Estonia-based startup Modash has raised a $12 million Series A led by henQ, a Dutch VC firm that prides itself in “funding the odd ones.” And what’s odd about Modash, according to CEO Avery Schrader, is that its team “has a really strong opinion in a space that nobody really has much faith in anymore.”
The space in question is influencer marketing. Like competitors CreatorIQ and Upfluence, Modash helps brands like Farfetch discover people who can promote their message. But instead of focusing on content creators with big followings, Modash scrapes open data to let its clients find matches among the long tail of the 250 million creators it says it lists (unless they opt out.)
This means brands are being connected with relatively niche content creators through Modash’s platform. But — the founders’ theory is — these are individuals who can pack a marketing punch as their smaller follower bases may be more engaged with, and put a higher store on, what they’re saying.
Essentially, it’s a flipping of the usual influencer marketing script which could help circumvent some of the cynicism that’s sprung up around highly paid influencers shilling products. Not having creators sign in also makes it easier to scale, in a space where pure marketplaces have struggled.
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This is why Modash remains bullish on the creator economy — even as Schrader understands why others might not be. “The whole VC class has already placed one or two bets that have already gone down the drain in the space,” he told TechCrunch.
“[But] people miss the point that the creator is the atomic unit of the internet, and [creators] will just keep making stuff,” he went on, explaining why he and his team believe in the marketing power of content creators and in the market opportunity of helping them monetize.
“Whatever you immediately think of when you think ‘influencer’… I think it really has a negative connotation… Whatever you don’t consume is what you think of an influencer as, and then whatever you consume, whatever is in your own YouTube search history, that’s who we support,” he added. “It’s like the small creators doing the weirdest stuff, talking about the things they really love.”
The 26-year-old Canadian fits the bill himself; originally from Nova Scotia where he tinkered with videos and forums, he made his way to Estonia after reading that it was becoming “the Silicon Valley of Europe.” There, he soon found himself recording podcast episodes with the Baltics technorati, while trying his hand at influencer marketing for clients like Estonian scale-up Bolt.
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The client side of the problem is key to Modash. The startup’s vision is that brands want an end-to-end platform that lets them source creators, but also analyze campaigns, manage payments, and more. That’s what it monetizes, with plans starting from $199 a month up to a custom enterprise tier.
With Bolt and an Estonian agency among its first clients, Tallinn proved to be a great launchpad for Modash. Whether or not the comparison with Silicon Valley stands, network effects were clearly at play and several Estonian founders became Modash’s first mentors and angels, some of whom have returned to join its latest round too.
The capital city is also where Schrader met his co-founder and CTO, Estonian software engineer Hendry Sadrak (on the right in the picture above) and the rest of their founding team. “Even today, 40% or 50% of the company is in Estonia,” said Schrader. “Lots of them from Bolt, Pipedrive, Transferwise… — the Estonian mafia.”
If Schrader sounded unsure about the exact percentage of local staffers it’s a reflection of how much the team has grown over the last few months. “We were like 25 [people] in the beginning of the year, we’re now 60, and we’ve set a cap for next year that we won’t go beyond 99, because it’s really important to keep the team as small as we can.”
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Many of Modash’s new hires will focus on data engineering, as AI-enabled discovery features are a big part of its product roadmap.
In addition, the startup plans to recruit people for customer-facing roles in North America to be closer to its clients there.
Schrader himself was back in Canada when he talked to TechCrunch, and he told us he plans to spend at least half his time in the country going forward. International expansion and an increased focus on e-commerce will be the startup’s priorities leading up to its Series B round, he said.
Over the last three days, 20 startups participated in the incredibly competitive Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt. These 20 companies were selected as the best of the Startup Battlefield 200 and competed for a chance to take home the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000. After three days of intense pitching, we have a winner.
The startups taking part in the Startup Battlefield had all been hand-picked to participate in our startup competition. All the companies presented a live demo in front of multiple groups of VCs and tech leaders serving as judges for a chance to win $100,000 and the coveted Disrupt Cup.
