Elon Musk says incoming Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino will start in about 6 weeks

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Friday, May 12, 2023

Helloooo and welcome to Friday Crunch! It's with a heavy heart that we have some personal news to share: Christine and Haje end their run as the co-hosts of this beautiful, venerable newsletter. Don't worry, they're still thick as thieves, but Christine is taking on the Daily Crunch mantle on her own, while Haje is off to work on another TechCrunch newsletter. All will be revealed in due time (cue dramatic music). "It's been a glorious year of hosting you in the highs and lows of tech news," said Haje as he awkwardly pretended to interview himself in this introduction. "And I can't wait to hang out with Christine and the rest of y'all at Disrupt later this year!" Enjoy your weekend, get some sunshine if you can, and listen to your favorite song on repeat like you're a teenager again, because as grown-ups we do that sort of thing way too rarely. — Christine and Haje Image Credits: Collage by TechCrunch / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 Well, that was quick: We were still reeling from Elon Musk's news yesterday that he found a CEO for Twitter when he made the announcement today that it will be former NBCUniversal advertising veteran Linda Yaccarino, Amanda reports. Just before that announcement, Yaccarino made her own farewell known. Ingrid and Amanda have more on that. It's dating, not influencing: Tinder's updated community guidelines now say the dating app will remove social handles from bios to discourage users who are on there to gain social media followers, Aisha reports. I always feel like somebody’s watching me: And as it turns out, millions of Toyota customers in Japan had no privacy (whoa-oh-oh). The automaker is apologizing for exposing location data for a decade. Zack has more.

Startups and VC Yesterday, Brian published another installment of his Actuator newsletter — and it's a particularly juicy one, with a couple of great interviews and all the robotics news that's fit to print. It includes a Q&A with professor of ethics and technology at the Hertie School in Berlin, Joanna Bryson, and Marek Michalowski, the brains behind the Keepon robot (Michalowski is currently a product manager at Alphabet X). In summary: Don't miss it. Six years ago, Yiğit Ihlamur, a former senior program manager at Google, observed that AI was surpassing human capabilities in certain areas — at least by his estimation. Equipped with this perspective, he looked into various sectors with the goal of tackling a problem that he could work on for the rest of his life. Long story short, Kyle reports that “AI-powered” VC firm Vela emerges from stealth with $25 million under management. Here's another six worth taking a closer look at as you settle into your weekend: Car sharing acquisition: Rebecca reports that Getaround aims to scale car-sharing platform with HyreCar acquisition. More cash for the planet: Pale Blue Dot continues investing in its climate vision, with a second $100 million fund, Haje reports. $1 billion flowing to Indian edtech: Manish reports that Indian edtech giant Byju's raises $250 million, on track to close another $700 million. I didn't do it: Kate reports that Terraform co-founder Do Kwon pleads not guilty to fake travel documents charges, along with a timeline of the Terraform debacle overall. Our favorite hardware startup: Famous for quirk and wild designs, Teenage Engineering teases the tape recorder of Harri's dreams, reports Harri. No listing for you: TuSimple continues its slide into the ether with new delisting warning, writes Kirsten.

The debate happening inside every VC firm On her last day at TechCrunch, Natasha Mascarenhas reached out to four investors to find out whether FOMO is encouraging them to climb aboard the AI bandwagon. "Some are hiring talent to jump headfirst, others are happy to back the 'ChatGPT for X' spin-outs, and many are sitting in awe, watching their existing investments spark an AI debate of their own, no due diligence needed," she wrote. Charles Hudson, managing partner and founder, Precursor Jason Lemkin, managing director, SaaStr Fund Cathy Guo, partner, Sapphire Ventures Navin Chaddha, managing director, Mayfield Fund Two more from the TC+ team: What will we be doing when the robots take our jobs?: As AI consumes search, what will be left for us humans? by Alex. Let's go mining for investors: Haje explores how you can find the right investors for your startup. 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: Steven Puetzer / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Amazon Web Service's new version of its Aurora database, Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized, is now generally available, with Ron reporting, "the big news from this version is that it gets rid of all I/O charges for database use, a move that should reduce overall database costs for customers with large workloads, and bring more predictability to their cloud database bills." Meanwhile, Rita reports that China's phone giant Oppo disbanded its chip design unit amid shrinking shipment numbers. Now here's five more for your Friday: Your data needs a passport: A major decision on the legality of Facebook's EU-U.S. data transfers is due to be adopted today, but Natasha L writes it could be a few more weeks before that is publicly available. Cover your eyes: You can now upload NSFW images to Reddit from desktops, Ivan reports. "Wading into web3": Rita writes that Nexon takes MapleStory into web3 with Haechi's help. Vertical video: Twitch's new clip editor makes sharing vertical video on YouTube and TikTok a snap, reports Taylor. More layoffs: Autonomous delivery startup Nuro announced it will lay off 30% of its workforce as it shifts resources to other areas, Kirsten writes.

Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there's something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $800 when you buy your pass now through May 15, and save 15% on top of that with promo code DC. Read More

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Information Security Officer at Human Rights Watch (Berlin, Germany) Inside Sales Agent - Public Safety at MD Ally Technologies, Inc. (NYC, NY, USA) Lab Technician Vulcan Steam Cooking at SmartRecruiters (Troy, OH, USA) Senior Full Stack Developer at AAOS (Rosemont, IL, USA) Chief Scientist at Afiniti (Washington, D.C., USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2023 Yahoo. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

For second consecutive quarter, millions of subscribers drop Disney+ Hotstar

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Thursday, May 11, 2023

Happy Thursday, Crunchers! It's an exciting time to be a tech reporter, with a ton of fun stories coming down the pipe. So let's get to it! Hasta mañana, Christine and Haje Image Credits: Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 The house that Mickey built: Disney+ is down about 4 million subscribers in the second quarter, which is the second time in a row that has happened. Manish did a deep dive into the earnings and found that much of that can be attributed to Disney's Hotstar losing 8.4 million subscribers. Oh, and Disney+ and Hulu are set to combine into one app later this year, Lauren reports. Can you see the correction?: Manish also reported on SoftBank's Vision Fund, which lost $32 billion. He notes this comes in a year when startups valuations were cut, writing that SoftBank earlier this year had entered "defense mode." Riders on the storm: Peloton recalls millions of exercise bikes, citing faulty assembly, after reports of injuries. Kyle has more.

Pioneers: Startups from Dreams to Reality, a Siemens Podcast Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software Ideas alone can't change the world. It takes grit, and serious funding. In this podcast, Siemens sits down with startup owners to discuss the startup lifestyle- from concept to execution- and the big ideas that fuel these pioneers. From space balloons to flying cars, there's no frontier too far. Listen Now

Startups and VC Most U.S.-based tech investors are likely familiar with smaller-ticket investor marketplaces AngelList and Carta. In Europe, Germany's Bunch and the U.K.'s Vauban (acquired by by U.S.-based Carta last year) have attempted to do a similar job. But the backstory to this is that although launching many years ago, AngelList struggled with Europe's regulatory environment. Mike wonders if Odin could be Europe's answer to AngelList. It used to be that having a corporate blog and some paid content was the gist of your marketing department's content efforts, and that was enough. But as larger companies like Salesforce and HubSpot have launched their own full-blown media arms, it may be time to rethink your content strategy. AudiencePlus wants to help every company run its own media platform, and today the company announced a $5.4 million seed investment, Ron reports. Another smattering of highlights and lowlights: Less LSD for the LLM: Writer introduces product that could help reduce hallucinated content in its LLMs, reports Ron. Fairly repairable headphones: Natasha L reports that Fairphone gets its audio groove on with repairable over-ear BT headphones.  Hospitals, but Amazon-ier: MediShout wants to bring Amazon-like efficiency to hospital operations, reports Paul. Hello, this is the pre-crime division: Everseen raises over $70 million for AI tech to spot potential retail theft, reports Kyle. That's a pass from me, thanks: Tinder-inspired Cala dares you to swipe left on useless meetings, reports Harri.

Unlocking the M&A code: 5 factors that can make (or break) a deal A merger or acquisition is the start of a new relationship, which is why most people approach exits with optimism. “But all's not rosy in the world of M&A,” says SmartBear CEO Frank Roe, who’s completed eight acquisitions in less than five years. “It is a complex and substantially risky decision, not for the faint-hearted. It is essential to approach the decision and process with diligence and forethought.” In this TC+ guest post, he shares “five indispensable elements to consider for a successful mergers and acquisitions journey,” reminding readers that “there’s no ‘secret formula.'” Three more from the TC+ team: Finally, a decent “the ask” slide: Haje is back with the newest Pitch Deck Teardown: Fibery's $5.2M Series A deck. Don't call it a comeback. Or, maybe, do: Higher interest rates are fostering a fintech comeback story, writes Alex. We're chained together; let's work together: Jacquelyn argues that crypto needs a global view to build better regulatory models. 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: mjrodafotografia / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Natasha L gives you everything you need to know and more about a series of votes in the European Parliament this morning where MEPs have backed a raft of amendments related to transparency and safety rules for generative AI. Meanwhile, Amanda reports on a movement that started with a tweet and ended with a book in the top 3 on Amazon. No, it's not another book in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" saga — it's a recommendation by "Bigolas Dickolas," and we recommend you stop what you're doing and read. And we have five more for you: Come in for your close-up: Canon's PowerShot V10 is an itty-bitty, teeny-weeny camera that sidles up to vloggers, reports Haje. Don't kill this Messenger: That's because Meta is doing that for us by killing the Messenger app for Apple Watch, Aisha reports. Welcome to Kyle's TedTalk: Today, he discusses the ever-growing list of text-generating AI, specifically about how AI2 is developing a large language model optimized for science. Secrets, secrets are no fun, except on Twitter: Ivan writes that Twitter's new encrypted DMs for verified users has some security drawbacks. Stepping on the EV pedal: Hyundai Motor has plans to invest $2.45 billion in India over the next nine years to boost its EV ecosystem. Jagmeet has more.

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Information Security Officer at Human Rights Watch (Berlin, Germany) Inside Sales Agent - Public Safety at MD Ally Technologies, Inc. (NYC, NY, USA) Lab Technician Vulcan Steam Cooking at SmartRecruiters (Troy, OH, USA) Senior Full Stack Developer at AAOS (Rosemont, IL, USA) Chief Scientist at Afiniti (Washington, D.C., USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2023 Yahoo. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103