TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv / Wiz

1. Wiz has turned down Google's $23B offer, despite the offer being a substantial premium over the cybersecurity startup's last valuation of $12 billion. In a letter to his staff, CEO Assaf Rappaport said Wiz's next milestones are $1 billion in ARR and an IPO. "Saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice," Rappaport wrote. Read More

2. GM pulls back on Cruise: General Motors reported better-than-expected revenue and profit in the second quarter after it restructured money-losing operations in its autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise. The automaker is scrapping plans to build the Origin – a purpose-built robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals – triggering a $583 million charge for the quarter. It makes sense, as Cruise aims to get robotaxis back on the road quickly after grounding its entire fleet last year following a safety incident. Read More

3. How hackers shut down heating in a Ukrainian city: For two days in mid-January, some Ukrainians in Lviv suffered through freezing temperatures without central heating after a cyberattack took down a municipal energy company. Cybersecurity company Dragos published a report with details about the malware, dubbed FrostyGoop. I don't know about you, but the threat of cyberattacks hitting utilities keeps me up at night. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: ARMMY PICCA / Getty Images

📚 An operating system for law firms: Clio, a Canadian software company that helps law practices run more efficiently with its cloud-based tech, has raised $900 million at a $3 billion valuation. What I think is interesting about this raise is that it's not based on some promise of future revenue. Clio is already raking it in: It recently crossed over $200 million in ARR, up from $100 million in June 2022, and it's been profitable for several years. Clio's tailwinds? Incorporating payments and, of course, AI. Read More

🚜 Customer service is important: Monarch Tractor managed to come back from the brink of a challenging 2023 with a $113 million Series C that values the startup at more than $500 million. The startup's electric tractors come with a variety of automated driving features, but what really turned the company around was a commitment to customer service. Read More

💰 The real price of stock manipulation: The founder of South Korean internet giant Kakao is facing an arrest warrant after allegations of stock price manipulation related to the company's takeover of K-pop agency, SM Entertainment, in 2023. The arrest could disrupt Kakao's plans around AI, as Brian Kim has been instrumental in those strategic decisions. Read More

🪽 Good news for Indian startups: India is doing away with the "angel tax" for all classes of investors. The tax applied to investments in startups when valuations exceeded what tax officials deemed fair market value. This is undoubtedly a win for India's startup ecosystem, especially for early-stage startups, for which such taxes could choke off vital funding. Read More

🔐 Giving businesses a cyber health checkup: Despite what the movies show us, most cyberattacks are really boring — think someone clicking a phishing email link or validating information on a phone call. Cybersecurity startup Protexxa has closed a $7.2 million Series A for its AI-powered tech that helps companies address cybersecurity concerns. The startup does things like helping find exposed passwords, issuing response plans for cyberattacks, and offering a "cyber health" score to companies. Read More

Around the web

🌈 The gay love origins of ChatGPT: Before students started writing their papers with ChatGPT and enterprises started using chatbots to interact with customers, there was the Mark 1 and its love letter generator. It was created by Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey, two gay men who set the stage for AI as we know it today, yet were forced into the closet by British laws outlawing homosexuality. The Big Think breaks down how that early text generator came up with strange yet endearing love letters. "Darling Sweetheart, You are my avid fellow feeling…" Read More

🍪 Google the Cookie Monster: There's been some back and forth on this, but Google has made advertisers very happy by finally deciding to keep third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, reports Digiday. Instead, Google wants to let users choose whether they want to be served ads that track their browsing or not. No one is sure what that means yet, but I hope that I don't have to solve a damned UI puzzle every time I go to a website to tell it "Necessary cookies only." Read More

🔮 SEC embraces the ether: Starting today, a handful of spot Ethereum ETFs will begin trading. Specifically from 21Shares, Bitwise, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, VanEck and Invesco Galaxy, according to The Block. "Today's approval represents further proof that crypto as an asset class is here to stay," said Ophelia Snyder, co-founder and president of 21Shares. Read More

Before you go

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty Images

✉️ Telegram gets close to a billion users: The messaging app now has 950 million active users, its founder revealed today. The app also plans to launch an app store and an in-app browser with support for web3 pages. These seem to be logical next steps for the company, which has been focused on helping developers build mini-apps and games that use crypto for transactions. Read More