raised: $261 millionKey investors: BRV Capital Management, Capstone Partners Korea, Industrial Bank of Korea, KB Investment and KB Investment & SecuritiesRevenue in 2023: $181 million  

Founded in 2016, Bucketplace‘s home decorating and interior app OHouse started off simply as a community of people sharing interior design content. Today, the company is offering a variety of services that encompass almost everything involved in the residential space, ranging from home improvement, home repairs and maintenance to furniture delivery, moving services and even a garbage can pickup service.

The company last raised a $182 million Series D round at a valuation of $1.4 billion in 2022. It recently turned down an investment from China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba, according to local media reports.

Bucketplace’s business model is similar to Houzz, a California-based home remodeling software platform that’s preparing to go public as early as this year.

Moloco

Founder: Ikkjin Ahn, David Sehyuk ParkTotal funding raised: $200 millionKey investors: DAOL Ventures, Draper Athena, EDBI, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Mirae Asset, Samsung Ventures, Smilegate Investment, Tiger Global ManagementRevenue in 2023: $300 million

Moloco, an adtech startup that uses machine learning tech to build mobile campaigns, serves mobile app developers in a wide range of industries, like gaming, social networking, e-commerce, ride-sharing, food delivery and fintech, helping them turn their first-party user data into marketing, monetization and user acquisition campaigns.

The company was valued at more than $2 billion after EDBI, a Singapore-based private equity and venture capital arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, acquired shares in the company from another investor.

The company had last raised $150 million in a Series C round led by Tiger Global Management at a valuation of $1.5 billion in 2021.

Moloco intends to pursue a public listing on the Nasdaq and is currently assessing the appropriate timing for its initial public offering, CEO Ikkjin Ahn said during a press conference in Seoul in December 2023.

ZigBang

Founder: SungWoo AhnTotal funding raised: $248 million  Key investors: Altos Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, Korea Development Bank, Hana Financial Group, and IMM Investment Revenue in 2023: $97 million

ZigBang, a South Korean proptech startup, raised approximately $77 million (100 billion KRW) in Series E funding at a valuation of about $1.8 billion (2.5 trillion KRW) as its pre-IPO investment from the Korea Development Bank, IMM Investment and Hana Securities in 2022. It acquired a smart home business from Samsung SDS in January 2022 before getting Series E funding to enter the smart home industry.

The Seoul-based real estate platform has been in the red for three years in a row, which is in line with the state of the real estate market in the country.

Korea Credit Data

Founder: Kelvin Dong-ho Kim, Seong-ho LeeTotal funding raised:  $196 millionKey investors: D-Camp, Fiserv, GS Holdings, Hanwha Life, Kakao, KB Securities, Kclavis, KT Investment, LG Uplus, Morgan Stanley Tactical Value, QUAD, Pavilion Capital, Playmake Ventures, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance   Revenue in 2023: $103 million

Founded in 2016, Korea Credit Data (KCD) is a Seoul-based fintech startup that offers an array of services for 2 million small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) merchants in Korea. KCD launched its flagship service, Cashnote, a bookkeeping app for SMEs, in 2017 to enable SME owners to track a comprehensive overview of cashflow, including revenues, credit card sales, expenditures, sales ledgers, and policy information.

The startup raised $77 million (100 billion KRW) in funding at a valuation of approximately $1 billion (~1.3 trillion KRW) from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value in August 2023. KCD is reportedly planning to go public in 2025.

These 74 robotics companies are hiring

by with No Comment Tech

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch, with stock photos from Getty under license

It’s been just over two months since we published our last robotics jobs post. The world of automation continues to excite and surprise, as the rise of generative AI opens new avenues for human-robot collaboration.

From the looks of things, companies in the category can’t hire quickly enough. That’s a good problem for you, the robotics job seeker. If this is the living you chose, pat yourself on the back: Someone out there wants to hire you.

As ever, the most fascinating part of compiling this list is the breadth of subject matters covered by robotics and automation. Getting a gig in robotics could land you in the restaurant game, pet care, climate or space.

1X Technologies (33 roles)Aescape (6 roles)Aethon (4 roles)Agility Robotics (12 roles)AGOT (1 role)Agtonomy (11 roles)Allvision (2 roles)Anduril (400 roles)Arin Technologies (1 role)Ascento (5 roles)Astrobotic (13 roles)Aurora (140 roles)BEA Sensors (5 roles)Botsync Technologies (2 roles)Capsen Robotics (4 roles)Cell X Technologies (1 role)Chef Robotics (7 roles)Collaborative Robotics (15 roles)Cubiq (10 roles)Deeplocal (1 role)Dexory (22 roles)Digital Dream Labs (4 roles)dolaGon Autonomous (1 role)Duality Robotics (2 roles)Edge Case Research (3 roles)ESTAT (2 roles)Exotec (112 roles)Eyebot (3 roles)Formic (7 roles)Formlogic (8 roles)Four Growers (4 roles)Gather.AI (6 roles)Gecko Robotics (23 roles)Glacier (4 roles)Hellbender (6 roles)Humotech (7 roles)Identified Technologies (5 roles)Innovation Works (1 role)KEF Robotics (3 roles)Latitude AI (21 roles)Leaficient (1 role)Machina Labs (9 roles)Matic Robotics (10 roles)Mine Vision Systems (4 roles)National Robotics Engineering (4 Roles)Near Earth Autonomy (3 roles)Neuraville (8 roles)Onward Robotics (2 roles)Outrider (32 roles)Plus Robotics (2 roles)Point One Navigation (1 role)Roboto AI (2 roles)Sanctuary AI (13 roles)Scythe Robotics (5 roles)Shift Robotics (9 roles)Slip Robotics (5 roles)SmyanSoft (2 roles)Stack AV (10 roles)Symbotic (117 roles)Tangram Vision (1 roles)TDK (3 roles)The AI Institute (25 roles)Titan Robotics (2 roles)Vayu Robotics (4 roles)Vecna Robotics (3 roles)Vention (31 roles)Whisker (36 roles)

From Sword Health to Stripe, these startups are likely — or definitely — not having IPOs this year

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Plaid founder Zack Perret in conversation with Ingrid Lunden at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. Ross Marlowe/TPG for TechCrunch

Image Credits: Ross Marlowe/TPG for TechCrunch

Last year’s investor dreams of a strong 2024 IPO pipeline have faded, if not fully disappeared, as we approach the halfway point of the year.

2024 delivered four venture-backed tech IPOs, Reddit, Astera Labs, Ibotta and Rubrik, in March and April, which made it seem like this year could spur the momentum investors had hoped for in 2023. But secondary investors and IPO lawyers recently told TechCrunch that despite these four successes, macro conditions like the upcoming presidential election and elevated interest rates, means the IPO market won’t fully reopen until 2025.

This year is still on track to be better than 2023, and we’ll likely see a few more public filings throughout the year Companies including Klarna and Shein have engaged with bankers and seem close the line, but their IPO timelines are still murky.

For the most part, it may be easier to decipher who isn’t going public this year rather than who is. Some CEOs of late-stage startups have directly stated they won’t IPO in 2024 while other companies have made financial moves that imply a public listing isn’t imminent. Here are some of the venture-backed tech companies we don’t expect to hit the public market this year.

Sword Health

Al-powered virtual physical therapy startup Sword Health recently signaled that it plans to IPO but not until at least 2025, ​​Sword founder and CEO Virgílio Bento told TechCrunch. The startup just held a tender offer for $100 million of employee shares, in addition to raising $30 million in new equity, at a $3 billion which is further proof that there is no rush to the public markets.

Plaid

Plaid’s CEO Zach Perret said the B2B fintech had no plans to IPO in 2024 at an Axios event in March. This echos what TechCrunch’s own Mary Ann Azevedo reported last October after the company hired a new CFO. Plaid was valued at $13.4 billion in 2021, its most recent valuation.

Figma

While design unicorn Figma hasn’t directly said it won’t IPO this year, its actions point in that direction. In May, the company held a tender offer to allow existing investors and employees to sell their Figma shares, if they please, on the secondary market. This type of liquidity event does not generally come right before the larger liquidity event of an IPO. The tender offer did value the startup at $12.5 billion which is lower than the $20 billion Adobe was willing to pay, but also higher than the last primary round valuation Figma received, $10 billion.

Stripe

Stripe also held a tender offer for its current and former employees earlier this year. In February, the fintech unicorn announced a secondary sale that valued the company at a whopping $65 billion valuation. While this is lower than the $95 billion valuation the company garnered in 2021, the company is building its valuation back up. This is a sign that Stripe will likely look to build that valuation back up a bit more before hitting the public market.

Databricks

AI cloud platform Databricks isn’t likely on the docket for 2024 either — perhaps to the dismay of the VC investors who last year predicted it as the first company to go public. The company raised a fresh $500 million in capital last fall in a Series I round that valued the startup at $43 billion. While companies don’t generally raise funding right before a public listing — that is part of the IPO process after all — the investors they did raise from this round from were crossover investors like T.Rowe Price. Those are not the kind of investors that tend to object to IPOs when market conditions improve are in good shape to be one of the first listings of 2025, if they choose.

Canva

Canva isn’t likely to go public until at least next year and the design startup may very well likely wait until 2026. Co-founder Cliff Obrecht, the husband of Canva CEO Melanie Perkins told Startup Daily, an Australian and New Zealand tech publication, in March that an IPO would be at least 12 months away, if not some time in 2026. Lucky for U.S. investors though, Obrecht also confirmed that when the startup does look to go public it will do so in the U.S.

TechCrunch is monitoring the late-stage startup and exit markets and will continue to update this article. If you have any tips or callouts to bring to our attention, contact me here: [email protected].

This post was originally published on May 24. It has since been updated on June 11 to include additional companies.

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

These 30 robotics companies are hiring

by with No Comment Tech

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch, with stock photos from Getty under license

It was a rough week. There are rarely good weeks for my industry, but this one felt especially dire. Perhaps because it hit close to home. Not that many publications, however, have been through the scale of what iRobot is facing. After a year-and-a-half of waiting, Amazon dropped its bid to purchase the Roomba-maker, citing mounting regulatory concerns.

As a result, iRobot is working through yet another round of layoffs. This one is significant, amounting to 350 people — nearly one-third of the company’s global workforce. Losing your job sucks, full stop. I’ve been through it a couple of times myself. It’s difficult to shake the feeling of shame that surrounds the experience.

It’s not your fault. That’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. A lot of people well above your pay grade made a series of wrong decisions, resulting in a final decision that finds you facing the consequences. There are infinite macro factors in play, as well, but that’s cold comfort when you don’t know where your next paycheck is coming from.

The good news is that if you work in robotics, you’re going to be okay. The economy has really been through the ringer over the past several years, but automation has thrived amid the chaos. If you’re based in a hot spot like Boston or Pittsburgh, there are always openings. If you’re elsewhere, the good news is that the pandemic has helped decentralize the work force.

If you’re looking for a new gig in robotics, here’s a good place to start.

