Author: TechBrunch

A huge portion of online traffic comes from bots, both for the good and for the bad, but AI is driving the latter. From DDOS attacks to scraping, there is a new barrage of threats that businesses must deal with. According to cybersecurity entrepreneur Nikita Rosenberg, the impact of SMB is even more severe. “The main difference is that large companies can usually survive with it. Most of these threats can simply kill small businesses.” This led him to launch Blackwall, an Estonia-based startup previously known as Botguard. This focus also influenced the product roadmap. Recently, e-commerce websites have launched…

Over the past 15 years or so, as European venture capital has moved to higher gear, one way to help the country's ecosystem flourish has been to invest in the country's founders, regardless of where they are. This helps bring the entrepreneur's mindset back to home. In Europe, this approach was partially pioneered by Paris-based Kima Ventures. Now, the new venture company wants to replicate the idea from Italy. One of Italy's most active private early VCS, Vento is launching a second hard-cap fund for 75 million euros, particularly to support the founders of Italian startups both domestically and internationally.…

Humanity CEO Dario Amodei worries that a spy from China, who is likely to get expensive “algorithm secrets” from top American AI companies. Speaking at the Council on Diplomatic Relations on Monday, Amodei said China is known for its “large industrial spy” and that AI companies like humanity are almost certainly targeted. “Many of the secrets of these algorithms have a $100 million secret, a few lines of code,” he said. “And you know, I'm sure there are people trying to steal them, and they may be successful.” More help from the US government in defending this risk is “very…

Food Delivery Startup Wonder has acquired Media Company Tastemade for around $90 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Founded in 2021, Tastemade produces food, travel, home videos and operates a free, ad-supported streaming television (high-speed) channel. This acquisition gives you mysterious access to content studios, production companies and advertising businesses. Wonder will use all of these assets to promote its brand to a larger audience, the company says. The agreement marks Wonder's latest steps towards his mission to create a mealtime “super app.” Wonder Founder and CEO Mark Roar, who previously headed e-commerce at Walmart, wants to turn Wonder…

Elon Musk has spent decades building a universe of companies that has served as an incubator for up-and-coming engineers and a proving ground for his inner circle. That universe — an ecosystem of Silicon Valley tech titans, veterans of his companies like Tesla and SpaceX, and a crop of fresh-faced hackers and software engineers — has now collided with the U.S. federal government. The dozens of individuals who work under, or advise, Musk and the Trump-ordered Department of Government Efficiency — individuals who TechCrunch has identified or confirmed independently — reflects more than the billionaire’s proclivity to collect talent. They…

Since Donald Trump Jr. joined VC firm 1789 Capital after his father won the election, he has been busy monetizing the Make America Great (MAGA) ecosystem. He is betting on media, pharmaceuticals, guns and codes while opposing environmental, social, governance (ESG) and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), reported the Financial Times. The VC company was co-founded by Trump donor Omed Malik (subsack supporter) and is supported by Rebekah Mercer, a supporter of conservative news site Breitbart. Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, right-wing radio personality Clay Travis, and investor Mark Andreesen were early supporters in 1789, according to Bloomberg. Less than two…

This episode features Connie Loizos' TechCrunch editor, Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures. Eileen created the term “Unicorn” in an article in TechCrunch in late 2013. This conversation revealed the ongoing liquidity crisis in the startup ecosystem, the evolution of secondary markets, and how VCs and founders are working on the post-Zirp era. Additionally, Lee shares the horizon of cowboy ventures and how he thinks about AI's job creation, automation and impact on new business models. StrictlyVC downloads posts every Tuesday. Subscribe to Apple, Spotify, or where you can listen to podcasts that will alert you when a new episode…

According to independent layoff tracker layoffs, the wave of high-tech layoffs is still kicking in 2025. So far, more than 22,000 workers have been victims of cuts across the tech industry, with 16,084 incredible cuts in February alone. Tracking tech industry layoffs in 2025 allows you to see the trajectory of reductions and understand the impact on innovation for all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human impact of layoffs and what comes with the rise in innovation. Below is a comprehensive list of all known technology…

Japanese AI startup Sakana said that AI produced one of the first peer-reviewed science publications. However, while the claims are not necessarily true, there are warnings to be aware of. The discussions swirling around AI and its role in the scientific process grows day by day. Many researchers don't think AI is ready to function as a “co-scientist,” while others believe it is possible, but they acknowledge that it is an early age. Sakana falls into the latter camp. The company said it will use an AI system called AI Scientist-V2 to generate papers that Sakana submitted to ICLR's workshop,…

Snapchat is introducing its first video-generating AI lens, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The lens is equipped with a generated video model built in-house by SNAP. Three new AI video lenses are available to users of Snapchat Platinum, the app's premium subscription layer. The launch will be on sale as SNAP announced its AI video generation tool at its Partner Summit last September. A spokesman for SNAP said that the new AI video lens of this underlying technology will utilize later versions. SNAP is considered a leader in AR, but along with almost every other tech company, they have invested…