Don't miss these Meta's expensive opt-out policy under scrutiny: When Meta started offering EU users a choice between opting-in for its ads and paying for an ad-free experience, it was trying to thread the needle between local regulations and making money. Now, eight regional consumer rights groups are suing the company over this choice, alleging violations of GDPR principles. Snowflake CEO to step down, stock melts: In a shocking move, Frank Slootman, the CEO of Snowflake, announced that he intends to step down. The company also forecast its Q1 product revenue below what analysts expected, and the double whammy has sent its shares down more than 20%. Wall Street, it turns out, were big fans of Slootman. Elon, Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) head to court: Last year, Musk-owned X sued the CCDH for making "misleading claims" about the service. The Center had reported on X's moderation choices and the potential financial benefits they might bring to the social media company. Oral arguments will start today in San Francisco, and are set to be livestreamed. Taiwanese startups hope for looser investing rules: When Lai Ching-te became Taiwan's president-elect, he inherited a contentious neighbor in China as well as the mandate to deal with the global rush to compete with the island-nation's semiconductor industry. Taiwan's entrepreneurs, though, are heartened by his upcoming tenure in office. TechCrunch's Catherine Shu reports that the country's startups are hopeful Lai's government will streamline and improve processes for fundraising and international expansion. Speaking of chips, India has approved the allocation of $15.2 billion to build three semiconductor plants, which will include the nation's first semiconductor fab. The investment may help India better compete with both China and Taiwan in the chip race. Ever since the chip shortage a few years ago, every nation wants to produce their own silicon, so this move makes a lot of sense. Money, money, money: - French cybersecurity startup Filigran, the company behind the open-source product OpenCTI, has raised $16 million in a round led by Accel.
- Nigerian fintech debt-collection startup Bfree has raised $2.95 million to help lenders recover debt ethically.
- Singaporean web3 security firm Silence Laboratories has put together a $4.1 million round.
Twodos is a fresh take on personal task management: There are a few tech projects that humans will work on until the end of time, and task management and note-taking appear to be two of them. In the case of the former, there's a new entrant in the market called Twodos. Built by Adam Whitcroft (he formerly worked with Rewind), this app is dead-simple in terms of features, and leans heavily on swiping gestures to sort upcoming tasks. Don't forget: TechCrunch's Early Stage event is just around the corner! |
