EV startup Harbinger’s obsession with simplicity fuels $100M Series B
It’s not an easy time to raise money for an electric vehicle startup, especially given how many have failed or are close to failing. But Los Angeles-based Harbinger has pulled it off by taking a hyper-focused approach to electrifying commercial trucking. The reward is a $100 million Series B, co-led
Read morePowerset gives founders $1 million to invest in other startups
Powerset, founded in late 2022, is an investment program with a simple hypothesis: what if the best investors aren’t venture capitalists but other founders, scribbling off checks in between late night coding sessions and board meetings? © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreNorth Korea stole over $659M in crypto heists during 2024, deploys fake job seekers
A joint international statement provides the first official confirmation that North Korea was behind the $235M hack of WazirX, India's largest cryptocurrency exchange. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreUK plans to ban public sector organizations from paying ransomware hackers
The Home Office has proposed a 'targeted ban' on ransom payments following a wave a cyberattacks targeting the UK © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreVenture funding remains stable in France thanks to AI startups
Alex Dewez, a partner at 20VC, just released its highly anticipated State of the French tech ecosystem report. This is a nice followup to Atomico’s State of European Tech report, with a more granular view on French startups in particular. As a reminder, the bottom line of Atomico’s report is
Read moreUK’s CMA slaps Google Search and its 90%+ market share with an antitrust investigation
The Competition and Markets Authority — the U.K.’s antitrust watchdog — is wasting no time in lodging its first official investigation of 2025 under its new rules that came into effect this month. It’s looking into the market dominance of Google in search, including the new work it’s doing in
Read moreHow Can South African Banks Leverage Generative AI for Growth?
The global banking landscape is experiencing seismic shifts, driven by the rapid advancement of technology and evolving consumer expectations. South Africa, with its robust financial sector and growing technological infrastructure, is positioned to spearhead a transformative revolution in the banking industry through the use of generative AI (Gen AI). According
Read moreBioptimus raises $41M to develop a ‘GPT for biology’
A fledgling French AI startup has raised $41 million to develop a foundational AI model for biology. Just as OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm for a super-smart generative AI tool capable of natural language conversation in text form, Bioptimus is taking that concept but training its model
Read moreHayo Appoints Industry Veteran as Executive Vice President (EVP)
Hayo, a global developer in digital solutions, has named Paul Loveridge as Executive Vice President (EVP) to drive the company’s global expansion. Hayo blends networking, technology, telecommunications, and digital solutions to provide on-the-ground innovation that benefits local communities. It offers substantial coverage on the African continent, as well as over
Read moreLemFi moves remittances further into Asia and Europe with $53M in new funding
For many emerging market economies, remittances have become a lifeline. Inflows surpassed $669 billion in 2023, according to World Bank research, and they now represent significant portions of GDP in these countries, often outpacing foreign direct investment as the primary source of foreign exchange. Traditional banks and agents maintain a
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