Author: TechBrunch

Pet products and services giant Petco disclosed the data breach Wednesday in a filing with the California attorney general's office, which the company claims involved customers' personal information. The state released a sample notification letter that Petco would send to customers affected by the breach. Petco said in the letter that it had identified “a setting in one of our software applications that incorrectly allowed access to certain files online,” adding that the company independently discovered the issue and “immediately took steps to correct the issue and remove the file from future online access.” However, the letter does not specify…

Micro1's rapid growth over the past two years has placed it among the fastest-scaling AI companies. The three-year-old startup, which helps AI labs recruit and manage human experts to train data, started the year with approximately $7 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). The company's ARR currently exceeds $100 million, founder and CEO Ali Ansari told TechCrunch. This number is also more than double the revenue Micro1 reported in September, when it announced a $35 million Series A at a valuation of $500 million. Ansari, 24, said Micro1 works with major AI labs, including Microsoft, as well as Fortune 100…

Harvey confirmed on Thursday that it had closed a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz that valued the legal AI startup at $8 billion, following reports that the funds were leaked in October. The startup has raised $160 million in a round. This latest capital infusion comes just months after the company raised $300 million in a Series E round at a $5 billion valuation in June. And that comes just months after it raised a Series D led by Sequoia at a $3 billion valuation in February. Harvey's investors include EQT, WndrCo, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Sarah Guo's Conviction and…

Spyware maker Intellexa had remote access to some of its government customers' surveillance systems, allowing its employees to view the personal data of people whose phones had been hacked with its Predator spyware, according to new evidence released by Amnesty International. On Thursday, Amnesty International and a coalition of media partners, including Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Greek news site Inside Story, and Swiss news agency Inside IT, released a series of reports based on leaked material from Intellexa, including internal documents, sales and marketing materials, and training videos. Perhaps the most shocking revelation is that people working at Intellexa allegedly had…

Masha Bucher worked in PR and marketing before becoming a VC. That experience shaped how she operates Day One Ventures. After years of working in the communications field, including a management position that gave him deep insight into how startups operate, Butcher realized he could use his business acumen to evolve into one of the most effective PR people in the industry, if not more. “I was looking at what was going on in the business, and I could understand the context, so I understood the business, and because I understood the business, my PR pitch would be very business-focused,”…

While many venture firms seem to be focused solely on AI these days, Nexus Venture Partners is intentionally splitting its focus for its new $700 million fund. The company will support AI startups and look for India-focused startups in the consumer, fintech and digital infrastructure sectors. AI has absorbed most of the venture capital raised globally, and the 20-year-old venture capital firm also sees it as a defining technological change. But they argue that focusing on a single overheated category comes with its own risks. India's digital economy offers a balance with an expanding market where AI adoption is on…

In early October, AI enterprise resource planning (ERP) startup DualEntry announced a $90 million Series A round led by Lightspeed and Khosla Ventures, valuing the one-year-old business at $415 million. The company aims to replace traditional software like Oracle NetSuite with products that can automate routine tasks and provide predictive insights. A huge funding round from a top VC suggests the startup is likely to see impressive revenue growth. However, one venture capitalist who declined the investment told TechCrunch that DualEntry's annual recurring revenue (ARR) was only about $400,000 when the deal was considered in August. DualEntry co-founder Santiago Nestares…

Earlier this year, household goods maker Kohler launched a smart camera called Dekoda that attaches to the toilet bowl, takes a photo, and analyzes the image to provide advice on gut health. Anticipating privacy concerns, Kohler said on its website that Decoda's sensors only see below the toilet and claimed that all data is protected with “end-to-end encryption.” However, as security researcher Simon Fondrie-Teitler pointed out in a blog post on Tuesday, the company's use of the phrase “end-to-end encryption” is incorrect. If you read Kohler's privacy policy, it's clear that the company is referring to an encryption method (known…

Vulcan Elements, a rare earth magnet startup backed by Donald Trump Jr.'s VC firm 1789 Capital, has won a $620 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Financial Times reported. The deal is part of a $1.4 billion partnership with the U.S. government and Reelement Technologies to expand and strengthen the domestic supply of magnets, the company said. Trump Jr. joined 1789 Capital as a partner in 2024. The company is said to have invested in Vulcan Elements about three months ago, according to Bloomberg. In August, the company announced a $65 million Series A led by Altimeter…

While technology moves forward, society struggles to keep up. Masha Bucher, founder and GP of Day One Ventures, founded her company with the aim of bridging that gap by combining venture capital with hands-on PR to help portfolio companies not just raise money but actually break through the noise. Day One is an early backer of companies such as World, Superhuman, and Remote.com, and 12 of its portfolio companies are valued at multi-billion dollars. Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan speaks with Bucher about why traditional PR is broken, how she chooses founders, and why every startup founder needs…