Thursday, June 6, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! The fintech world is popping off this morning, with Robinhood wading deeper into crypto and fresh funding for fintech startups all around. We've also got notes on advancements in decentralized social media, new B2B AI products, NotebookLM's launch in 200+ countries, and the antitrust investigations coming for OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia. Let's do it! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Robinhood

1. Robinhood dives deeper into crypto: Stock-trading platform Robinhood has acquired crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, another sign of the company's push farther into crypto territory. The move also signals Robinhood's international expansion efforts, which kicked off with a U.K. launch last year. Read More

2. Snowflake linked to massive data breach: The cloud data analysis company works with some of the world's largest corporations, like Santander Bank and Ticketmaster. Hackers claim to have stolen hundreds of millions of customer records from those two companies, but Snowflake claims the leaks didn't come from inside its house. Read More

3. The bridge to weaning off X: Elon Musk's takeover at Twitter, now X, has led many to seek alternative decentralized social media options, like Bluesky and Mastodon. The problem? People on those platforms couldn't talk to each other. Now they can, with Bridgy Fed, a social networking bridge that connects fediverse users. Read More

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Morning Must Reads

Image Credits: Ashish Vaishnav / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images

Amazon pushes into India's video market: Amazon is acquiring key assets of Indian video streaming service MX Player from Times Internet. The move gives Amazon access to better distribution and marketing in smaller Indian cities and towns as the firm looks to appeal to the millions of Indians who live outside metro cities. Read More

Windows apps are coming to Chrome: Google has bought Cameyo, which develops virtualization tools to run Windows apps on ChromeOS devices. Hopefully, this deal will mean ChromeOS users can access Windows apps without having to go through complex installations or updates. Read More

X, a horror story: We've been tracking all of the changes that have happened to Twitter, now X, since Elon Musk took over – everything from the Tucker Carlson-Putin interview to allowing porn on the platform. Here's our notes on the entire saga so far. Read More

Humane on fire, literally: Humane, the company behind the anticlimactic Ai Pin, is now warning customers that its egg-shaped charging case could present a battery fire hazard. Rather than issuing a refund or doing a recall, though, Humane is offering customers two free months of its $24 per month subscription service. Read More

Mistral makes it easier to customize AI models: French AI startup Mistral has intro'd new customization options to let developers and enterprises fine-tune its genAI models for their uses. There are both self-service and managed options, and no doubt the company's goal is to boost its product offerings as it seeks to raise $600 million. Read More

A lesson in startup pivots: One of the great things about startups is that they're agile enough to pivot if something's not working. Problem is, not enough founders do it. Dealt, formerly known as Mon Super Voisin, is a perfect example of one that's pivoted and made it work. The company just raised around $6.5 million. Read More

Fintech for freelancers: Fintech startup Bloom, which was the first-ever startup from Sudan to be accepted into Y Combinator, has since rebranded to Elevate and is open for business in emerging markets. The startup gives freelancers in East and North Africa a way to hedge against the rising devaluation of their home currencies via a high-yield savings account, free FX services, and other digital banking products. Read More

Google makes NotebookLM available in most of the world: Google is rolling out its AI-powered note-taking assistant to over 200 new countries after launching it in the U.S. six months ago. The platform is powered by its Gemini 1.5 Pro model, has new features and supports a swathe of languages to help people to use AI to generate summaries and ask questions based on their documents. Read More

The Eyebot doctor will see you now: Going to the optometrist can be a pain, but as we all stare at screens for most of the day, it's becoming more essential. Eyebot is here to help with a kiosk that gives you an eye exam in about 90 seconds. Read More

Torpago's edge against Brex and Ramp: Fintech startup Torpago has found a way to compete with Brex, Mercury and Ramp by turning banks into customers. Talk about finding a niche! Read More

Around the Web

Antitrust in AI: The feds have cleared the way to proceed with antitrust investigations into Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia for their dominant roles in the AI industry, reports The New York Times. The DOJ will look into Nvidia's behavior, and the FTC will examine OpenAI and Microsoft. Read More

Ikea will pay you actual money to work in a virtual Roblox store: Is this a gimmick? Is it the future? Whatever it is, it's happening, reports The Gamer. Ten people will run the virtual Roblox store, helping customers pick out furniture and serve virtual meatballs. Read More

How Apple fell behind in the AI race: As we eagerly await the AI updates to come with Apple's iOS 18 update next week, the Wall Street Journal has done some digging into what has taken the iPhone maker so long, and why Apple played it safe with Siri. Read More

Before You Go

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