Google Podcasts will sunset next year as platform moves users to YouTube Music

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Tuesday, September 26, 2023

It's not even Halloween yet, and Google is making a killing . . . of some of its features in the next year. In today's top stories, the search engine giant is taking the knife to Google Podcasts and will migrate everyone to YouTube Music. It is also reading the last rites to Gmail's basic HTML view. Meanwhile, the tech layoff ghosts aren't spooking as many companies as they were last year and earlier this year. We might see some growth now. (TC+) And for a hauntingly good time, Spotify launches Jam, where up to 32 people can monster mash songs into a real-time collaborative playlist. Here's how it works. Okay, I'll stop scaring you now, but expect my witchy cackles and wit to return on October 31. Image Credits: NOAA / Unsplash

More top reads If it's not challenging, can you call it work?: Enterprise resource planning systems are a must for many companies, but aren't easy to deploy or manage. Clearly investors agree because they just sunk $25 million into Series, a startup that aims to replace ERP systems. See how it plans to do that. Now it's a party: Sequoia backs PartyKit to power real-time multiplayer collaboration for any app. That's good news for developers. Grocery game: Uber Eats and Getir partner in Europe to make speedy grocery deliveries. Time to stock up. All eyes on Quest 3: The annual Meta Connect conference kicks off tomorrow, and the TechCrunch team will be there. How to watch the Quest 3 reveal. Hard to imagine OpenAI having flaws: OpenAI published a technical paper detailing its work to mitigate the more problematic aspects of GPT-4's image-analyzing tools. GPT-4 with vision still has flaws. Seeding African startups: Pan-African contrarian investor P1 Ventures reaches $25 million in the first close for its second fund. How it got there. There's money in fruit: GIC is said to be in talks to lead a $40 million funding into India's Vegrow, a business-to-business marketplace for fruit. Check out the valuation on that proposed investment. You're being surveilled: Erudit raises $10 million to monitor workplaces for "misalignment"; however, it begs the question: Should you have some privacy in the office? Getting rid of the competition: The Federal Trade Commission just hit Amazon with a major antitrust lawsuit. Get the scoop. More for your Tuesday: FCC announces plans to reinstate net neutrality Hollywood strikes could soon extend to the video game industry Bootstrapping is cool once again (TC+) Byju's to cut as many as 5,000 more jobs amid business restructuring Uber is getting tighter with taxi companies Image Credits: Getty Images

Kiss bugs goodbye Sponsored by QA Wolf QA Wolf gets web apps to 80% automated end-to-end test coverage in just 4 months. And they include unlimited parallel runs on their infrastructure + 24-hour maintenance at no additional cost. The benefit? 3-minute QA cycles, zero false positives, and human-verified bug reports. Learn More

What's the best way to run a startup in a world full of advice? Last week at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, Dominic-Madori Davis interviewed three founders to get their insights on fundraising, hiring, and other challenges facing early-stage tech entrepreneurs: Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, co-founder and CEO, Promise Ruben Harris, CEO, Career Karma Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO, Zūm “You don't want to hire someone who asks you who's going to build their desk,” said Ellis-Lamkins. “All of the things that imply you're used to some infrastructure; people who ask for a clear job description, I always feel like they shouldn't come work with us.” 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: M. Reinertson/The Photo Group for TechCrunch / Flickr

On the pods The Found team recorded this episode live from TechCrunch Disrupt. Dom and Becca sat down with Window Snyder, a trailblazer in the cybersecurity industry who has dedicated her decades-long career to ensuring the internet and our devices are secure. Snyder talked about why after years of working at companies like Apple, Microsoft, Fastly, and Square now was the right time to launch her startup, Thistle, which looks to build the security infrastructure needed to keep internet-connected smart devices safe. Listen here. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

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Amazon acquires minority stake in Anthropic for $4B that expands AWS integration

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Monday, September 25, 2023

In today's top story, we confirm that market interest in artificial intelligence has indeed grown — dare we say skyrocketed? — since 2016. Amazon wants to continue taking stakes. The e-commerce giant plans to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic. Go inside this strategic move. Meanwhile, in ChatGPT's latest evolution, OpenAI gives it a voice for verbal conversations. Oh, and image-based smarts, too. And for all you Tinder users just waiting for your spotlight, the dating app now offers a $499-per-month tier to be matched with the "most-sought after" profiles. It's Tinder Select. Image Credits: Getty Images

More top reads When underwater literally means just that: Google expands its subsea cable infrastructure with Nuvem to connect the U.S. with Bermuda and Portugal. Here's when it will be operational. Grammar, Spanish-style: Correcto grabs $7 million to build out its "Grammarly for Spanish." Common phrases get a digital treatment. Take Goodnotes on this new deal: Note-taking app Goodnotes invests $1.9 million in digital stationery company WeBudding. Find out why the startup pivoted. You gotta pay to play with X: Rumors have swirled recently about what X plans to put behind a paywall. Today, audio and video calls will become a premium subscriber–only feature. Ring-a-ching-ching. Diamond in the rough: The current labor market is a gold mine of talent for startups. Here's why. (TC+) Search no more for that scientific needle in a haystack: Elicit is building a tool to automate scientific literature review. It's like having a digital card catalog. Finally those fake coins are worth something: Reddit will start paying you real money for your karma. Now, that's some good karma. Meet Jenkins: Nx lands $16 million to build "monorepo" tools, like Jenkins, for software developers. Don't worry, we tell you what that is. Lesson learned: TeachMe.To lands $2 million to connect beginner athletes with local coaches. You now have no excuse to learn pickleball. This Mixin was not on the frozen yogurt menu: Hackers steal $200 million from crypto company Mixin. This one broke some records. Sometimes it's best to just listen: What's the best way to run a startup in a world full of advice? We have some answers. (TC+) Weekend warriors you may have missed: California governor vetoes bill to ban driverless AV trucks Building an equitable cap table puts more tools in a startup's toolbox (TC+) India’s PhonePe launches app store with zero fee in challenge to Google Image Credits: Dragon Claws / Getty Images

How CFOs can reduce SaaS spend by 30% in these tough times Software is a company’s third-largest expense, but because it’s spread across multiple departments, it’s the CFO’s responsibility to find places to cut. In a TC+ column that includes spending benchmarks (based on employee size), CloudEagle founder and CEO Nidhi Jain shares her “cost-optimization playbook” for SaaS startups. “The primary objective for CFOs should be to identify where they're spending, recognize departments with the highest costs, and identify instances of low utilization and application redundancies,” she says. 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

On the pods Equity is back from Disrupt and getting you caught up on stocks around the world, as well as the Cisco-Splunk deal, why everyone loves Anthropic, how Meta is building AI chatbots while Apple is working to build more in India, and Correcto’s latest round. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

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As seen on TV: Amazon Prime Video is adding commercials early next year

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Friday, September 22, 2023

Do you remember . . . the 21st night of September? When TechCrunch concluded the amazing Disrupt, and too much confetti fell from the skkkkyyyyyy? Sorry, I could not help myself. In today's top story, Amazon Prime Video is joining all of the other streaming services and will start showing ads next year. Because if someone will pay you more to not see them, that's a revenue stream, amirite? Get the scoop. Meanwhile, are you one of the millions of people who got on Threads? The X rival wants to keep you there with some new features. Here is one of the newest. And Intel is finding itself with a reimposed fine from the European Union. Find out what it did . . . again. Image Credits: Visual Generation / Getty Images

More top reads Fiscal responsibility: Meet FinanceGPT, a South African startup out to simplify financial analysis and interface in local languages. Here's how. Full steam ahead: It looks like the restructured deal for Microsoft's acquisition of Activision is going to clear in the U.K. Read more. And as that acquisition moves forward, take a look at what we learned from Microsoft's big Xbox leak. Meanwhile, Bing gets some new AI-powered improvements, including its mobile keyboard app SwiftKey. Music on my mind: Niura's EEG-implemented earbuds scan your brain health and recommend music to your mood. Maybe now you will remember that song you keep humming. Regulating crypto: Haun Ventures' Chris Lehane says the SEC isn't handling crypto regulation "strategically." Here's what it should be doing. (TC+) Investing in crypto: We also heard from Haun Ventures' founder Katie Haun, who believes now is a good time to invest in crypto. Get on board. Under attack: Parisa Tabriz spills the tea on how Google stays ahead of hackers. Read more. Making a pixelated comeback: Pixel Pals delivers a cute and clever update that takes advantage of new iOS features. Give your virtual pet some love. David vs. Goliath: Power amplifier startup Falcomm to close $4 million to take on Qualcomm and Broadcom. Learn more. Image Credits: FinanceGPT

Visa Declares a New Age for How Money Travels Abroad Sponsored by Visa Person-to-person money movement across borders can be fragmented, slow and inefficient. The Money Travels: 2023 Digital Remittances Adoption Report survey reveals consumers see the future as digital. Learn More

Pitch Deck Teardown: Transcend's $20M Series B deck In August, infrastructure design startup Transcend raised a $20 million Series B to grow its customer base, which uses its service to automate the design of critical infrastructure like power transmission and wastewater systems. The company's founders shared their partially redacted winning deck with TC+: Cover Summary Problem and Solution Product Traction Benefits Virtual demo (video) Company/product history Differentiation Customer segment Value proposition per customer segment Market opportunity Product roadmap [redacted] Customer case study Team Use of funds Closing 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: Transcend

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