TechCrunch Industry News
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OpenAI-backed language learning app Speak raises $16M to expand to the U.S.
Speak, an English language learning platform backed by OpenAI’s startup investment fund, the OpenAI Startup Fund, today announced that it raised $16 million in a Series B-2 funding round led by angel investor Lachy Groom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is now letting paid users hide their likes
Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, is now rolling out a feature for paid users to let them hide their likes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google discontinues its Pixel Pass subscription, which combined phones and services
Google is discontinuing its Pixel Pass subscription service, which allowed people to get a Pixel phone combined with premium services including YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, and YouTube Premium for a monthly fee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apollo.io, a full-stack sales tech platform, bags $100M at a $1.6B valuation
While working at his first startup, BrainGenie, a math and science skills practice website, Tim Zheng experienced firsthand the challenge of maintaining a small business — and expanding it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eldercare robot ElliQ nabs another $25 million in funding
Intuition Robotics isn’t hurting for funding these days. The Israeli firm announced a $36 million Series B in the early days of the pandemic, and now it’s adding another $25 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Splinter group officially launches OpenTF fork of HashiCorp Terraform
Earlier this month HashiCorp announced that it was changing the open source license it uses for Terraform and its other developer tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X saw weekly active users and rankings drop post rebrand, but Twitter Lite installs grew
Reports that X (formerly Twitter)’s downloads decreased after Elon Musk’s rebranding of the microblogging social network only tell part of the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit launches moderator rewards program amid sitewide discontent
Reddit is launching the “Mod Helper Program” to reward moderators who offer helpful advice to other moderators, along with an updated moderator help center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
You can finally buy Lego’s Braille Bricks
Building with Lego bricks has stayed a formative and important practice for kids around the world, partly because it’s so easily enjoyed by anyone, regardless of location, language, or ability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Better.com’s stock tanks after SPAC combination brings it to the public markets
Shares of Better.com are getting hammered into the ground Thursday morning after the digital mortgage company completed its long-delayed SPAC merger and began to trade as a public company for the first time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI partners with Scale AI to allow companies to fine-tune GPT-3.5
OpenAI, the AI startup behind the viral AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, plans to partner with third party vendors to make it easier for developers — specifically enterprises — to fine-tune its AI models using custom data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Automakers now have to comply with MA’s Right to Repair law
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday automakers can comply with a Massachusetts Right to Repair law, reversing a previous directive to ignore the state legislation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
iOS 17 beta includes further hints that the iPhone 15 Pro will have an ‘Action Button’
Apple has released iOS 17 beta 7 to developers and it includes further hints that the iPhone 15 Pro will have an “Action Button.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chip company Arm files for Nasdaq listing in IPO anticipated to be this year’s biggest
Arm, the U.K.-based chipmaker owned by Japan’s SoftBank since 2016, has filed for a Nasdaq listing under the ticker symbol “ARM,” five months after announcing it had filed confidential, preliminary IPO paperwork with U.S. regulators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
X is planning to hide headlines from news links for ‘improved aesthetics’
Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, is planning to roll out a new way to display news links without any headline or description. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mycoprotein producer Enough raises €40M toward doubling its production capacity
Now with the Netherlands factory online, Enough is ramping up to produce over a tonne of Abunda every hour and around 10,000 metric tonnes per year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise told by regulators to ‘immediately’ reduce robotaxi fleet 50% following crash
Cruise told by regulators to ‘immediately’ reduce robotaxi fleet 50% following crash Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tumblr is rolling out a new web interface, and it looks a lot like X (formerly Twitter)
Tumblr is officially rolling out a new look for its web browser after testing it with select users over the past month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise and Waymo see a surge in robotaxi app downloads
Consumer interest in Cruise and Waymo’s competing robotaxi services surged following a vote last week by the California Public Utilities Commission that allowed the two companies to expand and charge for their driverless car operations in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New York City bans TikTok on government-issued devices
New York City becomes the latest government to issue new rules banning TikTok, a measure meant to ward off potential security threats from China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
EV maker Vinfast still worth more than Ford and GM after stock tanks 19%
Vietnamese EV maker VinFast’s debut Tuesday on the Nasdaq public exchange was nothing short of remarkable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Electrify America-backed 75MW solar farm kicks off operations
Electrify America, the EV charging company created by Volkswagen in the aftermath of its diesel emissions scandal, said on Tuesday that a new, 75 megawatt solar farm in Southern California is now up and running. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bluesky adds self-labeling for posts and a dedicated media tab for profiles
X- (previously Twitter) and Threads-rival Bluesky has started allowing users to self-tag their posts so they can be automatically filtered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tesla reassures Chinese users on data security amid spying concerns
The relationship between American tech giants and the Chinese government has never been an easy one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rocket Lab to launch a pair of climate satellites for NASA
Rocket Lab will launch two small satellites for NASA that could help scientists better understand how a warming climate will affect the massive ice shelves at the Earth’s poles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bugs in transportation app Moovit gave hackers free rides
Hackers could have hijacked the user accounts of a popular transportation app and used them to get free rides and access people’s personal information, according to a security researcher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mastercard to purchase a minority stake in MTN’s $5.2B fintech business
Mastercard has agreed to purchase a minority stake in the fintech division of MTN Group, Africa’s largest cellphone provider, which it values at $5.2 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Electric aircraft makers Wisk and Archer end bitter legal dispute, agree to work together
Electric aircraft rivals Wisk and Archer Aviation have settled their trade secret legal dispute more than two years after the lawsuit was originally filed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cruise and Waymo win robotaxi expansions in San Francisco
In a win for the autonomous vehicle industry, California regulators have given the green light to Cruise and Waymo to offer commercial robotaxi services across San Francisco 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VLGE opens SDK for its no-code virtual world builder aimed at fashion, beauty and art industries
We’ve seen the rise of no-code and low-code platforms being applied to any number of applications and use-cases. What would happen if this thinking was applied to metaverse-style virtual worlds? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Belarus hackers target foreign diplomats with help of local ISPs, researchers say
Hackers with apparent links to the Belarusian government have been targeting foreign diplomats in the country for nearly 10 years, according to security researchers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Duolingo spotted developing a music learning app
Work on Duolingo’s next big app, Duolingo Music, is well on its way, according to new findings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Astranis gives its “secret satellite” a formal introduction
When news broke last month that Astranis’ first commercial satellite in orbit malfunctioned, the company made an unexpected announcement: it had a backup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Paramount+ tops 61 million subscribers after Showtime merger
Paramount said that it added 700,000 subscribers to Paramount+ in Q2 2023 after the company launched a subscription tier with Showtime integration in June. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Europe confirms in-depth probe for Adobe’s $20B Figma acquisition
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
India pushes ahead with data privacy bill despite pushback from critics
India’s lower house of parliament greenlit the revised data privacy legislation presented the previous week, even as the bill has received criticism, with many believing that it grants significant discretionary authority to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Array Labs is scanning the Earth from space to equip autonomous vehicles with 3D maps
It’s an oft-told story: the boom of space startups today can be traced to dramatically lowered cost in launch and satellite manufacturing over the past ten years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AI.com flips from ChatGPT to Elon Musk’s X.ai
There was a bit of a hubbub in February as it emerged that OpenAI had seemingly purchased AI.com in order to redirect it to the ChatGPT web interface. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GoStudent adds another $95M to its war-chest to go after VR and AI-enhanced tutoring
GoStudent — the late-stage tutor marketplace that has raised $686.3 million so far – has now raised another $95 million in what it calls as strategic fundraise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
DJI’s new GoPro competitor launches at $399
The DJI/GoPro relationship has been an uneasy one ever since planned drone collaboration fell back down to earth some eight or so years back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Waymo is bringing its robotaxi service to Austin
Waymo plans to launch a robotaxi service in Austin — putting the company once again in direct competition with rival Cruise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tinder to launch a ‘high-end’ membership this fall amid product refresh
Tinder is preparing to launch a new “high-end” membership later this fall as well as a product refresh aimed at better catering to Gen Z users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This California agency wants to know what happens to all that connected car data
The troves of data collected by today’s modern connected cars has long been viewed as a cash cow — a yet untapped opportunity that could boost profits for automakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rapyd acquires a piece of PayU from Prosus for $610M to scale its fintech-as-a-service platform
Rapyd, the fintech-as-a-service startup that provides APIs to enable payments, card issuing, digital wallet and other financial services to companies like Uber and Ikea, is taking a significant step forward in its growth with a big acquisition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit updates its site design for logged-out users
Reddit is rolling out a number of updates to its website for logged-out users, including improved performance, a more helpful search results page and better communities and related post suggestions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China’s cutthroat e-commerce tactic goes global as Shein-Temu war escalates
The battle between two of China’s largest e-commerce firms is heating up, as they take the cutthroat tactics that have long been around in the country to the international markets they both covet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Walmart pays $1.4 billion to buy Tiger Global’s remaining Flipkart stake
Walmart paid $1.4 billion to buy out Tiger Global’s remaining holding of Flipkart shares as the retail giant further expands its stake in the Indian e-commerce startup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A new study found that Facebook’s Pages and Groups shape its ideological echo chambers
New research published Thursday offers an unprecedented dive into political behavior across Facebook and Instagram — two major online hubs where people express and engage with their political beliefs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AMD plans to invest $400 million in India by 2028
AMD plans to invest around $400 million in India over the next five years and set up its largest R&D facility in the country’s southern city of Bengaluru. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cash-strapped instant delivery giant Getir, trying to close funding, pulls out of Spain, Italy and Portugal
More tough times for the instant-delivery startups that once flooded the markets of Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices