VW says its retro-style three-row EV minivan ‘brings the halo effect to our brand’

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Friday, June 02, 2023

Today, get a look inside Volkswagen's new electric minivan, scammers advertise on government websites, and two executives decided it was time to go. Next week is going to be busy: We've got Apple WWDC 2023 starting June 5 and TechCrunch Live is taking an online road trip to Atlanta on June 7. This is your Daily Crunch for Friday. Image Credits: Volkswagen/James Lipman

If you've been patiently waiting for Volkswagen's new ID.Buzz, I hope that patience continues a little while longer. We found out that this cool electric minivan will not be available for another year. Now check out all the ins and outs of this vehicle, which VW is hoping will elevate its entire brand. NestAway, an India-based proptech company once valued at over $225 million, is being acquired by competitor Aurum for $11 million. Get the scoop. Most of us are constantly on our phones, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of our Big Tech favorites is reportedly considering offering a low-cost or possibly free mobile service. Find out who that is. When you know, you know: Word came down late yesterday that Twitter's trust and safety lead Ella Irwin resigned. Not much has been uncovered yet as to why, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, over at AWS, Puneet Chandok, the company's India and South Asia head, resigned in a surprise move. Find out more. Shop and save: Shopify's Shop app unveils a new Shop Cash rewards program that has users earning 1% back on purchases made using the online checkout service. Find out how it works. Sound the alarm: In today's cybersecurity news, a company file transfer tool used by thousands of companies is being targeted by hackers. Learn more. Plus, scammers published ads for their hacking services on government websites. Get the scoop. Image Credits: Gorodenkoff / Getty Images

Meanwhile, if you detect some clickbait, there's an app for that. The Artifact news app now uses AI to rewrite the headline of a clickbait article. Find out more. It's time to drop the price like it's hot. Shadow, a Dropbox-like cloud storage service, is cutting the price of Shadow Drive. Learn how low they will go. But what happens if you're already hot? That's what YC-backed Dumme is finding. The company, developing an AI video editor that turns long-form YouTube videos into Shorts, raised $3.4 million and is seeing loads of demand before launch. Read more. And don't miss out on these stories: Lumari is a new social sandbox game with cute creatures, building capabilities and more YouTube TV brings the Tennis Channel back three years after removing it After Stratasys and Desktop Metal announce merger plans, 3D Systems proposes acquisition Snapchat's AI bot isn't very smart, but at least it won't send nudes Lenovo's Yoga Book 9i realizes the full potential of a dual-screen laptop Fidelity has cut Reddit valuation by 41% since 2021 investment Image Credits: Getty Images

City Spotlight: Atlanta On June 7, TechCrunch is going to (virtually) be in Atlanta. We have a slate of amazing programming planned, including the mayor himself, Andre Dickens. If you are an early-stage Atlanta-based founder, apply to pitch to our panel of guest investors/judges for our live pitching competition. The winner gets a free booth at TechCrunch Disrupt this year to exhibit their company in our startup alley. Register here to tune in to the event. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Many startups are built off research, so why don't more scientists become founders? Scientists generally have hands-on experience with managing budgets, shepherding complex projects and raising funds, but many investors still don't see them as founder material. On the Found podcast, Rebecca Szkutak and Dominic Madori-Davis interviewed Dr. Stacy Blain, co-founder and chief science officer at Concarlo Therapeutics, about the challenges she faced when transitioning into tech from academia. "The beauty of being a scientist is that we can learn a lot," she said. "That's what we've been trained to do for decades: Look at a situation, figure out what's important, troubleshoot and learn the appropriate things. Two more from the TC+ team: The web3 winter isn't going to thaw anytime soon. Pitch Deck Teardown: Oii.ai's $1.9M Seed deck. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription. Read More Image Credits: Getty Images

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard CIWRO Research Associate: ACME Software Developer at University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK 73019, USA) Security Manager at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA, USA) Sales Consultant at Pony Show Creative (Anywhere) Sr. Systems Analyst - VMWare/Windows at El Dorado County (Placerville, CA, USA) Manager of Application Deployment at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Wheeling, WV, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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Days before Apple is expected to release its headset, Meta unveils the $499 Quest 3

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Thursday, June 01, 2023

Today, Meta has a brand-new Quest headset, BeReal lets you chat ForReal, and a lot of people want a free Telly. This is your Daily Crunch for Thursday. Image Credits: Meta

First, Walmart's got a brand-new bag — yours. The retail giant is allowing customers to bring their own bags to pick up orders now in a move to reduce the amount of plastic bags it uses. Read more. Artificial intelligence is now powering the way you create images in Microsoft Teams. Provide text or uploaded images into Designer, and it spits out a finished product. Find out how. Find out what happened at Computex, which held its first in-person event since the global pandemic. We have your scoop on the elephants from that room. Next, prepare to get your game on, because Meta unveiled its Quest 3 headset that will be arriving this fall. To make this news even sweeter, there will be over 20 new games for Quest headsets coming as well. Google liked what it saw and invested in hyperspectral imagery startup Pixxel. When I look at Pixxel's orbital imagery, I see smoke, but also a person. What do you see? Startups focused on content generated by artificial intelligence applications have a new funding source: Chinese search giant Baidu has plans to create a venture fund with 1 billion yuan ($145 million). Now learn more about why. We've got some big funding rounds here: GetYourGuide books $194M at a $2B valuation with travel experiences back in business Measurabl, an ESG platform for real estate, raises $93M Lightmatter's photonic AI hardware is ready to shine with $154M in new funding Image Credits: Walmart

Now let's move over to a gaggle of Google news. First, Google Play Books has a new feature that will help new readers work on their mad skills. Meanwhile, Google Wallet has some new features that include support for QR-based cards and insurance cards. Oh, and Parisa Tabriz, who calls herself Google's "security princess," will be on the Disrupt stage in October. Learn more. Speaking of security, we have reports of companies investigating breaches, including legal tech firm Casepoint, which got word from hackers that some of their sensitive data was compromised. Also, over at Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky, some hackers reportedly infiltrated some employee iPhones. Find out what happened. Remember in May when we told you about smart television Telly giving away free televisions? Well, the response has been so great a quarter million people have signed on to take advantage of the offer, which you will recall comes with watching a lot of ads. Read more. You've got the look: Match Group has a new gay dating app for men called Archer that takes a social approach. Find your match. Baby, talk is not cheap: BeReal users in Ireland are the first to get to test out a new chat feature. Get the scoop. At a data loss: Ariga is pouring its new $15 million Series A into helping developers define database schema as code. Read more. Leave no stone unturned: Platformatic, a new back-end development platform, raised $3.5 million to make it easier for enterprises to modernize their infrastructure. Find out more. Bank on it: Revolut alums raised $3.7 million for Vault, a startup offering banking services to Canadian small businesses. See why this is so uncommon. Now here's more: No Man's Sky launches on Mac starting today Developers of third-party Reddit apps fear shutdown because of API pricing changes YouTuber Emma Chamberlain adds to coffee empire with a ready-to-drink line New New York-meets-Warsaw VC fund brings in Japan partner to hunt for European startups AMC and Vudu score big with new on-demand streaming partnership Image Credits: Leon Neal / Getty Images

Crunchbase will begin tracking venture dollars allocated to LGBTQ+ founders According to one estimate, founders who identify as LGBTQ+ receive less than 1% of startup funding. To kick off Pride Month, Crunchbase announced today that it has started measuring how much venture capital flows to members of this community. "Having concrete data helps in advocating for policy changes, funding initiatives and resource allocation to support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs," said Ryan Husk, Crunchbase's director of business development. “It enables us to make evidence-based arguments for greater equity and access within the startup ecosystem.” Three more from the TC+ team: Ceibo unearths $30M Series B to extract more copper out of existing mines Many startups are built off research, so why don't more scientists become founders? Startups may have room to innovate as enterprise providers puzzle out how to price AI tools TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription. Read More Image Credits: Namthip Muanthongthae / Getty Images

Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there's something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $600 when you buy your pass now through August 11, and save 15% on top of that with promo code DC. Learn more. Read More

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard CIWRO Research Associate: ACME Software Developer at University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK 73019, USA) Security Manager at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA, USA) Sales Consultant at Pony Show Creative (Anywhere) Sr. Systems Analyst - VMWare/Windows at El Dorado County (Placerville, CA, USA) Manager of Application Deployment at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Wheeling, WV, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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Hackers steal 9M dental patients' info in year's biggest reported health data breach

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Today, some cybercrimes were uncovered, we found out how many of you are curious about the new season of "Black Mirror" and Elon Musk made a visit to China. This is your Daily Crunch for Wednesday. We're halfway through the week! Image Credits: Sergey Shulgin / Getty Images

