Twitter CEO expresses regret after using his platform to call disabled employee 'the worst'

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Wednesday, March 08, 2023

Happy International Women's Day! Did you know that the holiday was adopted by the UN 46 years ago? We read the Wikipedia article about IWD, and learned stuff. Try it — you may learn something too! On our Found podcast this week, Darrell and Becca are joined by Matt Rogers, the founder and CEO of Mill, a startup that helps its customers turn their food scraps into farm feed. It's a rad episode. Treat your ears to a gift. Much love, Christine and Haje Image Credits: NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 A mea culpa for the ages: "Say it, forget it; write it, regret it." Never were truer words spoken to explain the recent Twitter exchange between Elon Musk and an employee that involved Musk publicly mocking the employee about their disability. Aisha writes that Musk has apologized. Duck, duck, AI goose: Natasha L writes that DuckDuckGo, a privacy search engine, is the latest to dabble in AI. Called DuckAssist, the feature can directly answer straightforward search queries. Gather around the VC dinner table: Berlin-based venture capital fund La Famiglia closed on €250 million in capital commitments for its third seed fund and first growth co-investment fund. Both funds will invest in business-to-business startups. Mike has more.

Are you really prepared for the future of fintech? Sponsored by Plaid Zach Perret, Plaid Co-founder and CEO, and his leadership team discuss the biggest trends in fintech today including instant bank payments, open banking, crypto, and more. Be ready for what's next with key insights from the company powering it all. Get the Report

Startups and VC Harri writes, “Local governments in the southwestern U.S. are putting up $150,000 to back what they say is a pioneering effort to ‘turn air into concrete at scale.’" The funds will help cover the cost of the "reference project," a collaboration between two climate tech startups and a masonry firm in Flagstaff, Arizona. Founded by an ex-Apple employee, Humane does work that is shrouded in mystery. Its latest round of funding, a $100 million Series C, attracted a laundry list of notable investors. To date, Humane has raised $230 million from existing and previous investors, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Kyle investigates. And we have five more for you: Cheaper clouds: Frederic reports that Vantage raises a $21 million Series A to help bring down cloud costs. Flying startfish: Starfish Space captures new funding ahead of orbital servicing demo mission, Aria reports. I think I'll use my credit card: Christine explores why taking credit — instead of raising equity funding — made sense for this unicorn. Pay later, buy maybe: Romain reports that Elyn slightly delays online payments so you can try before you pay. AI think you are human: Connie reports that Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, is betting the next big thing in AI is proving you are human.

7 investors reveal what's hot in fintech in Q1 2023 How are fintech investors adapting during this downturn, and how are they advising the founders in their portfolios? Mary Ann Azevedo interviewed seven VCs to ask how (or if) any have shifted their thesis to fit current macroeconomic trends and learn more about the types of opportunities they’re looking for right now: Charles Birnbaum, partner, Bessemer Venture Partners Aunkur Arya, partner, Menlo Ventures Ansaf Kareem, venture partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners Emmalyn Shaw, managing partner, Flourish Ventures Michael Sidgmore, partner and co-founder, Broadhaven Ventures Ruth Foxe Blader, partner, Anthemis Miguel Armaza, co-founder and general partner, Gilgamesh Ventures Three more from the TC+ team: Make it rain, little rain clouds: The sky isn't falling for cloud software spend, Alex writes. Still room for growth: Jacquelyn writes that Coinbase is 'laser-focused' on growing the developer world and onboarding crypto-curious. A steal at twice the price: Alex and Ron explore whether $12.4 billion is a fair price for Qualtrics. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Read More Image Credits: Alicia Llop / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Ding dong, Ring now has a higher-resolution, battery-powered doorbell, Ivan reports. Upgrades include being able to see someone's entire body and an easy way to release the battery so it can be recharged. Meanwhile, Blue Origin is probably seeing red after being named in two separate lawsuits alleging ageist hiring practices. Aria writes that one suit involves employees being asked to seek out younger candidates while the other is being brought by a 64-year-old who claims he repeatedly was turned away from jobs even though interviewers said he was qualified. And we have four more for you: More trouble over at Tesla: The electric vehicle maker is under further investigation, this time after steering wheels fall off two Model Y vehicles. Kirsten has more. Spot these new features: Spotify had a sprinkling of news today, including Sarah‘s, Countdown Pages, Stories and Sarah and Aisha‘s TikTok-style discovery feeds. Also, Aisha reports that Spotify has new growth and discovery tools for artists. Google it: Brian reports that Google's developer conference, Google I/O, returns to Mountain View May 10. Meanwhile, Frederic has your look at Google's developer preview of Android 14, while Aisha reports on the company's VPN access expansion to all Google One members and other features. Quantumania: Frederic is at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Las Vegas and caught up with Krysta Svore, Microsoft's VP of Advanced Quantum Development, who told him that the company is making it easier to integrate quantum and classical computing.

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AI-driven fintech Candidly nabs $20.5M Series B to help consumers 'crush debt'

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Tuesday, March 07, 2023

Hellooooo, Crunchers! We're back for another round of tech news from your very favorite news site. It's been a busy news day, and Haje is on deadline trying to finish this week's pitch deck teardown, so let's not dilly-dally and get right to it! — Christine and Haje Image Credits: gustavofrazao / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 Like a student debt Superman: Candidly, a company that helps financial institutions and employers embed student debt and savings optimization products into employee benefits, swoops in with $20.5 million in new funding to pick up student debt relief where new U.S. policies leave off. Christine has more. Draw to your little heart's content: Devin powers up reMarkable's e-paper tablet and examined every inch to bring you a product review worthy of getting rid of paper for good. Then I saw your game, and now I'm a Believer: Believer scored $55 million in new funding from big names in venture capital, like Lightspeed and Andreessen Horowitz, to focus on a new approach to multiplayer gaming that Ingrid writes will start with "original IP and stories 'where player choices matter.'"

Startups and VC The economy is a bit better — kind of, maybe, sort of? While things appear to be trending in the right direction, it's going to be a long road. Besides, if you're unable to find work, positive macroeconomic trends are cold comfort. One of the nice things Brian enjoys about having a platform like TechCrunch is the opportunity to help people in that difficult position — so here is a list of robotics companies that are hiring. The enterprise is about to get hit by the generative AI hype train, as Salesforce prepares to invest in startups developing what it calls "responsible generative AI," Paul writes. Here’s another fistful: I can see clearly now: Brian reports that Plus One raises $50 million for its parcel robotics vision systems. NFTs, get yer NFTs: Jacquelyn reports that Tensor raises $3 million for a Solana-focused NFT trading platform. What's the catch?: Christine reports that health benefits startup Catch is shutting down, according to its founders. This is the news: Sarah takes a look at the tech behind Artifact, the newly launched news aggregator from Instagram's co-founders. Wait, what was I doing?: Mike reports that ADHD startups are exploding, and now there’s even a dedicated browser.

Gatik's Gautam Narang on the importance of knowing your customer As the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, illustrates, our brittle legacy supply chains are long overdue for an overhaul. Autonomous vehicle startup Gatik operates approximately 40 driverless heavy-duty semitrailer trucks on routes up to 300 miles long, connecting distribution centers with smaller hubs. Rebecca Bellan interviewed Gatik CEO and co-founder Gautam Narang to learn more about the company’s operations and investor expectations, and how a shortage of human drivers is impacting growth. “We have not done any free delivery ever,” he says. “So we have been doing commercial deliveries since 2019, meaning every trip that we have made, we have been paid for." Three more from the TC+ team: Modeling the future: The best way to start an AI project is to not think about the models, Eran Shlomo writes. Okay, fess up: Alex wonders, Who's to blame for all the SPAC implosions? Corporates march in: Despite the downturn, CVC gains traction in Brazil's startup ecosystem, Matheus Tavares Dos Santos writes. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Big Tech Inc. Sonos is getting ready to launch two new speakers, so Brian got the scoop from company CEO Patrick Spence on right to repair, spatial audio and those never-ending lawsuits. Speaking of Sonos, Brian also wrote about the company replacing its One with a spatial audio speaker called Era 100. Also, Sonos is adding support for spatial audio on Apple Music, Aisha reports. Thank you for reading, and have a Sonos day! It's a busy day, so how about six more: Is that a banana in your pocket?: For those of you who like sunshine, daffodils and lemons, Apple has a new yellow iPhone 14 and 14 Plus that you need to get your hands on, Ivan writes. Talk to me: Ever wanted to chat face-to-face with photorealistic AI? Give D-ID's new web app a whirl. Aisha has more. Smarty pants: Salesforce is getting into generative AI with some new technology it is calling "Einstein GPT," Ron reports. App inside of an app: Even Facebook wants a redo every now and again. It's testing bringing back in-app messaging, Aisha writes. Healthy competition: Kenya's competition regulator is looking at online food delivery platforms to make sure they aren’t delivering more than just their orders, Annie writes. More job cuts: Atlassian cuts 5% of its workforce following a reorganization. Frederic has more.

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Epic Business Intelligence Developer (Remote) at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic (Toppenish, WA, USA) Data Engineer, Product & Innovation at Doctors Without Borders (NY, NY 10006, USA) Director of Infrastructure and Operations at Doctors Without Borders (NY, NY 10006, USA) Security Engineer at Doctors Without Borders (NY, NY 10006, USA) Sr Human Resources Manager at Acceldata, Inc. (Campbell, CA, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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