 

Agtonomy (6 roles)

Amazon Robotics (10 roles)

Ambi Robotics (1 role)

ANYbotics (27 roles)

Autodesk (1 role)

Berkshire Grey (20 roles)

Bonsai Robotics (6 roles)

Boston Dynamics (10 roles)

BRINC (15 roles)

Burro (10 roles)

Chef Robotics (6 roles)

Exotec (177 roles)

Farm-ng (4 roles)

Figure (20 roles)

Formant (6 roles)

Four Growers (4 roles)

Freefly Systems (7 roles)

Guardian Agriculture (5 roles)

House of Design Robotics (4 roles)

Kewazo (2 roles)

Matic Robots (12 roles)

Monumental (10 roles)

Neya Systems (6 roles)

Picogrid (4 roles)

Polymath Robotics (1 role)

Roboto AI (1 role)

Skip (2 roles)

Stratom (3 roles)

Vention (15 roles)

WiBotic (3 roles)

 

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

These 32 robotics companies are hiring

by with No Comment Tech

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch, with stock photos from Getty under license

There’s no such thing as a future-proof career. This is something I consider nearly any time I write about advances in generative AI. Is there a sense in which I’m contributing to the propagation of my eventual replacement? Probably! But don’t worry, that’s a me problem. As for you, my roboticist friend, you’ll be just fine.

While the last several years have been rough on the tech industry at large, the robotics industry has largely been insulated. I say largely here because, in much the same way that future-proof careers aren’t a thing, no industries are wholly immune from job loss. The still-fresh example of iRobot continues to loom large.

But again, there is good news for you, the roboticist. For at least as long as I’ve been covering this industry, there’s been no shortage of open roles. These jobs always run the gamut, from huge corporations like Amazon to newer startups that have yet to announce their first product. Whether you’d prefer to opt for the relative security of a big company or the nimble innovation of a small team is entirely up to you.

In either case, there are plenty to chose from.

 

Agtonomy (7 roles)

Aigen (4 roles)

Amazon Robotics (139 roles)

ANYbotics (27 roles)

Automated Architecture Ltd (1 role)

Baubot (15 roles)

Beacon AI (2 roles)

Berkshire Grey (20 roles)

BHS Robotics (3 roles)

Chef Robotics (8 roles)

Clockwork (4 roles)

Dexterity (40 roles)

farm-ng (6 roles)

Forcen Inc. (5 roles)

Formic (7 roles)

Foxglove (4 roles)

GrayMatter Robotics (20 roles)

Hyphen Technologies Inc. (3 roles)

Kodiak (23 roles)

Matic Robots (13 roles)

Neya Systems (7 roles)

Nimble Robotics (8 roles)

Pudu Robotics (3 roles)

Reframe Systems (2 roles)

Renovate Robotics (1 role)

Sanctuary AI (11 roles)

Scythe Robotics (15 roles)

Skip (2 roles)

Symbotic (20 roles)

The AI Institute (20 roles)

Vayu Robotics (4 roles)

Vention (19 roles)

 

Apple-Vision-Pro-Display

Apple's Vision Pro is here: These are some of the most exciting indie apps and games

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Apple-Vision-Pro-Display

Image Credits: Apple

With the Vision Pro finally available, many consumers are curious about Apple’s AR/VR headset and the apps that come with it. While some are from companies you recognize — Disney+, Max, TikTok, Zoom, Reddit and others — there are plenty of independent developers that launched visionOS-optimized apps.

From spatial puzzle games to an app where you can view interior design projects in 3D, here are some of the visionOS apps from smaller developers that users can try out when their headset arrives. We’ll keep adding more to this list as they roll out.

Games

Soul Spire

Image Credits: Soul Assembly

Soul Spire is a spatial puzzle game exclusively developed for the Vision Pro. Players must free the friendly little ghosts trapped within color-shifting cubes.

Blackbox

Image Credits: Ryan McLeod

Blackbox is a unique spatial puzzle game where, instead of tapping or swiping, players must interact with puzzles — which appear as floating bubbles in the physical world — in other creative ways like singing and rotating, among other methods that don’t involve using their hands.

Ploppy Pairs

Image Credits: Tempuno/Michael Temper

Ploppy Pairs is a card-matching game that can be played with friends and family via SharePlay during FaceTime calls. You can also move, scale and rotate the cards so they appear on the coffee table in front of you or make them as big as your floor. Additionally, Michael Temper — the developer behind Ploppy — is launching a hidden-object game called “Where is Ploppy?”

