Author: TechBrunch

According to Google, hackers associated with the prolific ransomware group are sending horror emails to executives from “many” large organizations after claiming they had stolen sensitive information from a set of business software products developed by Oracle. In a statement provided to TechCrunch, the head of Google's cybercrime analysis Genevieve Stark said that hackers began sending emails to executives around September 29th, but the Tech giant has yet to demonstrate the hackers' claims. The emails were sent from hundreds of compromised accounts, including those used by known financially motivated cybercriminal groups belonging to the CLOP ransomware gang. Charles Carmakal, chief…

According to a new Bloomberg report, Openai has sold $6.6 billion in stake held by current and former employees. The sale brings Openai to a total valuation of $500 billion. This is the best private company has ever achieved. Buyers included SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX, and T. Rowe Price. This sale was not a traditional funding round, as cash was sent to individuals holding Openai shares or options, rather than the company's financial resources. Still, it is a powerful retention tool for the company and faces great pressure from Meta's newly revitalized AI lab. This summer, Meta…

Tik Tok! The Bundle Sale for TechCrunch Founders and Investors will close in 2025 at 11:59pm on October 3, 2025. Founders will then no longer be able to register in bulk at discounts, and investors will return to the standard 15% savings. Don't miss the chance to save more and recharge your experience of disruption as a community. Interference is a startup launchpad for founders and investors The 2025 turmoil unites more than 10,000 founders, investors and technology leaders around the world. It is the ultimate launchpad for startups at every stage, with investors first finding the next big opportunity,…

An offshore crypto platform with billions of dollars is on the crosshairs of the Government of India as government financial watchdogs move to 25 exchanges to not comply with anti-money laundering obligations. India (FIU-IND) has issued 25 crypto exchanges including Bingx, Lbank, Coinw, Probit Global, BTCC, Ascendex, Zoomex, and Poloniex. The regulator has also ordered the platform to withdraw its apps and websites from public access in India. However, most remained accessible at press time. Of the 25 exchanges, 14 have more than $9 billion in assets, recording trading volumes of around $20 billion over the past 24 hours, according…

Brian Onell's father was a locksmith. As for One, he described himself as a digital equivalent. Ethical hacking was growing in One's hobby. He studied AI in college and changed his hacking hobby into a profession. “I spent 10 years with over 150 companies in all sectors,” One told TechCrunch, adding that it continues to easily infiltrate businesses that have passed security checks. One has noticed that security often falls within two parentheses. He said it was painful but effective, or it was painless but ineffective. Most companies did the bare minimum in cybersecurity and compliance, as they often required…

Sheel Mohnot, co-founder and general partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), has one simple answer for those who claim that Fintech's investment has lost some of its appeal. “The financial world is huge. Approximately 20% of global GDP is financial services, and yet not digital,” he told TechCrunch. Many financial transactions are still being processed manually, and Better Tomorrow Ventures, led by Mohnot (a former general partner at 500 startups) and co-founder of Nerdwallet, Jake Gibson, is looking to help change that. “The opportunities for digitalization at scale are still ahead of us,” Monot told TechCrunch. The company's limited partner…

Earlier this year, Anker, a Chinese company that manufactures eufy security cameras, provided money to users in exchange for packages and video of theft of cars. The popular internet-connected security camera maker said paying customers $2 per video to train their AI systems will help them better detect thieves stealing cars and packages. “We are looking for videos of both real and stage events to ensure sufficient data. “You can also create events by pretending to be a burglar and donate those events,” the website reads. “You can complete this quickly. Maybe it's efficient and easy as you can capture…

On Tuesday, the new SPAC of VC and all-in-podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya became the public company. Called the lofty name “American Exceptionalism,” it raised $345 million on its mission to acquire one or more startups in the fields of energy, AI, cryptography/defi or defense, and convert those companies into publicly available entities. However, Palihapitiya wants retail investors to know. He strongly recommends not buying shares despite booking just 1% to trade in the open market for retail investors, but 98.7% is already sold to large, hand-picked institutions. “I want to ease retail investors' involvement in Spack,” he posted to X,…

Exit planning is no longer an option. This is an essential conversation during the publication stage of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, which will take place in Moscon West, San Francisco from October 27th-29th. Whether you're already focusing on liquidity events or beginning to expand, this is your chance to hear what top VCs and operators are looking for, and how to set up a company for long-term success. The best three people in the business – Renegade partner Roseanne Wincek, Jai Das of Sapphire Ventures and Dan Springer, former CEO of Docusign and longtime Silicon Valley operators, will destroy the decision-making…

Last month, pay and HR software company Gusto announced it had agreed to obtain guidelines, a startup offering retirement plans to small businesses. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, but Gusto paid around $600 million, according to sources familiar with the transaction, but TechCrunch couldn't confirm how much cash or how much stock of this was. The guidelines were last valued at $115 billion when they raised a $200 million Series D funding round in 2021. Since its founding in 2015, it has raised a total of $340 million. While the acquisition price is below the startup's…