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For years, Austin has made headlines as an evolving tech hub where startups, large companies and investors alike have flocked to set up a presence.

But as 2022 closes, the Texas capital is in the news for a very different, tragic reason — being home to the sudden death of a startup founder at the hands of a police officer.

On November 15, inKind co-founder Rajan “Raj” Moonesinghe was fatally shot outside of his south Austin home in what his family and colleagues describe as a senseless accident that could have been avoided.

The 33-year-old had returned from a two-week trip to discover that things looked out of place in his home, according to his brother, Johann. The affluent neighborhood had recently become a target for criminals — to the point that one homeowner had felt so unsafe after being robbed that she moved out. The new owners proactively hired 24-hour-security to stand guard in front of their house.

A few weeks prior, Moonesinghe had purchased an assault rifle to protect himself should a burglar attempt to enter his home. In what would turn out to be a sadly prophetic warning, his neighbor and inKind COO El Khattary had cautioned, “A brown man with a big gun doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.”

It turns out he had reason to be concerned.

Moonesinghe had reportedly talked earlier with his neighbor across the street, expressing concern that someone might be in his home, and retrieved his rifle as he looked around his property. With his front door open, Moonesinghe yelled for whoever might be in his home to get out. He also shot his rifle into the home. The neighbor’s security guard called 911.

According to Moonesinghe’s brother, Ring camera footage showed police arriving at his brother’s property with no sirens or lights, with one of the officers fatally shooting Raj in the back.

“The police didn’t announce themselves or give him time to put the gun down,” Johann told TechCrunch. (A video of the incident can be seen here. Warning: It may be inappropriate for some viewers.)

The officers said they performed life-saving measures on Raj, before he was ultimately pronounced dead at a local hospital.

It was two days later, though, before Raj’s family knew what happened to him. The police at first held a press conference, saying that “a white man” had been shot but did not disclose details.

“We were super confused,” Johann said. “We knew the cops were there, and we couldn’t get a hold of Raj. At first we thought it was him, and then we thought it wasn’t. They said they killed a white man who had been shooting up the neighborhood. We didn’t know what to think.”

The incident took place at 12:30 am on Tuesday, November 15. But the Moonesinghe family claim they were not notified by police of Raj’s death until the evening of Thursday, November 17.

“Raj was awesome, absolutely phenomenal. He just went out of his way to help other people,” Johann told TechCrunch. “This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me and my family. The hardest part for me is that it was avoidable.”

“We’re lucky that we have a very strong family, incredible friends and super supportive people around us,” he continued. “It‘s not only hard to lose somebody you love, but it’s doubly, triply hard because of the way the police handled it.”

TechCrunch reached out to the Austin Police Department (APD) and was referred to a December 1 press release statingthe department continued to investigate the shooting.

At the top of the release, Raj was described as a deceased Middle Eastern male. In the body of the release, the APD said the 911 caller had described a man with a gun “as a white male, wearing a grey robe and dark pants.”

In that release, the police department identified Officer Daniel Sanchez as the individual who fatally shot Raj. Sanchez is reportedly on administrative leave pending the department’s investigations. In its statement, APD said that it would conduct two concurrent investigations into the incident — a criminal investigation conducted by the APD Special Investigations Unit in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, and an administrative investigation conducted by the APD Internal Affairs Unit, with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight.

After moving to Austin about five years ago, inKind this year leased 22,000 square feet of office space that was Facebook’s first office in Austin. Business is going well, according to Johann. The startup, which launched in 2016 by funding restaurants by purchasing large amounts of food and beverage credits upfront, has raised $27 million in growth equity and $130 million in debt over the past year and has about 74 employees. It’s operating at a $48 million run rate, Johann said.

“What makes me really sad is that startups are very, very hard, and Raj worked so hard for years and years. And now that the company is really on a rocket ship, he’s not here to enjoy that,” he added.

Johann told TechCrunch he also feels “guilty” because of the decision several years ago to move the startup he helped co-found with his brother, Andrew Harris and Miles Matthias to Austin from Washington, D.C. An early investor in Uber and Twilio, Johann said he was hoping to relocate to a state without taxes. Seattle and Miami were also considered.