Doodle Draw

Image Credits: Sindre Sorhus

Doodle Draw is a simple digital drawing pad where you can brainstorm ideas and use your creativity to sketch doodles with various brushes, pens, markers and colors.

Tiny Fins

Image Credits: Ditached GmbH

Tiny-Fins is a cute underwater game where you guide a school of fish through bubble rings, avoiding enemies like sharks and squid.

Loóna

Loóna is a relaxing spatial puzzle game where you have to assemble 3D dioramas that transform into animated scenes.

Wylde Flowers

Tend to your virtual garden right on the coffee table in your living room with Wylde Flowers. This cute farming sim is perfect for cozy gamers who want an Animal Crossing–like game with a magical twist, using spells to control the weather and shapeshifting into a cat to roam their farm.

Music

NowPlaying

Image Credits: ModumHQ

NowPlaying is for all your music knowledge and discovery needs. Search your favorite song to learn detailed information about the artists, see recommendations, experience 3D models of Grammys and other music awards, and even earn trophies that can be displayed on a virtual shelf. Thanks to its ShazamKit integration, it also can identify which song is playing in your environment, whether it’s from a vinyl record or a TV show playing in the background.

Djay

Image Credits: Algoriddim

DJ app and AI mixer Djay is aimed at re-creating the live DJ experience, featuring an interactive, hyperrealistic 3D turntable with controllable knobs and buttons, different futuristic-looking environments/backgrounds and a built-in music library.

Spool

Music video editor Spool allows you to create music videos and add visual effects as you perform by tapping visual pads.

AmazeVR Concerts

Image Credits: AmazeVR

AmazeVR Concerts lets you watch live-action 3D footage of your favorite artist in rendered virtual environments. Also available on Meta Quest, AmazeVR has previously hosted VR concerts with T-Pain, Megan Thee Stallion, Zara Larsson and Upsahl.

Spatial Symphony

Pinch gestures are the prime points for interactions with the visionOS interface. Spatial Symphony is a synthesizer controlled by hand gestures, acting as an instrument when you move your hands in the air. The developer said that the idea came from the theremin — a real-life instrument that generates sound as you move your hands in the air. There are controls for waveform, reverb, distortion, chorus, scale snapping and more. In addition, Spatial Symphony includes a three-dimensional waveform visualization, making it so the sound waves move toward you in 3D.

Animoog Galaxy

Image Credits: Moog

Animoog Galaxy offers a virtual synthesizer playing experience, blending generative visuals and audio with your environment. Using various physical gestures, you can play and modulate sounds as well as change the background from the over 120 presets available, including a futuristic sci-fi theme.

tappr.tv

Image Credits: deej

tappr.tv essentially lets you create a laser show with your fingers while listening to music. You can also choreograph dances and publish them for other users to enjoy.

Productivity

MindNode

Image Credits: MindNode

MindNode is a visual brainstorming app that helps you outline and organize notes in the form of thought bubbles that float around your virtual space.

Numerics

Image Credits: Cynapse

Numerics is a dashboard app that lets you bring your KPIs from over 90 tools like HubSpot and Google Sheets to view all your tasks in one place.

OmniPlan

Image Credits: The Omni Group

Project management tool OmniPlan introduces a dedicated app for the Vision Pro that allows you to visualize Gantt charts in a large window the size of your room. The Omni Group is also bringing its other apps to the headset, including OmniFocus, OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner.

JigSpace

Image Credits: JigSpace

JigSpace enables anyone to show their ideas with the use of 3D content, audio, video and text in spatial presentations. The company uses its collaboration with the Alfa Romeo F1 Team as an example (image shown above), bringing its life-size C43 car built to scale.

