Author: TechBrunch

Maya Watson and Lexi Nishita, co-founders of the new social app why?!, met while working at Netflix. They had a friendly, collegial relationship where they laughed and just vibed well together. The two worked on the streaming giant's brand and editorial teams, and discovered their skill sets complemented each other: “We're both from Minnesota,” Watson says. “It's a great fit.” The two moved on to Clubhouse, where Watson was employee number 13 and Nishita number 20, where they also built the social platform's editorial and brand teams, but left after more than a year to become co-founders. “The workplace was…

New York-based fintech company Payoneer has acquired Singapore-based global HR and payroll startup Skuad for $61 million in cash, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. Payoneer said it may pay up to an additional $10 million if Squad achieves various performance milestones within 18 months of the acquisition. Payoneer has also committed to grant $10 million in restricted stock units that vest contingent on continued employment of key personnel. Payoneer could therefore pay a total of approximately $81 million. It's a fairly quick exit for Skuad founder Sandeep Sahi, who started the company in 2019 with the goal of simplifying international…

Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com, has released a new AI tool designed to help bloggers write more clearly and concisely. The tool joins a series of writing assistants launched in recent years by the likes of privacy app maker Proton and giant Google. Automattic's new tool, “Write Brief with AI,” complements the generative AI writing assistant that Automattic launched for WordPress last year. The new tool helps users craft their content using text-based prompts and adjust the tone of their posts to be more informal or relatable, for example. The latest tools are currently available in beta as part of…

Cybersecurity remains a hot area for investors, and in the latest example of that demand, EQT has acquired a majority stake in Acronis, a security company that specializes in data protection, cloud and integrated security solutions for managed service providers (which resell services to consumers) and enterprise IT teams. The size or value of the stake or Acronis' enterprise value was not disclosed. EQT and Acronis said the transaction values ​​Acronis at a higher than its previously disclosed valuation of $3.5 billion, which was based on 2022 investments. To give some background on the growth, Acronis itself says that its…

The UK data protection authority has imposed an interim fine of more than £6 million on NHS vendor Advanced after finding that the company failed to properly protect the personal information of thousands of people that was later stolen in a ransomware attack. The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said in a statement that it imposed the fine after determining that the cybercriminals behind the August 2022 ransomware attack “initially accessed some of Advanced's health systems through customer accounts that lacked multi-factor authentication.” The cyber attack on Advanced caused widespread disruption to NHS services across the UK at the time,…

During Airbnb's second-quarter earnings call with investors on Tuesday, CEO Brian Chesky hinted that the company will soon expand into new products and services, including co-hosting, the relaunch of Airbnb Experiences and guest services. The company sees its future services as a way to increase revenue by raising awareness through expanding into multiple businesses beyond just short-term vacation rentals. “We're going to have to do some new things,” Chesky told investors. With co-hosting, set to launch later this fall, Airbnb hopes to connect homeowners who don't have the time to manage their properties with those who do but don't have…

Reddit users will soon start seeing AI-generated summaries at the top of their search results. Reddit CFO Drew Vollero told investors on an earnings call on Tuesday that the company plans to test an AI-powered search results page to “summarize and recommend content,” which he said will help users explore content “more deeply” and discover new Reddit communities. Volero explained that Reddit will use a combination of first- and third-party technology to make this feature possible, and the company plans to begin experimenting with it later this year. Those who have been following the company's latest endeavors would have expected…

The fate of Google Assistant has been an open question for more than a year. Once Google's crown jewel, the software was key to the company's mobile and smart home strategy. Five years ago, Google gave away its Home Mini speaker for free in an effort to expand its ecosystem. But ahead of its Made by Google 2024 event next week, the company announced on Tuesday that Assistant will live on, at least on the Home and Nest side of things. Google Assistant and Alexa got a lot of attention out of the pandemic as people around the world suddenly…

Amazon has released an upgraded version of its home-grown image generation model, Titan Image Generator, for AWS customers using its Bedrock generative AI platform. The new model, simply called Titan Image Generator v2, packs several new features, as Channy Yun, principal developer advocate at AWS, explains in a blog post. Yun says that users can use reference images to “guide” the image they generate, edit existing images, remove backgrounds, and generate variations of an image. “Titan Image Generator v2 can intelligently detect and segment multiple foreground objects,” Yun wrote. “Titan Image Generator v2 allows you to generate color-adjusted images based…

X (formerly Twitter) appears to be making progress in developing its upcoming payments system, bringing it closer to Elon Musk's vision of making X the “everything app.” The company is working on adding a “Payments” button to the navigation bar under the bookmarks tab, according to a recent discovery by app researcher Nima Ouji. Ouji, who made the discovery yesterday, told TechCrunch that he found references to new payment features such as “transactions, balances, and transfers.” When Musk originally acquired the social networking app formerly known as Twitter, he envisioned a platform where users could store funds in X accounts,…