Author: TechBrunch
As the war with Israel enters its sixth day, Iran's internet connections almost completely disappeared on Wednesday, according to a web surveillance company. NetBlocks, a company that tracks internet access around the world, wrote to X that Iran is “now in the midst of an almost nationwide internet blackout.” The company's ratings were confirmed by other Internet surveillance organizations. “Data collected by IODA, a system that “monitors internet infrastructure connectivity at near real time” with the aim of identifying macroscopic internet outages, showed a sudden collapse of Iran's internet connections on Wednesday. Image credit: ioda / David Belson, head of…
The rebooted version of Digg's News Aggregator will take part in testing and you'll be able to see what Reddit competitors, built in the AI era, are in store for the first time. At its height in 2008, Digg's site was valued at $175 million, but was split up after 10 years and sold for parts. In March, former Digg founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian teamed up to regain the brand and reinvent the site for a new generation of internet users. The founders believe the internet is full of bots and AI agents, creating a demand…
AI Investments reached $110 billion in 2024, and the 2025 fundraising environment is more competitive than ever. For early stage startups, it not only means more money in the market, but it also becomes more noticeable. In a TechCrunch session: AI, Rebecca Bellan sat with three experienced investors. Kanu Gulati, partner at Khosla Ventures. Accel partner Sara Ittelson. They broke what they were really looking for when assessing AI startups from Seed to Series C. A message to the founder? Forget the perfect pitch. Focus on building trust, surviving the hype cycle, and being ready to mimic the moment you…
5 days until prices rise! Are you ready to scale or stall? Time is marked. Ticket prices for all TechCrunch stages will rise on June 22nd at 11:59pm. Founders save $210, while investors save $200. Sign up here to drive growth with discounts. Join 1,000 founders and investors at the Sowa Power Plant in Boston on July 15th to participate in the Founders Summit, built for traction, scale and next-level growth. Whether you're scaling your startup or raising your next big investment, this is where momentum begins. Why do you participate in TC on all stages? TC All Stage is…
YouTube is updating its shorts shopping experience, the company announced Wednesday. The platform is launching new shopping product stickers that allow viewers to easily know that the products used for short are available for shopping. New stickers could be a way for creators to increase their revenue. During testing last month, YouTube discovered that shorts with stickers from shopping products clicked more than 40% of the product on the product than shorts on the shopping button. Previously, tagged products featured a shopping button on a banner in the bottom left corner of the shorts. Clicking on the banner opens a…
Nobitex, Iran's largest crypto exchange, said it was hacked on Wednesday and funds were released from its hot wallet. In a statement on the website translated by TechCrunch, Nobitex said it had detected unauthorized access to infrastructure and hot wallets. The company is investigating the incident and said its website and app will not be available in the near future. Public records show that hackers stole at least $90 million in company assets in multiple transactions. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has “burned” the stolen funds by sending the code into an inaccessible wallet and effectively stealing money from circulation. According…
Grifin, an investment app that simplifies investments by automatically purchasing stocks with brands that users shop regularly, announced on Wednesday it had secured a $101 million Series A funding round, bringing its funding to about $22 million. In addition to the announcement, Grifin revealed it has exceeded 500,000 registered users. This shows that the approach to investment resonates with many users. Grifin also claims to have around 1 million app downloads and 100,000 monthly active users. The company refused to share the rating. Investment and user growth marks important milestones for Griffin, reflecting investors' trust in the company's business model…
Grifin, an investment app that simplifies investments by automatically purchasing stocks with brands that users shop regularly, announced on Wednesday it had secured a $11 million Series A funding round and increased its funding to about $22 million. In addition to the announcement, Grifin revealed it has exceeded 500,000 registered users. This shows that the approach to investment resonates with many users. Grifin also claims to have around 1 million app downloads and 100,000 monthly active users. The company refused to share the rating. Investment and user growth marks important milestones for Griffin, reflecting investors' trust in the company's business…
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…
In this episode of Strictly VC Download, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC's Alex Gove sit down with Charles Hudson, founder and managing partner of Precursor Ventures, to discuss the fundamental shifts restructuring early-stage venture capital. Charles opens up about the challenge of raising a fifth fund of $66 million in the challenging financing environment of 2024. There, LPS is increasingly working with a longer liquidity timeline for seed stage investments. They also address how Precursor systematically explores secondary liquidity strategies, including an attractive analysis of what happens when the precursor sells all positions in the Series A, B, or…