TechCrunch Industry News
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Bernstein pegs Reliance as India’s eventual e-commerce kingpin
The Indian conglomerate Reliance is poised to outpace Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart in the race for the country’s $150 billion e-commerce market Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ford to bring Tesla’s charging tech into its future EVs
Ford has reached an agreement with rival Tesla that will give owners of Ford’s EVs access to more than 12,000 Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Applied Intuition to buy autonomous trucking SPAC Embark for $71M
Embark Trucks, the autonomous trucking company that recently cut 70% of its workforce, is being acquired by Applied Intuition, a simulation and software provider for autonomous vehicle development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ambani’s Reliance targets Indian fashion e-commerce with low-cost model
Reliance Industries, run by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is gearing up to deploy a winning strategy from its past playbook for the fashion market: low-cost products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk says Tesla might ‘open source more code’ to other automakers
Elon Musk suggested Thursday during a Twitter Spaces with Ford CEO Jim Farley that Tesla might open up some of its automotive operating system code to other automakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Arc browser’s new tool lets you remove some elements from a website
The Browser Company, the company behind the web browser Arc, introduced a fun new tool today called Boosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The official ChatGPT app is now available in 11 more countries
OpenAI has announced in a tweet that the official ChatGPT mobile app is now available in more countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoundCloud lays off 8% of staff as it aims to reach profitability this year
Music streaming platform SoundCloud has laid off 8% of its staff according to multiple reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Figure raises $70M to build its humanoid robots
I spent a bit of time at Figure’s Sunnyvale offices during a recent visit to the South Bay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Proton launches family subscription plan for privacy app suite starting at $20 per month
Privacy-centric software maker Proton has launched a new family plan starting at $19.99 (€19.99) per month, giving up to six family members access to its entire application suite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former Apple engineer’s Mimestream app is a nifty Gmail client for Mac
Former Apple engineer Neil Jhaveri has been working on an email app for Mac called Mimestream. It is now out of beta after a long test phase of more than two years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta ordered to suspend Facebook EU data flows as it’s hit with €1.2BN privacy fine
It’s finally happened: Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has been hit with a formal suspension order requiring it to stop exporting European Union user data to the US for processing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
China bans Micron chips in key infrastructure over ‘national security’ risks
China has banned some sales of Micron products after launching a probe into the American memory chip giant for cybersecurity risks in early April. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Restaurant365 gobbles up $135M to supersize its software for the food service industry
The price of food continues to go up and up, but surprisingly that hasn’t (yet?) played out as pressure on the wider restaurant industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple releases iOS 16.5 with a new sports tab in Apple News
Apple released iOS 16.5 Thursday to all users with a new sports tab in the Apple News app. The tab acts as a hub for scores, match schedules, and articles for your favorite sports teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FTC says popular fertility tracking app Premom shared sensitive data with Chinese analytics firms
A popular fertility tracking app shared users’ sensitive health information with third-party advertisers without their consent, a new Federal Trade Commission complaint alleges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1Password’s new service lets businesses quickly adopt passkeys
Password manager 1Password today launched a new service, Passage by 1Password, that’s designed to allow businesses to build passkey authentication into their apps and websites without having to maintain their own security infrastructure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Disney+ changes up its release model, plans to launch all ‘Echo’ episodes at once
President of Marvel Studios Kevin Fiege took to the Disney Upfront stage Tuesday to announce that Marvel’s new Disney+ show, “Echo,” is getting a binge release– a first for an MCU series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon undercuts the Echo Dot with the $40 Echo Pop
You know the old saying: If you don’t like Amazon Echo’s form factors, just wait a few minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Youth mental health startup Somethings launches with a $3.2M raise led by General Catalyst
When he was 10 years old, Patrick Gilligan’s childhood struggle with food began. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK’s Space Forge debuts new reentry tech for in-space manufacturing satellites
Welsh in-space manufacturing startup Space Forge has developed a satellite reentry system to enable rapid recovery and reuse of its in-space manufacturing spacecraft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
US pharmacy giant says hackers accessed personal data of almost 6 million patients
One of the largest pharmacy service providers in the United States has confirmed that hackers accessed the personal data of almost six million patients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple partner Foxconn to invest $500 million in India’s Telangana
Foxconn will invest $500 million to set up manufacturing plants in the southern Indian state of Telangana, the latest in a series of bets from the key Apple contract partner as it expands its base in the South Asian market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Toyota Japan exposed data on millions of vehicles for a decade
Toyota Japan has apologized after admitting to leaving millions of customers’ vehicle details on the public internet for a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
TikTok turns up on the volume on its music play with NewMusic search feature
TikTok has upended how music is discovered, used and consumed these days; now, its long-term effort to build a business around that is getting a boost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pinterest is combining Pins and Idea Pins into a single format
