In SEC filing, Accenture reveals plans to dismiss 19,000 workers over the next 18 months

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Thursday, March 23, 2023

Hello, and welcome to your Thursday — aka, the day the TikTok CEO went in front of Congress. Our team has been working hard all day to keep up with everything going on there, and you can read the fruits of their labor in the Big Tech section. Now, on with the news! — Christine and Haje Image Credits: PAU BARRENA / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 More layoffs: The layoffs affecting the technology industry are now making their way to the companies that service them. Accenture announced today that it will cut 19,000 jobs, Manish reports. That represents about 2.5% of its global workforce, but an eye-opening figure nonetheless. Do Kwon in custody: It looks like law enforcement caught up with Terra creator Do Kwon, who was reportedly arrested at the Montenegro airport, Jacquelyn writes. You might recall that Kwon has been under investigation in South Korea following the Terra/LUNA collapse, which wiped out about $40 billion from the cryptocurrency market. Despite saying he was cooperating with law enforcement, Kwon's whereabouts have been unknown since September. An excuse not to go to the mall: DoorDash users can now order from Lush Cosmetics, Victoria's Secret and Party City. The delivery giant also added some new shopping features, like search optimization. Aisha has more.

Startups and VC At first glance, Boston Dynamics is a strange fit for a show like ProMat, Brian writes. For decades, the firm has presented a flashy image to the world — a company well known for robotic highlight reels, from the snow-traversing Big Dog to parkour-performing Atlas. But a recent approach has found it facing one of its biggest challenges to date: putting its robots to work in the form of commercialization. Lun, a climate tech startup out of Denmark, is on a mission to help heat-pump installers decarbonize homes and fast, Natasha L reports, starting with heating systems and swapping out boilers for electric heat pumps. Robots, heat pumps and five more tech news stories, oh my: F you, pay me: Mary Ann reports that a former Stripe engineer raises $4 million for Beam, a fintech startup out to help contractors get paid faster. Moar dollars for moar skillz: Workera double downs on AI for upskilling with a $24 million infusion, Kyle reports. Stop, collaborate and list-in: Hex lands another $28 million as the data collaboration platform continues to gain traction, Ron reports. Storefronts, get yer storefronts: Vue snaps up $20 million to grow its open source–based 'frontend-as-a-service' e-commerce toolkit and platform, Ingrid reports. Nah, we good: Indian edtech giant Byju's says it’s not acquiring Unacademy, reports Manish.

4 Indian investors explain how their investment strategy has changed since 2021 For our latest survey, TechCrunch reporter Jagmeet Singh asked four Indian investors about how their work has changed since the global tech downturn began. Venture capital funding in the region “dried up in the second half of 2022,” so he inquired about their current pace of dealmaking, which investment trends they’re watching and how founders can reach them: GV Ravishankar, managing director, Sequoia India Ashutosh Sharma, head of India investments, Prosus Ventures Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO and founder, Better Capital Roopan Aulakh, managing director, Pi Ventures Aaaand of course there's three more from the TC+ team today as well: Time's a-ticking: As TikTok and Coinbase face regulators, some questions are simpler than others, writes Alex. How to spot investment-worthy founders: Look for mindset, competence and confidence, writes Sanjay Reddy. A de-risking hardware trilogy: Haje recently covered Prelaunch's $1.5 million round and spoke to the company's founder about 10 tips to de-risk hardware. The final article in the trilogy is the company's Pitch Deck Teardown, covering Prelaunch.com's $1.5 million seed deck. 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: mtreasure / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. The big news for today was obviously TikTok, and our colleagues were plugging away at everything from the Congressional hearing to who benefits if a U.S. ban happens. Find out any new developments here. TikTok ban will benefit Meta, Google and Snap the most: Bernstein, by Ivan. TikTok's hearing in Congress is a reminder of Chinese startups' identity crisis, by Rita. TikTok commits to deleting US user data from its servers 'this year,' by Sarah. China reminds US that it can and will kill a forced TikTok sale, by Taylor and Rita. TikTok called out for misusing Citizen Lab research, by Amanda. TikTok questioned on ineffective teen time limits, by Sarah. And now here's six non-TikTok stories for you: If Reddit and Stack Overflow had a baby…: It would be Daily.dev, according to Paul. Unplugged: YouTube is shutting down Indian social commerce app Simsim but says it is still committed to building "a seamless shopping experience for viewers and supporting creators' businesses," Manish writes. Like riding a bike: Smoov and Zoov came together a couple of years ago and formed Fifteen, which is now showing off its latest shared, docked bikes. Romain has more. Brian walks into a supply chain show: And ends up having the best time. He chronicles his three days at ProMat and says he "may end up becoming a regular on the supply chain and logistics circuit as a result." Coming to a theater near you…: Could be your favorite Apple TV+ movies. Apple is reportedly planning to shell out $1 billion a year to release its movies in theaters, Lauren reports. Looking for "the perfect vehicle for chaos?": Then look no further than the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV. Roberto writes, "It’s too big and not very efficient, but it shines when tackling unexpected obstacles."

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GitHub CEO says new code completion tool 'brings the fun back to programming'

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Welcome to Humpday Crunch! Today we're sad that Aloria passed away on Sunday, as Lorenzo reported. She was a veteran of the cybersecurity community, especially the one in New York, her home for many years. The Twitter account of the New York City security conference Summercon announced her death on Monday, prompting a seemingly endless list of people to publicly mourn her loss and pay tribute to her life. — Christine and Haje Image Credits: metamorworks / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 X marks the spot: GitHub launched its Copilot X initiative today, which Frederic reports is an extension of its work on its popular Copilot code completion tool, originally launched into preview all the way back in 2021. The tool also adds a chat mode and more. Should you return an investment?: If you're a struggling founder who took in some venture capital but couldn't quite find that product market fit, is there "a graceful way out"? That's the question that Connie takes to investor Gokul Rajaram, who discusses the idea of closing up shop and returning some funding. A night at the AI Opera: Opera gets in on the AI excitement with ChatGPT and AI summarization features that let you generate AI prompts by highlighting text on a website or typing it in. Ivan has more.

Founders, Why Risk It? The Compliance Guide You Need to Grow Sponsored by Laika Inc. InfoSec compliance is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for doing business, but many new startups question if they need it and, if so, what is the right framework to scale your growth? Get answers with Laika's free Founder's Guide to Compliance. Learn More

Startups and VC Good Meat, the cultivated meat unit of Eat Just, completed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's pre-market consultation for its production method, and the agency concluded this week that it had "no questions," Christine reports. Early-stage founders need mentorship and support to build a successful startup, and conventional wisdom says, "Get thee to an incubator or an accelerator!" However, the two programs are not interchangeable — they serve very different purposes — and there are roughly 500 accelerators and 1,400 incubators in the U.S. alone. At our Early Stage event in Boston on April 20, we'll be going deep on that topic and many others. Come join us! And we have five more for you: Brex expands into travel: Mary Ann reports that Brex takes a swipe at Concur with an expansion into travel. AI spins cash: The top 10 AI mobile apps have already pulled in over $14 million this year, reports Sarah. Keeping it in the family: The Family Fund puts its investment spin on consumer brands with its new $25 million fund, Christine writes. Retro cool makes a comeback: Retro camera app Hipstamatic makes its return as an anti-Instagram social network, Sarah reports. Moar European capital: Romain reports that Emblem is the latest European seed fund in new wave of VC funds.

3 tips for crypto startups preparing for continued compliance Most startups can avoid getting into the weeds on legal matters before launching, but crypto companies are in a different boat. Facing a tangle of state and federal legislation, inadequate compliance can quickly generate regulatory hassles and undermine customer confidence. In a TC+ post written by three lawyers from law firm Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, the authors share basic information relevant for any crypto startups that operate in the U.S. “By establishing a robust, risk-based compliance function … and staying abreast of the latest regulatory guidance, cryptocurrency companies can better position themselves to weather the crypto winter,” they write. Three more from the TC+ team: I'll have another, please: Haje talks to the Fellow team to find out how it bootstrapped for 8 years to build a coffee empire. Going to America: We ask Sophie Alcorn, Which visas will allow U.S. expansion of startups? The value of human resources: When the tech IPO market reopens, keep an eye on HR unicorns, suggests Alex. 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: cagkansayin / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Zack is following what's going on with a security flaw in Fortra’s GoAnywhere software and continues to hear from organizations that have been hacked. The Russia-based Clop group claiming to be behind this has said some 130 organizations are said to be victims, but less than half have been disclosed. So stay tuned for more developments. Meanwhile, payment processing service Checkout.com is letting customers have some fun: It has launched virtual and physical cards that they can customize. Romain writes that this new feature, called Issuing, "represents a business opportunity for fintech companies. When someone pays with a card, the card transaction fees are split between the merchant's bank, the card scheme (Visa or Mastercard, for example) and the card issuer (Checkout.com in this case)." And we have five more for you: Palm pay: Panera Bread said it is the first restaurant to accept Amazon's palm-reading payment tech, Sarah reports. Speaking of Amazon, she also has a story on the expansion of the Fire TV lineup. Repair affair: Natasha L updates us on the European Commission's Circular Economy Action Plan that lays out "right to repair" rules for faulty products in an effort to keep them out of landfills. Ghostwriter: Gaming developer Ubisoft is now using a new AI tool that automatically generates dialogue for non-playable game characters. Aisha has more. Growth from cuts: After cutting some 4,000 jobs over the past year, video game publisher Tencent is now showing a profit, Rita reports. In case you're not tired of AI yet: Mozilla has a new startup focused on "trustworthy" AI. Kyle has the deets. Actually, we have one more! Here is a late-breaking story: Indeed, the job listing platform, announced the layoff of 2,200 employees, Amanda reports.

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