A red-headed woman stands on the moon, her face obscured. Her naked body looks like it belongs on a poster you’d find on a hormonal teenager’s bedroom wall — that is, until you reach her torso, where three arms spit out of her shoulders. AI-powered systems like Stable Diffusion, which translate text prompts into pictures,
Kuda, the challenger bank based in Nigeria and the U.K., has joined the ranks of tech companies in Africa that are pruning their workforce. The news of the layoffs, which was first disclosed to TechCrunch by sources, was confirmed by Kuda via email, saying it laid off less than 5% of its 450-strong workforce, or
Ryan Falvey Contributor More posts by this contributor Is fintech’s Series A market hot, or just overhyped? Fintech’s $138 billion opportunity This past year has seen a wholesale shift in how the market feels about fintech. A year ago, nearly every investor had a fintech thesis, companies were racing to go public and investors at
Plus Snapchat layoffs, Clearco’s departure and big changes at Y Combinator Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This was a Live Week, meaning that Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann recorded the show on Twitter Spaces, hanging out with a bunch of the
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The UK could be gearing up to hit a handful of tech firms with enforcement orders (and potentially fines) related to a children’s online privacy and safety Code which has been in force for a year. “The ICO are currently looking into how over 50 different online services are conforming with the code, with four
Companies tend to divide their procurement spending into two main buckets. The first is large purchases over $500,000 with some starting $1 million, depending on the size of the organization. Anything below that figure falls under a category known as “tail spend.” Boston-based startup Fairmarkit has been working on a tail spend procurement solution for
Venture capital data thus far in the third quarter indicates that investment into blockchain-focused startups is on pace to contract dramatically compared to recent quarters and the heady 2021 period. Data from Crunchbase and PitchBook indicate that after totaling around $10 billion in some recent quarters, the total dollar value of web3 investments could more
Google’s decision to block the Truth Social app’s launch on the Play Store over content moderation issues raises the question as to why Apple hasn’t taken similar action over the iOS version of the app that’s been live on the App Store since February. According to a report by Axios, Google found numerous posts that
Four months after the spectacular feat that was catching a descending rocket stage in mid-air, Rocket Lab has re-ignited one of the engines from that booster — an important step on their roadmap to fielding a fully reusable rocket. The Rutherford engine, one of nine that power the Electron launch vehicles, went up on the
I’ve been tracking PsycApps, a startup that came up with a gamified mental health game called eQuoo, since 2016, and this company — and its founder — is nothing if not persistent in “pivoting into the wind”. The last we heard it had been approved by the U.K.’s National Heath Service and was even distributed
Draftea, which calls itself the first daily fantasy sports company in Spanish-speaking Latin America, is taking fantasy football (not fútbol) to the region in a new partnership with the National Football League (NFL) and the NFL Players Association, a labor union representing the league’s athletes. Draftea’s founder, Alán Jaime Misrahi, played soccer in Mexico’s third
Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora joins Emily Chang following their positive earnings results, and to discuss the state of the cybersecurity industry and whether he is expecting a pull back from customers facing high costs. Plus, his thoughts on the Twitter whistle blower’s security concerns.
In its own words, Front is a customer communication hub that keeps teams focused on what technology can’t replace: ensuring every conversation strengthens the customer relationship. The company recently raised $65 million at a $1.7 billion valuation, which is a hell of a funding round. Uniquely, the company has actually published all of its past
Hard tech is hard, but when there are major breakthroughs, that can come with outsize returns and enormous opportunities. Cantos just closed its third fund to invest in science-forward companies at the pre-seed and seed stages to ‘improve billions of lives and saving the planet.’ “I have a bachelor’s in international relations. I’m not technical
We’re nearly at the stopping point ahead of a long weekend here in the United States, but that doesn’t mean that the tech market has given up on making news. And the news is not good. In the wake of Snap’s layoffs and startup staff-cutting galore, you are likely not surprised that there is some bad
Picture the aftermath of a festival: A sea of fans depart, leaving behind any number of empty water bottles, disposable cups, wristbands, lost IDs and maybe even some used-up whipped cream chargers. For all the environmental lip service we hear from megastars, the carbon footprint of live entertainment has only recently received the attention it
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Today, Haje is particularly psyched that he was able to talk the TechCrunch Plus team into letting him publish one of his Pitch Deck Teardowns without the paywall. If you’re not a
Snapchat’s parent Snap became the latest tech company to announce a huge round of layoffs, confirming ongoing rumors yesterday that it was cutting 20% of its global workforce, affecting at least 1,200 people. The reasons for Snap’s massive scaling back exercise are perhaps obvious, as it’s the same economic reasons why countless other businesses have
Tired: JBL announced the Tour PRO 2 earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC). Wired: The case has a touchscreen. That’s right. In the off-chance you didn’t have enough screens in your life, the new earbuds’ case adds another 1.4-inch LED touch display. Users can flick through multiple screens like different watch faces that allow them
Google and its video sharing app YouTube outlined plans for handling the 2022 U.S. midterm elections this week, highlighting tools at its disposal to limit the effort to limit the spread of political misinformation. When users search for election content on either Google or YouTube, recommendation systems are in place to highlight journalism or video
Alternative protein startup SIMULATE, known for its NUGGS and TENDERS, is introducing two new versions of its plant-based, simulated chicken product aimed at restaurants. STRIPS are similar to grilled chicken, while CUTLETS mimic the kind of product you’ll find on fried chicken sandwiches that have become so popular on restaurant menus. The new products are
Laura Spiekerman Contributor Laura Spiekerman is the co-founder and chief revenue officer of Alloy, an identity-decisioning platform for banks and fintech companies. We’ve all seen the headlines: Fintech is struggling. Since last year, valuations are down 70%-80%, deal activity is down 67% and layoffs have plagued many former industry favorites. But fintech is resilient. Innovation continues
Six months after announcing $30 million in equity and debt, Boopos, a Miami-based lending platform for business acquisitions and growth, is back with an even bigger round, a $58 million Series A, again in a mix of equity and debt. The latest round includes $8 million in equity and $50 million in debt, Boopos founder
Reddit’s acquisition spree is continuing this morning with news that the company is bringing the audience contextualization company Spiketrap’s technology in-house. Deal terms were not disclosed, but Reddit says Spiketrap’s AI-powered contextual analysis and tools will help Reddit to improve in areas like ad quality scoring and will boost prediction models for powering auto-bidding. The
Planted, a Swiss startup that’s cooking up alternative proteins using biostructuring and fermentation to serve “clean” cuts of vegan meat — such as the plant-based chicken breast plated up above — has raised again, nabbing CHF 70 million (~$72M) in Series B funding after a $21M pre-B round a year ago. The Series B was
Amazon today announced the addition of Ring Intercom to its list of smartphone offerings. The product is designed to be an add-on to existing apartment intercom systems. The company has created a quick online questionnaire to determine whether your existing system will work with the new product. It’s a rare addition targeted specifically at apartment
Reliance Jio Infocomm, India’s top telecom mobile operator, has earmarked a spending of $25 billion on the rollout of its 5G services that it plans to debut in key cities this Diwali in October, the company announced at its annual general meeting Monday. The company, which has amassed more than 421 million telecom subscribers, will
You know the feeling; you’re on a dating app, and you start a conversation with someone, and things don’t seem like they add up completely. You’ve seen The Tinder Swindler on Netflix, and you’re suddenly wondering: Is someone about to ask me for money? The team at video dating site Filter Off decided to take
There is no data to show how little venture funding goes to trans founders. All that exists is a report from Backstage Capital saying 1% of all venture funds went to founders openly identifying as LGBTQ+. (According to a recent Gallup poll, 7.1% of Americans identify as LGBT+.) That’s a staggeringly low amount of funding,