Author: TechBrunch

The Federal Communications Commission announced Monday that it will fine four major U.S. wireless carriers a total of about $200 million for “unlawfully” sharing and selling customers' real-time location data without their consent. According to the FCC, AT&T was fined more than $57 million, Verizon was fined nearly $47 million, T-Mobile was fined more than $80 million, and Sprint was fined more than $12 million. “Our communications providers have access to some of the most sensitive information about us. These carriers have failed to protect the information entrusted to them. We're talking about some of the highest data in the…

Hans Tung, managing partner at Notable Capital (formerly GGV Capital), has many thoughts on the state of venture today. Notable Capital is a venture firm with $4.2 billion in assets under management, focused on investments in the United States, Latin America, Israel, and Europe. Tung, whose portfolio includes Airbnb, StockX, and Slack, recently appeared on TechCrunch's stocks podcast to talk about valuations, why founders need to play the long game, and why some VC firms are struggling. We talked about why we were there. He also talked about why he remains bullish on fintech and which areas of the fintech…

The Browser Company, makers of the Arc web browser, today released its Windows version. The company began testing the Windows client in December and says more than 150,000 people are using it. The startup, which aims to replace current browsers, recently raised $50 million at a valuation of $550 million. Today, The Browser Company opened up access to his Windows version to all users without a waiting list. Previously, there were more than 1 million people on the waiting list. The company launched with an invite-only Mac-based version in 2022 and made it available to everyone in July 2023. Image…

You know that slightly uncomfortable experience every time a famous celebrity appears in a completely different context. For example, a musician who appears in a cameo in a horror movie. NFL players who are turning heads in comedy series. Or a Hollywood movie icon selling cell phone plans on TV? Well, it's starting to feel that way now that Spotify has moved into the enterprise and developer tools space. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but the deviation from the norm makes me wince a bit. We're talking about Backstage, a platform and framework that Spotify brought internally in…

When Julie Trias and Elizabeth Nammour worked together on Airbnb's data team, they had to deal with data that was spread across a variety of sources, and that increased dispersion led to challenges in keeping it safe. I did. The founders' own dissatisfaction with existing data protection options motivated them to start the company and build the automatic data protection tools they wanted. On Tuesday, the startup Teleskope announced a $5 million seed investment. “We tested a lot of different tools to help understand, protect, delete, and edit Airbnb data, but we found that there were no tools that could…

Instagram is introducing some new changes to its ranking system to give more emphasis to content from small, original creators across the social network. The Meta-owned platform says creators with large followings and accounts that share reposted content have historically had the most reach on the platform. So now, with a series of new changes rolling out over the coming months, we're looking to level the playing field for all creators in terms of reach. The change comes after months of criticism from creators who say the algorithm is hurting their reach, with Instagram chief Adam Mosseri saying that almost…

Ansa, a startup that helps merchants develop and offer branded virtual wallets, has raised $14 million in Series A funding, the company tells TechCrunch exclusively. Ansa's latest funding was led by Renegade Partners, with participation from existing backers Bain Capital Ventures, BoxGroup, and Wischoff Ventures, and new investor B37 Ventures. With this latest funding, Ansa has raised nearly $20 million in total venture capital, including his $5.4 million seed round. The company declined to reveal its current valuation, saying only the Series A was raised “at a significant valuation multiple.” Notably, female investors such as Renata Quintini of Renegade Partners,…

Entrepreneurs Al Yang and Adar Arnon met at Harvard Business School and quickly realized they had a common interest in cybersecurity. “We are seeing an evolving business environment, and with it comes an unprecedented need to improve security processes,” Arnone told TechCrunch. “The importance of security has increased exponentially… [it’s] It's non-negotiable for technology buyers. ” Jan and Arnon wanted to turn this interest into something more, so they started Safebase. Safebase was accepted into Y Combinator's accelerator program during the pandemic. Safebase announced Tuesday that it has raised $33 million in a Series B round led by Touring Capital.…

With the number of people using email approaching 5 billion worldwide, newsletters delivered regularly to people's inboxes are a sticky way to grab attention, no matter what you're writing. It continues to look like. Now, in a sign of the medium's popularity, one of his startups, which is building a platform for creating and distributing newsletters, has announced funding. New York-based beehiiv has raised $33 million and plans to use the funds to expand its platform's technology as well as its business. NEA is leading the Series B, with participation from Sapphire Sport and previous backer Lightspeed Venture Partners. The…

WeTransfer will add a new feature that will allow users to sell files directly on the platform, the company announced on Tuesday. According to one study, 87% of content creators report late or missed payments. This new feature will allow photographers, designers, illustrators, and other creators to start making money right away without having to spend time chasing down invoices for payment. Additionally, creators don't have to deal with the additional costs of a website or storefront to sell. WeTransfer's integrated payments are powered by Stripe and are being rolled out to all users globally. The company says there will…