‘Compromised' website on Paw Patrol snack packaging displayed explicit content

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Friday, September 01, 2023

Parental discretion advised. Today's top story involves superstore Lidl, which recalled Paw Patrol snacks after a website advertised on the packaging displayed porn. Though no definitive reason was cited for why that website had porn, Carly and Zack have a theory. Next, Google pulled the popular, but controversial, live video chat app Chamet from the Play Store. Here's why. Meanwhile, get a look at how the FBI took down the notorious QakBot botnet. But not before it infected over 700,000 devices. Get the broom. And if you're an investor, since it is a long weekend in the U.S., why not spare a few minutes to give us some feedback on Y Combinator Demo Day? Take our short survey. Image Credits: Jenny Dettrick / Getty Images

More top reads Special delivery: Go inside Korean internet giant Naver as it explores robotics, AI and autonomous driving. Find out its long-term vision. The time has come: After a set of layoffs last November, e-commerce acquirer Benitago has now filed for bankruptcy. Get the scoop. A repeat offender: Robert Luo wants another shot at Haje's Pitch Deck Teardown, this time with another startup called Tanbii. Check out its $1.5 million pre-seed deck. (TC+) Remember that one time?: Looking to be your family's genealogist? Inalife's digital legacy platform lets you preserve your family's memories and even connect it with other family members. Learn more. Breaking up is easy to do in this case: Magic Leap is leaving its original headset behind in favor of its new model, announcing that Magic Leap 1 will stop working at the end of 2024. It’s not you, it was them. Your data doesn't belong to you: Yesterday, we reported that X, formerly Twitter, is collecting users' biometric data. Today comes a story about how it plans to use that data. Hint: To train AI models. Fintech fail: Find out the impact a decrease in overall fintech investment can have on a region where bank penetration is the problem startups are trying to solve. Read more. (TC+) Let me Model 3 it for ya: Get a look at Tesla's Model 3 refresh. Sorry, it’s only available in Europe for now. In case you missed these: Texas cannot yet enforce ID checks on porn sites Forever 21 data breach affects half a million people Lowering costs nets Salesforce a profitable quarter, but can it keep it up? (TC+) Fisker confirms Foxconn will build its $29,900 Pear EV, but questions remain Biden offers $15.5B to boost battery and EV manufacturing Image Credits: Naver

Grab your pass to TC Disrupt 2023 Join 10,000 startup leaders in San Francisco at TechCrunch Disrupt, taking place September 19–21. Last-minute passes are still available. Save 15% with code DC. Register now!

From today's "pod" files This week, Equity is covering deals from Teamshares and MoonPay, then digging into new rental-focused startups, the IPO drought and what happens when you bring lean startup ideology into the AI world. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

How to pitch me: 15 investors talk about what they're looking for in August 2023 Summer 2023 has been the hottest one on record since 1880, but while early-stage founders were sweating over pitch decks, the investors were playing pickleball in Jackson Hole or relaxing poolside with cocktails in Palm Springs. "People tend to be out of the office longer than usual this time of year," says Kittu Kolluri, founder and managing director of Neotribe Ventures. "I suggest reaching out right before Labor Day to set up a meeting in September or wait and start your outreach altogether next month." Here are 15 investors who are looking for pitches right now: Christine Hsieh, venture partner, Third Culture Capital Marta Cruz, co-founder and managing partner, NXTP Ventures Adam Struck, founder and managing partner, Struck Capital Adam Nash, angel investor, CEO and co-founder, Daffy Anshu Agarwal, general partner, Converge Kittu Kolluri, founder and managing director, Neotribe Ventures Jennifer Lee, partner, Edison Partners Dave Zilberman, general partner, Norwest Venture Partners Jake Jolis, partner, Matrix Ventures Chad Cardenas, founder and CEO, The Syndicate Group (TSG) Matthew Kinsella, managing director, Maverick Ventures Ty Findley, co-founder and general partner, Ironspring Ventures Kathleen Kaulins, principal, Plymouth Growth Samarth Shekhar, EMEA regional manager, SixThirty Ventures Zamir Shukho, founder and general Partner, Vibranium Venture Capital 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: Chris Arnet / Getty Images

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Citing potential ethics violations, YC cuts Indian medicine delivery startup from batch

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Thursday, August 31, 2023

With Y Combinator Demo Day right around the corner, today's top story might come as a surprise. We learned that YC booted one India-based startup over some "irregularities." Find out what happened. Speaking of YC, are you an investor with a strong opinion about YC Demo Day? We want to hear from you: Take our short survey. Meanwhile, Garena is relaunching the Free Fire mobile game in India. This comes after the popular mobile title was banned in the South Asian market over national security concerns nearly two years ago. See what’s new. And we give you the scoop on how telehealth startup Babylon's run ended in bankruptcy. This startup was once valued at nearly $2 billion. Image Credits: catnap72 / Getty Images

More top reads For the traveler who has everything: Anker introduces some clever new travel chargers. Time to pack. Starfield review: Guns and ships and stars, oh my! Also a vacuum of wonder. Game on. If you "like" it, you should probably own it: However, if you think people might judge you, X, formerly Twitter, is now letting paid users hide their likes. Smash that button. As if you needed another reason to shop: In a surprise tie-up, Shopify merchants will be able to offer Amazon's "Buy with Prime" option. Pop the champagne. What did you say?: OpenAI-backed language learning app Speak raises $16 million to expand to the U.S. You heard right. Network of networks: Meet Ivy, a company that just raised $20 million to take open-banking payments international. Bank on it. Crypto could be making a comeback: Grayscale's legal head says bitcoin spot ETF approval is a "matter of when, not if." (TC+) Check out more in this week's Chain Reaction. More layoffs: Malwarebytes is splitting its business in two. Ahead of that, the company laid off 100 employees. Reportedly some higher-ups were involved. Sometimes you have to split: Microsoft unbundled Teams from Microsoft Office in Europe to appease regulators. See who complained. It got physical: Fitbit was targeted with a trio of data transfer complaints in Europe. Find out why. Now we can truly be ourselves: AI-powered BeFake is a real app, not a BeReal parody, and it now has $3 million in funding. Finally an app that will just let us Be. Oh, and if you're wondering how all that AI-generated data will affect startups, we looked into that. (TC+) More for your Thursday: Veterinary software company TeleVet rebrands as Otto amid $43M in fresh funding iPhone camera app Obscura releases a new version with iPad support Martian Lawyers Club raises $2.2M for AI-based game personalization tech VanMoof makes a move: Lavoie acquires the e-bike startup out of bankruptcy for ‘tens of millions’ of euros LogicMonitor customers hit by hackers, because of default passwords Image Credits: Anker

From today's "pod" files For this week's new episode of Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn interviewed Craig Salm, chief legal officer at Grayscale Investments. Grayscale is a digital asset investment firm that aims to provide products and services, like its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), to institutional and individual investors. The company was founded in 2014 and is one of the world's largest digital asset currency managers. It currently owns 3.4% of outstanding bitcoin, "worth tens of billions of dollars," according to a recent legal filing. The firm was making headlines this week after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Grayscale in a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the matter of a bitcoin ETF. This ruling is in response to the SEC denying Grayscale's application to convert its GBTC product into a bitcoin spot ETF in June 2022. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

That 30-slide deck won't cut it anymore Despite the downturn, a recent report from DocSend shows a 16% year-over-year increase in the number of pitch decks founders are sharing with investors. “Pre-seed founders have responded to the investor pullback by creating shorter decks,” says Justin Izzo, the company’s research lead. “They are rearranging the opening slides in ways I hadn't seen before.” The average length of a pitch deck has shrunk by nearly 16% over the last year, which “means you have to be very intentional about what to include,” writes Haje Jan Kamps. 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: Nuthawut Somsuk / Getty Images

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Mobile/Web Developer (.Net) at Air Line Pilots Association (McLean, VA, USA) Blockchain Engineer at OpenTensor (Anywhere) Technical Writer at OpenTensor (Anywhere) Data Scientist at OpenTensor (Anywhere) Epic Application Analyst/Coordinator at Administration South (Toppenish, WA, 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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