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Mobile overdraft facility Fuliza outshines Silicon Valley-backed lending apps in Kenya
A digital mobile overdraft facility christened Fuliza by Kenya’s biggest telco Safaricom Plc is giving the country’s popular loan apps a run for their money barely three years after its…
Fuzey takes in $4.5M to charge up its management tools for service-based businesses
The company’s tools digitize for small businesses what was traditionally done manually and on paper, like invoices.
Alibaba’s Southeast Asia arm Lazada hits 130M annual consumers
Alibaba has always aspired to bring its e-commerce service to customers outside China. Its strategy is multi-thronged. The giant’s house-developed AliExpress has found success in Russia in recent years. In…
Tiger Global backs fintech CreditBook in first Pakistan investment
Two years ago, a group of entrepreneurs in Pakistan began surveying the market to understand why financial services weren’t reaching the majority of merchants in the world’s fifth most populous…
This USB ‘kill cord’ can instantly wipe your laptop if snatched or stolen
Journalists, activists and human rights defenders face a constant battle to keep files safe from a growing set of digital threats and surveillance. But physical attacks can be challenging to…
Daily Crunch: TechCrunch’s 2021 holiday gift guide: Our favorite gadgets for less than $100
Hello friends and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Many brands are using the messaging app Discord to forge a sense of community among their fans. If the fast-food chain Wendy’s can have a Discord with over 60,000 members,…
Cruise CEO Dan Ammann is leaving the company, its parent company General Motors said in a late afternoon statement. Kyle Vogt, who co-founded the autonomous vehicle company, and was the…
Hulu rolls out personalized end-of-year recaps with stats about users’ streaming habits
Hulu is the latest company to introduce a Spotify Wrapped-like personalized end-of-year recap feature. The streaming service is giving subscribers the option to learn more about their viewing habits through…
Rivian to invest IPO wealth into new $5B Georgia factory and battery tech
Rivian will use some of the $13.7 billion it raised when it publicly listed its shares to build a second factory (in Georgia) that has double the capacity of its…
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The most prominent group lobbying for Silicon Valley’s interests in DC just fell apart
The trade group representing Silicon Valley’s biggest companies will disband, even as tech enters a new era of intense regulatory scrutiny in the nation’s capital. The Internet Association has fought…
Featured Article
A new spyware-for-hire, Predator, caught hacking phones of politicians and journalists
While NSO Group was taking flak for hacking into the phones of journalists, activists and human rights defenders, an entire class of spyware makers and surveillance-for-hire outfits were operating as normal, largely unnoticed. These private surveillance groups develop and deploy never-before-seen exploits that quietly hack into and steal the contents of a victim’s phone —…
Instagram now lets you embed a miniature version of your profile into a website
Instagram is rolling out a new “Profile Embed” feature that allows users to embed a miniature version of their profile into a website. The new feature will allow users to…
Spotify acquires podcast tech company Whooshkaa which turns radio broadcasts into on-demand audio
Spotify is continuing its investments in podcasts with today’s news that it has acquired another podcast technology company, Whooshkaa, an Australia-based all-in-one platform for hosting, managing, distributing, promoting, monetizing and…
Featured Article
Treat every day like Boxing Day
Oh, hey, before we get started this week, I’m excited to finally be able to tell you that TC Sessions: Robotics has been announced for next year, and we’re returning to the East Coast! I’ve been pushing for this for a while now — and not just because it’s a shorter flight for me. Berkeley…
Sidewalk Labs products will be folded into Google proper
Alphabet’s smart city project is winding down and Google will take over its products. Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff announced the news in a letter, in which he noted he…
Waymo says self-driving car that struck pedestrian in San Francisco was in manual mode
A Waymo self-driving Jaguar I-Pace that struck a pedestrian in San Francisco on Wednesday evening was in manual mode, the company told TechCrunch in response to an initial report posted…
Spotify is launching Apple-like ratings for podcasts
If you’ve ever listened to a podcast, you’ve probably heard a host ask you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts in their end credits. Now, that script might flip…
India’s most valuable startup Byju’s in talks to go public via record SPAC deal
Indian edtech giant Byju’s, the nation’s most valuable startup, is in talks to go public in the U.S. by merging with a blank check company led by Churchill Capital, a…
TikTok rolls out GIPHY support, HD videos, cat sound effects, among other new features
In addition to announcing coming changes to its For You feed, TikTok today announced a handful of updates to its lineup of camera and editing tools, including new features for…