Techcrunch blog!: Apple warns some Indian lawmakers of state-sponsored iPhone attacks

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Happy Halloween! The story making its final resting place at the top today involves Apple getting wind of — and alerting — about a half-dozen Indian lawmakers who were targets of state-sponsored attacks to their iPhones. Manish reports these individuals are part of a group opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is not a trick.

Meanwhile, Dig Security is confirmed to be the latest company that Palo Alto Networks is buying. Ingrid writes that the financial terms were not disclosed, but she has on good authority that the price is $400 million. Read more.

And regarding President Biden’s AI executive order, Devin gives us the treat of explaining what happens when something like this is hailed as being broad but not deep without legislative backing yet. It’s going to take time.

Image Credits: Manoj Verma / Hindustan Times / Getty Images

More top reads

Bobbing for Apples: Also out to spook us was Apple's October Scary Fast Event. Here’s everything announced. It wasn't a trick that we suspected new M3 chips would be featured, as was a new color for the MacBook Pros (and bye-bye, Touch Bar), a new iMac and the Journal app. The whole event was shot on an iPhone.

Out of the bubbling startup studio cauldron: Hexa, the startup studio behind Front, Spendesk and Aircall, unveils its next batch of startups. See the list.

A few companies got some big treats: We reported on a few big rounds and valuations today, including Brazilian fintech QI Tech, which landed $200 million in a round led by General Atlantic. Also, Shield AI raised $200 million at a $2.7 billion valuation to scale military autonomous flying tech. Finally, SkyCell raises $57 million at a $600 million valuation to build smart containers for pharmaceutical transport.

Fraud alert: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accuses SolarWinds CISO of misleading investors before a Russian cyberattack back in 2019. Get the scoop.

X marks the spot: Now that we know X is valued at $19 billion, Alex has questions. Lots of questions. Like does X's new valuation make sense? (TC+)

App-solutely getting that on video: Companies use a lot of apps and software. Meet Guidde, a startup using AI to automatically generate software documentation videos so your new employees know what's up. Read more.

RIP to bad ways to make proteins: Cambrium aims to one-up nature with designer proteins that scale sustainably. Find out how.

Nevermore: Quora's Poe introduces an AI chatbot creator economy. That's right, bot creators can generate income.

Tales from the crypt-o: A new nonprofit, backed by a crypto billionaire, scores AI chips worth $500 million. Read about the nonprofit's unusual structure.

Turn that haunted property into a house: This proptech startup says generative building design can change the way cities are built. See how.

Fighting chronic disease: Egyptian health tech Almouneer raises $3.6 million to scale its platform for treating diabetes and obesity. Read more.

Consulting the crystal ball: DeepMind's latest AlphaFold model is more useful for drug discovery. Here's the prediction.

Even more treats for your Halloween bucket:

Alexis Ohanian says he's a 'techno optimist,' despite social media's impact on society

SBF's defense puts forth a 35-minute last-ditch effort to show his goodwill (TC+)

Toyota to invest another $8B into North Carolina EV battery factory

Why ransomware victims can't stop paying off hackers

Image Credits: Apple

Meet enterprise demands at the speed of 5G

On the pods

On today's episode of Found, Becca and Dom are joined by Abhi Ramesh, the CEO and founder of Misfits Market, a grocery startup that sells surplus and unwanted produce directly to consumers who don't mind funny-looking foods.

They talk about how he started the company in his apartment, handling every aspect, from personally buying the unwanted produce from the farms, to storing the food, to packaging and shipping, all while running the website and trying to fundraise.

He racked up six-figure credit card debt to fund the logistics-heavy startup before raising his first seed round — and that was just the first three months of the company. They also talked about:

The systemic issues that have created a massive amount of produce waste.
Changing consumer behavior when shopping for food and how COVID helped their business.
The lessons Ramesh learned after Misfits Markets acquired Imperfect Foods and what the next steps are for the company.

Listen here.