Chan Zuckerberg initiative backtracks on DEI

Also: The 21-year-olds who raised $100M for their AI recruiting startup

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Bellan Thursday, February 20, 2025 Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're looking at Mark Zuckerberg's continued commitment to dismantling DEI, the big money in AI recruiting, and the bias in TikTok and X's recommendation algorithms. We've also got moves in the world of fintech, Uber's subscription offering for Indian rickshaw drivers, an oversubscribed fund for women-related tech, the danger of Google's ad tech, and more. Let's go! — Rebecca TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Anita Bugge / Contributor / Getty Images 1. Whiplash: Weeks after assuring staff his charity would continue to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Mark Zuckerberg is backtracking. An email from the COO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative said the changes would help it "align with [its] focus as a science philanthropy." Read More 2. Replacing HR is hot right now: Mercor, the AI recruiting startup founded by three 21-year-old Thiel Fellows, has raised a $100 million round at a $2 billion valuation. That's eight times its previous valuation, and speaks to the investor appetite for tech that streamlines hiring. Read More 3. Algorithmically primed bias: Researchers in Germany say recommendation algorithms operated by TikTok and X show a substantial far-right political bias ahead of an election in the country. Not surprising, given Elon Musk's support of AfD's messaging. Read More   A Message from Stripe Get your complimentary pass for Stripe Sessions 2025 Join Stripe at Sessions 2025—the internet economy conference—happening May 6–8 in San Francisco. See the future of global commerce, experience new technology in action, and get to know your peers across industries. Register soon to secure your complimentary pass using code S25Techcrunch. Register Now   Morning must-reads Image Credits: Varo Bank 💰 Shaking things up: Fintech Varo has closed on $29 million in funding, bringing its total raised well over $1 billion. It's not a small amount of money, but not as much as Varo had been hoping to raise. Read More 🐞 Sticking together: Swizzle Ventures closed Fund I at $6.6 million, well bypassing its original target of $3 million. The fund will target women's health and wealth startups. Remember, folks, focusing on women is not "DEI" — we're half the population with half the spending power. Read More  🛺 A smaller cut: Uber is moving away from its commission-based model for three-wheel autorickshaw drivers in India and instead embracing a daily rate structure. That's the model Uber's local rivals Rapido and Namma Yatri use, and puts the power to set fares back into the drivers' hands. Read More 🧑‍💻 Valuation inflation: Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup, is raising a new round at a $2.85 billion valuation. That's about 70 times Codeium's ARR, which puts the startup's generous valuation ahead of competitors like Anysphere, which investors say is the leader in this space. Read More 🧫 Does it check for bird flu? Spore.Bio has secured a $23 million Series A round after seeing real customer interest for its microbiology testing product. The Paris-based startup is targeting the food and beverage industry by speeding up contamination testing. Perfect timing! Read More 🏭 Pocket-sized reactors: Valar Atomics is the latest small modular nuclear reactor company to hit the market. The startup came out of stealth with a whopping $19 million in seed funding to develop its first test reactor, and aims to build the nuclear plant equivalent of a gigafactory. Read More Around the web ☁️ God Mode: A story from The Atlantic explores how Elon Musk's DOGE has achieved "God Mode," per an employee at USAID who said the team now has full, unrestricted access to the agency's digital infrastructure, including control over systems that Americans working in conflict zones rely on. Read More 😑 No rules for ads: A Wired investigation reveals that Google's advertising tech ecosystem serves up sensitive information on Americans that the world's largest brands are using. Data like who national security decision makers are and people who suffer from chronic illnesses. Read More 🔬 Not shady at all: As a grand jury investigates criminal misconduct at Synapse after the fintech's collapse, they have called to the stand an executive who sounded the alarm before its fall. Their goal is to learn more about $3 million of customer funds that's been reported as missing, reports The Wall Street Journal. Read More Before you go 🤳 Not For You: Patreon's State of Create report explores how algorithmic feeds on TikTok and Instagram are making it more difficult for creators to reach their audiences because of the deluge of content those audiences might like. Even Kylie Jenner is having trouble! Read More Featured jobs from CrunchBoard BizOps Lead, Elayne (New York, NY) Staff Software Engineer, Murmuration (Remote) Founding Sales Development Representative, Clerkie (Remote) Business Analyst, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) CAD Technician, Sinacola (Dallas, TX) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy

A new iPhone SE at last

Plus: A Google gamble

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Wednesday, February 19, 2025 Welcome to TC PM! Today we have all the details on the new iPhone 16e, which starts shipping at the end of the month; we learn that Elon Musk's X is raising more funds; and we parse through Google updates. Kick it! TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Apple 📳 Ring, ring, hello: Apple has answered my prayers released a new version of its iPhone SE. This next generation, called iPhone 16e, starts shipping at the end of the month and comes with Apple Intelligence and a $599 price tag. Read more 📵 A hack!: Former U.S. Army soldier Cameron John Wagenius plead guilty today to hacking AT&T and Verizon and stealing significant amounts of consumer data. He faces a maximum fine of $250,000 and a potential 10-year prison sentence. Read more 🤑 More money for Musk: Elon Musk's X is reportedly in talks with investors to raise another funding round that values the company at $44 billion — the same price he bought the social media platform for back in 2022. Read more   A Message from Stripe Get your complimentary pass for Stripe Sessions 2025 Join Stripe at Sessions 2025—the internet economy conference—happening May 6–8 in San Francisco. See the future of global commerce, experience new technology in action, and get to know your peers across industries. Register soon to secure your complimentary pass using code S25Techcrunch. Register Now   Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: Future Family 💬 Chip communication: Data centers consume a lot of power. The majority of that power is used for chip-to-chip communication. Hyperlume is a startup using microLEDs to make chip communication faster and more efficient. Read more 🐤 Guaranteed baby: Future Family is an insurance startup that essentially offers couples their money back if they don't have a baby after two cycles of IVF, or if they lose a baby within two weeks of being born. Read more 💸 Cash for creators: Today's Equity episode features a conversation with Megan Lightcap, a partner at Slow Ventures. Lightcap discusses how the firm backs creators and how these individuals can become scalable businesses of their own. Listen here 👋 Goodbye, Gemini: Google is pulling its AI assistant Gemini from the Google iOS app. The move is designed to motivate users to download the stand-alone Gemini app. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Read more 💭 Speaking of Google: Google also launched a new experimental tool Wednesday called Career Dreamer. It uses AI to pull information from a person's educational background, skills, and more to recommend a career that might be a good fit. Read more Around the web 💻 Silicon Valley secrets: The Verge has a fascinating piece out today that looks into the link between women working on factory lines in the early days of Silicon Valley and children born with intellectual disabilities. Read more 📹 Bringing back the dead: Using AI to re-create the voices of people who have passed away is a controversial new tool in documentary filmmaking. Netflix did this in its recent docuseries on Gabby Petito and is drawing a lot of online criticism, despite getting her family's blessing. Read more Featured jobs from CrunchBoard BizOps Lead, Elayne (New York, NY) Staff Software Engineer, Murmuration (Remote) Founding Sales Development Representative, Clerkie (Remote) Business Analyst, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) CAD Technician, Sinacola (Dallas, TX) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy