Author: TechBrunch
YouTube announced Thursday that it will bring Google lenses to YouTube shorts in the coming weeks. This integration will soon allow viewers to use Google lenses to search for what they saw while looking at the shorts. For example, if you are watching short stories shot at places you are interested in visiting, you can ask them to select the landmark and identify them to the lens. From there you will learn more about the culture and history of the destination. By integrating lenses into shorts, YouTube is working to enhance visual search capabilities and provide users with ways to…
The US government has imposed sanctions on Funnull. Funnull is a company accused of providing infrastructure to cybercriminals carrying out the so-called “pig slaughter” crypto fraud that caused $200 million in American casualties. On Thursday, the Ministry of Finance's Foreign Assets Control Bureau announced sanctions, saying Funnull “links to most of the cryptocurrency investment scam websites reported to the FBI.” The press release said that while a $200 million loss would result in an average loss of $150,000 per victim, it is “highly likely to underestimate the total loss” as many victims of fraud do not report crimes. Pig slaughter…
Ahead of next month's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced new figures on Thursday related to the financial success of its US App Store. The company says the US app store ecosystem generated $400 billion in developer billing and sales in 2024. This has almost tripled since 2019, which generated $142 billion. Apple also noted that developers did not pay commissions for 90% of billing and sales promoted by the App Store. The new figures come from Apple-funded research conducted by Professor Anando Fradokin, PhD, Boston University Questrom School of Business and Economist, from the analysis group. The Analytics Group has…
This month, cybersecurity company Thinkst celebrates its 10th anniversary since the launch of Canary, a layered product. The company debuted Canary after seeing companies spend millions of dollars on cybersecurity products, but it took more than a few months to realize they had been breached. Thinkst believed that it could create digital tripwire products that could catch hackers with ACT. Over the past decade, the company has grown to around 40 employees, primarily developers and engineers. They have not received external funds. And this year, we're on track to earn a healthy $20 million profit on almost double the annual…
The CEO said at the company's annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday, as CNBC first reported, that Meta AI has 1 billion active users on the app. The new milestone doubles the 505 million active users that Meta AI returned in September 2024. “The focus this year is to develop experience and make meta-AI the key individual AI with a focus on personalization, voice conversation and entertainment,” says Zuckerberg. He went on to state that Meta's plan is to create a business around it before continuing to build AI assistants. As assistants upgrade over time, Zuckerberg said they would “have the…
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Geal Capital Partners announced the end of its second fund on Wednesday, raising $82 million. The fund's limited partners include Citi Impact Fund, M&T Bank, Wells Fargo and Spellman College. Invest in at least 25 early stage companies, write check sizes ranging from $1 million to $2.3 million, with 50% of the fund being reserved for subsequent investments. Talking to TechCrunch, Fund II said Fund II focused on financial technology, healthcare and future work, as did other funds. It has already invested in at least five companies, including Mattal Health Platform Seven Sterling and FinTech Debbie. Qadree described Fund II's…
As Kevin Malone of “The Office” once said, “Why are you wasting your time and not doing tricks, why do you say so many words?” For Julia Lestage and Lisa Le, creators of a new dating app called LoveJack, finding Love Online doesn't have to feel like filling out a stack of documents. All you need is a few words carefully selected to cause a connection. The LoveJack profile looks like any other blind dating app, but there's a twist. Instead of a blurry or hidden profile, the user will see five words selected by a potential match. When the…
Sahil Lavingia has published a diary that talks about her time as a member of the workforce at Elon Musk's Doge. It's a short read – Lavingia's Doge Stint lasted just 55 days, but offers new details of a temporary government organisation formed by President Trump's executive order. Lavingia is a well-known name in Silicon Valley, from her early days as Pinterest's employees to her current gig as the founder of Gumroad, a platform where creators can sell products. He is also a famous species and angel investor. He joined Doge in mid-March as a software engineer for the Veterans…
Horizon3.AI is a cybersecurity startup that provides tools such as autonomous penetration testing, seeking to raise $100 million in a new funding round, shutting down at least $73 million. According to two people familiar with the deal, the NEA led the round. One said the startup is believed to be valued at over $750 million, but TechCrunch couldn't confirm whether the rating was prior or post-money. Another added that he believes the company has sold (or sells) $100 million, generating about $30 million in annual revenue. Neither Horizon nor Nea responded to TechCrunch's request for comment. The deal marks Horizon3.AI,…