July 2023

Why air-conditioning is a climate antihero

July 27, 2023
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. The unending heat this summer has kept the air conditioners in my apartment windows wildly busy. When I’m not taking guesses about what my electric bill might look like this month, I’ve…

Upgrade acquires travel-focused BNPL startup Uplift for a song

July 27, 2023
Upgrade, a provider of personal credit lines and other consumer financial products, today announced that it’s agreed to acquire Uplift, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) vendor, for $100 million in cash and stock. It’s likely not the exit Uplift was hoping for — and a sign of serious consolidation in the BNPL space, which […]

Patently messy: How a $6B deal may spur more IP lawsuits

July 27, 2023
A megabucks enterprise acquisition that closed six months ago could lead to thousands of patents landing on the open market. Last August, Canadian enterprise technology giant OpenText announced plans to acquire U.K.-based IT software vendor and consultancy Micro Focus for a chunky $6 billion, a deal that closed on January 31. In our coverage at […]

Reddit is testing its own verification mark and new accessibility features

July 27, 2023
After Twitter’s (now X) rollout of a new paid plan offering verification, other social media companies like Meta, LinkedIn, and Tumblr have tried to implement their own badges. Reddit is now joining the bandwagon by testing a new “official” badge. The company said it is testing these labels with a small set of profiles as […]

Terragon’s $9M raise gives credence to the market maturity in Africa’s cloud and martech space

July 27, 2023
As one of the well-known data and cloud martech companies in Africa, Terragon, via several products, gives its clients (primarily telecommunications and financial services companies) data on the continent’s growing consumer markets. Adrenaline, its main product, is a telco-data monetization solution that lets telcos diversify their income and marketers access specialized audiences who are otherwise […]

Samsung extends cut in memory chip production, will focus on high-end AI chips instead

July 27, 2023
Samsung Electronics continues to cut back its memory chip production, including NAND flash used in smartphones and PCs, after reporting a $3.4 billion (4.36 trillion won) operating loss in the second quarter of this year in its memory chip unit. The world’s biggest memory chip maker posted a roughly $7 billion operating loss in its […]

Twitter rebrands its Android app with the new X logo

July 27, 2023
Twitter updated its Android app today by replacing the iconic bird logo with its new X logo — the latest step in its ongoing rebranding efforts. The company also updated its app listing on the Google Play Store to reflect the new branding with screenshots of the app with black backgrounds and the X logo. […]

Kenya’s FarmWorks raises $4M pre-Series A funding

July 27, 2023
FarmWorks, a Kenyan agtech that provides farmers with access to farm inputs, and market for their produce, has raised $4.1 million in a pre-Series A round led by Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund, an existing investor. Livelihood Impact Fund, Vested World, a number of family offices, and angel investors also participated in the round that brought […]