Focus

Focus is a task management app that applies the Pomodoro method. You can start and stop timers and track your progress on different tasks. You can also put a small focus timer window on the side while you browse other apps. The app is free for the first year on Vision Pro. After that, users can pay an annual fee of $39.99 to use it across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Image Credits: Meaningful Things

Focused Work

If you don’t want any of the task management stuff but just want to create timers, Focused Work is the app for you.

Image Credits: Focused Work

Things 3

Image Credits: Cultured Code GmbH & Co. KG

Things keeps track of all your to-do lists. You can interact using your eyes, hands, and voice, moving the windows around or hiding the sidebar to focus on one list at a time.

Parchi

Image Credits: Squircle Apps LLP

Parchi is a simple yet handy note-taking app that lets you transform a voice recording into a yellow sticky note.

Utilities

Tizipizi

Image Credits: Axel Le Pennec

Tizipizi is a time zone converter and world clock, letting you convert time to schedule a team meeting with staff worldwide. The app also allows you to compare availability with colleagues and personalize clocks by assigning it to a certain event or renaming it after someone who lives in that time zone.

Navi

Image Credits: Good Snooze/Jordi Bruin

Navi translates conversations in real time, allowing you to see live captions during FaceTime calls.

World Clock Widgets

Well, the name says it all. It’s world clock widgets for the Vision Pro.

Image Credits: World Clock Widgets (opens in a new window)

Education

Study Snacks

Study Snacks splits the words you are learning across the space and then you have to put them together to guess the right word.

Subjects

The Subjects app, which helps students with tracking classes, homework and grades, is launching its version for Vision Pro.

Image Credits: Subjects

Foxar

Foxar has 3D models to help students visualize the solar system, atoms and molecules, the human body and more.

Image Credits: Foxar

Insight Heart

If you’re studying to become a cardiac surgeon or if you’re just really curious about one of the most important organs in your body, Insight Heart lets you view a floating 3D human heart that can be dissected to see different parts such as the cardiac skeleton, myocardium (muscular tissue), and so on. It also shows representations of various heart conditions, such as heart attack and atrial fibrillation. This app can also be helpful for virtual lectures since the SharePlay button allows you to invite others to a multi-user session via FaceTime.

Other Fun Apps

Sky Guide

Image Credits: Fifth Star Labs

Sky Guide reimagined its constellation finder app for the Apple Vision Pro, giving you an immersive experience built for spatial computing so you can imagine you’re stargazing inside your home. The app also uses gaze detection to aim a laser pointer at planets and stars, as well as hand gestures to zoom in or pull constellations from the sky.

Planner 5D

Image Credits: Planner 5D

Planner 5D, a 2D/3D home improvement tool, is bringing its interior design features to the Vision Pro. Users can view 3D design projects, customize items using their eyes and hands, explore a large catalog of furniture and home décor, and experience renders and 360 panoramas in VR mode.

AR Art Projector

Da Vinci Eye’s AR Art Projector enables artists to project a transparent picture or stencil onto any surface so they can easily trace, sculpt or cut. For instance, they can use the app to project an image onto a wall to help sketch an outline for a large mural they’re painting in a room. There are also editing features like image filters and the ability to deconstruct any photo.

Elite Hoops

Image Credits: Elite Hoops

Elite Hoops, the basketball play creation app, launched its visionOS app so basketball coaches can draw up plays and defenses and see their drills come to life in their living rooms.

Juno

Since YouTube decided not to build an app for the Vision Pro, indie developer Christian Selig, best known for the third-party Reddit client Apollo, made one instead. The $5 Juno app uses YouTube’s embed API to load videos in a web view and offers controls for playback. (Read more about Juno here).

Image Credits: Christian Selig

Söka

Söka is a goal tracker app where you can make different bucket lists and track them. It lets you do things like marking countries that you have visited on a virtual map, browsing photos to add to your goal with Unsplash integration and discovering new activities.

