Author: TechBrunch

Google is deploying business call capabilities powered by agent AI for all US users, the company announced Wednesday. Tech Giant is enhancing Google Search's AI mode by bringing the Gemini 2.5 Pro model to the search experience and introducing deep research capabilities. The New Business Calling feature uses AI to call local businesses on your behalf to gather availability and pricing information. The idea behind this feature is to actually take the phone and allow you to access information without having to talk to anyone. Google began testing the feature in January with users who opted for the company's search…

The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone. We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human…

Rex Salisbury, the solo Grand Prix behind Cambrian Venture, fondly recalls his time in love with FinTech. The year was 2015. He recently quit his job as an investment banker to dabble in engineering at a San Francisco mortgage startup. “That's when companies like Stripe, Plaid, Credit Karma and WealthFront began to expand,” he told TechCrunch. “The lending club just did an IPO and was trading really well.” Investor excitement for FinTech grew exponentially over the next few years, reaching a fever pitch in 2021. But things subsided significantly a year later as interest rates rose. Today, many believe Fintech…

The CEO of the UK retail conglomerate said the hackers stole personal data from all of the company's customers during the April cyberattack, according to the cooperative co-op on Wednesday. Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq told BBC News that hackers had copied a member list of 6.5 million members, but the co-op closed the network before the hackers locked the system with ransomware. Member data includes name, address and contact information. The shutdown of the retailer's network has since resulted in widespread internal disruption across UK back offices and grocery stores. The cooperative violation in April was part of a…

Security researchers say Chinese authorities are using a new type of malware to extract data from seized phones and allow them to retrieve text messages such as chat apps such as signals. On Wednesday, mobile cybersecurity company Lookout issued a new report that was only shared with TechCrunch – detailing the details of a hacking tool called Massistant. According to Lookout, Hypertrophy is Android software used for forensic extraction of data from mobile phones. This means that the authorities using them must have physical access to those devices. Lookout doesn't know for certain which Chinese police agencies are using the…

Co-founded by Alex Pall and co-founded by Drew Taggart of the electronic DJ group The Chainsmokers, Mantis Ventures has garnered a $100 million commitment from its third fund. At $100 million, the company's latest fund is 25% larger than Mantis' previous $80 million fund, a notable achievement that many venture companies struggle to maintain the size of their existing funds or secure new capital. Mantis invests in B2B companies such as cybersecurity company Chainguard and AI Financial Analyst startup Rogo. While most celebrities VCs focus on consumer companies, Pall and Taggart told TechCrunch last fall that their main interest lies…

Cameron John Weigenius, a former US soldier, pleaded guilty to attempting to hack the telecom company and force them by threatening to release stolen files, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. According to the DOJ, Wagenius, who came online under the nickname “Kiberphant0m,” stole login credentials, conspired to use brute force attacks and other techniques to fraudulent ten victim companies, used Telegram Group chat to forward stolen credentials and discussed the hack. Wagenius and his co-conspirators have sought to force victims in personal and public places, including hacking forums such as the infamous violation forum. They have committed other scams, including…

META fixed a security bug that allowed Meta AI chatbot users to access and view other users' private prompts and responses generated by AI. Sandeep Hodkasia, founder of security testing company AppSecure, told TechCrunch only that Meta paid him $10,000 in bug prize money for personal disclosure of a bug he filed on December 26, 2024. Meta deployed the fix on January 24, 2025, Hodkasia said, and no evidence of the bug being exploited was found. Hodkasia told TechCrunch that Meta AI has identified the bug after examining how logged in users can edit AI prompts to play text and…

As publishers worry about a decline in traffic from Google, the search giant has begun rolling out an overview of Discover, the main news feed within Google's search app for iOS and Android. Now, instead of looking at the headlines from major publications, users will see logos of multiple news publishers in the top left corner, followed by an AI-generated summary citing those sources. The app warns that these summaries are generated by AI and “can make mistakes.” Image credit: Google This feature has not yet been featured in all news articles within the Google app, indicating that this change…

The Ukrainian hacktivist group BO team claims it was hacked by the network of Russian drone maker Gaskar Group, disrupting its business. In a post on the Telegram Channel, the Bo Team announced the violation and said it carried out the attack along with military intelligence from Ukraine, another Hattivist group operating in Ukraine. According to machine translations of the announcement, the three groups will “conduct large-scale work to seize the entire Gaskar group's network and the entire server infrastructure, gathering valuable information about existing and promising.” [unmanned aerial vehicles]information destruction and disabling this infrastructure continues. ” The Bo team…