“Obviously the shooting was not my fault,” Johann told TechCrunch. “But I don’t believe this would have happened in another place. I’m gay and brown, grew up in LA, and lived a long time in D.C. The only time I have ever experienced racism was when I moved to Austin.” While the brothers’ family is from Sri Lanka, the pair were born in Los Angeles.

Khattary told TechCrunch he views the city’s lack of diversity as “a weird thing” considering its so-called progressive reputation, and called police treatment of people of color “disheartening.” For example, during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, 19 officers were accused of seriously injuring protestors. Earlier this year, the officers were indicted for using excessive force.

“Clearly, there’s something in Austin and Black Lives Matter in 2020 highlighted a lot of it,” he told TechCrunch. “This is a nationwide problem but Austin definitely has more than its fair share. In this case, the officer perceived him [Raj] as a major threat and didn’t give him a chance.”

The contrast between the city’s progressiveness and a population that is mostly “very hospitable” and incidents such as this one can be hard for outsiders to grasp, Johann said.

“I don’t think there’s overt racism. It’s more unconscious biases, with people making judgements around others in a split second,” he added. “And that’s really problematic. I do believe that if Raj were white, he probably wouldn’t have been killed.”

Austin’s lack of diversity is not a new problem. As TechCrunch reported in March, the percentage of Black residents, for example, steadily decreased over time to an estimated 7% in 2020. Many of Austin’s neighborhoods resemble those seen in Silicon Valley, with largely white and Asian residents and far fewer Hispanic and Black people.

Johann doesn’t want his brother to have died in vain. While he says he currently doesn’t “feel safe” in Austin and that it’s hard for him to consider asking other people to move here, he also knows that they can’t just move inKind.

Instead, he’s hoping to help change Austin “to make it a place that’s safe for everyone.”

“I hope that the Austin police even start the dialogue, give us some answers and explain to us what they’re going to do differently so this doesn’t happen again,” Johann said.

He also wants to potentially raise capital that would go toward specifically investing in companies that through data, improved security cameras and other tech could possibly help prevent what happened to Raj from happening to others.

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Fatal police shooting of startup founder puts Austin’s diversity problem in the spotlight by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch

Twitter is rolling out a feature that shows how many people view your tweets, similar to features on platforms like YouTube that show how many times a video has been viewed.

“Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times a tweet has been seen! This is normal for video,” Elon Musk wrote in a tweet. “Shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem, as over 90% of Twitter users read, but don’t tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.”

Already, Twitter has a feature that shows more detailed analytics about your tweets than just likes, retweets and quote tweets. If you click “view Tweet analytics” under something you posted, you can see how people interacted with your tweet in ways like clicking to view your profile or expanding the details of a quote tweet. You can also see the total impressions, which is defined as “Times this Tweet was seen on Twitter.”

What’s different about the new views feature is that now, views will be visible to everyone, not just the owner of the account.

Not all users have access to this feature just yet, as it takes time for a roll out to hit all users. Reverse app researcher Nima Owji shows what the feature will look like in practice, adding that it looks like this only works for tweets posted after December 15.

Twitter’s product rollouts have been hit or miss — remember less than a week ago when you could briefly get banned for tweeting the link to your Instagram? That didn’t last long. Over the last few days, Twitter thankfully seems to be prioritizing less divisive (or lowkey tyrannical) feature updates. On Wednesday, Twitter updated its cashtag system so that you can see the price of a stock or cryptocurrency simply by typing something like $ETH or $GOOG into the search bar.

Twitter now shows how many people view your tweets by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

Bonds are having a “meme moment” on Reddit, Bloomberg reported.

A caveat first: The trend is not on par with WallStreetBets and its meme stock frenzy. The r/bonds subreddit forum only has some 8,000 members not 13 million. But the fact that laypeople are discussing bonds is still a noteworthy development for an asset class that never raised much enthusiasm from retail investors — or from anyone, to be honest.

The Exchange explores startups, markets and money.

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At their core, bonds are IOUs from either governments or companies — except that these IOUs can be traded (the BBC has a good Econ 101 explainer on the topic.) But to keep things simple, let’s say bonds are debt. And debt is boring, right?

Well, to most people, making money is never boring. When inflation rates are high and stock markets are volatile, this means looking for new sources of yield and diversification. We already looked into how this created tailwinds from alternative assets, such as passion investments.