Image Credits: Söka

Art Universe

Image Credits: Prepd

Art Universe is a spatial app where you can view artwork made by real artists and place them on the walls of your home. There are over 100 artists featured on the app, ranging from genres like abstract and surrealism to impressionism, minimalism and more. You’re able to swipe through an artists’ portfolio and even purchase available artwork.

Callsheet

Image Credits: Limitliss LLC

Since many streaming services have launched native apps for Vision Pro, having something like Callsheet could be useful when trying to look up details about movies and TV shows. Using data from The Movie Database, Callsheet lets you easily look up information about the cast and crew. There’s also an option to hide character names, episode titles, and thumbnails in order to avoid spoilers.

Meditation

Zenitizer

Vision Pro is launching with Apple’s Mindfulness. But if you are looking for other apps, Zenitizer has features like meditation timers, daily tracking and immersive sounds for your session.

Lungy: Spaces

Lungy: Spaces provides a range of interactive breathing exercises, allowing you to listen to relaxing music, tap floating objects and play virtual instruments.

Odio

Image Credits: Odio

Wellness app Odio delivers immersive spatial soundscapes — artistic animations paired with ambient sounds designed to help you escape from everyday distractions. Odio also allows you to share your favorite soundscape sessions through SharePlay as well as experience 3D audio using head-tracking-enabled devices like AirPods Pro and Beats Fit Pro.

Endel Realms

Endel offers an audiovisual experience where you can interact with gesture-controlled particles of light that can resemble shooting stars, a warm sunset, or rays. Also, the soundscapes adapt in real time, Endel explains on its website. For instance, they can react to inputs like time, weather, your heart rate and location.

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

These 74 robotics companies are hiring

by with No Comment Tech

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch, with stock photos from Getty under license

It’s tough out there — and yet, doing my semi-regular jobs post always gives me hope. Seems every time I post one of these, the number increases. At 74 companies, this is undoubtedly the largest list we’ve made, by a wide margin. That means more work for me in putting this post together, but if it helps a few folks find some work, it was definitely worth it.

I love hearing stories from folks who got hired by clicking on a link in this post, so please drop me a note over on LinkedIn if that applies to you. As always, good luck. You got this.

1X Technologies (23 roles)
Advanced Construction Robotics (4 roles)
Aescape (5 roles)
Aethon (5 roles)
Agility Robotics (5 roles)
Allvision (2 roles)
Ambi Robotics (2 roles)
ANYbotics (25 roles)
Apptronik (16 roles)
Astrobotic (23 roles)
Atomic Machines (2 roles)
Aurora (40 careers)
Baubot (10 roles)
Bear Robotics (13 roles)
BHS Robotics (8 roles)
Bloomfield Robotics (5 roles)
Boxbot (3 roles)
Carnegie Robotics (1 role)
Cepheid (4 roles)
Chef Robotics (15 roles)
Civ Robotics (5 roles)
Collaborative Robotics (10 roles)
Covariant (20 roles)
Dexterity (42 roles)
Edge Case Research (1 role)
Ekumen (3 roles)
Enchanted Tools (50 roles)
Exotec (17 roles)
Eye-Bot (4 roles)
Forcen (4 roles)
Formant, Inc. (4 roles)
Formic (8 roles)
Formlogic (12 roles)
Four Growers (4 roles)
Foxglove (2 roles)
Fulfil Solutions (15 roles)
Gecko Robotics (18 roles)
GrayMatter Robotics (11 roles)
Hellbender (6 roles)
Johnson & Johnson Med Tech (1 role)
Keybotic (2 roles)
Matic Robots (10 roles)
Medra (3 roles)
Mine Vision Systems (2 roles)
Near Earth Autonomy (4 roles)
Neocis (15 roles)
Neubility (1 role)
Neuraville (8 roles)
Neya Systems (9 roles)
Nimble Robotics (8 roles)
Nuro (40 roles)
Onward Robotics (2 roles)
Plus.ai (3 roles)
Polymath Robotics (2 roles)
Pudu Robotics (2 roles)
Pyka (10 roles)
Reliable Robotics (36 roles)
Roboto AI (1 role)
Robust AI (14 roles)
Sanctuary AI (14 roles)
Sakar Robotics (6 roles)
Scythe Robotics (11 roles)
Seegrid (10 roles)
Sphinx (5 roles)
Stack AV (40 roles)
Sunnybotics (2 roles)
The AI Institute (19 roles)
Titan Robotics (3 roles)
UnitX (8 roles)
Vecna Robotics (7 roles)
Vention (20 roles)
Viam (4 roles)
Volley Automation (10 roles)

These 81 robotics companies are hiring

by with No Comment Tech

Two industrial robot arms, one holding a sign that says "We're hiring, join our team"

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch, with stock photos from Getty under license

When I attended Automate in Chicago a few weeks back, multiple people thanked me for TechCrunch’s semi-regular robotics job report. It’s always edifying to get that feedback in person.

While it’s true that the industry has seen ups and downs in terms of both funding and hiring in recent years, there’s never been a more exciting time to be in robotics. Whether it’s established categories like manufacturing and fulfillment or emerging verticals like humanoids and home robotics, things are moving faster than ever.

What strikes me the most when compiling these lists, however, is not just the fact that there are more openings every time. It’s also the breadth of categories that robotics currently touches. It’s a great time to be involved in the space, because in the near future, robotics is going to impact every aspect of our lives.

Advanced Construction Robotics (1 role)Aescape (7 roles)Allvision (2 roles)Ally Robotics (2 roles)Ambi Robotics (1 role)Ansys (30 roles)ANYbotics AG (15 roles)Anyware Robotics (6 roles)Apptronik (14 roles)Aqua Satellite (1 role)Astrobotic (15 roles)Atomic Machines (16 roles)Aurora (87 roles)Baubot (8 roles)BEA Sensors (2 roles)Beacon AI (6 roles)Berkshire Grey (20 roles)Bloomfield Robotics (2 roles)Bonsai Robotics (8 roles)Burro/Augean Robotics (5 roles)CapSen Robotics (2 roles)Carbon Robotics (1 role)Carnegie Robotics (1 role)Chef Robotics (14 roles)Civ Robotics (3 roles)Collaborative Robotics (14 roles)CreateMe Technologies (2 roles)Deeplocal (3 roles)Dexory (6 roles)Digital Dream Labs (4 roles)Edge Case Research (2 roles)Engineered Arts (1 role)ESTAT Actuation (1 role)Exotec (16 roles)Eye-Bot (3 roles)Farm-ng (2 roles)Formic (10 roles)Formlogic (12 roles)Four Growers (5 roles)Foxglove (2 roles)Gather AI (4 roles)Gecko Robotics (20 roles)Glacier (2 roles)GrayMatter Robotics (20 roles)HEBI (1 role)Hellbender (6 roles)Identified Technologies (5 roles)InOrbit (1 role)iotamotion (5 roles)KEF Robotics (3 roles)Latitude (21 roles)LightYX (2 roles)Mapless AI (3 roles)Mine Vision Systems (4 roles)National Robotics Engineering Center (2 roles)Neya Systems (7 roles)Onward Robotics (4 roles)Outrider (25 roles)PaintJet (5 roles)PassiveLogic (10 roles)Pipedream (5 roles)Plus (10 roles)Plus One Robotics (1 role)Point One Navigation (5 roles)Pudu Robotics (2 roles)Robust AI (13 roles)Sanctuary AI (19 roles)Scythe Robotics (9 roles)SeeGRID (30 roles)Slip Robotics (8 roles)ST Engineering Aethon (5 roles)Stack AV (24 roles)Stratom (8 roles)Swarmbotics AI (2 roles)TDK Qeexo (8 roles)Titan Robotics (3 roles)Vecna Robotics (6 roles)Vention (21 roles)Volley Automation (12 roles)WindBorne Systems (12 roles)Wootzano (2 roles)