Government snubs Tesla

Plus: A TikTok replacement?

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Monday, January 13, 2025  Welcome to TC PM! Today we are learning that Blue Origin had to postpone its inaugural rocket launch — again; we dig into the details on multiple company acquisitions; and we learn about new AI chip export restrictions. Onward!  TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Tesla ⚡️ Tesla overlooked again: The Department of Transportation announced another $636 million in funding for 49 applicants building EV charging infrastructure. Tesla was absent from that list, meaning its application for $100 million to fund a big rig charging corridor was passed over. Read more 🤳 TikTok transition: If TikTok does get shut down on January 19, where will its users go for short-form video? Xiaohongshu, another Chinese short-form video app, has skyrocketed to the top of app stores. Seems that although the U.S. has qualms about Chinese-owned social media, users sure don't. Read more 🚀 New Glenn gets grounded: Blue Origin had to postpone the inaugural launch of its first orbital rocket, New Glenn, early this morning. The rocket launch had initially been planned for January 12, but now it seems the company will likely need a few days. Read more   A Message from Dataiku Discover the 5 GenAI trends that will shape 2025 and beyond Step into 2025 with confidence as we unveil 5 GenAI trends backed by extensive industry research. From insights into AI agents transforming decision-making to governance challenges and investment shifts, this report provides a data-driven roadmap for success. Don't miss the key stats and strategies shaping the future of AI innovation. Download Here   Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: Alexsl / Getty Images 🛍️ eBay goes shopping: The e-commerce giant eBay is looking to bolster its used car selling business. The company announced plans today to acquire Caramel, a startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final steps of a transaction online. Read more 🚫 No chips for you: The Biden administration announced today a number of rule changes that further restrict the export of advanced AI chips to certain countries. While these are meant to hurt U.S. adversaries like China and Russia, this latest batch of restrictions will have larger ramifications. Read more 🤑 Another acquisition: Clearwater Analytics, which develops accounting and compliance tools for asset managers, announced that it's entered a definitive agreement to acquire investment management platform Enfusion for $1.5 billion. Read more 💰 A SPAC for sore eyes: AI chip startup Blaize announced it will go public on Tuesday via a SPAC deal. The company launched in 2011 and has since raised more than $335 million in venture funding. I don't know what's more surprising: an exit or a SPAC in 2025? Read more 🧾 A second startup: Open Ledger is building embedded accounting tools, and it just raised $3 million in funding. The company's founder, Pryce Yebesi, is 24 years old and got the idea for Open Ledger while building his last startup Utopia Labs, which was acquired by Coinbase. Read more Around the web 🚗 The future of EVs: The next four years could look very different than the last four years when it comes to electric vehicles. The Verge caught up with outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg about his thoughts on the next four years and on what he accomplished in office. Read more 👀 Writing on the walls: When Meta announced it would be changing its content moderation policies last week, U.S.-based fact checkers felt "blindsided" by the news. But Meta's content moderation teams outside the U.S. have heard rumors of the program shutting down for years. 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

The Gravy Analytics location data breach is a privacy nightmare

Also: Mastodon is going non-profit

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Bellan Monday, January 13, 2025 Welcome to TechCrunch AM! We're off to a cracking start this morning with notes on a devastating data breach that probably affects everyone reading this, Mastodon's move to a non-profit model, and the departure of Sonos' CEO. We've also got the top tech trends from self-driving cars, a powerful new telescope, TC's best advice for founders, a low-cost AI reasoning model, OpenAI's arms race, and more. Let's go! — Rebecca TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch 1. What could go wrong? Data broker Gravy Analytics was hacked, and now the location data of millions of people around the world is floating around out there. The data comes from top phone apps – from Tinder and Grindr to Microsoft Outlook and MyFitnessPal – and can easily show where people have been, live, work, and travel. Read More 2. Non-profit social media: We talk a lot about AI alignment, but what about ensuring that the tools we use everyday, like social media, are aligned with humanity? Mastodon has an answer for that: transitioning to a non-profit structure. Read More 3. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is leaving the company after nearly a decade on the job. His departure comes after the Great Sonos Update Screw Up of 2024, where everyone around the world with a Sonos device was angered by the buggiest software update that cost the company a ton of time, money, and cred. Read More   A Message from Moloco Inc. Beyond Borders: Mobile Gaming Insights for Global Growth Explore Beyond borders: Mobile gaming insights for global growth, an interactive report that highlights key opportunities for mobile gaming app marketers to find high-value users beyond familiar markets. Access the full report now!   Morning must-reads Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch 🚗 Self-driving cars are back, baby: Despite the shutdown of major players (see: Cruise), autonomous vehicles are seeing a revival — if CES announcements and demos are to be believed. The show was full of automated driving tech, as well as other transportation trends like Nvidia chips in everything that moves. Read More 🤠 Becca's best founder advice: TC's Rebecca Szkutak is sharing the five best pieces of advice she learned as the host of the Found podcast, and it should be required reading for any first-time founder. Read More 🫧 AI healthcare is taking off: Have we all been noticing the truckloads of money going to AI healthcare companies, or is it just me? Qventus, a startup that builds AI tools to automate work across healthcare scenarios, has just raised $105 million. Read More 💸 Does it really take billions to train AI models? A team of researchers at UC Berkeley released an open-source AI reasoning model that can apparently compete with an earlier version of OpenAI's o1 and was trained for less than $450. So what is OpenAI doing with all that cash?! Read More 💳 The Brex of Canada: Float Financial wants to be the Brex of the North, and it's just raised $48.5 million to scale its expense management and corporate card startup. Goldman Sachs Growth Equity led the round, bringing the startup's warchest to $92.6 million. Read More   A Message from Brex The financial stack you can bank on Runway is everything for startups. That's why 1 in 3 startups choose Brex for modern checking, treasury, and FDIC in one account. Move money fast worldwide. Earn yield from your first dollar — while accessing your funds anytime. And get up to $6M in FDIC coverage from program banks. Learn More   Around the web 🔫 The AI arms race: OpenAI has released its economic blueprint for "AI in America" that suggests ways policymakers can spur the development of AI in the U.S. and keep its lead over China. The New York Times reports it's part of a larger attempt to court the incoming Trump administration. Read More ✊ Meanwhile at Epic Games: Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic, is throwing shade at big tech for cozying up to Trump, writes TechSpot. "After years of pretending to be Democrats, Big Tech leaders are now pretending to be Republicans… Beware the scummy monopoly campaign to vilify competition law as they rip off consumers and crush competitors." Read More 🤓 Top 10 breakthrough technologies, from MIT Technology Review. The list includes a powerful new telescope to help astronomers study dark matter, small language models, long-acting HIV prevention meds, green steel, and more. Read More Before you go Image Credits: Apple ⛔ Opt out of AI summaries: And by AI, I mean Apple Intelligence. The company's feature summarizes notifications, but it's not always accurate and often causes confusion. Not to worry, you can turn it off. Here's how 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. 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