As Pinterest further shifts its focus to video content following the development of its video-focused Idea Pins, the company says it will now streamline its tools for all Pin formats into one creation flow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Study says App Store revenue of small developers grew by 71% in last two years
Apple just released findings from an independent study, which highlighted that the revenue of small developers on the App Store grew by 71% from 2020 to 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clearview fined again in France for failing to comply with privacy orders
Clearview AI, the US startup that’s attracted notoriety in recent years for a massive privacy violation after it scraped selfies off the Internet and used people’s data to build a facial recognition tool it pitched to law enforcement and others, has been hit with another fine in France. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vast and SpaceX aim to put the first commercial space station in orbit in 2025
Artificial gravity space station startup Vast announced that it intends to put the first commercial space station in orbit in August 2025 via launch partner SpaceX. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK greenlights $7.3B merger between satellite rivals Viasat and Inmarsat
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially greenlighted the proposed $7.3 billion merger between Viasat and Inmarsat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Porsche taps Mobileye for automated driving functions in future models
Porsche has partnered with Mobileye, the autonomous driving unit that Intel spun out into a public company last year, to bring hands-free automated assistance and navigation functions to future sports cars, the companies said Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Western Digital tells customers that hackers stole their data
On Friday, a month after the company revealed it had been the victim of a data breach, Western Digital published an update on the incident and notified customers that their data was stolen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Virgin Galactic aims for triumphant return with crewed flight at the end of May
Virgin Galactic will return to the skies later this month, in a crewed mission that the company hopes will bring to an end the nearly three-year gap since its first and only crewed flight in July 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Security researcher finds trove of Capita data exposed online
London-based outsourcing giant Capita left a trove of data exposed online for 7 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung surpasses Apple in smartphone shipments by 1% amid persisting market decline
Samsung overtook Apple through a slender 1% lead to secure the top spot in smartphone shipment volumes during the first quarter of 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Japan’s biggest drone maker sets its sights on the US
This week, ten-year-old drone company ACSL announced plans to enter the U.S. commercial drone market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ransomware attack forces Dallas to shut down courts, disrupt some 911 services
The City of Dallas in Texas has confirmed a ransomware attack has downed key services, including 911 dispatch systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Roku touts its new ad products, including an AI that matches campaigns to TV moments
In Roku’s recent quarter, the company posted better-than-expected revenue of $741 million, but worried investors with its warning of an uncertain ad market and declining average revenue per user. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Airbnb’s average home prices have gone up, so now it’s refocusing on rooms to give users more affordable alternatives
Airbnb started out of an idea of renting out spare beds and rooms in private homes to people as an affordable alternative to hotels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mixpanel moves into marketing data with its latest product
Traditionally, Mixpanel has provided information about product usage to product teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Box is partnering with OpenAI to bring generative AI tools across the platform
We’ve seen a number of enterprise software companies making announcements related to generative AI in the last six weeks from established companies like Salesforce and Adobe to startups like Ada and Forethought. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SpaceX’s Starship didn’t self-destruct immediately as planned during test launch
SpaceX’s recent Starship test flight, the first during which it flew with its Super Heavy orbital booster, was a bit more of a mess than it even appeared when it ended with a large explosion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brave Search doesn’t use Bing’s index anymore
Brave just announced that it is now exclusively using its own index for its search engine. In other words, it doesn’t rely on third-party solutions like Bing anymore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Reddit is testing Discord-like channels for community chat
Reddit announced Thursday that it is testing Discord-like chat channels with select subreddits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Energy Dome gets $44M uplift into its CO2 battery for renewable energy storage
Italian climate startup Energy Dome, which has developed a “CO2 Battery” for storing renewable energy, has closed a €40 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NBCUniversal reports higher Peacock losses as it shows CEO the door
Peacock losses continue to widen this quarter, NBCUniversal parent company Comcast reported Thursday, just days after the company announced that Jeff Shell’s time as NBCU CEO was up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Smile Identity expands African footprint with acquisition of Appruve to strengthen ID verification services
Smile Identity, a KYC compliance and ID verification partner for many African fintechs and businesses, has acquired Inclusive Innovations, the parent company of Appruve, a Ghanaian developer of identity verification software. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UK blocks Microsoft’s planned $68.7B Activision bid, saying it would ‘substantially weaken competition’
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has confirmed that it intends to block Microsoft’s megabucks Activision acquisition, concluding that such a merger would create “…the most powerful operator” in the cloud gaming market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With $20M in new funding, Hydrosat preps climate-monitoring satellites for launch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify passes 500M users, but its premium-to-free ratio is falling
Spotify now has 515 million monthly active users (MAUs), representing a 5% increase on the previous quarter and 22% increase on the corresponding period last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices