Monday, March 10, 2025

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to TC PM! I'm Dom and I'll be taking over the newsletter this week. Today we're looking at one possible reason X went down this morning, why DeepSeek isn't yet taking VC money, and the Bluesky CEO's jab at Mark Zuckerberg. Let's go!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: TechCrunch

🚨 Sound the alarm: X went down this morning for thousands of users in what Elon Musk called a "massive cyberattack." There's no evidence of such, but it's not a far-fetched idea the Musk-owned platform would be a target, given Musk's rising and controversial prominence in the U.S. government. Read more

📌 Expert advice: Ryan Hinkle, a managing director at Insight Partners, was on the Equity podcast to give a rundown on what dealmaking is like these days as AI startups keep raising all the big rounds. He started at the firm more than 20 years ago and spoke about how check-writing for his firm has also evolved. Read more

🚧 Build it and they will come: Speaking of AI, Poolside CEO Jason Warner thinks most startups should focus on building applications, rather than foundation AI models. He also thinks that those building foundations can't have that as their only product; it should be part of something bigger. Read more

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: VCG/VCG / Getty Images

💰 Playing hard to get: DeepSeek, one of the world's hottest startups, isn't taking VC money just yet. We mapped out what's probably going on and when this could all probably change. Read more

🔋 Charged up: Daqus Energy has emerged from stealth with a $6 million seed round led by Morningside. The company, which has been in operations for at least four months, is promising to make a cheaper and lighter alternative to batteries. Read more

🏄 Sky surfing: Social web browser Surf has integrated with Bluesky in its latest beta. The new version of the app lets users log in with their Bluesky credentials and see all of their Bluesky feeds on the Surf app. Read more

🍖 SXSW 2025 live coverage: TechCrunch is live on the ground at SXSW 2025 in Austin. We have all the updates, from meeting founders at the famous Franklin Barbecue to Waymo's robotaxis driving around the city. Read more

🛜 Open web synergy: Speaking of SXSW, Frank McCourt's Project Liberty could soon be merging with Solid, a project seeking to help people gain more control over their data. McCourt took to the stage at SXSW to announce his company has been in talks with Solid, which was founded by internet legend Tim Berners-Lee, about a possible integration. Read more

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Around the web

📱 Speeding up: Rest of World looks at the countries struggling to get rid of 2G networks, as some companies express concern that doing so would affect vulnerable communities that still depend on the service. It turns out, the leap to a 5G network is not as easy as one might think. Read more

😅 Whew! Finally, a group of photographers has taken on the daunting but necessary mission to fix the terrible photos on many celebrity Wikipedia pages. The group of volunteer photographers, called WikiPortraits, is covering events around the world to help fix this eyesore of a problem. 404 Media has more

Before you go

Image Credits: SxSW on YouTube (screenshot)

🫢 Shots fired: Bluesky CEO Jay Graber poked some fun at Mark Zuckerberg onstage at SXSW. She wore a black shirt with the translated words "a world without Caesars" on it, in what appears to be a direct reference to when Zuckerberg compared himself to Julius Caesar on a similar T-shirt. Read more