GIC in talks to lead $40 million funding in India’s Vegrow
GIC is in talks to invest in the Indian startup Vegrow, which runs a business-to-business marketplace for fruits, two sources familiar with the matter said. The Singapore sovereign fund is evaluating leading a $40 million Series C funding round in Vegrow, the sources said. The talks, which have not finalized
Read moreSpotify launches Jam, a real-time collaborative playlist controlled by up to 32 people
Spotify is today introducing its latest social feature, Jam, which allows multiple people to blend their own musical tastes into a combined playlist. However, the new feature, which builds on technology previously used in multi-person playlists like Blend and Duo Mix, is designed for real-time listening among a group of
Read moreGoogle is killing Gmail’s basic HTML view in 2024
Another day, another Google product goes to the graveyard. The company is sunsetting Gmail’s basic HTML view, which allows users to look at their emails in a barebones state, starting January 2024. The company updated its support page to reflect that Gmail will automatically switch to the Standard view after the
Read moreTelegram starts to look like a super app, echoing WeChat
Telegram, the popular messenger with 800 million monthly active users worldwide, is inching closer to adopting an ecosystem strategy that is reminiscent of WeChat’s super app approach. Certain aspects of the ecosystem will be decentralized with help from two heavyweights: Telegram’s crypto partner TON Foundation and WeChat’s owner Tencent. Telegram
Read moreAmazon’s outgoing Echo head is Blue Origin’s new CEO
Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith is retiring at the end of the year and his replacement is coming from Jeff Bezos’ other company. Dave Limp, an Amazon veteran who had planned to step down from his role as head of the company’s consumer devices division, is taking over the CEO
Read moreFord halts work on $3.5B EV battery factory with China’s CATL
Ford confirmed Monday it has immediately stopped work at a $3.5 billion factory in Michigan that was supposed to make cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries using tech from China’s CATL. “We’re pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall project until we’re confident about our ability to competitively
Read moreSignal’s Meredith Whittaker: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’
Why is it that so many companies that rely on monetizing the data of their users seem to be extremely hot on AI? If you ask Signal president Meredith Whittaker (and I did), she’ll tell you it’s simply because “AI is a surveillance technology.” Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, Whittaker
Read moreNew SEC cybersecurity disclosure rules: What you need to know to stay in compliance
The SEC requires companies to report both material cybersecurity incidents and cybersecurity risk management processes in a standardized way.
Read moreMax Q: Things got disrupted
Hello and welcome back to Max Q! I'm home after attending TechCrunch Disrupt, our flagship event in SF. We had some incredible programming and startups onstage for our Battlefield competition.
Read moreApple executives break down AirPods’ new features
AirPods only got a passive mention during the keynote at Apple’s event. It’s understandable — the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 (and Ultra 2) were center stage. Besides, the headphones didn’t get the same manner of hardware updates. As a press release issued after the event confirmed, the
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