IBM says its new Watsonx platform is an 'enterprise studio for AI builders'

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Tuesday, May 09, 2023

Happy Tuesday! Couple of quick things: Apply now to pitch at TechCrunch Live's Atlanta pitch-off. Also, today's head scratcher of an article is from Devin, who reports that Acapela lets anyone back up their own voice. Until literally 10 seconds ago, we had no idea that that was even possible, and now we really want to do it. — Christine and Haje Image Credits: Just_Super

The TechCrunch Top 3 Big bet on AI: Like other Big Tech companies we've talked about before, IBM took its turn this week unveiling what Kyle writes is "a slew of new AI services," including IBM Watsonx, which will "deliver tools to build AI models and provide access to pretrained models for generating computer code, text and more." More layoffs: LinkedIn is phasing out its China jobs app and with it goes 716 jobs, Catherine reports. The company attributed the app's demise to "fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate." Gotta get paid: A new WhatsApp feature enables users to pay businesses within the app. It is already making the rounds in South America and Asia and now lands in Singapore, Ivan reports.

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Startups and VC Shopify last week announced that it would be the latest Big Tech firm to undergo mass layoffs. The company is cutting 20% of its 11,600-person staff. The news arrived during earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, shooting its stock price up as a result. Also included in the announcement was news that the Canadian e-commerce giant had found a new owner for 6 River Systems, the warehouse automation firm it purchased in 2019 for nearly a half-billion dollars, reports Brian. UVeye's automated vehicle inspection technology may have started out as a system to detect security threats, but the six-year-old Israeli startup has found deep interest and investment from the automotive sector, and it lands the startup a $100 million round of investment from GM and CarMax, among others, Kirsten reports. And we have five more for you: Rotten zomatos: Zomato shares plunge after Invesco cut rival Swiggy's valuation, reports Manish. Computers explaining computers: OpenAI's new tool attempts to explain language models' behaviors, by Kyle. Stretching those pennies: Charlie's new banking app aims to help seniors “make the most of their limited resources,” reports Mary Ann. PNW pot of gold: Ascend raises $25 million for pre-seed AI startups in the Pacific Northwest, writes Becca. Texts, but more Instagramified: This app, backed by Marissa Mayer and Peter Thiel, is making texts more expressive, reports Natasha M.

Hidden in plain sight: 5 red flags for investors Investors may review hundreds of pitches each year, which means they're compelled to make decisions quickly. It's not a great system — because it's largely based on relationships, bias is baked into the recipe. And due to the rapid pace of dealmaking, "even the most experienced angel investors — and VCs — can overlook red flags that are subtle and not immediately apparent," writes Marjorie Radlo-Zandi. Drawing from her years as a mentor, an angel and a board member, she shares five scenarios that should give investors second thoughts — for example, "where the founder has a romantic or spousal relationship with a staff member." Two more from the TC+ team: SadFin: We're close to peak pessimism around fintech, by Alex. How do you copyright that?: Generative AI and copyright law: What's the future for IP? by Gai Sher and Ariela Benchlouch. 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 White / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Niantic's new game Peridot personifies cuteness overload. In fact, Amanda called it "Pokémon GO meets Tamagotchi," if you recall the toy from the 1990s. Amanda describes the game as "a pet simulator, but it takes place completely within augmented reality (AR). You can feed, play with, walk, breed and socialize with your Peridots, but don't worry — if you take a break from the game, your creatures will not poop all over your screen and/or die." Meanwhile, TikTok's parent ByteDance is eyeing a new role as an e-publisher in the United States, even going so far as to submit a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for book publishing products and services with the name "8th Note Press." Rita has more. And we have five more for you: Music to our ears: Apple is launching Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro on iPad later this month, reports Aisha. Car talk: General Motors has a new head of software, tapping former Apple cloud services executive Mike Abbott, writes Kirsten. Meanwhile, Porsche is looking at some automated driving functions and is now working with Mobileye to provide that in future models, Rebecca reports. Appealing, isn't it?: Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried seeks to dismiss most of the U.S. charges against him, reports Jacquelyn. For the love of money: Meta revamps its Ads on Reels monetization program to make it performance-based. Aisha has more. It was written in the stars: Satellite rivals Viasat and Inmarsat got the green light from the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority to continue their $7.3 billion merger, Paul writes.

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In its second markdown in 4 months, Invesco slashes Swiggy's valuation to $5.5B

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Monday, May 08, 2023

Hello, and welcome to a new week. Haje is off today, so it's just me and you going through the day's biggest stories. Let's hit it! — Christine Image Credits: Richard Drury / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 Price cut in aisle five: Invesco cuts Indian food delivery giant Swiggy's valuation to $5.5 billion. In October, the valuation was cut to $8 billion. Manish writes, "The recent valuation reductions bring a fresh perspective to the effects of waning global market conditions on Indian startups"; where funding was down, valuations didn't follow. Bet paid off: Qualcomm acquires Autotalks, reportedly for $350 million to $400 million, to boost Snapdragon's automotive safety technology. Ingrid writes that this deal didn't come as much of a surprise, noting, "In the world of advanced automotive technology, safety has become one of the most important issues, but also one of the most lucrative opportunities, in the building of autonomous and driver-assisted systems." Don't blink or you'll miss it: Ingrid also wrote about Go1, which acquired Blinkist, a speed reading app, with plans to expand enterprise learning.

Startups and VC When my husband and I bought our first house, we were eager to see builders break ground and get it built. Months later, we were still waiting in what the builder said was a municipality holdup — aka, permits weren't being issued fast enough. After reporting on PermitFlow's new $5.5 million round, I now know why this is a problem. Meanwhile, Natasha M spoke to Mayfield's Navin Chaddha about the VC firm's new $955 million fund, writing that now that the firm is bigger — and busier— "the capital will be used to ramp up the firm's investment cadence in a more realistic market. Chaddha also admits that Mayfield has missed out on a lot of opportunities because of high valuations, but that he's okay with it." Now here's four more for you: Looking for a place to park it: Manish reports on 3one4 Capital's new $200 million fund, writing that while this is another Indian firm to raise a large fund, there are concerns that there aren't enough early-stage companies to take on significant capital.  Legendary: NFT spinoff from newspaper SCMP gets funded to tokenize historical artifacts, writes Rita. On cloud nine: Antimetal now has $4.3 million in fresh capital to root out cloud cost inefficiencies, Ron reports. Taking on the open seas: Navier's electric hydrofoiling boat is trying its luck over on the West Coast to line up its first pilot programs. Devin has more.

NFX's James Currier: Where unicorn ideas come from and why founders 'have to keep pivoting' Are you a seed-stage founder who's building a unicorn? NFX founding partner James Currier would like to save you some time: Startups that grow into billion-dollar companies have three basic forms of defensibility: Network effects: Your product becomes more valuable as more people use it. Embedding: Integrate your services so deeply, customers "cannot rip them out." Data loops: Gather, process and act on real-time data. "This is really only talking about world-changing, big-ass businesses with a lot of impact that could be a billion dollars or more in value," he said at TechCrunch Early Stage last month. Three more from the TC+ team: Strike!: Alex writes that tech workers could take labor lessons from Hollywood's writers. Kismet: Haje writes that to find the right investors for your startup, it's about timing. Wind blows, fire burns: Becca looks into VC interest in wildfire tech. 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: Haje Kamps / TechCrunch

Big Tech Inc. Hey, Twitter users, your follower count is about to drop, according to Elon Musk. Sarah reports that Twitter will purge old accounts that haven't tweeted in a while. The good news is that you might be able to get a better username, depending on which account it is. Happy hunting! Also in bird news, Ivan writes that the social media giant is discussing a cheaper organizational verification plan. We loved Connie's story over the weekend about a New York Times reporter's close encounters with Elizabeth Holmes, who, left to her own devices, apparently can still suck people in. And here's four more for you: Resuscitating: NextGen Healthcare confirms hackers accessed personal data of more than 1 million patients, Carly reports. Meanwhile, over at Western Digital, the company had to tell customers that hackers stole their data. Lorenzo has more. Alert!: Samsung is celebrating after receiving FDA clearance for its Irregular Heart Rhythm Notification feature for the Galaxy Watch, writes Aisha. "It's lonely out in space": Virgin Galactic said it will make a triumphant return with a crewed flight at the end of May, Aria reports. Also check out her TC+ story on space startups. Switch-a-roo: Volkswagen is making some personnel changes at Cariad — again. Kirsten has  more.

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