After hours of deliberations, TechCrunch editors pored over the judges’ notes and narrowed the list down to five finalists: Gecko Materials, Luna, MabLab, Salva Health, and Stitch3D.
These startups made their way to the finale to demo in front of our final panel of judges, which included Navin Chaddha (Mayfield), Chris Farmer (SignalFire), Dayna Grayson (Construct Capital), Ann Miura-Ko (Floodgate), and Hans Tung (Notable Capital).
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We’re now ready to announce that the winner of TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2024 is . . .
Winner: Salva Health
Six years ago, while researching for a college entrepreneurship competition, Valentina Agudelo identified a troubling gap in breast cancer survival rates between Latin America and the developed world, with women in her native Colombia and the rest of the continent dying at higher rates due to late detection. She realized that breast cancer is highly treatable when diagnosed early, yet many Latin American countries have large rural populations lacking access to mammograms and other diagnostic tools. So Agudelo and her two best friends decided to create Salva Health, a theoretical portable device that would detect breast cancer early.
It looks fake, or at least like a good illusion: There’s Gecko Materials founder Capella Kerst dangling a full wine bottle from her pinky finger, the only thing keeping it from smashing to pieces being the super-strong dry-adhesive her startup has brought to market. But it’s no trick. It’s the result of years of academic research that Kerst built on by inventing a method to mass-manufacture the adhesive. Inspired by the way real-life geckos’ feet grip surfaces, the adhesive is like a new Velcro — except it only needs one side, leaves no residue, and can detach as quickly as it attaches. It can do this at least 120,000 times and, as Kerst noted in a recent interview with TechCrunch, can stay attached for seconds, minutes, or even years.
These two companies follow in the footsteps of Startup Battlefield legends like Dropbox, Discord, Cloudflare and Mint on the Disrupt stage. With over 1,500 alumni having participated in the program, Startup Battlefield Alumni have collectively raised over $29 billion in funding with more than 200 successful exits.
While we all wait for the reveal of Nintendo’s next console, the company has once again announced something very different. This time, it’s a mobile app called Nintendo Music, which lets users listen to classic gaming tunes from Nintendo games spanning the last few decades, including Splatoon, Animal Crossing, and The Legend of Zelda. It’s only available to Switch Online subscribers, and it’s launching today on both iOS and Android.
The app features curated playlists themed around games, moments, moods, or characters, though you can also build your own. It also supports streaming as well as downloading tracks for offline listening. Curiously, it includes a spoiler feature that lets you filter out tracks that, somehow, might spoil a game you haven’t played or finished yet. And if you just want some Hyrule white noise, the app also lets you “loop songs or extend select tracks to 15, 30, or 60 minutes for uninterrupted listening.”
Tony Stark may rely on AI to help build and pilot his Iron Man armor, but actor Robert Downey Jr. will go after any executive thinking to use AI to replicate him for a role. Downey made his feelings clear on a new episode of the “On With Kara Swisher” podcast, where he discussed AI, deepfake technology, and his antipathy toward any effort to recreate him with AI, even after he passes away.
Downey isn’t too concerned about future urges at Marvel Studios to insert an AI replica of him into future films without his permission. The temptation is obvious since Downey’s most famous role kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe and he is even returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday film. Amusingly, both characters are well known for their use of AI and advanced technology, with Doom, in particular, sending out an endless array of robotic duplicates with AI versions of his mind and personality to carry out his bidding. Still, he trusts that the leadership of the studio won’t betray him.
“And to go back to the MCU, I’m not worried about them hijacking my character’s soul because there’s like three or four guys and gals who make all the decisions there anyway. And they would never do that to me with or without me,” Downey said on the podcast.
Host Kara Swisher pointed out that it’s more about what will happen after he passes away, but Downey had an answer for that: “Well, you’re right, And, I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec,” he declared.
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“You’ll be dead,” Swisher countered, to which Downey quickly riposted: “But my law firm will still be very active.”
Eternal battle against AI
The Oscar-winner is hardly alone among actors in being wary of AI duplicates, an issue critical to the strike and eventual deal made by the recent Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes this year. Downey’s view may be bolstered by law thanks to a bill introduced by California legislators prohibiting the unauthorized replication of deceased actors.
On the other hand, some actors seem fine with having AI take up their iconic roles as long as they and their eventual estate approve and are compensated. For instance, James Earl Jones agreed to let Disney use his voice for future Darth Vader projects before his recent passing. His contract details how and when his AI voice clone may be used.
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Jones isn’t the only celebrity allowing AI companies to replicate their voice or face. Meta scored deals with many celebrities, including John Cena, Keegan Michael Key, and Kristen Bell, to voice its Meta AI assistant. ElevenLabs did the same with Deepak Chopra for its Reader App. , and reached a deal with the estates of James Dean, Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland, and Sir Laurence Olivier to let it add AI versions of their voices to the app. Not every performer has the resources to push back against the potential AI deepfakes that could be produced. Hence, AI’s place in Hollywood was a key sticking point during the strike.
Downey has been immersed in questions of AI and art thanks to his recent turn on Broadway in McNeal. The drama, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, sees Downey play a famous author battling AI’s takeover of creative projects and how artists and audiences should grapple with the implications of the technology. It’s not too dissimilar to what Downey said in the interview, including criticizing the way AI developers sometimes hint or outright proclaim that AI is a key to saving creative industries. ChatGPT is no Ultron, but Downey very much opposes some of what AI might do to actors, writers, and other creators just as much as Iron Man fought the murderous AI on the big screen.
Artificial intelligence can help accurately map and track penguin colonies in Antarctica by analysing tourist photos.
“Right now, everyone has a camera in their pocket, and so the sheer volume of data being collected around the world is incredible,” says Heather Lynch at Stony Brook University in New York.
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Haoyu Wu at Stony Brook University and his colleagues, including Lynch, used an AI tool developed by Meta to highlight Adélie penguins in photographs taken by tourists or scientists on the ground. With guidance from a human expert, the AI tool was able to automatically identify and outline entire colonies in photos. This semi-automated method is much faster than doing everything manually because the AI tool takes just 5 to 10 seconds per image, compared with a person taking 1 to 2 minutes, says Wu.
The team also created a 3D digital model of the Antarctic landscape using satellite imagery and terrain elevation data. By identifying landscape details in the tourist pictures, the researchers could place the photographer, then the penguin colony, accurately within the 3D model.
This transformation of ground photos into a bird’s-eye view allows researchers to track how penguin colonies change in location and population size over time – which could prove especially helpful in remote regions of the world where aerial drone or aircraft surveys are done infrequently. Such tracking is important because Adélie penguins are considered a sentinel species, meaning shifts in their populations are an indicator of climate change. The AI-assisted technique can also harness historical imagery to track phenomena such as glacier changes that “occur very slowly and may only be evident by looking across decades of time”, says Lynch.
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“Tracking of penguin colony population sizes and locations is important,” says Annie Schmidt at Point Blue Conservation Science, a nonprofit based in California. But it is just a “first step” towards a better understanding of the reasons for those population changes, she adds.
“This could be useful, especially as many penguin colonies are only rarely assessed by the research community,” says Peter Fretwell at the British Antarctic Survey. But researchers remain divided over the impacts of Antarctic tourism – the two large Adélie penguin groups evaluated by the researchers are often visited by tour ships on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula.
“Some scientists are worried that, by encouraging tourists to do citizen science, we are justifying their trips – which will be used by the cruise companies to sell more berths, fuelling the expansion,” says Fretwell. “Others think that there is very little on-the-ground impact from the industry, as it is well regulated.”
It’s important to keep your teeth and gum healthy, and if you’re the sort of person who has trouble keeping up with daily cleaning, or brushing your teeth in general, electric toothbrushes are an excellent option. Not only do the make brushing and cleaning your teeth easier, some of them have some very advanced features that are akin to some of the best smart home devices. To help save you a little bit extra, we’ve gone out and searched for some of the best electric toothbrush deals we could find and collected them for you below.