Let's kick it off with some mobility news. One of the top stories today was about Uber switching up its ride discounts for subscribers. Find out what the new discount includes. We also learned a bit more about Volvo's new small electric SUV and some of the ways the car maker is saving space. Speaking of small, if teeny, tiny cars are your thing, Fiat's new electric Topolino will have you saying, "Awwwwww." See how cute it is. Meanwhile, many of you were eager to know why the first episode in season six of "Black Mirror" is a subscriber's worst nightmare. We got the scoop. Now on to the cyber beat, where we saw a few big stories come through today, including a ransomware attack on a U.S. dental insurance giant and hundreds of thousands of additional car owners had their data exposed by Toyota. Read more on that. More layoffs: Taxfix, a German accounting startup valued at $1 billion, found itself in a funding crunch and had to cut 120 jobs. Read more. Pack your bags: Hostaway brought in $175 million to expand its vacation rental management platform. Time to plan your next vacation. AI images explained: In an effort to flag potential fake images, Twitter launches Community Notes. Find out more about how this will work. Money, money, money, money, money…money!: Out of some aspects of failed fintech Wirecard comes NomuPay, which is taking on cross-border payments with $53.6 million in new funding. Read more. Process this: NXP unveils its latest processor, the i.MX 91, during Computex. Check it out. Image Credits: Volvo

Another breach, what gives? Sponsored by Atakama Tired of reading another data breach headline? Atakama has the key to protecting data and privacy in the aftermath of a breach, and the company, with its patented tech is embarking on its next phase of growth. A unique investment opportunity awaits. Invest Now

Meanwhile, my teenage son was recently enamored by a video showing someone using a paper map in the car. How 1990s of them, amirite? If paper maps aren't your thing, Atly is claiming to be the "next social paradigm for mapping and discovering places to go." It now also has $18 million in new funding. Find out more about this company that wants to be a Reddit for real-world locations. You can never be too healthy. The team covered some healthcare-related news today, including Strive Health, a company offering kidney care, securing a whopping $166 million. Similarly, Hyro, which has developed a healthcare-focused conversational platform — AI-powered, of course — raised $30 million. Read more. Everyone needs a digital assistant, and Instacart wants you to have one, too. The company announced a new search experience, powered by ChatGPT, for shoppers to inquire about a host of buying-related questions. What will you ask? U.K.-based CUR8 thinks it has the answer to helping remove 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. Read more. To the moon!: Hubble Network has an ambitious goal to connect a billion devices with a space-based Bluetooth network. Find out how it plans to do that. The Block Party's over: Twitter's decision to put its API access behind a paywall has another company suspending services. This time it's Block Party, which is putting its anti-harassment tool on hiatus. Read more. Think on it: Cortex, which began as a way to help developers organize their microservices architectures, is flush with $35 million in Series B funding to take on a new role. Get the scoop. Always be closing: Vartana inks a $20 million investment to help salespeople close their B2B deals. Learn more about how it plans to scale. Here are six more must-reads: Elon Musk's pivotal China visit: diplomacy, supply chain, and beyond SellerX acquires US e-commerce roll-up rival Elevate Brands in an all-share deal, raises $64M+ Okay, which analyzes engineers' productivity, sells to Stripe Blink launches Blink Copilot to bring generative AI to security operations Selva Ventures to invest $34M Fund II in health, wellness-focused brands Apple touts $1.1 trillion in App Store commerce in 2022, with $104B in digital sales Image Credits: Elenabs / Getty Images

Ask Sophie: How long until I can travel while waiting for my green card? Dear Sophie, I came to the United States from Tunisia to get my master's degree and PhD. I recently finished my PhD, and I'm working for a biotech company on OPT. I've been trying to get publications and significant awards to qualify for the EB-1A green card and I need to travel internationally frequently for business. Once I apply, will I be stuck in the U.S.? If so, for how long? — Tenacious from Tunisia Two more from the TC+ team: Neobanks should take heart from Monzo's performance in 2022 Have enterprise buyers finally soured on 'bottoms-up' tech sales? TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Calling all early-stage startups! Apply to join the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. All finalists get expert training, VC networking, a booth at Disrupt, and the chance to compete for $100,000 in equity-free funds. Applications close May 31. Apply today! Read More

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard CIWRO Research Associate: ACME Software Developer at University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK 73019, USA) Security Manager at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA, USA) Sales Consultant at Pony Show Creative (Anywhere) Sr. Systems Analyst - VMWare/Windows at El Dorado County (Placerville, CA, USA) Manager of Application Deployment at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Wheeling, WV, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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