May 2023

Catching bad content in the age of AI

May 15, 2023
This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here. In the last 10 years, Big Tech has become really good at some things: language, prediction, personalization, archiving, text parsing, and data crunching. But it’s…

UK pension startup Smart banks $95M

May 15, 2023

Smart, a London-based startup that helps employers and their employees manage and monitor their pensions, said that it has closed $95 million in Series E funding. It plans to use the capital to expand its international footprint and make acquisitions, it said. Aquiline Capital Partners, a new backer, led the investment, with previous investors Barclays, […]

UK pension startup Smart banks $95M by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

Alibaba’s autonomous driving lab to focus more on monetization

May 15, 2023

Alibaba founded Damo Academy in 2017 to carve out a program focused on cutting-edge research that is relatively free of short-term money-making pressure. One of the Academy’s 16 labs conducts research on autonomous driving, which just announced a major change today. Damo’s autonomous vehicle lab will merge into Cainiao, Alibaba’s global logistics network, and will […]

Alibaba’s autonomous driving lab to focus more on monetization by Rita Liao originally published on TechCrunch

M-KOPA snaps up $250M+ debt, equity for its asset financing platform

May 15, 2023

M-KOPA, the asset financing platform that offers underbanked African customers access to “productive assets” and the ability to pay for them via digital micropayments, has secured over $250 million in new funding.  The capital injection includes $55 million in equity and over $200 million in debt, huge sums in both categories that testify to strong […]

M-KOPA snaps up $250M+ debt, equity for its asset financing platform by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch

Apple partner Foxconn to invest $500 million in India’s Telangana

May 15, 2023

Foxconn will invest $500 million to set up manufacturing plants in the southern Indian state of Telangana, the latest in a series of bets from the key Apple contract partner as it expands its base in the South Asian market. K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana’s IT minister, said in a tweet that the investment from Foxconn […]

Apple partner Foxconn to invest $500 million in India’s Telangana by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Cold-chain startup Figorr raises $1.5M, backs the roll out of data-driven perishables insurance

May 15, 2023

Oghenetega Lortim built Nigerian-based cold chain startup Figorr after imagining better means of storage and transportation of temperature-sensitive products, following the post-harvest losses from his fresh agro-produce venture. Figorr (previously Gricd) runs IoT-powered solutions that provide businesses, especially those in healthcare and agriculture, with key data such as location, humidity, and temperature of highly-perishable products, […]

Cold-chain startup Figorr raises $1.5M, backs the roll out of data-driven perishables insurance by Annie Njanja originally published on TechCrunch

Apple releases satellite-based emergency SOS feature in Australia and New Zealand

May 15, 2023

Apple made its emergency satellite communication features available to users in Australia and New Zealand on Monday. The company said that users with iPhone 14 in the region can contact emergency services and share their location with friends and family in places with no cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity. The iPhone maker announced the service with […]

Apple releases satellite-based emergency SOS feature in Australia and New Zealand by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Software snafus abound, Nuro makes more cuts and VinFast takes the SPAC road

May 14, 2023

Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B. Automakers have been struggling with software development for years now. But the stakes are higher than ever because all of these companies keep touting the coming of the “software-defined” […]

Software snafus abound, Nuro makes more cuts and VinFast takes the SPAC road by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

Remote Conference in Post Pandemic

May 14, 2023
Continuing the conversation about in-person conferences vs. remote meetings. How are some completely useless while other meetings are so meaningful? Let’s take a look at how you can get more…