Technology

Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today that the social network is launching its text update Notes feature across Europe and Japan. Notes are short posts of up to 60 characters that include just text and emojis, and appear above your profile photo. Prior to this expansion, Notes was already accessible everywhere Instagram is available beyond […]

Instagram’s text update Notes feature is expanding to Europe and Japan by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch

Sovereign Labs has raised $7.4 million in seed funding led by Haun Ventures to scale blockchains through ZK-rollups.

Haun Ventures leads Sovereign Labs’ $7.4M seed round to help scale blockchains by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

“I can’t explain it. It’s weird,” Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell said. After losing his job at Twitter when Elon Musk took over, the former global head of Social & Editorial didn’t want to rest — he wanted to build. “Coming straight out of it, I was just like, ‘Oh, it’s time. It’s time to build, whether […]

Three months ago, he was laid off from Twitter. Now, his competing app Spill is funded. by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

Two quantum-adjacent technologies — quantum sensing (QS) and quantum communication (Qcomm) — are as important as quantum computing hardware itself since they help make quantum computers function more accurately.  A Sydney-based startup called Q-CTRL has built quantum-sensing software that helps reduce errors on quantum computers. Today, the company announced that it has raised another $27.4 […]

Quantum sensing startup Q-CTRL raises another $27.4M by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

A week ago activist investor Elliott Management announced it had made a multibillion dollar investment in Salesforce. By Friday, the company announced it was bringing in three new board members, and the Wall Street Journal was reporting that Elliott planned to nominate its own slate of directors. According to people familiar with the situation, that […]

Board changes could signal Salesforce’s willingness to appease activist investors by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

With the economy teetering on recession, and sales of mobile phones and other consumer electronics slowing right down globally, a U.K. startup called Raylo that’s leaning into both of those themes has picked up £110 million ($136 million) to grow its business, offering consumers access to new gadgets by way of short-term leases. The London-based […]

Raylo raises $136M to build out its gadget lease-and-reuse ‘fintech’ platform by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

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. Mass-market military drones have changed the way wars are fought When the United States first fired a missile from an armed Predator drone at suspected Al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan in November 2001,…

Marqeta has agreed to acquire two-year-old fintech infrastructure startup Power Finance for $223 million in cash, marking the first acquisition in the publicly-traded company’s 13-year history. About one-third of the purchase price is payable over a two-year period subject to certain undisclosed conditions. And, if one undisclosed milestone in particular is met within the next […]

Marqeta buys fintech Power Finance in $275M all-cash deal, its first acquisition by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch