Tech
HomeBoost’s app will show you where to save on your utility bills
A few years ago, Selina Tobaccowala’s daughter started leaving post-it notes around the house, telling everyone to “turn off the lights” and such.
Tobaccowala had just sold her last startup, Gixo, to OpenFit and was looking for a new challenge. “I saw the kids and thought, ‘Let me see if there’s something there on the sustainability and climate side,’” she told TechCrunch. “There had to be something more than like turning our lights off.”
Without a background in climate science or hardware engineering, she wasn’t sure where to start. So Tobaccowala turned to something she knew well: surveys.
“Given my love of surveys, I surveyed a ton — a ton — of customers,” said Tobaccowala, who used to be president and CTO of SurveyMonkey.
What she found was that people were struggling to figure out how to lower their utility bills.
“When we talked to consumers, we heard the same thing over and over again: They get that email that says, ‘Hey, you spend more money than your neighbors,’” she said. “They were sort of stuck with what to do about it.”
Tobaccowala co-founded HomeBoost to help people conduct their own home energy assessments. The company was part of the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
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HomeBoost’s assessment process begins by mailing customers a BoostBox, a small kit that includes an infrared camera, a blacklight and a link to an app that takes customers through the process. As people walk around their homes, the infrared camera shows them where cold (or hot) air is seeping into their homes; the blacklight tells people which lights could be upgraded.
Using data from the scans, the app then automatically generates a report which suggests the most cost effective upgrades, including rebates based on where the person lives.
In many parts of the country, utilities offer a similar service. Utilities, which are incentivized to reduce end users’ energy use, often work with energy auditors to survey people’s homes to identify ways to trim their consumption. But the quality of those services can be very uneven, Tobaccowala said.
“We talked to a bunch of consumers who’d gotten home energy assessments done, and there this feeling that was like ‘all they did was try to sell me up an upgraded HVAC,’” she said.
The HomeBoost app is cheaper and faster than an auditor, and it helps people feel more in control of the process, Tobaccowala said.
HomeBoost charges customers $99, which is about a quarter the cost of a traditional, in-person assessment. It is also working with utilities, which cover some or all of the cost for customers. The startup has signed deals with Central Hudson, Omaha Public Power District, and more recently Avista. Omaha Power, for example, pays for all but $19 of the cost, while Central Hudson will cover the entire cost if homeowners check out the BoostBox from a public library.
But not every homeowner wants to complete the survey process themselves, and not every auditor is a pushy salesperson. Dedicated auditors can spend between two and 10 hours surveying homes, collating data, and building reports, Tobaccowala said. For that, HomeBoost has developed a version of its app for professionals, allowing them to serve more customers.
The company is also testing a feature that will link homeowners with contractors who can follow through on the upgrades outlined in the report. For contractors, it’s another source of new business, and it allows them to get information on a project before even setting foot inside a home.
By bringing consumers, utilities, and contractors together, Tobaccowalla hopes that HomeBoost can ultimately deliver on the climate front, too. “It’s a very unique situation where everybody’s aligned to actually lower the utility bill, which in the net result is improvement on the climate,” she said.
Tech
Spotify ventures into physical book sales, adds new audiobook features
While Spotify users face yet another price hike, book lovers have some exciting developments to look forward to that could help cushion the blow.
Spotify announced several updates for its audiobook business on Thursday, notably its expansion into physical books. Users in the U.S. and the UK will soon be able to purchase physical copies of their favorite audiobooks directly through the app, marking a significant pivot for the once digital-only platform.
The company also introduced two features designed to make the audiobook experience smoother and more flexible, including a new tool called “Page Match” that lets users scan a page from a physical book to instantly transition to that spot in the audiobook.
Additionally, “Audiobook Recaps”—a previously iOS-only feature—is coming to Android devices in the spring. This feature provides bite-sized recaps tailored to the last section users stopped listening to.
Spotify’s decision to sell physical books through its app positions it as a competitor to major booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The company also recognizes that many readers still value physical books, and by offering both print and digital formats, Spotify is trying to turn itself into a one-stop shop for book lovers.
Spotify has partnered with Bookshop.org on the new offering, an online marketplace that supports local, independent bookstores. This partnership is great news for indie booksellers, as every purchase made via Spotify will directly benefit local book communities.
The ability to purchase physical books will roll out this spring and appear on audiobook pages in the app as a button labeled “Add to your bookshelf at home.” Clicking it takes users to Bookshop’s website, which handles the pricing, inventory, and shipping.
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To bridge the gap between formats, Spotify is also launching a feature called Page Match, which is currently available to premium subscribers and will roll out to all audiobook users by late February. The feature was initially spotted by Android Authority last month.
