The Latest

Mastercard launches Shopping Muse, an AI-powered shopping assistant

Mastercard is launching a new generative AI shopping tool called “Shopping Muse” that is designed to help users get personalized product recommendations. The tool is powered by Dynamic Yie

A Y Combinator-backed startup called Velt wants to make more apps collaborative

Online collaboration has become routine thanks to productivity apps like Google Docs and team design platform Figma, among others, but there are still hosts of internet-connected applications where us

Atomic Industries closes $17M seed to exascale America’s industrial base

In 2014, investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel infamously posed the distinction between companies that deal in “atoms” versus those that deal in “bits.” In its crudest terms, the f

AI invades ‘word of the year’ lists at Oxford, Cambridge and Merriam-Webster

Few would disagree that 2023 was, in the world of technology at least, dominated by artificial intelligence. The dictionaries have taken note in their “word of the year” lists, and notably

The makers of pro photography app Halide venture into video with Kino, due this February

Lux, the startup and makers of the popular pro photography app Halide and others, is venturing into video. The team today announced its plans to debut a new app, Kino, arriving in roughly two months&#

23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9 million users

On Friday, genetic testing company 23andMe announced that hackers accessed the personal data of 0.1% of customers, or about 14,000 individuals. The company also said that by accessing those accounts,

A comprehensive list of 2023 tech layoffs

Last year’s techwide reckoning continues. The tech industry has seen more than 240,000 jobs lost in 2023, a total that’s already 50% higher than last year and growing. Earlier this year, mass work

AssemblyAI lands $50M to build and serve AI speech models

Companies are betting big on generative AI to gain a competitive edge. But adoption challenges remain. According to a recent survey from EY, a significant portion of businesses looking to embrace gene

Spotify’s layoffs make sense when you consider its margins and market

Spotify is simply tinkering with its economics so that it is more attractive to investors. That means it needs to pay fewer salaries.

Tesla’s cheapest vehicle is losing half its tax credit next year

Tesla’s lowest-priced vehicle, the rear-wheel-drive Model 3, won’t be eligible for the full $7,500 federal tax credit as of next year.  Tesla started warning buyers (and window-shoppers)

Twilio lays off another 5% of employees following activist pressure

Just a few hours after Spotify announced a large round of layoffs, Twilio is also announcing hundreds of job cuts. Around 5% of the company’s workforce will be impacted. Today’s news proves that w

Threads downloads return to growth as X adds Walmart to its advertiser exodus

Recent efforts by Meta to grow Threads’ install base have been working. According to a new analysis of app store trends, Instagram Threads is now outpacing X, formerly Twitter, at least in terms

Negotiating cross-border investments: Insights from a seasoned investor

For LatAm startups, investments from foreign VCs can bring in experienced advisers and contributors who can help the company expand to new markets.

Bitcoin is on the move, Spotify cuts staff and more money floods AI

Welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Our Monday show covers the latest in tech news from the weekend.

Up Catalyst draws €4M seed round to make battery graphite from carbon dioxide

Up Catalyst can tweak the basic process to also manufacture carbon nanotubes for paint or reinforced concrete, as well as graphite tailored to hydrogen fuel cells.

Strava gets in-app messaging to help you bypass WhatsApp

Strava is taking one big step closer to becoming a true social network, as the fitness-tracking platform introduces in-app messaging to let users send private one-to-one and group messages. The new m

ArmorCode raises $40M to consolidate security data in one place

ArmorCode, a cybersecurity platform that gathers vulnerability data from connected apps and software infrastructure, consolidating the data into a single location and standardizing it for analysis, ha

The best kitchen gifts for techy chefs in 2023

The kitchen is a sacred place. Some chefs insist on keeping things low-tech — Christine’s favorite purchase of the year is a piece of plastic from QVC, and Haje thinks that the Internet of Thi

Meta faces $600M competition damages claim in Spain as media owners pursue privacy breach lawsuit

Meta is facing a major legal challenge and damages claim in Spain that argues the adtech giant’s years of failing to have a valid legal basis for processing people’s data for ads under Eur

TikTok expands its in-app Ticketmaster ticketing feature to users in 20 countries

TikTok and Ticketmaster are expanding their partnership into 20 new countries after initially launching it in the United States back in August 2022. The partnership allows users to discover events and
Load More