Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
The Latest
Bluesky has launched a new product roadmap for the coming months. The decentralized social network said on Tuesday that it is planning to introduce direct messages, support for videos, improved…
AI
Samsung Medison to acquire French AI ultrasound startup Sonio for $92.7M
11:05 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
Samsung Medison, a medical device unit of Samsung Electronics that specializes in developing diagnostic imaging devices, said on Wednesday it plans to acquire Sonio, a Paris-based startup that makes AI-powered software…
Venture
NBA champion Kyle Kuzma looks to bring his team mentality to Scrum Ventures
4:35 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
Kyle Kuzma is a lot of things. He’s a forward for the Washington Wizards NBA team and a 2020 NBA champion. He’s also a style icon — depending on who…
Government & Policy
Ofcom to push for better age verification, filters and 40 other checks in new online child safety code
4:01 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
Ofcom is cracking down on Instagram, YouTube and 150,000 other web services to improve child safety online. A new Children’s Safety Code from the U.K. Internet regulator will push tech…
Climate
After a $20M Series A funding, Germany’s Insempra plans eco-friendly lipid production
3:43 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
Lipids are fatty, waxy or oily compounds that typically come in the form of fats and oils. As a result, they are heavily used in the production of beauty products,…
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that lidar sensors are a “crutch” for autonomous vehicles. But his company has bought so many from Luminar that Tesla is now the lidar…
U.S. realty trust giant Brandywine Realty Trust has confirmed a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of data from its network. In a filing with regulators on Tuesday, the Philadelphia-based…
We’re still well over a month out from WWDC, but Apple went ahead and snuck in another event. On Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET, the company…
Rivian lost $1.45 billion in the first quarter, showing that its recent company-wide cost-cutting measures have a ways to go before it can approach profitability. The EV-maker brought in $1.2…
AI
Meta’s AI tools for advertisers can now create full new images, not just new backgrounds
1:00 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
Meta is rolling out an expanded set of generative AI tools for advertisers, after first announcing a set of AI features last October. Now, instead of only being able to…
Where we’ll be next
Jun 11th
StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
May 21st
StrictlyVC – London
London
Government & Policy
Biden signs bill to protect children from online sexual abuse and exploitation
12:30 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
In February 2023, Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-SC) proposed a bipartisan bill to protect children from online sexual exploitation, which then passed the House last month, on…
The pandemic ushered in an e-bike boom. But like so many other pandemic trends, that boom didn’t last. The last year has seen e-bike startups VanMoof and Cake file for…
At its iPad-focused event, Apple announced a new and improved Magic Keyboard, its keyboard accessory for iPad. The Magic Keyboard has been “completely redesigned” to be much thinner and lighter,…
AI
Apple highlights AI features, including M4 neural engine, at iPad event
12:09 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
Apple isn’t yet ready to unveil its broader AI strategy — it’s saving that for its Worldwide Developer Conference in June — but the tech giant did make sure to…
Apps
NYT Games launches a Wordle archive with access to more than 1,000 past puzzles
12:04 pm PDT • May 7, 2024
The New York Times Games announced on Tuesday that it’s launching a Wordle archive, offering subscribers access to more than 1,000 past Wordle puzzles. The company has started rolling out the Wordle…
AI
Crypto? AI? Internet co-creator Robert Kahn already did it … decades ago
11:51 am PDT • May 7, 2024
Robert Kahn has been a consistent presence on the Internet since its creation — obviously, since he was its co-creator. But like many tech pioneers his resumé is longer than…
AI
Bedrock Studio is Amazon’s attempt to simplify generative AI app development
11:36 am PDT • May 7, 2024
Amazon is launching a new tool, Bedrock Studio, designed to let organizations experiment with generative AI models, collaborate on those models, and ultimately build generative AI-powered apps. Available in public…
Featured Article
A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs
The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized…
11:30 am PDT • May 7, 2024
Startups
India’s Oyo, once valued at $10B, seeks new funding at 70% discount
10:44 am PDT • May 7, 2024
Oyo, the Indian budget-hotel chain startup, is negotiating with investors to raise a new round of funding that could cut the Indian firm’s valuation to $3 billion or lower, three…
What we learned from the indictment of LockBit’s mastermind
10:31 am PDT • May 7, 2024
Five takeaways from the indictment of Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, the hacker who U.S. and U.K. authorities accuse of being the mastermind of the LockBit ransomware gang.