Spotify’s new Page Match feature lets users scan a page from a physical or e-book using their phone camera. The tool analyzes the page content and directs users to the exact spot in the audiobook. It’s powered by a combination of Spotify’s in-house and third-party computer vision and image scanning technologies.
When users want to switch to the audiobook, they can select the “Scan to Listen” button and click the “Scan to Read” button to return to the physical book, making it easy for users to pick up where they left off, whether they’re reading at home or switching to audio while on the go.
Page Match is currently available for most English-language titles, with plans for future expansion. There are now more than 500,000 titles on the platform.
In the two years since Spotify first introduced audiobooks, the platform has experienced significant growth. The company reported in October that the number of users listening to audiobooks rose 36% over the past year, and listening hours increased 37%. Plus, more than half of Spotify’s 281 million premium subscribers have engaged with an audiobook.
Spotify is expected to release its fourth-quarter earnings results February 10.
Tech
Google’s subscriptions rise in Q4 as YouTube pulls $60B in yearly revenue
Alphabet-owned YouTube’s subscription and ad revenue is trending upwards. The company on Wednesday said it now has 325 million paying users across Google One and YouTube Premium, up from 300 million three months earlier.
YouTube reported ad revenue increased 9% to $11.38 billion in the fourth quarter, but missed analysts’ average estimates of $11.84 billion. YouTube’s overall revenue, including ads and subscriptions, came in at $60 billion in the full financial year, up 17% compared to a year earlier.
The company said that YouTube’s $8 per month, ad-free premium tier is seeing strong traction, but didn’t specify any numbers. It added that YouTube Premium also saw strong growth.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the company plans to flesh out its subscription offerings, especially to capitalize on its growing YouTube TV userbase. “We’ll soon launch new YouTube TV plans, bringing more choice and flexibility to subscribers with over 10 genre-specific packages,” he said.
YouTube Shorts recorded 200 billion average daily views in the quarter, the same as last year, but in some countries, ads on short-form video earn more than in-stream ads on a per-hour basis, the company said. Pichai also highlighted podcasts as a growing format, with viewers watching 700 million hours of podcasts from their TVs in October.
YouTube said that its AI features are seeing traction, and more than 1 million channels are using its AI creation tools. The company said that 20 million consumers used its Gemini-powered content discovery tool in December.
Tech
SNAK Venture Partners raises $50M fund to back vertical marketplaces
SNAK Venture Partners announced Wednesday the close of its oversubscribed $50 million debut fund, anchored by the investment firm Pritzker Group (founded by Illinois governor JB Pritzker and his brother, Tony).
SNAK founders Sonia Nagar and Adam Koopersmith worked at the firm and helped lead investments in companies like the auto marketplace Backlot Cars and TicketsNow (exited to Ticketmaster). The duo decided to break out on their own and, earlier this year, launched their firm to back digital marketplaces.
“It felt like the timing was right and there was support within the firm to go do this,” Nagar said.
The vision is that there is still so much to digitize, like in supply chain and construction, and this is the moment to strike because even holdout industries are more comfortable adopting new technology as fintech architecture advances.
“If you look at the biggest venture wins over the last decade,” she said, pointing to the likes of Uber, Instacart, and Airbnb, “those are five of the top 10 outcomes in venture.” As in those companies that raised billions from investors, went on to IPO, and returned millions to them.
“Most of those wins were in consumer, which tends to be faster-moving than large enterprises,” Nagar continued. “We think there’s a ton of white space to double down and focus on B2B marketplaces.” Looking specifically for the categories that haven’t yet digitized.
The firm has already invested in six companies, including Big Rentals and Repackify, focused on equipment rental and packaging logistics, respectively. Nagar said the firm hopes to overall write seed checks into at least 20 companies, at $1 million to $2 million a pop. She said they hope to deploy the entire fund within the next 3 to 4 years.
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Though many new funds are struggling to raise capital (and capital remains concentrated at the top), Nagar said she and Koopersmith were able to lean on their backgrounds when wooing LPs.
Nagar previously helped launch Amazon apparel back in 2009, and was head of mobile at RetailMeNot. Koopersmith, meanwhile, spent 20 years at Pritzker Group and serves on the board of various marketplace companies. At the same time, Nagar said that without Pritzker’s support, it would have been quite hard to raise this fund, especially in last year’s environment.
Other LPs in their fund include the State of Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund and executives from other marketplace companies, like Favor Delivery and RetailMeNot.
Nagar said the firm is also location-agnostic, recognizing that the still-hidden marketplaces may not be found only in Silicon Valley and New York City. “We’re finding these overlooked founders in places where maybe other funds aren’t looking,” she said.
SNAK is itself based in Chicago, which she said some LPs have questioned. “People perceive that as a disadvantage; we view it as an advantage,” she continued. “We can get to everybody very fast.”
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