Techcrunch blog!: Hackers steal 9M dental patients' info in year's biggest reported health data breach

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Today, some cybercrimes were uncovered, we found out how many of you are curious about the new season of "Black Mirror" and Elon Musk made a visit to China. This is your Daily Crunch for Wednesday. We're halfway through the week!

Image Credits: Sergey Shulgin / Getty Images

Let's kick it off with some mobility news. One of the top stories today was about Uber switching up its ride discounts for subscribers. Find out what the new discount includes. We also learned a bit more about Volvo's new small electric SUV and some of the ways the car maker is saving space. Speaking of small, if teeny, tiny cars are your thing, Fiat's new electric Topolino will have you saying, "Awwwwww." See how cute it is.

Meanwhile, many of you were eager to know why the first episode in season six of "Black Mirror" is a subscriber's worst nightmare. We got the scoop.

Now on to the cyber beat, where we saw a few big stories come through today, including a ransomware attack on a U.S. dental insurance giant and hundreds of thousands of additional car owners had their data exposed by Toyota. Read more on that.

More layoffs: Taxfix, a German accounting startup valued at $1 billion, found itself in a funding crunch and had to cut 120 jobs. Read more.

Pack your bags: Hostaway brought in $175 million to expand its vacation rental management platform. Time to plan your next vacation.

AI images explained: In an effort to flag potential fake images, Twitter launches Community Notes. Find out more about how this will work.

Money, money, money, money, money…money!: Out of some aspects of failed fintech Wirecard comes NomuPay, which is taking on cross-border payments with $53.6 million in new funding. Read more.

Process this: NXP unveils its latest processor, the i.MX 91, during Computex. Check it out.

Image Credits: Volvo

Another breach, what gives?

Sponsored by Atakama

Tired of reading another data breach headline? Atakama has the key to protecting data and privacy in the aftermath of a breach, and the company, with its patented tech is embarking on its next phase of growth. A unique investment opportunity awaits.

Invest Now

Meanwhile, my teenage son was recently enamored by a video showing someone using a paper map in the car. How 1990s of them, amirite? If paper maps aren't your thing, Atly is claiming to be the "next social paradigm for mapping and discovering places to go." It now also has $18 million in new funding. Find out more about this company that wants to be a Reddit for real-world locations.

You can never be too healthy. The team covered some healthcare-related news today, including Strive Health, a company offering kidney care, securing a whopping $166 million. Similarly, Hyro, which has developed a healthcare-focused conversational platform — AI-powered, of course — raised $30 million. Read more.

Everyone needs a digital assistant, and Instacart wants you to have one, too. The company announced a new search experience, powered by ChatGPT, for shoppers to inquire about a host of buying-related questions. What will you ask?

U.K.-based CUR8 thinks it has the answer to helping remove 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. Read more.

To the moon!: Hubble Network has an ambitious goal to connect a billion devices with a space-based Bluetooth network. Find out how it plans to do that.

The Block Party's over: Twitter's decision to put its API access behind a paywall has another company suspending services. This time it's Block Party, which is putting its anti-harassment tool on hiatus. Read more.

Think on it: Cortex, which began as a way to help developers organize their microservices architectures, is flush with $35 million in Series B funding to take on a new role. Get the scoop.

Always be closing: Vartana inks a $20 million investment to help salespeople close their B2B deals. Learn more about how it plans to scale.

Here are six more must-reads:

Elon Musk's pivotal China visit: diplomacy, supply chain, and beyond

SellerX acquires US e-commerce roll-up rival Elevate Brands in an all-share deal, raises $64M+

Okay, which analyzes engineers' productivity, sells to Stripe

Blink launches Blink Copilot to bring generative AI to security operations

Selva Ventures to invest $34M Fund II in health, wellness-focused brands

Apple touts $1.1 trillion in App Store commerce in 2022, with $104B in digital sales

Image Credits: Elenabs / Getty Images

Ask Sophie: How long until I can travel while waiting for my green card?

Dear Sophie,

I came to the United States from Tunisia to get my master's degree and PhD. I recently finished my PhD, and I'm working for a biotech company on OPT.

I've been trying to get publications and significant awards to qualify for the EB-1A green card and I need to travel internationally frequently for business.

Once I apply, will I be stuck in the U.S.? If so, for how long?

— Tenacious from Tunisia

Two more from the TC+ team:

Neobanks should take heart from Monzo's performance in 2022

Have enterprise buyers finally soured on 'bottoms-up' tech sales?

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription.

Ask Sophie: How long until I can travel while waiting for my green card? image

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Calling all early-stage startups! Apply to join the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. All finalists get expert training, VC networking, a booth at Disrupt, and the chance to compete for $100,000 in equity-free funds. Applications close May 31. Apply today!