Author: TechBrunch

The Fintech segment has grown significantly during and shortly after the pandemic, and has been pretty rough in 2024, ending with a sudden shutdown of the accounting startup bench and an unexpected takeover. The rapid pace of fundraising has slowed down, but some fintechs continue to see growth and continue to expand their teams. To better understand how many fintechs could fit this category, I called last year to ask the fintech companies I employ. After just an hour I got over 12 responses. Over the course of several days, I have heard from over 60 companies. The huge number…

It is risky to create a startup that competes with your previous employer. For example, Apple once sued a former Chip Design executive who founded his own chip startup in a case that was dropped in 2023. Recent cases of Logistics Unicorn Flexport and a new competitor formed by two former employees shed light on those risks. Flexport is suing the pair, claiming they stole thousands of documents along with source code to create their own rival startup, Cargo Mate AI. Both startups use technology to automate complex logistics and shipping processes. Flexport believes that cargo ship Yingwei Zhao has…

Openai will soon begin testing how business customers can connect apps such as Slack and Google Drive to ChatGpt. According to documents viewed by TechCrunch, Openai plans to begin testing a new feature called the ChatGpt connector. ChatGpt Connectors allows subscribers of the ChatGPT team to link their Workspace Google Drive and Slack accounts to ChatGPT, allowing chatbots to answer questions notified from files, presentations, sheets, and Slack conversations on those accounts. Openai plans to extend the ChatGpt connector to other platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint and Box in the future. “This makes it easy to use internal information similar…

Artificial intelligence keeps things chemically agitating. WIT: Y Combinator Backed Cambridge, UK-based ReactWise uses AI to speed up chemical manufacturing. This is an important step in bringing new drugs to the market. Once promising drugs are identified in the lab, pharmaceutical companies need to be able to produce far more materials to conduct clinical trials. This is where ReactWise offers to intervene in “AI co-pilot for optimizing chemical processes.” It says it will accelerate the standard trial-and-error based process by 30 times that you know the best way to make a drug. “Medicine is like cooking,” co-founder and CEO Alexander…

Texas software developer Davis Lou faces up to 10 years in prison after the federal ju judge convicted him of “causing intentional damage” to his previous employer's network. According to the Justice Department, Lu, 55, began smashing her employer's systems after the 2018 corporate restructuring left LU after reducing liability and system access. Lu has been accused of creating and implementing a “kill switch” that locks out all employees of the company from the network if Lu's credentials were previously deactivated. Prosecutors say Lu named the Kill Switch code “isdlenabledinad” and refers to whether Lu's account is enabled in the…

Tiktok is introducing a new “security checkup” tool that allows users to quickly check and update security settings for their accounts from a single screen, the company announced Monday. This feature is similar to the security checkup tools provided by Tiktok Rival Instagram and Tech Giant Google. Users can access the new tools from their profile by selecting “Settings & Privacy” and then tapping “Security & Permissions.” Security checkups guide users through the security features of social networks. This tool encourages users to enable more security features to make their accounts safer. Image credit: Tiktok Users can link their phone…

Security researchers have observed hackers linking to the infamous Lockbit gang that exploits a pair of vulnerabilities in the Fortinet firewall to deploy ransomware across several corporate networks. In a report released last week, security researchers at Forescout Research said a tracking group called “Mora_001” is leveraging the Fortinet firewall. One of the vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2024-55591 has been exploited in cyberattacks since December 2024 to violate Fortinet's customer's corporate network. Forescout says the second bug tracked as CVE-2025-24472 is also being exploited by Mora_001 in the attack. Fortinet released patches for both bugs in January. Sai Molige, senior manager…

As dating app users are looking for more safety precautions, Bumble is finally offering a new ID verification feature on its competitor Tinder. In addition to identity verification, the company has released three more features, including the ability to flag inappropriate messages in chat before users hit a send, and the ability to share date details with friends. Bumble has also launched a “discovery” page dedicated to helping users find matches with similar interests. Bumble's new verification feature allows users to submit photos of government-issued IDs to authenticate their identity and earn a profile badge. This allows users to sort…

According to testimony from a federal cybersecurity officer, staff working for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) broke the Treasury policy by sending emails containing unencrypted personal information. Marko Elez, a Doge staff member who works for the US Treasury, emailed two Trump administration officials a spreadsheet containing unencrypted, personally identifiable information before resigning in early February after racist social media posts were linked to Elez Surfaced Online. Details of the security course appeared in court on Friday in court that included testimony by David Ambrose, the Treasury Department's Finance Department's Finance Department's Finance Department, which pays trillions of dollars…

At a rich summit held in Los Angeles last week, billionaire entrepreneur Travis Kalanick rarely got a glimpse into his vision for the future of his latest company, Cloudkitchens. Today, the 8-year-old LA-based outfit is known for its growing real estate portfolio using restaurants using kitchens to achieve food delivery, but Kalanick hinted at the future of full-stacks. In fact, he appears to be aiming to ultimately provide AI-filled food directly to his customers. Kalanick has covered the topic twice in different contexts. First, during an informal sit-in with Peter Diamandis, the conference organizer, he portrayed similarities between Cloudkitchen and…