November 21, 2024

The Download: AI replicas, and China’s climate role

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. AI can now create a replica of your personality Imagine sitting down with an AI model for a spoken two-hour interview. A friendly voice guides you through a conversation that ranges from your…

October 2022

Klarna launches new creator features and shoppable video

October 19, 2022

As consumers turn to content creators to influence their online shopping habits, Klarna, the buy now, pay later platform, today launched a new Klarna Creator app for retailers and influencers to collaborate on brand campaigns and to track earnings, performance and sales. Klarna’s creator platform allows over 50,000 vetted creators to have access to leading […]

Klarna launches new creator features and shoppable video by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

Well, that was Fast

October 19, 2022

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. And for the first time in the history of the show, the TechCrunch pod that opened up Disrupt on the big stage. Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann got to be together to record […]

Well, that was Fast by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch

Amazon launches an insurance comparison site in the UK

October 19, 2022

Amazon launched an insurance comparison site today in the UK to sell home insurance. The ecommerce giant has partnered with three launch providers — Ageas UK, Co-op, and LV + General Insurance — with more coming next year. The company said the store will be available to select customers starting today on the web and […]

Amazon launches an insurance comparison site in the UK by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Mullen Automotive acquires bankrupt ELMS for $240 million

October 19, 2022

Mullen Automotive said Wednesday it has acquired Electric Last Mile Solutions, paving the way for the California-based startup to manufacture its first electric vehicle. The $240 million cash purchase allows Mullen the capability to build up to 50,000 EVs annually, accelerating the launch of the Mullen FIVE and Bollinger B1 and B2 retail vehicles. The […]

Mullen Automotive acquires bankrupt ELMS for $240 million by Jaclyn Trop originally published on TechCrunch

Thunes integrates with Visa Direct’s digital payments network

October 19, 2022

Cross-border payments startup Thunes is partnering with Visa, in a move that will add more than 1.5 billion new endpoints to Visa Direct’s digital payments network. This enables many more consumers and small businesses to send funds to markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where digital wallets are often the default payment method. Based […]

Thunes integrates with Visa Direct’s digital payments network by Catherine Shu originally published on TechCrunch

Alex Hanna left Google to try to save AI’s future

October 19, 2022
“I am quitting because I’m tired,” Alex Hanna wrote on February 2, her last day on Google’s Ethical AI team. She felt that the company, and the tech industry as a whole, did little to promote diversity or mitigate the harms its products had caused to marginalized people. “In a word, tech has a whiteness…

Pinterest partners with record labels to bring popular music to its TikTok rival, ‘Idea Pins’

October 19, 2022

Pinterest’s TikTok competitor is gaining new music. The company announced today its video-focused “Idea Pins” feature will now include the ability to add popular tracks from top artists, thanks to new licensing deals with Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Merlin and BMG. This will expand upon the music already provided through Pinterest’s royalty-free music […]

Pinterest partners with record labels to bring popular music to its TikTok rival, ‘Idea Pins’ by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

The debate over whether aging is a disease rages on

October 19, 2022
Last year, over Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Kiran Rabheru eagerly joined a call with officials from the World Health Organization (WHO). Word had spread of a change coming to the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD), a catalogue used to standardize disease diagnosis worldwide. In an upcoming revision, the plan was to replace the diagnosis of…

MaxAB, an Egyptian B2B e-commerce platform for food and grocery supplies, nabs $40M

October 19, 2022

Last year, MaxAB, the food and grocery B2B e-commerce and distribution platform serving a network of traditional retailers across Egypt and Morocco, raised its $55 million Series A in two tranches; the latter accompanied its acquisition of the Morocco-based and YC-backed WaysToCap. The moves signaled MaxAB’s ambition to dominate Egypt’s and North Africa’s B2B retail […]

MaxAB, an Egyptian B2B e-commerce platform for food and grocery supplies, nabs $40M by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch

Holidu pockets $98M to keep growing its vacation rentals business in Europe

October 19, 2022

Munich-based software and services vacation rental startup, Holidu, has topped up its coffers with an oversubscribed €100 million (~$98M) Series E funding round of equity and debt, led by existing investor 83North, after seeing its year-over-year revenue grew 100% in 2021. The round saw a mix of other existing and new investors chipping in, including […]

Holidu pockets $98M to keep growing its vacation rentals business in Europe by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch