How the FBI caught a serial hacker

Plus: Microsoft's Copilot gets some new features

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Tuesday, October 1, 2024 Welcome to TC PM! Today we have a fascinating read on how the FBI caught a serial hacker; we dive into all the features Microsoft announced today for its Copilot AI tool; and we look at an interesting personnel change in the AI world. It's go time! TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch 🚔 To catch a serial hacker: Jesse Kipf was a serial hacker known for hacking into organizations and then selling the information to other cybercriminals. He was also sloppy. Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai has the story on how the FBI caught him. Read more 🙋 More Microsoft: Today Microsoft released a bunch of features for its Copilot AI productivity tool, including a tool that can understand and answer questions on what you have on your screen. The company also announced it would be paying customers for their Copilot content. Read more 👀 From OpenAI to Anthropic: Durk Kingma, one of the original founders of OpenAI, is joining one of its biggest rivals: Anthropic. It's unclear what Kingma's role will be at Anthropic. He left OpenAI in 2018. Read more   A Message from Carta Closing a funding round is cause for celebration. But once the confetti settles, what's next? Join Carta on Wednesday, October 2 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET for a live panel on how to optimize your funding, plan for the future, and fuel growth. Panelists: Jillian Williams (Partner, Cowboy Ventures), Sam Hodges (CEO, Vouch), and Pankaj Patel (CEO, Nile). Register Now   Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: Cris Cantón / Getty Images 🥐 Mmm, craving a croissant: Croissant is a new app that allows people to cross-post on the open social web on platforms — including Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads — in a single post. While there are other companies doing this, Croissant looks to be a cheaper option. Read more 🧵 Speaking of the fediverse: Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today that Instagram users who have connected their accounts to the open social web will now be able to see who follows and likes their posts on other fediverse platforms. Read more 🛍️ Drone delivery: Drones and small robots have not revolutionized last-mile delivery as some may have predicted a few years ago, but there's a good reason to keep trying. Serve Robotics and Wing are teaming up for a trial in Dallas. Read more 🎙️ Today on Found: Motorway was the fifth startup Harry Jones started with his two co-founders. Jones came on the Found podcast to talk about how they've built the company that connects car owners with dealers, and why the founding team has stuck together. Read more 📍 Pinterest AI: Pinterest is the latest company to unveil generative AI features for its advertisers. The tech allows advertisers to change product images from having plain backgrounds to ones with Pinterest's aesthetic. Read more 🛠️ More dev tools: Happy OpenAI DevDay to all who observe. Today the company announced a whole host of new features, including a public beta of its "Realtime API" and some new tweaks to its API. Read more   A Message from TechCrunch Attending Disrupt 2024? Don't miss our exclusive hotel deals! Exclusive hotel savings are available only for Disrupt 2024 attendees. Stay at top hotels like Intercontinental and Hyatt Regency San Francisco, enjoying free Wi-Fi and waived facility fees. Plus, book now, pay later! Discounts end this Friday, October 4. Book Now   Money, money, money Image Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images 🏎️ AI you can drive my car: Numa started as a conversational AI product, but it didn't stay that way. The company pivoted to selling customer service automation tools for car dealerships and just raised $32 million. Read more 🔬 Funding for fusion: Fusion startups have been gobbling up funds lately. Acceleron Fusion, a cold-fusion-focused startup, just raised $15 million of a targeted $27.5 million round. Read more  📓 Bazel bucks: Bazel is an internal build and test tool that Google developed and made open source in 2015. The tool is tough to use, though. Aspect just raised $3.5 million to help people better understand how to use it. Read more Around the web 🚙 Whoa, Waymo: Self-driving taxi company Waymo's cars are supposed to stop if something is in front of them. But what if that thing is a man harassing the woman in the car? 404 Media unpacks a recent incident that left a woman trapped in a Waymo. Read more 🤖 Yay, more AI startups: Barret Zoph, a former VP of research at OpenAI who left the startup last week amid a wave of departures, is launching an AI startup of his own. It's not clear if he'll be teaming up with any of the other recently departed OpenAI execs. Read more   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? tips@techcrunch.com Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com 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 Privacy Policy

An open-source licensing controversy hits Y Combinator

Also: Lockbit member linked to hacking gang with Kremlin ties

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Bellan Tuesday, October 1, 2024 Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we have the deets on drama at a YC-backed startup, an investigation linking Lockbit with a Russia-backed hacking gang, and funding for a startup that's raised $50M to build AI sales reps. We've also got news on the dangers of social media, funding for infra cloud backup tools, Meta's silence on data training policies, and more. Let's jump in!  — Rebecca TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Pedro Fiúza/NurPhoto / Getty Images 1. An open-source No-No: Y Combinator-backed PearAI caused a stir after admitting that its AI coding tool was a clone of an open-source tool called Continue. That became a problem when it also came to light that PearAI slapped its own made-up closed license on it. Read More 2. 11x.ai has secured $50 million in Series B funding, TC has exclusively learned. Andreessen Horowitz led the investment in the startup, which develops AI-powered sales development bots. Maybe they can use the funding for a new name because there are too many companies with "x" in their name these days. Read More 3. From one gang to another: U.K. and U.S. authorities have linked a senior member of the prolific ransomware gang, LockBit, to a previously sanctioned group, Evil Corp, which has links to the Kremlin. Read More   Sponsored by Bank of America What's next for tech companies Read the latest insights on how tech companies can manage the challenge of raising capital and what they can do to keep growing. Read Now   Morning Must-Reads Image Credits: Niharika Kulkarni / NurPhoto / Getty Images 🥐 Swiggy gets a raise: Invesco has raised the estimated worth of its stake in Indian food delivery and quick-commerce startup Swiggy, implying a valuation of about $13.3 billion. Swiggy is on the fast track to go public, and the markup comes at a time when many investors are actually cutting the value of their holdings. Read More  ☁️ Calling for backup: A team of founders who sold their previous company to Amazon is back with a new startup, Eon, aimed at reinventing cloud infrastructure backups. And they've raised a total of $127 million across three rounds at a $750 million valuation. Read More 📊 Structured data: U.K.-based Pydantic, known for its open-source, data-validation framework, has launched its first commercial product with the backing of Sequoia, which led its $12.5 million Series A. Read More 🛴 Tier becomes Dott: The two leading European scooter- and bike-sharing services are officially becoming one. Their goal as a combined company is to scale to offset razor-thin margins, so they'll merge into one app, one tech stack, and a single fleet of vehicles. Read More 🕶️ The thing about Meta's Ray Bans is that they have a discreet camera on the front for taking photos, which can be triggered inadvertently with certain keywords. Meta isn't committing to keeping these images private, nor is it saying whether it's training AI models with them. Read More   A Message from Radar The #1 Geolocation Platform | Geofencing & Maps Geofencing, maps, and geolocation compliance, all in a modern, cost-effective platform. Thousands of companies trust Radar's APIs and SDKs to power location-based experiences across hundreds of millions of devices globally. Learn why Radar is the preferred location solution for forward-thinking product, digital and engineering teams. Learn More   Around the Web 🥔 Competition is coming for Nvidia: AI chip startup Cerebras Systems has taken its first steps towards becoming a public company, reports CNBC. The company recorded sales of $136.4 million and a net loss of $66.6 million in the first half of 2024. Read More 📱 Has social media fueled teen suicide? A New Yorker report explores how mental health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans, and what parents and lawmakers are doing to try to regulate social media companies. Read More 💍 One ring to rule them all: Oura expects to see its annual sales double to about $500 million this year and sees "healthy" growth in 2025, according to Bloomberg. The Finnish company is gearing up to release its new, slimmer ring with an improved battery life. Read More Before You Go Image Credits: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP / Getty Images 👻 Snap Map: TC got the scoop about a new feature Snapchat is quietly rolling out called "Footsteps" that uses Snap Map to show you where you've been. The map is Snap's key differentiator from competitors, but is it one the kids are asking for? Read More Featured jobs from Crunchboard Senior Data Scientist, IEEE (Piscataway, NJ) IT Director, the Quaker School at Horsham (Horsham, PA) General Manager, airSlate (Brookline, MA) Data Manager, Murmuration (Remote) Director of Marketing and Communications, AidKit (Remote) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? tips@techcrunch.com Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com 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 Privacy Policy