Also: Barcelona — tourist destination, spyware hub
Tuesday, January 14, 2025 | | | Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're looking at the CIA leveling up its tech chops, Barcelona's sypware industry, and AWS' big investment into Mexico. We've also got notes on TikTok alternatives, the state of venture in France, crypto heists, sketchy chatbots, founder-investors, and more. Let's go! — Rebecca | | | Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch | 1. An unlikely spyware leader: Barcelona is done being a tourist hub, but it's potentially found another niche. The city is becoming a center for surveillance software that gets installed on people's devices, and that's a problem. Read More 2. The CIA's first CTO, Nand Mulchandani, was a serial entrepreneur before he worked as acting director of the Defense Department's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. TC's Connie Loizos sat down with him to discuss how he's preparing for the Trump administration. Read More 3. Bienvenido, AWS: Amazon's cloud computing division plans to spend $5 billion in Mexico over the next 15 years, a portion of which will go towards a new server region that will allow AWS customers to run apps and serve users more locally. Read More | | | Image Credits: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP / Getty Images | 🧑⚖️ More antitrust woes for Google: The U.K.'s competition authority is looking into Google's dominance of the search market, including its efforts in generative AI and advertising. Read More 🥖 Le Silicon Valley: The Bay Area got the lion's share of last year's venture funding, but France's ecosystem is doing alright, thanks to investment in AI startups like Mistral AI. But with funding from the U.K. trending downwards, France might not be out of the woods yet. Read More 🔮 Kleptocracy 2.0: North Korea has made a killing stealing $659 million in crypto heists last year while also planting IT workers inside blockchain companies as insider threats. About $235 million of that came from the hack of India's largest crypto exchange, WazirX. Read More 💸 Maybe founders are the best investors: That's the thesis of Powerset, an investment program founded in late 2022 that is handing out $1 million checks to founders to invest into other startups. Think of it as a decentralized venture fund. Read More 🇬🇧 We don't negotiate with hackers: The U.K. might make it illegal for public sector and critical infrastructure organizations – everything from schools and NHS trusts to energy and telecoms businesses – to make ransom payments. Read More | | | 💰 Data is gold: Software maker Databricks has secured more than $5 billion in debt from lenders like Blackstone, Apollo Global, and Blue Owl Capital, reports Bloomberg. The raise comes a month after the company raised $10 billion in equity at a $62 billion valuation. Read More 🧐 Wait, you can't trust everything chatbots say?! Wired has an investigation into two AI financial advisers – Cleo AI and Bright – that apparently use your personal data to not just offer financial advice, but to upsell products in a way that looks predatory to people living paycheck to paycheck. Read More 🙍 Work sucks, I know: Axios reported on a recent Gallup survey that shows employee engagement is at a 10-year low. 2024 was particularly bad as workers felt stuck in bad jobs, hiring slowed, and people were forced back to the office. Personally, I wonder how much this has to do with the social media comparison engine, which is truly the thief of joy. Read More | | | Image Credits: OLIVIER DOULIERY / Contributor / Getty Images | | | 🤳 Gotta get my fix: With a TikTok ban imminent, many who rely on short-form videos for their hourly hit of dopamine might be in a panic. Not to worry, there are competitors to try out, and we've got a list. Read More | | | Featured jobs from CrunchBoard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA | | | | |
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