Three US senators unveil the bipartisan Open App Markets Act, which would force app stores to allow sideloading and let developers use their own IAP systems
Legislation would place new limits on how Apple and Google app stores can operate — WASHINGTON—Senators introduced legislation Wednesday … Source: United States Senator … .
Group behind Poly Network, a cross-chain protocol used for DeFi applications, says a hacker has stolen $611M; one researcher blames the attack on a crypto flaw
Quick Take — Cross-chain protocol Poly Network has been hacked for $611 million. — The team behind the protocol …
Twitter rolls out a web and app redesign, implementing its first proprietary font, Chirp, high-contrast black and white follow and unfollow buttons, and more
It's inevitable: Twitter changes Twitter, and Twitter users complain on Twitter. But does Chirp make you feel like a woodpecker is pounding on your skull?
Lionel Messi's new contract with Paris St Germain includes a “large number” of crypto $PSG Fan Tokens from Socios.com, which let holders vote on minor decisions
Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi's transfer to French club Paris St Germain included a payment in cryptocurrency fan tokens …
Thousands of marginalized streamers implore Twitch to counter “hate raids”, where groups of malicious users fill a streamer's chat with targeted abuse
During an Aug. 6 broadcast, the Twitch streamer RekItRaven — who is Black and uses they/them pronouns …
UK's CMA says it has provisionally found that Facebook's Giphy acquisition could negatively impact competition, such as by denying competitors access to GIFs
The merger of social media giant Facebook and Giphy, the largest provider of GIFs, has run into a roadblock from the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Reddit raises $410M+ led by Fidelity Investments at a $10B+ valuation, up from $6B six months ago when it raised $250M; the new round could reach ~$700M
Reddit, the virtual town square of the consumer internet, has raised a fresh $410 million in funding, valuing it at more than $10 billion, the company said on Thursday. Source: Upvoted .
The attacker who stole $611M from Poly Network has now returned over $342M in USDC, BTCB, SHIBA, and others, after saying they were “ready to surrender”
Quick Take — Poly Network attacker has started returning the funds that were stolen in the largest DeFi hack to date.
TikTok details upcoming protections for users aged 13 to 17, including turning in-app messaging off by default and changes to notifications
TikTok today becomes the latest tech company to roll out increased protections for minors on its platform in the wake of increased regulatory scrutiny.
Samsung announces Galaxy Z Flip3 with an internal 6.7" 120Hz display, a 1.9" external screen, 8GB RAM, and Snapdragon 888, starting at $999, shipping August 27
One of the first thoughts around foldable smartphones is a high price tag, but that tune is changing.
Google says it banned location data firm SafeGraph in early June, meaning apps using SafeGuard location SDK had to remove it
SafeGraph sells smartphone location data to essentially anyone. Google banned the company in June. — Joseph Cox — Google has banned SafeGraph …
A look at how centralized social media platforms have made the creator economy corrosive for online workers and what can be done to remedy the issue
The creator economy is becoming the gig economy—but there's still time to turn things around — Nearly two years ago, I published … Tweets: @carnage4life , @zoescaman , @p_millerd , @mattschaar , @cn...
US grocery delivery startup Gopuff says it has acquired British competitor Dija, which was founded in Dec. 2020 and has raised $20M seed, to expand into Europe
- U.S. grocery delivery firm Gopuff is acquiring British competitor Dija to expand into Europe.
Sources: Atlanta-based Mailchimp is exploring strategic options, including a sale at a $10B+ valuation; source says Mailchimp's EBITDA reached $300M in 2020
- Marketing company attracts interest from PE firms, strategics — Atlanta-based firm is currently 100% owned by founders
Talkdesk, which provides cloud-based call center software, raises $230M Series D at a $10B valuation, following $143M Series C at a $3B valuation from last July
Talkdesk, a provider of cloud-based contact center software, announced $230 million in new Series D funding that more than triples …
Mumbai-based Eruditus, which makes top tier university courses accessible globally, raises $650M led by Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a $3.2B valuation
Mumbai-based Eruditus, which works with top universities globally to offer more than 100 executive-level courses to students in over 80 nations …
Palantir reports Q2 revenue of $376M, up 49% YoY, as sales to governments rose 66% YoY; Q3 revenue is forecasted to rise 33% YoY to $385M; stock rises 7%+
- Third-quarter revenue will be $385 million, company said — Second-quarter revenue grew 49%; loss was 7 cents a share
Foxconn reports Q2 profit of $1.07B, up 30% YoY, on revenue of $48.5B, up 20% YoY, due to strong demand from Apple and other clients
Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW) reported a better-than expected quarterly profit on Thursday due to strong demand for technology products from clients …
Agora, a materials management platform for building contractors, raises $33M Series B led by Tiger Global, bringing its total raised to about $45M
Agora, a startup that has built a materials management platform for contractors, has raised $33 million in a Series B round of funding led by Tiger Global Management.
Snap creators say they are leaving Snapchat's Spotlight feature as payments have dried up after June 1, with some moving to YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok
- Creators say they're leaving Snapchat's Spotlight feature after payments on the service had dried up.
Study of 6K websites and 900 apps that host pirated movies and TV finds they make ~$1.3B per year from ads, including from ads by Amazon, Facebook, and Google
- Stolen-content providers make $1.3 billion a year, study says — Amazon, Facebook, Google contribute ads to the websites Tweets: @raju Tweets: Raju Narisetti / @raju : Double Dipping A study shows...
