Technology

Tech is not a meritocracy. There’s a direct correlation between the size and strength of your network and your chances of success.

How to pitch me: 10 investors discuss what they’re looking for in June 2023 by Walter Thompson originally published on TechCrunch

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the human labor behind fancy AI models.  The secret to making AI chatbots sound smart and spew less toxic nonsense is to use a…

Nordic VC firm Voima Ventures today announced its third fund with an initial closing of €90 million fund and a final target of €120 million, focusing on early-stage “deep tech” startups from across the science realm. Founded out of Helsinki, Finland, in 2019, Voima Ventures targets companies at the pre- and seed-stage, and mostly involving […]

Nordic VC Voima Ventures launches €90M fund for deep tech startups by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

An algorithm funded by the World Bank to determine which families should get financial assistance in Jordan likely excludes people who should qualify, according to an investigation published this morning by Human Rights Watch.  The algorithmic system, called Takaful, ranks families applying for aid from least poor to poorest using a secret calculus that assigns…

Indifi Technologies, an Indian startup offering digital lending to small and medium businesses, has raised $35 million in a new funding round led by ICICI Venture, the investment arm of ICICI Bank. Existing investors, including British International Investment, OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I, Omidyar Network India, Flourish Ventures and CX Partners also participated in […]

Indifi raises $35M to expand digital lending to more small businesses by Jagmeet Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder, says India — despite its status as the world’s largest democracy — regularly issued requests for the social media giant to remove certain posts and accounts, often accompanying these demands with threats of legal repercussions in cases of noncompliance. “India is one of the countries which had many requests around farmers […]

India threatened to shut down Twitter and raid employees’ homes, Jack Dorsey says by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Support for Tesla’s charging connector and charge port — called the North American Charging Standard — has accelerated in the days since Ford and GM announced plans to integrate the technology into its next-generation of EVs and sell adapters for current EV owners to gain access. More than a dozen third-party charging networks and hardware […]

EV charger networks are turning to Tesla standard as support accelerates by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

VTubers — online personalities who use motion-capture-powered manga- and anime-inspired avatars to interact with the world alongside games, over YouTube, and in other places — have become big business, with the most popular of them collectively racking up hundreds of millions of hours of viewership in a month, along with loyal fan bases, lucrative sponsorships […]

Hyper raises $3.6M from Amazon and more for its iPhone-based, VTuber-friendly avatar platform by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

In the emerging AI era, notable tech figures celebrate the technology’s astounding capabilities while other companies fiercely compete in the AI market. Yet, as businesses struggle to adapt, many tech experts voice concerns about AI’s potential pitfalls.