Fidelity makes more cuts to Reddit, Discord valuations

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Friday, June 30, 2023

Today, Fidelity got out the knife again to go after the value of its holdings in companies, including Reddit, Discord and Gupshup. Next, if you're using an ad blocker on YouTube, the streaming giant is about to test the limits of your patience with a new experiment. Meanwhile, a company with a very transparent name, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, confirmed a data breach. We're also trying to figure out if there's a glitch over at Twitter or if the company is indeed no longer allowing non-Twitter users to read tweets. And WhatsApp doesn't want you to leave your chat on an old phone, so it created a new QR-code-based local data transfer method. Image Credits: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

More top stories Now let's talk about Apple: Apple is celebrating today after its market cap hit $3 trillion — again. Actually, the company has been celebrating a lot so far this year. Not only is Apple’s stock doing well, but the launch of the augmented reality headset Apple Vision Pro seems to be well-received. Find out what else might have led to this. It's not a Figma-ent of your imagination: The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority is preparing for the next step in its investigation into Adobe's proposed $20 billion Figma acquisition. Catch up on what’s going on. The block stops here: Twitter was dealt a blow this week when an Indian court dismissed its lawsuit against the federal government that sought to challenge New Delhi's block orders on tweets and accounts. Get the scoop on what happened. ByteDance wants to make music: TikTok parent ByteDance has a new music creation and audio editing app that is now in closed beta in the U.S. It's likely to have a "Ripple" effect on the industry. Starting on a high note: Voice.ai raises $6 million for its technology that enables you to change your voice. And it’s gaining hundreds of thousands of users. We don't like to MOVEit MOVEit: Two Northeast colleges confirmed that the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, a teachers retirement fund, was caught up in a breach orchestrated by MOVEit hackers. Find out how they were impacted. Reproductive health journey could start at work: Fertifa wants to help more companies in Europe offer reproductive benefits to workers. See how they are doing this. Add these to your reading list: GM buys software startup that predicts EV battery fires Secretive hardware startup Humane's first product is the Ai Pin Korea's Alwayz aims to make online shopping fun again with $46M in funding Police want robotaxi video footage to help solve crimes European VCs and tech firms sign open letter warning against over-regulation of AI in draft EU laws Image Credits: wildpixel / Getty Images

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How confidential computing could secure generative AI adoption The generative AI land rush has created a new challenge: How can enterprises use proprietary data to build powerful models while maintaining security and privacy? “Protecting training data and models must be the top priority,” says Anjuna CEO and co-founder Ayal Yogev. “It's no longer sufficient to encrypt fields in databases or rows on a form." Four more from the TC+ team: Why automakers are rushing to adopt Tesla's NACS plug and what it means to drivers Pitch Deck Teardown: Super.com's $60M Series C deck M&A is back and the enterprise is hot As Apple reaches $3T, it's time to shake up the Big Tech club 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. Read More Image Credits: MirageC / Getty Images

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Generative AI startup Typeface secures unicorn valuation after closing $100M Series B

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Thursday, June 29, 2023

Today, like so many of our days, was full of artificial intelligence news. One of the top stories involved Typeface's valuation entering unicorn territory after securing a whopping $100 million in new funding. The company provides generative AI tools so that enterprise customers, most of them brands, can deliver personalized content. And that's not all A-I have for you: Inflection lands $1.3B investment to build more 'personal' AI Runway, a startup building generative AI for content creators, raises $141M Scriptic scores $5.7M as it expands its phone-first generative AI content library Speakeasy is using AI to automate API creation and distribution Meituan buys founder's months-old 'OpenAI for China' for $234M Oh wait, there's more: Just when it seems like Microsoft has applied artificial intelligence to everything it has, the software giant surprises us with another announcement, this time with new AI-powered shopping tools for Bing and Edge. So yesterday, we told you about DoorDash's new hourly option for its delivery people, and today we have more information on why "hourly" might not be so hourly. Now over to Meta, where we have a pair of stories related to its recommendation models. One questioned if it was necessary for the social media giant to prepare for behavior analysis systems that are "orders of magnitude" bigger than the biggest large language models out there, while the other discussed why we are seeing the recommendations we do. Meanwhile, we tell you how Virgin Galactic's, shall we say "virgin," commercial flight went. Image Credits: piranka / Getty Images

More top stories When funding falls: India's startup funding is down 68%, which could be blamed on Tiger and SoftBank making virtually no deals in the region during the first half of the year. That one time, in school…: A high school in Illinois changed every student's password to "Ch@ngeme!," which gave students a chance to hack into each other's accounts. Lightspeed's first Africa investment: Ghana's Berry Health got a $1.6 million boost from investors, including Lightspeed, to tackle mental health. Vrooom: In today's car talk, Halo.Car launches a remote-piloted rental car delivery service in Las Vegas, VW subsidiary Electrify America gets in on the Tesla connector craze and we report on how Porsche plans to grow its margins with luxury and speed. Concrete plans for growth: Material Evolution snagged $19 million in fresh capital to decarbonize the cement industry. Connecting the dots: The faster companies can identify cyberattacks, the better they can thwart them. Enter Cyware, which secured $30 million for its approach to modern cybersecurity operations. More layoffs: Streaming app Plex lays off 20% of its workforce amid advertising slowdown, while Pokémon GO maker Niantic laid off even more employees today. Haus has a new house: Popular aperitif maker Haus is back on virtual shelves now after being acquired by The Naked Market. Power picker: Warehouses are big, but B Garage wants to make it easier for companies to locate their inventory with the help of drones. It raised $20 million to continue building its technology and tackling labor shortages. Add these to your reading list, too: Level wants to back your fund — and your portfolio companies too Social trading app Shares receives EU stock trading license Millions affected by MOVEit mass-hacks as list of casualties continues to grow Snapchat+ reaches 4 million paid subscribers since launching a year ago How to see who viewed your TikTok profile Image Credits: Getty Images

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Crypto losses halved in Q2 2023 to $204M Are the rug pulls, exploits and pump-and-dump schemes that have scammed so many crypto consumers becoming a thing of the past? According to a report by De.Fi that used information from REKT, “losses in the second quarter were 55% narrower than in Q1 2023, when the industry lost a whopping $462.3 million to hacks and scams,” writes Jacquelyn Melinek. Four more from the TC+ team: Big tech corporate venture capital 🤝 generative AI startups Batteries beat oil and gas as AI startup pivots to critical minerals exploration When companies have more influence than countries As $100M+ venture rounds evaporate, IPOs might have to carry the weight 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. Read More Image Credits: Getty Images

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FAA gives Joby Aviation OK to start flight-testing its electric air taxis

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Today's top stories include Joby Aviation saying it's reached some milestones that will bring the company closer to getting its first electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle — eVTOL for short — into production. We are also much ado about Nothing — well, Carl Pei's Nothing, that is. The smartphone maker now has something in the way of $96 million in new funding to launch the Phone (2). Next, Proton makes its password manager open to all, and we are introduced to Flowie, a new French startup that wants to better manage the way money moves between companies. And China might be seeing some additional restrictions in its effort to get chips from the United States. Image Credits: Joby Aviation

More top stories Everyone loves a new feature: DoorDash introduces a slew of new features for both users and its deliverers, including a new way for delivery people to earn. No SSN, no problem: I'm stealing part of Mary Ann's headline for this intro, but I can't help it. It is too good. Maza, a fintech startup aimed at undocumented immigrants, raised $8 million in new funding. May the (Sales)force be with you: Again, I couldn't do better than Paul's headline on Unaric exiting stealth with $35 million to buy and consolidate Salesforce-ecosystem startups. Work that flow: Back-office functions need some love, too. Enter workflow automation startup Parabola, which secured $24 million. Moving on: Fairphone CEO Eva Gouwens is stepping down from the smartphone company, and the search is on for a new one. Listen up: Today's Equity podcast was a particularly popular one with readers. Perhaps it's because Nubank's CEO explains what the U.S. could learn from LatAm fintech. Reeling it in: Bluu Seafood grabs another $17.5 million in capital to bring its cultivated fish products to market. Let’s hope this gets “addressed”: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office notified filers of years-long address data leak. Managing data: Databricks builds a data mesh with the launch of Lakehouse Federation. Just a Gleamer: French startup Gleamer secured $29.5 million to continue developing AI software for radiologists. Also add these to your reading list: Astrix Security, which uses ML to secure app integrations, raises $25M Slang taps AI to answer phone calls for brick-and-mortar businesses TikTok could soon bring its new e-commerce store to the U.S. PayPal launches support for tap to pay on Android for merchants using Venmo and Zettle in the U.S. Techstars raising $150 million for new accelerator fund Image Credits: Bluu Seafood

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Vertical AI: The next logical iteration of vertical SaaS According to Paris Heymann, a partner at Index Ventures, the current wave of AI-powered products and services can be sorted into three layers: Foundational models AI infrastructure AI applications “Some of these applications will be broadly horizontal,” he writes in TC+, “but many AI applications will also be vertical, or industry-focused.” Two more from the TC+ team: Snowflake and Databricks are putting the data stored in their services to work Legacy automakers suffer another blow as Aston Martin spurns Mercedes-AMG's electrified tech 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. Read More Image Credits: MirageC / Getty Images

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Senior Angular + Nativescript Software Engineer/Architect at Blackout Lighting Console (New York, NY, USA) Systems Integrator at Air Line Pilots Association (McLean, VA, USA) Senior Data Center Infrastructure Engineer at Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA, United States) Senior Business Process Specialist - Finance at Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (King of Prussia, PA, USA) Data Architect at AAOS (Rosemont, IL, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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