Startups / TechCrunch
Google briefly showed a section on the new Google Messages page claiming that Apple is set to roll out Rich Communication Services (RCS) support for iPhones this fall. This indicates that the iPhone maker is likely to extend RCS support in with the upcoming iOS 18 update. The page, spotted first by 9to5Google, had details [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Byju Raveendran, the founder of embattling edtech group Byjus, has made a last-ditch attempt to placate disgruntled investors, informing them that the board is weighing an offer of renounced shares to prevent dilution of their holdings ahead of validating a recent rights issue that cuts the Indian startups valuation by 99%. In an email to [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
X.ai, Elon Musks AI startup, has revealed its latest generative AI model, Grok-1.5. Set to power social network Xs Grok chatbot in the not-to-distant future (in the coming days, X.ai writes in a blog post), Grok-1.5 appears to be a measurable upgrade over its predecessor, Grok-1 at least judging by the benchmark results and [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
The bigger concern for Bumble is user fatigue. People aren't downloading dating apps as enthusiastically as they once were, which means less subscription revenue. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Nearly everything else that's being built on or enabled by blockchains replaces something that's already being done fairly well. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
A week after finding itself at the business end of a landmark lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice, Apple is staunchly denying any parallels between itself and Microsoft in the 1990s. Its a comparison into which the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland leaned heavily in last weeks filing. While portions of the United [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
On Tuesday, the BBC reported that Uber Eats courier Pa Edrissa Manjang, who is Black, had received a payout from Uber after racially discriminatory facial recognition checks prevented him from accessing the app, which he had been using since November 2019 to pick up jobs delivering food on Ubers platform. The news raises questions about [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Video game giant Activision is investigating a hacking campaign thats targeting players with the goal of stealing their credentials, TechCrunch has learned. At this point, the hackers specific goals apart from stealing passwords for various types of accounts are unclear. Somehow, the hackers are getting malware on the victims computers and then stealing [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Even though X seems to be working on this NSFW Communities feature, that doesn't mean it'll come to fruition. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
We last checked in on Zaver, a Swedish B2C Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) provider in Europe, when it raised a $5 million funding round in 2021. The company has now closed a $10 million extension to its Series A funding round, bringing its total Series A to $20 million. Total investment to date stands at $30 million. [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. This is the last edition of this newsletter. I want to personally thank each of you for reading this and if you would like to stay in touch, you can follow me on X here for future updates. With that said, the show goes on. This [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
YouTube is launching members only Shorts, allowing creators to share short-form videos exclusively to their paying viewers. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
This morning, Skyflow announced that it has raised a $30 million Series B extension led by Khosla Ventures. The deal is interesting on a number of fronts, including the rounds structure and how Skyflow has been impacted by the growth of AI. The new capital comes after Skyflow expanded its data privacy business to support [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
The government's reward for information now extends to ALPHV's affiliates, which claimed responsibility for a massive weeks-long healthcare cyberattack. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
All parents know that raising kids is expensive. Especially in those early years when they quickly outgrow clothes or toys leaving parents on a never-ending cycle of buying new stuff when the old stuff is hardly worn or used. Enter Kidsy, a new Chicago-based e-commerce startup which aims to give consumers greater access to discounted [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Ibotta's recent partnerships with brands like Walmart, Shell and Exxon helped the company reach profitability. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
As the election cycle heats up, Instagram and Threads will be cooling down the amount of political content entering many users feeds. These changes, which limit the reach of political content from accounts users dont already follow, are enacted by default. If youre already wondering how to get that kind of content back into [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and former CEO of crypto exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, was sentenced to 25 years in prison by Southern District of New York (SDNY) Judge Lewis Kaplan, about five months after he was found guilty on all seven counts related to fraud and money laundering during his trial. When [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Two weeks ago, TechCrunch broke the news that LinkedIn was getting into games, helping users deepen relationships through puzzle-based interactions. And on Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that the Microsoft-owned social network was experimenting with short-form videos. Its as if LinkedIn is targeting a whole new type of user one caught in limbo somewhere between two [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
In the wake of Universal Music Groups (UMG) public spat with TikTok, which saw the label pulling its full catalog from the video app earlier this year, the company is doubling down on its deal with Spotify. On Thursday, UMG announced an expansion of its strategic relationship with the streaming music service that will focus [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Wonderschool, a startup that provides software and support to help individuals and local governments spin up childcare businesses, has acquired EarlyDay, which operates an early childhood educator marketplace. TechCrunch has covered Wonderschool since its infancy, including both of its seed rounds and its Series A (led by Andreessen Horowitz). Terms of the deal were not [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Google.org, Googles charitable wing, is launching a new program to help fund nonprofits developing tech that leverages generative AI. Called Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI, the program is to be funded by $20 million in grants and include 21 nonprofits to start, including Quill.org, a company creating AI-powered tools for student writing feedback, and World Bank, [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Matter Venture Partners will invest in between 15 and 20 companies with the new fund in the area of hard tech. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Increasingly, the AI industry is moving toward generative AI models with longer contexts. But models with large context windows tend to be compute-intensive. Ori Goshen, the CEO of AI startup AI21 Labs, asserts that this doesnt have to be the case and his company is releasing a generative model to prove it. Contexts, or [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Google announced today that it will soon roll out on-device AI-powered features such as recording summaries and smart replies on the Pixel 8. These features will be based on Gemini Nano, a small-sized model Google released last year, primed to run on devices. The company said that Summerizer in Recorder and Smart Reply in Gboard [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
With TikTok potentially poised for a U.S. ban, YouTube is touting how well its own TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts, is paying off for creators. The company on Thursday said its short-form video platform now averages over 70 billion daily views and over 25% of channels in YouTubes Partner Progam monetize their videos through revenue-sharing on [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Amazon announced Thursday the launch of its new app for Amazon One, its contactless palm recognition service that allows customers to hover their palm over a device in order to purchase from select places, including over 500 Whole Foods Market stores, Amazon stores, and more than 150 third-party locations. Instead of signing up for Amazon [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
ChowNow acquired Cuboh, a point-of-sale platform that consolidates all orders from delivery apps into one place. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
The clock has almost run out! With just 48 hours left, this is your final opportunity to secure early-bird savings for TechCrunch Early Stage 2024. Dont miss out on this chance to join industry leaders, experts, and fellow founders for a day packed with invaluable insights, networking opportunities, and actionable advice to fuel your startup [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Pelago Health, Y Combinator-backed telehealth company that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help treat people with tobacco, alcohol and opioid addictions, said Thursday it had raised a $58 million Series C round. The recent funding, which brings its total raised to $151 million since being founded in 2017, comes two and a half years [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Metaview integrates with apps, phone systems, videoconferencing platforms and tools like Calendly and GoodTime to automatically capture the content of interviews. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
While super{set} is backed by external investors, some of its capital comes from founding managing partners Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya, who previously co-founded Krux and sold it to Salesforce. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Its long-term goal is to make more efficient semiconductors with a lower carbon footprint, while supporting what its CEO refers to as he electrification of society, starting with transportation. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Blueground, which operates a global network of furnished apartment rentals for stays of a month or more, has raised $45 million, on sales of $560 million. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Enterprises and other large organizations have long been a lucrative and obvious target for cybercriminals, but in recent years thanks to more sophisticated breach techniques and the rise of AI small and medium businesses are now also very much on the map. Now, Coro one of the startups building tools specifically for [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Have you noticed the massive gap between consumer and business apps on your phone? While consumer apps are both beautifully designed and easy to use, business apps are simply painful to use. A European startup is developing a suite of B2B apps that are designed for mobile first because phones have become the main computers [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Byjus secured favorable outcomes in two court hearings Thursday, paving the way for the embattled edtech startup to move ahead with the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for Friday. The National Company Law Tribunal refused to stay on Thursday Byjus planned EGM to increase the authorized share capital for the $200 million rights issue. The matter [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Climate-tech VC Satgana has reached a final close of its first fund, which targets to back up to 30 early-stage startups in Africa and Europe. The VC firm reached a final close of 8 million ($8.6 million) following commitments from family offices and high-net-worth individuals, including Maurice Lvy of the Publicis Groupe, and Back Market [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
StealthMole, an AI-powered dark web intelligence startup that specializes in monitoring cyber threats and detecting cybercrime, announced Thursday that it has raised a $7 million Series A funding round. The Singapore-headquartered startup with an R&D office in South Korea will use the fresh capital to establish additional R&D centers and support more commercial uses of [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
By any benchmark, Accel is among the top venture firms in India. With nearly two dozen Indian unicorn startups, including several category leaders, Accels track record speaks for itself. But yet, the partners leading the firms early-stage accelerator program, called Atoms, are uncharacteristically introspective about their learnings and the changes they have been implementing to [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Robots made their stage debut the day after New Years 1921. More than half-a-century before the world caught its first glimpse of George Lucas droids, a small army of silvery humanoids took to the stages of the First Czechoslovak Republic. They were, for all intents and purposes, humanoids: two arms, two legs, a head [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Amazon invested a further $2.75 billion in growing AI power Anthropic on Wednesday, following through on the option it left open last September. The $1.25 billion it invested at the time must be producing results, or perhaps theyve realized that there are no other horses available to back. The September deal put $1.25B into the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek on Tuesday signed Senate Bill 1596 into law, joining California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts and Minnesota in a growing list of states embracing a right to repair for citizens. The law is set to go into effect January 1. The bills coauthors Janeen Sollman and Representative Courtney Neron took inspiration from Californias [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
LinkedIn is testing a new TikTok-like short-form video feed, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Wednesday. With this new test, LinkedIn joins numerous other popular apps that have launched their own short-form video feeds following TikToks rise in popularity, including Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Netflix. The feed was first spotted by Austin Null, a strategy [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
UK officials unveiled a hologram statue and threw a big party to celebrate the UK as the third $1 trillion tech economy. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Fisker temporarily lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments as it scaled up deliveries, leading to an internal audit that started in December and took months to complete, TechCrunch has learned. The EV startup was ultimately able to track down a majority of those payments or request new ones from customers whose payment [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
NewRetirement builds software to help people create financial retirement plans. 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
As we inch towards the summer holidays, Google is announcing a slate of travel updates that place it squarely in the travel planning process and give it a lot more insight into purchasing intent in the travel sector. First up, Google is rolling out an update to itsSearch Generative Experience (SGE) that will allow users [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Google is rolling out a new update that makes it easier for users to find personalized shopping results, the company announced on Wednesday. The new feature lets users rate different products in order to get style recommendations when shopping for apparel, shoes and accessories. The update comes as Google continues to compete with companies like [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Robinhoods new credit card was revealed Tuesday, and though its only available for Robinhood Gold members, the Gold Card does have a feature thats spurring headlines: the ability to invest cash back bonuses into investments. The announcement comes eight months after the acquisition of the startup X1 for $95 million, and it just so happens [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.