Bonds aren’t exactly alts — the once-golden 60/40 portfolio rule used to recommend owning 60% of stocks and 40% of bonds. But it is fair to say that fixed-income offerings such as bonds are enjoying renewed interest, with Goldman Sachs wonderingearlier this month if it was “time to switch from stocks to bonds.”

Amid renewed interest, startups are changing how bonds are traded by Anna Heim originally published on TechCrunch

Here comes the New Year and with it, resolution season. Why not resolve to do whatever it takes to build a stronger startup? Here’s one easy, fun and effective step. Tune in — for free — to the Cross Chain Coalition Web3 Demo Day on January 11, 2023.

Watch as we livestream more than 12 up-and-coming founders — spanning web3 infrastructure, DeFi, NFT and gaming — as they pitch to an audience (that’s where you come in), including influential execs, founders and investors. These influential folk will be in the audience to judge the pitches — and who knows what opportunities the founders might find with that kind of exposure?

We’re thrilled to tell you that one of those judges will be none other than Mary-Catherine (MC) Lader, the COO at Uniswap Labs. Before we get into MC’s background, here’s how you’ll benefit from tuning in.

In addition to learning about some of the newest projects happening across the world’s fastest-growing industry, watching other founders pitch is an incredibly valuable experience. It often reveals ways that you can tighten and improve how you present your own startup.

Okay, back to MC. Uniswap Labs develops foundational web3-based products and applications. As COO, Lader oversees the company’s growth efforts, strategic initiatives and operations. Previously, she held various leadership roles at BlackRock. She served as the global head of the firm’s digital sustainability business, chief operating officer of its digital wealth business, and leader of strategic fintech investments and blockchain activities.

Lader began her career as an investor at Goldman Sachs in its Special Situations Group. She received her J.D. and M.B.A. degrees at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, respectively, and her B.A. at Brown University.

Join us on January 11 and see for yourself what the brilliant minds behind 12 up-and-coming projects are building. The Cross Chain Coalition Web3 Demo Day, which takes place on January 11, 2023, is a joint production between the CCC and TechCrunch.Register now for this free online event and reserve your seat at the virtual table.

Uniswap Labs’ COO will judge pitches at the CCC Web3 Demo Day by Lauren Simonds originally published on TechCrunch

Reliance has backed Philadelphia-based AI and robotics startup Exyn, the Indian conglomerate disclosed in a stock exchange filing on Thursday, making further inroads in startups globally.

Reliance Strategic Business Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has acquired a 23.3% stake in Exyn for $25 million, the Indian firm said.

The Indian firm’s investment is part of the lead investment in the Series B funding of the Philadelphia startup, which operates a robotic autonomy for complex, GPS-denied environments.

The AI startup “commercialises the highest level of aerial drone autonomy in the world, Autonomy Level 4 (AL4.) Exyn’s robots are able to autonomously navigate in previously inaccessible environments without a prior map, existing infrastructure (GPS, communications, etc.), or an operator in the loop. Subsequently, Exyn has established itself in a dominant position in the mining vertical with this technology and expanded into construction, warehouse, and government use cases including search & rescue and reconnaissance.”

Reliance, which operates India’s largest retail chain as well as the top telecom operator in the nation, said it will find synergies with the startup on the Indian conglomerate’s initiatives surrounding drone, industrial safety, security and robotics areas, while accelerating “Exyn’s product and technology development across multiple application areas and commercialization.”

The startup had a turnover of $4.32 million, $1.83 million and $0.16 million in CY 2021, CY 2020 and CY 2019 respectively, the Indian firm added.

Reliance buys 23.3% stake in US-based AI firm Exyn by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Visual effects artists, especially the ones that work on Marvel films, are in more demand than ever and rarely get enough credit. Nearly a dozen VFX houses contribute to one Marvel project. Perception, the Emmy-nominated design and VFX lab that has worked on 33 Marvel films and series, was assigned the challenging task of designing most of the technology seen in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

We spoke with the team at Perception about their contributions to the movie, which includes holograms, sentient AI, HUDs (head-up displays), and interfaces, along with the captivating main-end-on title sequence and the emotional tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman (who plays Black Panther) at the beginning of the movie. Perception worked on approximately 90 shots in total, the company told us.

(Heads up that this TechCrunch story contains movie spoilers.)

