Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
The Latest
The rapid adoption of digital payments has become a great challenge for finance teams. According to one report, teams spend as much as 40% of their time processing transactions. To…
Featured Article
The tech jobs market might not be as shaky as it feels
With all the tech layoffs lately, it’s easy to think that the market has tightened, but we found that the jobs market remains robust.
12:30 pm PST • February 16, 2023
Crypto
NFTs could give Bitcoin a face-lift as it increases its blockchain demand
12:00 PM PST • February 16, 2023
The past few weeks in crypto land have been focused on the latest craze: Ordinals. What are Ordinals, you ask?
Featured Article
Most sites claiming to catch AI-written text fail spectacularly
As the fervor around generative AI grows, critics have called on the creators of the tech to take steps to mitigate its potentially harmful effects. In particular, text-generating AI has gotten a lot of attention — and with good reason. Students could use it to plagiarize, content farms could use it to spam and bad…
11:59 am PST • February 16, 2023
Apps
iOS 16.4 to bring 31 new emoji, including shaking face, pink heart, two pushing hands and more
11:50 am PST • February 16, 2023
It’s official, with today’s release of the iOS 16.4 developer beta, we’re getting our first look at the next set of emoji coming to our iPhones, thanks to Emojipedia. The…
Featured Article
Autonomation
“Jidoka” is a new one to me. TRI (Toyota Research Institute) CEO Gill Pratt described the concept as “Automation with a Human Touch.” The anglicized version of the notion is “Autonomation” — both are modified forms of “ automation,” in their respective languages. The word was originally applied to Toyota’s Production System, highlighting the need…
11:30 am PST • February 16, 2023
Startups
Pitch Deck Teardown: Gaming monetization company Incymo AI’s $850K seed deck
11:00 am PST • February 16, 2023
Incymo, which leverages machine learning to maximize advertising revenues for game publishers, shared the deck it used to raise an $850,000 seed round.
At its Investor Day event on Thursday, Snap shared a handful of new metrics about its business and teased its prospects. Notably, it said its social media app Snapchat has…
Crypto
Ordinals creator views his Bitcoin-centric creation as ‘digital artifacts,’ not just NFTs
10:00 am PST • February 16, 2023
About 122,500 Bitcoin-focused Ordinals have been inscribed to date as the project gains momentum across the crypto ecosystem.
Transportation
Tesla recalls 362,758 vehicles over Full Self-Driving software safety concerns
10:00 am PST • February 16, 2023
Tesla has issued a recall of its Full Self-Driving software, an advanced driver-assistance system that federal safety regulators say could allow vehicles to act unsafe around intersections and cause crashes.…
Where we’ll be next
Jun 11th
StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
May 21st
StrictlyVC – London
London
Social
Instagram launches a new broadcast chat feature called ‘Channels’
9:47 am PST • February 16, 2023
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the company is launching a new broadcast chat feature on Instagram called “Channels.” The feature lets creators share public, one-to-many messages to directly…
Media & Entertainment
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki steps down, will assume advisory role at Google and Alphabet
9:37 am PST • February 16, 2023
Susan Wojcicki is stepping down as YouTube CEO after nine years at the helm. In a letter to employees (first published by Recode), Wojcicki says that she’s leaving in order…
Convoy, the Seattle-based digital freight network that connects truckers with shippers, is shuttering its Atlanta office and laying off workers as part of a restructuring. This is the third time…
Fintech
Neobank Vexi raises millions to offer young Mexicans lower interest rate credit cards
8:33 am PST • February 16, 2023
Getting a credit card is something most Americans take for granted. In countries such as Mexico, it’s a much more difficult and less common endeavor. In fact, less than 20%…
Apps
TikTok to launch live ‘TikTok Trivia’ game with $500K in prize money
8:18 am PST • February 16, 2023
Today, TikTok announced “TikTok Trivia,” a new live five-day trivia game for U.S. users 18 years or older to get the chance to win a total share of a $500,000…
Commerce
Jumia laid off 20% of staff in Q4 2022 amid work to reduce losses by half this year
8:02 am PST • February 16, 2023
Jumia, as part of its streamlining efforts, reduced headcount among managerial roles by 60% in Dubai and undertook overall headcount reductions that resulted in more than 900 position terminations across…
Crypto
Stelo Labs raises $6M in a16z-led round to help crypto wallet users protect themselves
8:00 am PST • February 16, 2023
Stelo Labs raised $6 million in a round led by a16z to help crypto wallet users protect themselves through a browser extension.
AI
Microsoft says Bing can be provoked to respond outside of its ‘designed tone’
8:00 am PST • February 16, 2023
Microsoft has acknowledged reports of Bing’s strange responses to some queries over the past week since the launch of the updated search engine. Some users have reported receiving rude, manipulative…
Apps
Tile takes extreme steps to limit stalkers and thieves from using its Bluetooth trackers
7:57 am PST • February 16, 2023
Apple took a big PR hit as news spread that its item tracker the AirTag was being used for stalking and car thefts, which led the company to retool its…
Transportation
Tesla fires dozens of workers one day after launching union campaign
7:45 am PST • February 16, 2023
Update: This article has been updated with Tesla’s response to allegations that it fired workers in retaliation for unionizing. Tesla fired more than 30 employees who work at its factory…
