Author: TechBrunch

A notorious hacker group has claimed responsibility for last year's data breaches at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), releasing data it claims was stolen from both schools. The group known as ShinyHunters published more than 1 million records from universities on its private leak site on Wednesday, using them to blackmail victims. In November, UPenn confirmed a data breach of “a select group of information systems related to Penn development and alumni activities.” At the time, the hackers also sent emails from the university's official address to alumni informing them of the hack. The university claimed the…

Voice AI company ElevenLabs today announced that it has raised $500 million in a new funding round led by Sequoia Capital, an investor in the startup's final second round of bidding. Sequoia partner Andrew Reed will join the company's board of directors. The company is now valued at $11 billion, more than triple the valuation from its previous round in January 2025. Earlier this year, the Financial Times reported that the startup was considering raising money at that valuation. The company said existing investor a16z has quadrupled its investment, while Iconiq, which led the previous round, has tripled its investment.…

SNAK Venture Partners announced Wednesday that it has oversubscribed its $50 million debut fund backed by the investment firm Pritzker Group (founded by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his brother Tony). SNAK founders Sonia Naggar and Adam Coopersmith worked at the company and led investments in companies such as auto market Backlot Cars and TicketNow (which left Ticketmaster). The two decided to strike out on their own and launched a company earlier this year to support the digital market. “The timing felt right and we had the internal support to do this,” Nagar said. The vision is that there is…

An escalating crackdown by U.S. immigration authorities in Minneapolis has left several people dead, including at least two Americans, and the city's tech industry is reeling. Eight Minneapolis-based founders and investors told TechCrunch that they've put much of their work on hold and are now spending their days focusing on the community, volunteering at church, and helping with food purchases. This is part of a grassroots effort where people of all races and classes speak out, donate, protest and provide moral support to each other. “There are a lot of parallels between the current reaction from teachers and the reaction…

All startups accepted into YC will soon have the option to receive seed checks via stablecoins, crypto YC partner Nemir Dalal told The Block. YC's famous “standard deal” is to invest $500,000 in startups accepted into the program in exchange for 7% of the company. Currently, that trading applies to blockchains (Base, Solana, and Ethereum, to be exact), starting with the upcoming spring batch. Dalal said stablecoin transfers are often more effective, especially for founders working in emerging markets. But also, YC is putting its money where its mouth is, so to speak. Last fall, YC partnered with Base and…

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos speaks with Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, the company behind USDT, the world's largest stablecoin. With 536 million users worldwide, Tether has quietly become one of the most powerful players in cryptocurrencies. And now it has evolved far beyond stablecoins. Ardoino is transforming Tether into what he calls a “stable company” with bold bets on decentralized AI, agriculture, telecommunications, and gold-backed tokens. In this conversation, he explains how Tether generates billions of dollars in profits from its holdings in U.S. Treasuries, why the company is building an AI platform that runs locally on…

TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 is the leading early-stage startup competition held at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, highlighting the world's most promising young companies. Each year, thousands of applicants from around the world compete for one of the 200 spots in this cohort. This gives you unparalleled visibility, access to top investors, and growth opportunities. Early-stage startups from around the world are joining the Startup Battlefield email list to be the first to know when applications launch this month. If you're ready to get in on the action, don't miss out. What is Startup Battlefield? Image credit: Kimberly White/Getty Images…

The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly secretly demanding that technology companies hand over information about users who criticize the Trump administration. In recent months, the Department of Homeland Security has used administrative subpoenas to seek identifiable information about individuals operating anonymous Instagram accounts that share posts about ICE immigration raids in their neighborhoods. These subpoenas are also being used to request information about people who have criticized Trump officials or protested government policies. Unlike judicial subpoenas, which are granted by a judge after seeing enough evidence of a crime to authorize the search and seizure of a person's property,…

More and more people are asking OpenAI's ChatGPT and other LLMs questions about their health, and are often finding that chatbots can provide very useful medical insights. KJ Dhaliwal (pictured left), who sold South Asian dating app Dilmil for $50 million in 2019, said he had been thinking about the inefficiency of the U.S. healthcare system since he was a child, working as a medical interpreter for his parents, and saw the advent of the LLM as an opportunity to do something about it. In May 2024, he launched Lotus Health AI, a free primary care provider available 24/7 in…

French police and Europol searched X's local offices, the Paris public prosecutor's office said on Tuesday. The raid is part of an ongoing investigation launched in 2025 into alleged “unauthorized extraction of data” from automated data processing systems “by an organized group.” The cybercrime unit of the French public prosecutor's office said it is now expanding its investigation to include other criminal charges, including conspiracy to possess and distribute child sexual abuse material and distribution of child sexual abuse material. Invasion of privacy. And Holocaust denial. The expanded investigation comes as X and its owner Elon Musk face widespread criticism…