According to VFX supervisor Geoffrey Baumann, around 2,233 shots in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” required VFX, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Conceptualizing the visionary technology seen in the film was probably no easy feat. The African nation of Wakanda has by far the most advanced tech in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). For instance, the fictional country has “vibranium” as its main resource, a metallic ore that has energy-manipulating properties, absorbs sound and can be utilized for bullet-proof gear.

Luckily, Perception has been in the industry for 20 years and played an important part in the first “Black Panther” film, designing, developing, animating and rendering Wakandan technology, such as Kimoyo beads, a cutting-edge communication device.

“Since the production of the first ‘Black Panther’ film, our team has been deeply involved with the world of Wakanda,” said Eric Daly, Director of Production at Perception. “Marvel Studios asked us to return for this film to design the characters’ technology and create the main-on-end title sequence due to our deep-rooted connections with Wakanda.”

When creating the main-on-end title sequence for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Perception wanted it to be “tied into the intense emotions and somber yet joyful tone at the end of the film,” Daly added.

The title sequence plays before the end-credit scene. It begins with a beautiful shot of Shuri’s funeral ceremonial robe igniting into flames. The cloth burns slowly and eventually reveals the Black Panther suit.

Throughout the film, the Princess of Wakanda, Shuri (played by Letitia Wright), is grieving the loss of her brother, T’Challa, a.k.a Black Panther. Her mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), suggests that Shuri burn her funeral clothing in a ritual. Shuri tells her, “It won’t be just the clothes I burn. It will be the world.” The anger that Shuri has at that moment, contrasted with when she’s in the acceptance stage of grief at the end, is captured perfectly in Perception’s sequence.

“The title sequence for this movie is so emotionally resonant. It allows Shuri to have this moment where she can sit in her grief and mourn her brother, but it’s also for the audience to grieve the loss of Chadwick Boseman. It’s for the creators to grieve the loss of their friend. There were a lot of layers to the sequence that made it very emotionally powerful,” Doug Appleton, Chief Creative Director at Perception, said to TechCrunch.

Boseman, the actor who played Black Panther, died of Stage 4 colon cancer in 2020. Instead of recasting Boseman, who had been such an inspiration for fans– particularly those in the Black community—Marvel decided to incorporate the devastating death of the Black Panther star into “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

In addition to the powerful main-on-end title sequence, Perception also created the opening animation of the Marvel logo, which includes clips of Boseman’s character. The animation was also featured in the first “Black Panther” movie, which can be streamed on Disney+.

Christian Haberkern, Art Director and Cinematographer at Perception filmed the main-on-end title sequence with a Panavised Sony Venice 2 camera with Panavision Auto Panatar Super Speed Anamorphic Lens, which was provided by Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Director of Photography (DP) on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Loki.”

(Panavision is a proprietary name for a type of wide-screen camera lens. Anamorphic Panavision lenses allow filmmakers to capture a wider field of view.)

“It is rare that we get to work so closely with the DP and use the actual camera and the lenses that they used. So that’s something very unique that we don’t always have the opportunity to do,” Appleton said.

Sony’s Venice 2 camera can cost up to roughly $55K and is among the top choices of digital cameras for acclaimed DPs because of its high degree of image quality.

The camera Haberkern used, in particular, was custom-built for films that work with fire. Haberkern noted just how “insane” it felt to film with such highly advanced equipment. “The lens is specialized to make the light and fire have this unique bokeh,” he said.

“Fire is unruly and unpredictable, so we had to invent ways to try to control the flames while we filmed,” said Greg Herman, Creative Director at Perception. “One of our methods was using butane fuel to coat the fabric and direct the flame to ignite a certain way. With this, we were able to create a simulation of a flame so we could capture precise and detailed shots.”

Appleton chimed in, saying, “While shooting the sequence, we made sure to get as much footage as possible because we didn’t know exactly what pieces would go where, and when working with something as unpredictable as billowing fabric and fire we wanted to embrace the unexpected moments that we could never have planned for.”

Several applications and software were used for the editing process. For the majority of the shots, the team used Premiere and then After Effects for final color. Meanwhile, the shot with the Black Panther suit was CG, which was accomplished in Cinema 4D, composited in Nuke, and then transferred into After Effects, Appleton explained.

In terms of other scenes in the film, Perception had a part in shaping the entire story from start to finish, collaborating with the director Ryan Coogler, executive producer Nate Moore, as well as the filmmakers, writers and VFX team for a total of two years. Perception claims to have developed “every facet of each piece of technology you see on screen.”

In the opening scene, we see Shuri in the lab trying to recreate the heart-shaped herb to save her brother, T’Challa, who is dying. Shuri interacts with a helix structure, touching LED balls that glow red and green as she gives Griot, the sentient AI, various commands. The physical form of the helix was done by another VFX studio, Rise, however, Perception helped form that idea, plus all the other tech like Griot, the head-up displays, and other graphics.

Perception also helped design Riri’s HUD for when she’s fighting in her superhero suit. Riri (played by Dominique Thorne) is an M.I.T student and brilliant innovator known as “Ironheart” in the comics. The co-founders of Perception, Jeremy Lasky and Danny Gonzalez, pointed out to us that “Iron Man 2” was the first big feature they worked on with Marvel. So, this likely inspired Riri’s Ironheart suit.

Another cool idea that Perception conceptualized was the hydro bombs that the Talokans used as weapons throughout the movie. Marvel wanted it to look like “a lake compressed into a ball,” Appleton explained to TechCrunch. “So we did a little bit of work on that.”

Perception was founded by Lasky and Gonzalez in 2001. The New Jersey-based VFX studio has worked on technology and title sequences for many Marvel titles, such as “The Avengers,” “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Doctor Strange,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Black Widow,” “WandaVision,” “Loki,” “Moon Knight,” and lots more. Perception is also confirmed to be working on the upcoming films “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” premiered in theaters on November 11. If you didn’t get the chance to see it yet, the movie will most likely stream on Disney+ sometime in January, but no premiere date has been officially announced yet. The movie grossed over $770 million at the box office worldwide. It also scored two Golden Globes nominations.

VFX studio Perception takes us inside the tech of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

Compared to last year’s holiday season, major maritime trade routes are operating relatively smoothly, while shipping rates are returning to Earth and ports are moving cargo at a steady clip.

Now that’s all good news for businesses and consumers worried about inflation and talk of recession, but those improvements are misleading.

A deeper look reveals global shipping speeds aren’t back to pre-pandemic levels, and serious challenges persist in supply chains that foreshadow even bigger problems. If we don’t act and improve shipping technologies, the logjams we’ve had to endure for the past two years will become commonplace.

New season, new problems

Businesses are still taking too long to ship their goods from Asia to the United States or Europe. While it’s better than the record delays we saw during the height of the pandemic, it still takes 69 days for businesses to ship goods from China to U.S. ports, nearly double the time it took before the pandemic. This is happening against the backdrop of a slower economy, and shipping company Maersk is forecasting a 2% to 4% drop in world demand for containers this year.

A host of other problems, both new and familiar, are plaguing global logistics in 2022 such as volatile fuel prices, protracted labor negotiations and worker shortages.

Meanwhile, businesses large and small are signaling problems. Retail giants such as Target and Wal-Mart are struggling with inventory build-ups ahead of the holiday season, as many companies were hit by a surge in imports that suddenly arrived after shipping delays eased up. This will squeeze profits and cause unrest among investors while creating pain for small and medium businesses, which are finding it hard to reserve space at warehouses already overrun with goods from big retailers.

Holiday shipping is easier this year, but the tech is still lagging by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch

This holiday season, consider giving the gift of security with an ad blocker.

That’s the takeaway message from an unlikely source — the FBI — which this week issued an alert warning that cybercriminals are using online ads in search results with the ultimate goal of stealing or extorting money from victims.

In a pre-holiday public service announcement, the FBI said that cybercriminals are buying ads to impersonate legitimate brands, like cryptocurrency exchanges. Ads are often placed at the top of search results but with “minimum distinction” between the ads and the search results, the feds say, which can look identical to the brands that the cybercriminals are impersonating. Malicious ads are also used to trick victims into installing malware disguised as genuine apps, which can steal passwords and deploy file-encrypting ransomware.

One of the FBI’s recommendations for consumers is to install an ad blocker.

As the name suggests, ad blockers are web browser extensions that broadly block online ads from loading in your browser, including in search results. By blocking ads, would-be victims are not shown any ads at all, making it easier to find and access the websites of legitimate brands.

Ad blockers don’t just remove the enormous bloat from websites, like auto-playing video and splashy ads that take up half the page, which make your computer fans run like jet engines. Ad blockers are also good for privacy, because they prevent the tracking code within ads from loading. That means the ad companies, like Google and Facebook, cannot track you as you browse the web, or learn which websites you visit, or infer what things you might be interested in based on your web history.

The good news is that some of the best ad blockers out there are free, and can be installed and largely forgotten.

If you’re looking for a widely recommended ad blocker, uBlock Origin is a simple, low-memory ad blocker that works for most browsers, like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Opera, plus the extension is open-source so anyone can look at the code and make sure it’s safe to run.

You can also get content blockers for Android and iOS, which block ads from loading on your device.

Of course, you can switch your ad blocker off any time you want, and even allow or deny ads for entire websites. Ads are still an important part of what keeps the internet largely free and accessible, including TechCrunch, even as subscriptions and paywalls are increasingly becoming the norm.

While you’re here, if an ad blocker sounds right for you, consider these other web browser extensions and features that make browsing the web safer and more private.

Even the FBI says you should use an ad blocker by Zack Whittaker originally published on TechCrunch

Okta has confirmed that it’s responding to another major security incident after a hacker accessed its source code following a breach of its GitHub repositories.

The identity and authentication giant said in a statement on Wednesday that it was informed by GitHub about “suspicious access” to its code repositories earlier this month. Okta has since concluded that hackers used this malicious access to copy code repositories associated with Workforce Identity Cloud (WIC), the organization’s enterprise-facing security solution.

“As soon as Okta learned of the possible suspicious access, we promptly placed temporary restrictions on access to Okta GitHub repositories and suspended all GitHub integrations with third-party applications,” Okta said in a statement.

When asked by TechCrunch, Okta declined to say how attackers managed to gain access to its private repositories.

Okta says there was no unauthorized access to the Okta service or customer data, and products related to Auth0 — which it acquired in 2021 — are not impacted. “Okta does not rely on the confidentiality of its source code for the security of its services. The Okta service remains fully operational and secure,” Okta said.

The company said that since it was alerted to the breach, it has reviewed recent access to Okta software repositories, reviewed all recent commits to Okta software repositories, and rotated GitHub credentials. Okta said it has also notified law enforcement.

Okta did not explicitly say if it has the technical means, such as logs, to detect what, if any, of its own systems were accessed or what other data may have been exfiltrated.

The company’s latest incident was first reported by Bleeping Computer earlier this week, prior to Okta’s announcement.

Earlier this year, Okta was targeted by the now-notorious Lapsus$ extortion group, which gained access to the account of a customer support engineer at Sykes, one of Okta’s third-party service providers, and posted screenshots of Okta’s apps and systems. Okta experienced a second compromise in August this year after it was targeted by another hacking campaign that breached more than 100 organizations, including Twilio and DoorDash.

Okta confirms another breach after hackers steal source code by Carly Page originally published on TechCrunch

Milk is polarizing: To some, it’s a refreshing beverage that pairs well with cookies. For others, it’s a cursed liquid that causes tummy troubles. Even with the shelves of alt milks crowding grocery store coolers these days, the U.S. milk industry is a $15 billion category with 90% penetration, according to John Talbot, the CEO of the California Milk Advisory Board.

However, the industry is not known for sustainability or breakthrough creations. Milk processing plants focus on one thing — do it well and do it efficiently — but don’t do small runs or get involved in product development or innovation. It’s taken a while for the industry to realize that there’s a need for ingenuity, but it’s now embracing fresh ideas, Talbot said.

He believes some of that has to do with the fact that the milk category is declining for a number of reasons: Fewer children, the biggest milk drinkers, are being born, and more people are choosing faster breakfasts over sitting down for a bowl of cereal. That’s not to mention the aforementioned number of alt milks out there. But it’s not just dairy alternatives — water plays a big role in people’s drink choices, too, Talbot added.

Seeing a need for innovation, the California Milk Advisory Board turned to those who do it best: startups.

The organization has been hosting the Real California Milk Excelerator for the last four years to find interesting use cases for dairy and to connect entrepreneurs with processors so that there is engagement on both sides.

“We now rely on ideas coming in from these entrepreneurs to help processing plants through the innovation process,” Talbot added.

The future of milk is … milk? by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch