Author: TechBrunch

Look no further than Keith Lavoie, a partner at Khosla Ventures, to understand the position of unwavering Trump supporters in the wake of last weekend's fatal shooting of an American by a federal Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis that shocked the nation. Mr. Lavoie's public support for the Border Patrol's actions in the murder of Alex Preti, made through his posts on X, was such that both Khosla Ventures partner Ethan Choi and company founder Vinod Khosla publicly denied it. Mr. Lavoie blamed Mr. Preti and wrote that the protesters were committing a “serious crime.” One of Lavoie's posts said,…

President Donald Trump said he would make countering immigration one of his flagship policies during his second term in The White House, promising an unprecedented number of deportations.  A year in, data shows that deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection have surpassed at least 350,000 people.  ICE has taken center stage in Trump’s mass removal campaign, raiding homes, workplaces, and public parks in search of undocumented people, prompting widespread protests and resistance from communities across the United States.  ICE uses several technologies to identify and surveil individuals. Homeland Security has also used the shadow…

Obvious Ventures, co-founded by Twitter's Evan Williams, has raised its fifth fund, and like its predecessor, this one comes with a “fun” number of $360,360,360. “We invest at the forefront of math, science and physics, and we want to celebrate math in our fund numbers,” James Joaquin (pictured far right), co-founder and managing director of the firm, told TechCrunch. The company's first funding was $123,456,789 and its second funding was $191,919,191 (palindromic numbers are the same whether read from the front or back). The third fund was $271,828,182 (mathematicians and engineers immediately recognize this as e (Euler's number)), and the…

If you want to solve climate change, there are few better places to start than in cities. “This city is like a beautiful vampire squid sucking up all the resources,” Jacob Bro, co-founder and partner at 2150, told TechCrunch. “They basically aggregate all the prosperity in the world, 80% of GDP, but also 70% of emissions and all other resources, all waste, and all the negative aspects of the good life.” In recent years, many investors have raised large sums of money to tackle climate change, and many are measuring success by profits and carbon reductions. 2150 is similar, but…

London's High Court on Monday awarded a Saudi satirist and human rights activist more than £3 million (US$4.1 million) in damages after finding “compelling evidence” that his mobile phone had been hacked with government-grade spyware. London-based cartoonist Ghanem Al Masalir had attracted millions of viewers on his popular YouTube channel, featuring videos critical of Saudi Arabia. He sued the Saudi government in 2019, claiming that his phone was targeted a year ago by Pegasus, a mobile spyware sold exclusively to governments by NSO Group. Al Masari was also physically assaulted in London in 2018, when his mobile phone was targeted.…

The clock is officially ticking. In just 5 days, the lowest ticket price for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and a 50% off +1 pass exclusive to the first 500 registrants will be gone. And with more than half of the first 500 applications already submitted, the slots are closing quickly. If Disrupt is on your must-attend list, now's your chance to lock in the best deal and get +1 for half price. Register now to save up to $680 on passes and get 50% off your second ticket. This offer ends on January 30th, when the first 500 tickets are won.…

The clock is officially ticking. In just five days, the lowest ticket prices for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and 50% off Plus One Passes exclusive to the first 500 registrants will be gone. And with more than half of the first 500 applications already submitted, the slots are closing quickly. If Disrupt is on your must-attend list, now's your chance to lock in the best deal and get a Plus 1 at half price. Register now to save up to $680 on passes and get 50% off your second ticket. This offer ends on January 30th, when the first 500 tickets…

Bending Spoons, a 12-year-old tech conglomerate based in Milan, has quietly become one of the tech industry's most prolific buyers, now owning companies such as Meetup and WeTransfer, among many others, but is largely unknown to the public. So what exactly is Bending Spoon? Despite its catchy name, the company attracts significantly less attention and usually only makes headlines when it adds another well-known brand to its portfolio. The latest is Eventbrite, which it agreed to acquire for $500 million last December. But Bending Spoons is neither a traditional private equity firm nor a pure financial investment vehicle. Its focus…

The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, founded by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The Winklevoss twins were donors to Donald Trump's reelection campaign and also supported his family's business ventures. In a joint filing Friday, the SEC and Gemini asked the court to dismiss a lawsuit centered on the collapse of an investment product called Gemini Earn, which left some investors without access to their funds for 18 months. New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Gemini in 2023, accusing the company of defrauding investors. Justifying the SEC's dismissal of the case, the…

A failed December effort to take down parts of Poland's energy grid was the work of Russian government hackers known for causing energy disruptions in the past, according to a security research firm that investigated the incident. Poland's Energy Minister Milos Motyka told reporters last week that hackers targeted two thermal power plants in attempted cyberattacks on December 29 and 30, attempting to disrupt communication links between renewable energy facilities such as wind turbines and electricity distribution companies. Motyka called the incident “the strongest attack” on Poland's energy infrastructure in years, and the Polish government blamed Moscow for the attempt.…