Author: TechBrunch

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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,…

Fashion retail giant Victoria's secrets say it is tackling a “security incident” as its website and online orders face continuing confusion. Victoria's Secret posted a brief statement on its website on Wednesday. The company's suspension began Monday after users reported they were unable to access Victoria's secret website. “We quickly enacted response protocols. Third-party experts were involved and defeated the website and some store services as precautions,” a secret spokesman for Victoria said in response to TechCrunch's enquiries. The spokesman did not provide his name or explain the nature of the cybersecurity incident. “We strive to restore operations quickly and…

GameStop announced on Wednesday it had purchased 4,710 Bitcoins. This is worth more than $500 million at the time of purchase. Video game retail chains have struggled to relate to an era when digital game purchases are becoming more and more popular. Additionally, the company has made a new kind of infamous name when it became the center of the short aperture in 2021. GameStop's inventory is bulging a bit from its pre-interference location on Reddit Community R/Wallstreetbets, but with years away from the unpredictable moments of the spotlight, GameStop reports an annual decline in net sales. To support the…

Odyssey, a startup founded by autonomous driving pioneers Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawk, has developed an AI model that allows users to “interact” with streaming videos. Available on the web in the “Initial Demo”, this model generates and streams video frames every 40 ms. Through basic controls, viewers can explore areas within the video, just like 3D rendered video games. “When we consider the current state of the world, its next action, the history of nations and actions, the model tries to predict the next state of the world,” explains Odyssey in a blog post. “Powering this is a new…

Spotify announced on Wednesday several new features designed to provide a more prominent place in the app as it fights Apple and YouTube to become a user's favorite podcast streaming destination. The company says it will start podcast recommendations on its homepage and provide the next feed to keep you up to date with the latest episodes of your favorite shows. Soon, Spotify will roll out new tools for podcast creators to encourage content and better engage with fans in comments. This change is a relatively minor one, but is part of Spotify's efforts to compete with Apple's podcast app…

Google celebrates 10 years of Google photography with the launch of a redesigned editor. The redesign adds new AI features, rethinks, and autoframes that were previously only available on pixel devices, and puts the tool into more users' hands. The Reimagine feature uses generation AI to convert objects and backgrounds in a photo using text prompts. For example, you could ask one dark sky in your photo to replace it with a “transparent blue sky.” The auto-frame feature suggests various ways to frame photos. This is a variety of ways, whether trimming, scaling, or using generated AI to fill blank…