Chinese AI chatbots want to be your emotional support

September 6, 2023
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Chinese ChatGPT-like bots are having a moment right now. As I reported last week, Baidu became the first Chinese tech company to roll out its large language model—called Ernie Bot—to the…

Arduino nabs $22 million in fresh funding to support expansion into enterprise

September 6, 2023
Odds are if you know the name Arduino, it’s through its connection to the DIY community. Much like Raspberry Pi, the company built its reputation creating microcontrollers for hobbyists. But the last few years have seen it expanding that horizon. Last year’s Arduino Pro announcement was aimed at enterprise applications. The initial concept offered an […]

EU confirms six (mostly US) tech giants are subject to Digital Markets Act

September 6, 2023
The European Union has named six tech giants whose market power it hopes to be able to rein in by applying a new set of up-front rules on how these gatekeepers can operate so called core platform services. The six so-called “gatekeepers” are: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) […]

China reportedly bars some government officials from using iPhones

September 6, 2023
China has made a massive move of barring central government officials from using iPhones at work, part of its grand plan to restrict foreign influence as its relationship with the U.S. sours. The move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, will likely deal a blow to Apple’s public perception in its second-biggest market. The […]

LocalGlobe and Pronomos Capital back Itana to pave the way for Africa’s first digital free zone

September 6, 2023
In early 2022, ex-Andela and Flutterwave co-founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, in an interview with TechCrunch, discussed a moonshot project he was working on: Talent City, explicitly designed for local and global startups and service businesses looking to scale their operations across Africa without facing the challenges of unstable policies, infrastructural deficits and other business challenges. At […]

Senior executives quit SoftBank-backed Oyo amid public listing deliberation

September 6, 2023
Two senior executives at Oyo have left the budget-hospitality startup, mere months before the company plans to list. Ankit Gupta, who joined the unicorn startup in 2019 and served as its India chief executive, and Mandar Vaidya, who led the startup’s European business, have left the firm. In a statement, an Oyo spokesperson said the […]

Josys, a SaaS management platform, raises $93M 

September 6, 2023
Josys, a startup offering a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to automate corporate IT software application management, has raised a $93 million Series B round led by existing backer Global Brain and a new investor, Globis Capital Partners. The latest funding, which brings its total raised to $125 million, comes about a year after its $32 million Series […]

Nonprofits can profit from a discount to TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

September 6, 2023
This one goes out to all the nonprofit organizations. We see you, and we get it. Whether you’re building tech or buying it, a nonprofit budget stretches only so far. That’s why nonprofits (along with students, government and military employees) get a deep discount on passes to TechCrunch Disrupt on September 19–21 in San Francisco. […]