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Facebook ordered to stop harvesting data on WhatsApp users in Germany
Facebook has been ordered to stop harvesting the data of WhatsApp users in Germany. The move follows the latter’s shock announcement last month that it would start sharing user data from its messaging platform with parent company, Facebook, including users’ phone numbers and last seen time in the app. Read More
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Kano moves beyond Pi with code-your-own device kits for kids
It’s been 16 months since Kano took to the stage at TC Disrupt New York 2015 to announce a $15M Series A, and to talk up its big ambition to build a creative computing brand. And 10 months since, flush with VC cash, it started work on its next big product reveal… Today it’s ready to show what it’s been working on. Read More
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With Daily Mix, Spotify taps algorithms to make infinite playlists from your favorite tunes
Are you a Spotify user who has a list of favorite bands and songs, but do not have the motivation to find and organize all of them into useful playlists? Today, the streaming company is launching a new service called Daily Mix that is partly aimed at you. Tapping into your own history of albums and tracks that you have listened to on the platform, Daily Mix brings together a… Read More
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Red Points bags $2.2M to help brands fight counterfeiting and piracy
Spanish startup Red Points has closed a €2 million (~$2.2M) funding round to grow usage of its piracy detection and removal SaaS by expanding from Europe into new markets, including North America. It’s also intending to broaden its customer focus. Read More
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Exclusive TechCrunch survey reveals startups and investors are divided over Brexit
On Thursday 23 June 2016 the world changed. On that day a referendum was held to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union. Leave won by 52% to 48%. The referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting (though not 100% of the electorate). The campaigns on both sides had issues in terms of what they promised, to put it mildly. But on the issue of… Read More
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Zenly raises $22.5 million from Benchmark for its location-sharing app
French startup Zenly has raised $22.5 million over the summer from Benchmark and a few other investors. Business Insider first reported the round and TechCrunch got an official confirmation. Here’s what we know. Benchmark is leading the round with Peter Fenton joining the board of the company. Fenton has invested in a few social network companies and also is a board member of Twitter. Read More
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Swiss public back law expanding surveillance powers
In the wake of the 2014 Snowden revelations about mass surveillance programs some startups with concerns about overreaching government requests for user data settled on Switzerland as a base for their business — owing to what they dubbed favorable privacy laws. However, they might need to have a rethink after the Swiss public approved more invasive state surveillance powers in a… Read More
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Reminder: This is the last week to save £400 on Disrupt London tickets
Procrastination is easy, but it can cost you. And if you wait until this weekend to purchase tickets to Disrupt London 2016, it will definitely cost you some hard-earned pounds — 400 of them, to be exact. Friday, September 30 is the final day to score tickets to Disrupt at the extra early bird price point of just £800 each (or £700 each when you buy two) and you can get your… Read More
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Crunch Network
Apple has done nothing wrong
Having read the European Commission’s original ruling, some prior rulings, the Treasury’s white paper about the European Commission’s actions and a lot of analysis in the tax community, in my opinion, the EC is over-reaching in their decision on Apple. Read More
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It’s not McLaren Racing, but McLaren Applied Technologies, that Apple is likely lusting after
When racing cars have only hundredths of seconds between them, in a race where the time to change a tire means the difference between winning and losing (and the impact on millions of dollars in sponsorship), a company gets good at technology. Fast. The data from drivers, cars and engines has to be parsed and acted upon literally in real-time. That’s why the racing industry’s… Read More
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This new electric car is designed for a $37 weekly subscription service
Europe continues to test the waters of shared vehicle ownership models, and the Amber One is a car designed to help eliminate the huge amount of time our own vehicles currently spend idle. The all-electric concept has a 250-mile range on a single charge, a top speed of over 93 mph, and a 0 to 60 time of a respectable 7 seconds. But you can’t buy one – to gain access, you… Read More
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Fotr forces you to print every iPhone photo you take
When was the last time you printed a photo? Well, Fotr is a new iPhone app that wants to turn that trend on its head, by automatically printing every photo you take. The idea is to bring back an aspect of analog photography: shoot fewer, but higher-quality photos. Read More
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Handmade, Amazon’s Etsy rival, expands into Europe
Amazon continues to try to turn the screws on its competition through its scale, and now it’s the turn of Handmade, the e-commerce giant’s marketplace for arts and crafts that competes most closely with Etsy. Today, Amazon announced that Handmade would expand to Europe, starting first in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, where some 30,000 “genuinely handmade… Read More
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Mike Lynch, Autonomy Founder and now VC, will appear at Disrupt London
TechCrunch Disrupt London is coming! From December 5 to 6 in the Olympic Village’s Copper Box Arena, you see see incredible speakers and visit the enormous Startup Alley, as well as the famous Startup Battlefield where one startup will take home £30,000. Grab early-bird tickets for Disrupt London here. Read More
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Y Combinator signs up to Founders Pledge charity scheme for social causes
There’s always been an ongoing conversation amongst successful tech entrepreneurs about how to “give back.” Not everyone can afford to found an entire hospital, and yet many feel a desire to do something more than move on to the next startup. What probably needs to change is not so much the conversation around the “big exit” but the “conversation”… Read More
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After a long journey, WAYN gets picked up by its dotcom-era brother, Lastminute.com
Fourteen years is a long time to be a startup, but long-time travel social network WAYN has finally cashed in its chips and sold to (almost equally old) online travel pioneer Lastminute.com Group. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, so take that to mean what you will. WAYN’s founders and a team 20, based across the UK, Poland and South Africa, will transfer to the new… Read More
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WorldRemit CEO Ismail Ahmed to speak at Disrupt London
TechCrunch Disrupt London is coming this December. The two-day conference runs December 5 to 6 in the Olympic Village’s Copper Box Arena and features Startup Alley and Startup Battlefield where one startup will take home £30,000. You can buy early-bird tickets for Disrupt London here. We’re delighted to announce that we will be joined by the founder and CEO of WorldRemit… Read More
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OurCrowd raises another $72M to build out its equity crowdfunding platform
OurCrowd, the crowdfunding platform that gives backers equity in the companies they support, today announced that it has raised $72 million in a Series C round of funding, and expects the final figure to be closer to $100 million. Half of the capital will be used to build out its offices globally and develop its platform; and half will be used to match investments made on OurCrowd, according… Read More
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European insurance tech startup FinanceFox closes $28M Series A
“We’re not a bunch of startup dudes saying we’re disrupting insurance… we’re not a bunch of arrogant pricks,” FinanceFox co-founder and CEO Julian Teicke told me during a call late last week. The company, which is announcing $28 million in Series A funding today, is one of a number of European ‘insurtech’ startups who are attempting to bring… Read More
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