Honor unveils Magic 3 series, its first post-Huawei smartphones, all with 6.76-inch displays, Google services, up to 512GB and 12GB RAM, starting at €899
Jon Porter / The Verge :
WhatsApp will let users move their chat history, including photos and voice notes, between iOS and Android devices, starting with new Galaxy models
Samsung announces Galaxy Watch4, starting at $249, and Galaxy Watch4 Classic, starting at $349, both with “Wear OS Powered by Samsung”, shipping August 27
Internal docs: Amazon plans to monitor keyboard strokes and mouse movements of customer service staff to stop rogue workers or hackers accessing customer data
An internal document also mentions cases where imposters have stolen Amazon customer data. — Joseph Cox Tweets: @sarahbmyers , @lainnafader , @cdibona , @josephfcox , @josephfcox , @josephfcox , and...
Kronologic, a sales meeting booking service that uses AI to automatically sends calendar invites on behalf of salespeople, raises $20M in seed funding
All the sessions from Transform 2021 are available on-demand now. Watch now. — Kronologic, which is developing what it describes as a …
Interview with Facebook ad exec Graham Mudd on Facebook's plans to enhance privacy in its ads, regulation, Apple's ad tracking prompt, Google's FLoC, and more
Daversa, an executive recruitment firm for companies like Instacart and Spotify, is facing allegations of male-on-male harassment and assault in a new lawsuit
The company places senior leadership in fast-growing startups to help them become stable, safe work environments Tweets: @russellbrandom , @kateconger , @hkanji , @cmuggla , and @klarnaseb Tweets: Rus...
Baidu reports $4.8B in Q2 revenue, up 20% YoY and beating estimates, and $90M net loss after writing down shares in Kuaishou, which sank 28% across the quarter
- Search giant swung to a loss after marking down Kuaishou stake — Shares of Baidu fell in pre-market trading in New York
Microsoft unveils improvements to Microsoft Office, Teams, and Outlook apps to work better on Samsung's foldables, allowing multiple instances of same app, more
Sean Endicott / Windows Central :
Sources: Sequoia remains optimistic about China as the healthcare sector, about a third of Sequoia's China portfolio, has yet to become a focus of crackdowns
The venture firm has exposure to the online education sector that regulators have choked, and investors worry its other holdings could be next.
After Alibaba fired an employee accused of rape, over 6,000 workers sign a letter urging it to ban sexual remarks and games in ice-breaking and business events
Li Yuan / New York Times : Tweets: @yueqi_yang , @paulmozur , @liyuan6 , @liyuan6 , and @jchengwsj Tweets: Yueqi Yang / @yueqi_yang : China's MeToo movement got two high-profile cases recently: Chine...
Utah-based TaxBit, which provides cryptocurrency tax and accounting services, raises $130M Series B at a $1.3B+ valuation, after raising $100M in March
I am excited to announce that Madrona Venture Group has joined …
Sources: DoorDash recently held talks to buy Instacart for between $40B and $50B, but the talks fell apart due to potential antitrust scrutiny
The Information :
Researchers create nine computer-generated faces that can serve as “master keys” to impersonate almost half of the faces in three top facial recognition systems
computer generated faces that act like master keys for facial recognition systems, and can impersonate several identities. https://www.vice.com/... Ash Blankenship / @ashblankenship : Best to use a lo...
Chicago-based Hologram, which develops a custom SIM card to give IoT devices data access from multiple carriers, raises a $65M Series B led by Tiger Global
Jim Dallke / Chicago Business Journal :
London-based Aforza, which builds tools on top of Salesforce and Google Cloud to help sell consumer packaged goods, raises $22M Series A led by DN Capital
Christine Hall / TechCrunch :
Tulip, which builds cloud-based software tools for factory workers, raises $100M led by Insight Partners at a ~$1B valuation, bringing its total raised to $153M
Amy Feldman / Forbes :
VerSe Innovation, parent of news aggregator Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, raises $450M+ Series I, five months after raising $200M
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Workflow automation company ServiceNow is acquiring MapWize, a France-based indoor mapping and visualization software company
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat :
Sources: China-based autonomous driving startup Pony.ai suspends plans for a US public listing following Chinese government's crackdown on domestic tech firms
eBay Q2: revenue of $2.7B, up 14% YoY, GMV of $22.1B, down 7%, 159M global active buyers, down 2%; 80% of eBay's S. Korean division sold to Emart for ~$3B
Filing: hedge fund Baupost Group has acquired a 3.5% stake in Just Eat Takeaway.com, worth about $654M
Bloomberg : Tweets: @sam_l_shead Tweets: Sam Shead / @sam_l_shead : Seth Klarman's hedge fund has snapped up a 3.5% stake in Just Eat https://takeaway.com/ valued at $645 million https://www.bloomber...
How Sweden's policy of putting a computer in every home and early concurrent investment in internet connectivity helped birth Spotify, Skype, Klarna, and others
AppLovin beats with Q2 revenue of $668.8M, up 123% YoY, Apps revenue of $523M, up 102% YoY, and Business Software Platform revenue of $146M, up 256% YoY
Wallace Witkowski / MarketWatch :
Saturn, a social calendar app for US high school students, raises $35M led by General Catalyst, Insight Partners, and Coatue, bringing its total raised to $44M
Alexandra Sternlicht / Forbes : Tweets: @insightpartners and @mazzeo Tweets: @insightpartners : The @joinsaturn team is just getting started. With continued growth in user engagement and retention, w...
Doxel, which uses computer vision to track progress on construction sites, raises $40M Series B led by Insight Partners
Shanghai-based MediTrust Health, an online healthcare payment and pharmacy platform, raises $308M Series C, following a $154.2M Series B in March
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.