Good news for Rubrik, bad news for TikTok, and medium news for Early Stage startups

April 26, 2024

Rubrik’s strong IPO pricing and warm reception by the public markets after its listing add more weight to the perspective that the public markets are not as closed to tech startups as some thought. If Rubrik’s result isn’t enough to break the logjam, well, maybe there’s something else going on. But there was a lot more that […]

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The Download: how to tell when a chatbot is lying, and RIP my biotech plants

April 26, 2024
Chatbot answers are all made up. This new tool helps you figure out which ones to trust. The news: Large language models are famous for their ability to make things up—in fact, it’s what they’re best at. But their inability to tell fact from fiction has left many businesses wondering if using them is worth…

Thoma Bravo to take UK cybersecurity company Darktrace private in $5B deal

April 26, 2024

Darktrace is set to go private in a deal that values the U.K.-based cybersecurity giant at around $5 billion. A newly-formed entity called Luke Bidco Ltd, formed by private equity giant Thoma Bravo, has tabled an all-cash bid of £6.20 ($7.75) per share, which represents a 44% premium on its average price for the three-month […]

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Tesla Autopilot investigation closed after feds find 13 fatal crashes related to misuse

April 26, 2024

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed a long-standing investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system after reviewing hundreds of crashes involving its misuse, including 13 that were fatal. At the same time, NHTSA is opening a new investigation to evaluate whether the Autopilot recall fix that Tesla implemented in December is effective enough. NHTSA’s […]

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Shein to face EU’s strictest rules for online marketplaces

April 26, 2024

Ultra-fast fashion ecommerce giant Shein will be subject to an additional layer of governance rules targeted at very large online platforms (VLOPs) under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission announced Friday. Shein had reported passing an average of 45 million monthly users in the region — which is the threshold for the […]

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My biotech plants are dead

April 26, 2024
This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.  Six weeks ago, I pre-ordered the “Firefly Petunia,” a houseplant engineered with genes from bioluminescent fungi so that it glows in the dark.  After years of writing about…

Global Founders Capital will deploy Rocket Internet’s cash instead of raising a new fund

April 26, 2024

Global Founders Capital, the Berlin-based early stage VC firm with close ties to the German startup factory Rocket Internet, is going to become the venture arm of Rocket Internet. The VC previously raised two $1 billion funds and, just a few years ago, its name appeared in dozens of deals per year. But then, things […]

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