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Wednesday, January 31, 2024

The largest theft of crypto in 2024 . . . so far

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By Christine Hall

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Good afternoon, and welcome back to TechCrunch PM. If you thought this morning was busy, wait until you see what I have in store for you. Today we bring you everything from hacking cryptocurrency to more layoffs to things Mark Zuckerberg said in front of Congress and our usual list of stories you don't want to miss. Time to dig in.  — Christine

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Image Credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

TechCrunch PM Top 3

Hackers steal millions in crypto: Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen said hackers stole around $112 million of the Ripple-focused cryptocurrency XRP from his crypto wallet. Larsen tweeted that Ripple wasn't affected by this; however, it is not yet known if the wallet in question was a Ripple wallet.

Put an Oura ring on it: Finally, the Oura ring feature you've been looking for — a way to measure your resilience against stress.

Proofpoint cuts jobs: Security giant Proofpoint is laying off about 6% of its global workforce, or 280 employees. The company told us the job cuts were to, among other things, "streamline our organization with fewer management layers."

TechCrunch PM Top 3 image

Image Credits: Oura

Security!

Lots of news in the security sector today — in case you couldn't tell from the section above.

Oasis Security leaves stealth: Armed with $40 million, the Israel-based startup is taking on the Wild West of non-human identity management.

Ivanti patches two zero-days under attack, but finds another: Ivanti's disclosure of the new zero-day comes on the same day the company released a patch to protect against the previously disclosed — and subsequently widely exploited — ConnectSecure vulnerabilities.

US disrupts China-backed hacking operation: Don't celebrate just yet. The FBI director says China’s hackers are preparing to "wreak havoc" on critical U.S. systems.

Security! image

Image Credits: DKosig / Getty Images

Mr. Zuckerberg goes to Washington

Meanwhile, our consumer tech team was all over today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on kids' online safety. Just before the hearing, companies like Microsoft and X pledged their support to protect children from the dangers of social media.

Other takeaways:

While being questioned about child privacy settings, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that teenagers should be able to be content creators and have the ability to share it widely.

Zuckerberg also pushed back against the notion that Meta should manage parental consent for apps. Instead, it should be the job of the app store providers, namely Apple and Google.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel shared that 20 million teenagers use Snapchat in the United States, but only around 200,000 parents use its Family Center supervision controls.

Meanwhile, X CEO Linda Yaccarino basically said, "No teenagers here."

Mr. Zuckerberg goes to Washington image

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

More top reads

SpaceX will launch the Starlab private space station using Starship: However, it won't be right away. Still, it's progress and comes as Voyager and Airbus finalized their Starlab joint venture earlier this month.

Down in Africa: First, most African neobanks remain in the red despite some showing a profit. Learn what TymeBank, Carbon and FairMoney's numbers say about neobank profitability in Africa.

Also Google's first Africa cloud region is now operational. The Johannesburg region will play an important role in providing the resources that businesses "need to scale, innovate and compete in the global marketplace," according to Google.

Order up: The pandemic showed restaurants just how important it was to have an online presence. Owner.com's co-founders want to help with that and improve online guest experiences for mom-and-pop restaurants.

Neurelo builds connections: The young company helps developers build links between their database and their programs.

Score one for usage-based billing: Yesterday, we brought you the battle between consumption and usage-based billing. That one was a draw. Today, learn what happened when Metronome shifted to a usage-based business model.

eBay gets a $59M fine: The marketplace giant was sued by the U.S. Justice Department on claims people could buy obviously illegal pill-counterfeiting gear. Now it’s hit with a $59 million fine.

All about Apple Vision Pro: In this set of stories, we tell you how to preorder one and what the Apple Vision Pro's secret weapon is.

Oh, and that Apple already had to release its first security patch to fix a vulnerability that "may have been exploited" by hackers.

Going gaga over Ethereum: Over on TechCrunch+, read about the Ethereum developer interest that has hit new all-time highs in 2023, despite a bear market.

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Before you go

Having made my fair share of Whoppers while working at Burger King, I have an appreciation for startups building technology for frontline workers. Investors say there still isn't enough. Head over to TechCrunch+ and take a gander at SaaS investor Julien Codorniou's column about how the SaaS revolution is coming for the 99%.

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On the pods

In today's startup-focused Equity episode, Alex Wilhelm digs into venture capital rounds, new VC funds and startup news. Among the stories are Plex raising $40 million, Aurora Solar's layoffs and a "Giant" set of funds. Listen here.

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Join Waymo, Signal, and more at StrictlyVC Los Angeles

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TikTok’s tune troubles

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By Alex Wilhelm

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Good morning, friends, and welcome to TechCrunch AM for Wednesday, January 3. It's big tech earnings season, though the news there hasn’t been stellar thus far. But worry not, below we have new venture funds, the latest from fintech, Google's cloud storage momentum, and more. Heck, even TikTok makes an appearance!

Alex

TechCrunch Top 3

  1. Universal Music Group to pull its music from TikTok: After failing to come to an agreement on royalties, Universal intends to remove its massive music catalog from popular social video service TikTok. Universal wants more money, but TikTok doesn't want to pay more. Universal says TikTok is only worth 1% of its revenue so it can afford to walk away for a bit. Can TikTok make it without Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande?
  2. Giant Ventures raises $250M: One part of the post-2021 venture pullback that we don't talk about enough is how much less money VCs are raising than they used to. So it's worth noting when a fund lands a $250 million fund, especially when its prior fund was $100 million. In this case, the firm in question is Giant Ventures, a U.K.-based VC that invests on both sides of the pond.
  3. Layoffs at Wattpad: Popular online writing service Wattpad has laid people off yet again. This time, it's about 30 people, or 15% of its staff — the same proportion of its headcount that it cut last year. Consider this another data point that monetizing online writing remains very, very hard to do.
TechCrunch Top 3 image

Image Credits: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP / Getty Images

Don't miss these

Fintech layoffs: It's bleak to keep writing about them, but there are more layoffs to report. This time, the cuts stem from the world of big-cap fintech. Both PayPal and Block are cutting staff, with the former looking to reduce its headcount by 9% this year in a combination of cuts and closed open roles.

Block is singing a similar tune, with 1,000 people getting laid off, or about 10% of its total team. The layoffs "add to a sense of malaise in the fintech and broader tech sector, which has seen tens of thousands of workers let go in the past few weeks," writes Kyle Wiggers. Yep, it's not just you. Tech layoffs really are getting worse.

India updates: Accel is in advanced talks to lead a $15 million to $20 million funding round into Newme, a company that some are comparing to China's Shein. Given that Shein is considering an IPO in the U.S., it's not a shock that hyper-cheap e-commerce is getting more venture attention. Newme just closed a seed round to boot!

In less exciting news for some Indian startups, the country's central bank issued new, strict curbs on Paytm's Payments Bank. Since that's the bank that fintech giant Paytm uses, this is a big deal. Starting February 29, Paytm Payments Bank will be able to do less than it does currently. This is not the first time Paytm has been in trouble, and it is in the soup this time around due to what the Reserve Bank of India calls non-compliance and supervisory concerns.

People like cloud storage: Alphabet told investors in its quarterly results call that its storage solution, Google One, is nearing 100 million customers. I am one of them, though it's cheap enough that I honestly could not tell you how much space I have or what I pay for it. Why the disclosure? Google wants you to know that it's more than just a search giant and it is, in fact, the No. 3 cloud infra player. Its basket of subscription products, including Google One, YouTube Premium and Music, and other services, has crossed the $15 billion annual run rate mark.

Musk pay deal unfair, judge rules: Elon Musk got an unwelcome ruling in the state of Delaware after a shareholder suit over his compensation package from Tesla. Apparently, the compensation was viewed by some as too much for a part-time CEO. Musk is mad about it, and is airing his gripes on X.

Does the UK think it's the EU? The EU gets away with its regulatory strictures and fines because it is a large, wealthy market. The UK, which left the EU a while back, is also putting pressure on tech giants from TikTok to Bing and Google. The issue is that while the EU has a population of around 450 million, the UK is home to only 67 million folks. Think of it as a bit smaller and poorer market than two Californias stitched together. How much clout the UK can come to wield over how search and social media products work today is not clear, but it's no EU.

Don't miss these image

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Before you go

Talking with the founders of theSkimm: Rebecca Szkutak recently sat down with Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, the co-founders and co-CEOs of the Skimm, a well-known email newsletter company that targets millennial women. If you want to learn more about digital media and reaching the modern consumer, this is one for you.

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Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Instagram Threads gains traction

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By Christine Hall

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Good afternoon, and welcome back to TechCrunch PM. Today we get into who's on top in the app stores, more layoffs, more venture capital and something to occupy your free time. Read on.  — Christine

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Don't Miss StrictlyVC In Los Angeles On Feb. 29

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TechCrunch PM Top 3

Instagram Threads reaches the top 10: Just when you thought Instagram Threads was not going to see growth, the social media app tripled its month-to-month downloads in December to help get it into the top 10 apps in both the App Store and Google Play.

More layoffs: Looks like the sun set a bit on software company Aurora Solar, which announced today it was laying off 20% of its staff after missing some growth targets. Meanwhile, PayPal is reportedly beginning company-wide layoffs today that are expected to affect "thousands."

Airfocus bags $7.5M for its take on project management software: Yes, another project management software tool. However, this one has a bunch of goodies for enterprise project managers.

TechCrunch PM Top 3 image

Image Credits: Getty Images

More top reads

Apple Card users raked it in last year: If you're holding an Apple Card, you are likely one of the 12 million users who earned more than $1 billion in Daily Cash from spending on Apple Card in 2023.

Rule-breakers: The IRS finds itself in hot water while trying to keep employees from accessing TikTok.

Heart pressure monitoring without an implant: That's Acorai's plan after grabbing around $4.5 million in seed funding. The Swedish medical device company is building a device that takes vitals via sensors on the patient's chest.

All eyes on space: Watch SpaceX launch a Northrop Grumman resupply mission to the International Space Station.

More venture capital for those ubiquitous startups: Ubiquity Ventures, started by Sunil Nagaraj, now has $75 million for its Fund III to sink into startups focused on what he calls "software beyond the screen."

PadSplit keeps growing: The U.S. median monthly rent price of nearly $2,000 is keeping many lower-income workers from finding quality housing. Enter PadSplit, which now has over 10,000 units in 18 cities.

Inside Studio's new online music school: Look out, MasterClass, Studio is plugged in and ready to make music. Today, Studio launched its first AI-powered online school for musicians, songwriters and producers to learn from top artists.

Leal invests in customer engagement in Latin America: It's hard to identify your most loyal customers. Even more so when they pay with cash. That's where Colombia-based Leal comes in, offering merchants a way to collect data on customers and offer them personalized perks.

Before you go: Head on over to TechCrunch+ and learn why B2B SaaS pricing can't just be about consumption versus subscription.

More top reads image

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On the pods

Today on Found, Becca is joined by Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, co-founders and co-CEOs of the Skimm, which is a digital media company dedicated to succinctly giving women the information they need to make confident decisions.

They talked about how they've navigated the digital media industry for over a decade, how they pitched this to investors when they were new to the game, and the importance of building a team that aligns with your vision. Listen here.

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