Innovation doesn’t happen in the world of toothbrushes often, but the Laifen Wave is an exception. The Wave is the world’s first electric toothbrush to merge ultra-wide 60-degree oscillations and high-frequency vibrations for enhanced brushing performance. The fully customizable settings allow you to adjust oscillation range, speed, and vibration strength. You’ll never have to worry about battery life with magnetic fast charging. A flight mode makes it ideal for travel, and the premium antibacterial brush heads inhibit bacterial growth. It’s a super advanced toothbrush you’ll love. For a limited time get 20% off a bundle that includes both the Laifen Wave and SE Lite hair dryer.
Oral B
Oral-B 3D White Battery Toothbrush — $8, was $9
For convenience, an electric toothbrush with a rechargeable battery is useful, but if you just need a quick solution for occasional use, the Oral-B 3D White Battery Toothbrush is cheap and effective. It comes with its own AA battery with replacements easily sourced. Its brush head has rubberized bristles while there’s an action cup that helps to whiten teeth by removing surface stains. It cleans with 14,000 strokes per minute so it’s speedy while highly capable of clearing away debris and reaching between teeth.
Oral-B 3D White Battery Toothbrush — $8, was $9
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Quip
Quip 360 Electric Oscillating Toothbrush — $40, was $50
Quip 360 is the ultimate package. It comes with everything you need including a reusable handle, a replaceable brush head, a countertop stand, a charging cable, and a travel case. But also the 30-day charge doesn’t hurt. You can use it for virtually an entire month without needing to charge it. While brushing, you’re guided thanks to an LED pressure sensor and vibrations. That way you always get the perfect clean with up to 9.630 quiet oscillations per minute. A built-in two-minute timer ensures you’re brushing long enough, while the 30-second pulses give you an extra clean. An automatic shut-off turns it off and conserves energy when you’re done.
When you need to travel, toss the brush, attachments, and USB charger in the travel case and go. You should know this is a subscription-based option — though you can buy the toothbrush separately with a one-time price, if you want. The Refill plan ensures you get steady deliveries of the replaceable brush heads. That way you’re always using a clean brush. With your first subscription order, you’ll also get anticavity toothpaste for free. Normally $50, it’s available today for $40, saving you $10. That’s a great deal and we love this brush.
Quip 360 Electric Oscillating Toothbrush — $40, was $50
Colgate
Colgate hum Smart Electric Toothbrush Kit — $30, was $70
Promising whiter teeth in just one week for many people, the Colgate hum Smart Electric Toothbrush Kit is ideal if you want some guidance. It has app support and Bluetooth connectivity so it can guide you to brush certain areas and better. A choice of three modes means you can choose the vibration level that suits you including normal, sensitive, and deep clean. As you brush, you earn points towards rewards giving you a sense of achievement. It also has a 2-minute timer feature, plus its battery lasts for you up to 10 days.
Colgate hum Smart Electric Toothbrush Kit — $30, was $70
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Oral B
Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush — $30, was $40
The Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush is a great budget-priced electric toothbrush. It has a precision clean brush head that removes 100% more plaque than a manual toothbrush. Gentle on teeth and the gums, its 2D cleaning action oscillates and rotates to break up and remove plaque with a choice of brush modes. There’s daily clean and sensitive depending on what you need on the day. At all times, a built-in quadrant timer breaks up the two minutes you should be brushing into four 30-second intervals so you know when to move to a different part of your mouth. With all the essentials, it’s hard to fault the Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush at this price.
Oral-B Pro 500 Electric Toothbrush — $30, was $40
Usmile
Usmile P10 Pro smart toothbrush – $37, was $49
One charge lasts for up to six months. That’s impressive. Even more so is the fact that this oscillating electric brush offers 34,000 brush strokes per minute for incredibly effective cleaning. The air-cushion brush head and bristles adapt to the shape of your teeth while absorbing excess pressure. Meanwhile, the smart ring four-zone brushing tracking helps ensure you never miss a spot while cleaning. Follow the smart ring to get the spots you missed the first go-around.
Additional features include USB-C charging, excellent on-the-go use with the long battery life, and extra brush heads — you’re golden.
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Usmile P10 Pro smart toothbrush – $37, was $49
Philips Sonicare
Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 5100 Rechargeable Toothbrush — $80, was $100
Simple yet effective this electric and rechargeable toothbrush features multiple brushing modes. Swap effortlessly between Clean, White, and Gum Care options, with the appropriate brushing styles for each. A built-in pressure sensor helps protect your gums and teeth helping you ensure you’re not pushing or brushing too hard. Moreover, a built-in two-minute interval timer tells you exactly how long you should be brushing so there’s no guesswork involved.
It comes with a charging stand, a gum care brush head, and a travel case — perfect for when you need to take your brush on the go. It will also beep to notify you when it’s time to change your brush head for a clean, sanitary brush.
Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 5100 Rechargeable Toothbrush — $80, was $100
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Oral-B
Oral-B iO Series 5 — $97, was $120
If you want a really advanced electric toothbrush for under $100, this deal on the Oral-B iO Series 5 is the way to go. Not only does it have five modes you can pick from, Daily Clean, Whiten, Super Sensitive, Sensitive, and Intense, but it also has a pressure sensor to tell you if you’re pressing too hard or too soft. There is even an AI which helps optimize your brushing style to get the cleanest and healthiest teeth possible. Just be aware that you’ll need to have a My Bust Buy Plus subscription to get the discount
Philips makes some of the best electric toothbrushes around so the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart 9700 Rechargeable Toothbrush is a worthwhile investment. It uses sonic technology to drive fluid between your teeth much like a water flosser, while also still brushing too via the several brush heads included. Able to brush at up to 31,000 brush strokes per minute, it’s incredibly effective at cleaning thanks to this two-pronged form of attack. A digital display gives you insight into battery life with a long-lasting lithium-ion battery useful for those who travel frequently or simply hate to plug anything in. Smartphone app support helps coach you about coverage, along with ideal pressure and scrubbing.
The XR (Extended Reality) segment is set to become a core part of Android in the future. Lately, the evolution of Google’s mobile OS has been taking leaps and bounds with AI-powered developments. The next step could be integrating immersive experiences based on glasses or headsets. Google is preparing for this future by adding an “XR headset” category to install apps from the Play Store.
Google integrates “XR headsets” platform into the Play Store
Android is available in multiple forms and platforms. You can find Android powering TVs, smartwatches, tablets, and, of course, smartphones. The Play Store is present in all versions of the OS. However, not all apps are available for all platforms. Google allows developers to make a particular app available only for smartphones, for example. This prevents the installation of apps that are not properly adapted for a particular device.
As spotted by Android Authority in the latest Play Store update, there’s a new “XR headset” device category to install apps on. The source discovered the integration of the new platform into the Play Store’s remote app installation feature. This makes it clear that Google is preparing its app store for the arrival of Android-based XR hardware products.
Preparing for the arrival of the XR headset/glasses from Google and Samsung
Google and Samsung have been working together for a while now on the development of the Android-based XR platform. The collaboration could also result in an XR headset for the consumer market. That said, recent reports suggest that the project has shifted to the development of XR glasses. Whatever the case, the only thing that is certain is that it will be powered by a version of Android tailored for this type of device.
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Samsung and Google aim to avoid repeating Apple’s mistake with the Vision Pro. Both companies seem to be working on a product whose price segment will be more similar to that of the Meta Quest headsets. This decision seems to be a good one, as Meta’s VR headsets have proven that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get high-quality immersive experiences.
Speaking of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company has been looking for some time to integrate the Quest platform into the Play Store. For now, there is no indication that Google is doing this. However, the inclusion of the “XR headset” category in the Play Store could facilitate potential negotiations between the two companies.
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