Author: TechBrunch

Investor 360 One estimates that VerSe, the Indian tech and media startup that runs popular news aggregator Daily Hunt, is worth about 42% less than its last private valuation. The asset manager disclosed a valuation of VerSe of $2.9 billion in an investor update in June, according to an internal document reviewed by TechCrunch. The Bangalore-headquartered startup, whose backers include Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, CPP Investments, Goldman Sachs, Google, Sofina and Peak XV, was valued at about $5 billion in an $805 million funding round announced in April 2022. As previously reported by TechCrunch, in its update, 360One revealed that…

Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Devin Coldeway kicks off his roundup of the week's best buys with a look at Piramidal, a startup that offers a basic model for analyzing brain scan data and just raised $6 million. The idea behind the company is an interesting one: their technology aims to augment the work of nurses and doctors in neuro-intensive care units by identifying signs of things like epileptic seizures and strokes. Mary Ann Azevedo led the discussion on Comun, a neobank that provides financial services and banking products to immigrants in the U.S., primarily Latinos. The fintech company just…

TikTok on Friday announced that it is introducing a new “Topic Moderation” feature that will give users more control over what appears in their “For You” feed. The new feature is rolling out to users in the United States. New tools allow you to customize your “For You” feed to show more or less of certain topics. To access this feature, go to Settings, select “Content Settings” and then click on the “Manage Topics” option. From there, you can customize the settings for different topics such as sports, travel, humor, current events, dance, food, etc. You can move the slider…

Given everything you've heard about AI, you might not be surprised to learn that Google is one of several other companies that are starting to use voice signals to predict early signs of disease. How? According to Bloomberg, Google trained one of its underlying AI models using 300 million audio samples of coughs, runny noses, and labored breathing to identify people battling tuberculosis, for example. Now the company is partnering with Indian respiratory healthcare AI startup Salcit Technologies to embed its technology into smartphones to help high-risk populations in areas with limited access to healthcare. This isn't Google's first attempt…

Nvidia and Apple are reportedly in talks to invest in OpenAI's next funding round, which could value the ChatGPT maker at $100 billion. If the deal goes through, it would be led by Thrive Capital, a previous OpenAI investor, according to sources at The New York Times. (Bloomberg first reported Nvidia's involvement, and The Wall Street Journal reported Apple's potential interest.) Microsoft, which already owns 49% of OpenAI, could also get involved. OpenAI needs money: The company's annual revenue reportedly exceeded $3.4 billion earlier this year, but it is said to be on track to lose $5 billion by the…

According to government data, agriculture in India provides livelihoods to over 42% of the population and contributes 18% of the country's GDP. However, the agricultural inputs market, which supplies the sector with inputs such as seeds, pesticides, herbicides, and cultivation and harvesting tools, relies primarily on traditional channels, including local offline markets. The sector lacks a robust supply chain, and logistics are complex in the remote areas where most farmers live. Moreover, the agricultural input landscape in India differs from that of the US and Europe due to fragmented market structure, diversified demand, and crop seasonality. Agrim aims to address…

Many technology companies are expanding their reach into the Web3 market, integrating blockchain and Web3 technologies into their products and services. In the latest move, South Korean internet giant Naver has released Naver Pay Wallet, the first digital asset wallet for the South Korean market. The company has partnered with Chiliz, a blockchain provider for sports and entertainment, as the first blockchain for the wallet. Naver Pay is Naver's mobile payment service. The company offers a non-custodial wallet with its new cryptocurrency wallet, Naver Pay Wallet, giving users direct control over their private keys and digital assets. “Naver Pay Wallet…

Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai at Google's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, USA, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Image by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images Google suffered a major defeat when U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the tech giant acted illegally to maintain its monopoly on online search. While Mehta has yet to decide on the outcome of his ruling (which Google will undoubtedly fight), many speculate that the ruling could change the way Google does business, alter the structure of the internet, and shake up opportunities for startups. On Wednesday's episode of Equity, Rebecca Beran speaks with…

Atlassian announced Thursday that it has acquired Rewatch, an AI-powered meeting note-taking, screen recording tool, and video hub. The company plans to integrate Rewatch into Loom, the asynchronous video messaging platform that it acquired for $975 million last October, but perhaps more importantly, it will also integrate it into its recently launched Rovo AI platform, which will allow it to, for example, instantly turn meeting notes into Jira issues and search transcripts within the overall business context. The companies didn't disclose the amount of the acquisition. During the frenzy of early 2021, when everyone was looking for better video-centric solutions,…

A new service from the developers of Mastodon's Mammoth app aims to bring a creator economy to the Fediverse, also known as the open social web. Sub.club, which launches on Thursday, will allow creators on Mastodon, a decentralized Twitter/X rival, to offer paid subscriptions and content through premium feeds. In addition to supporting creators, sub.club believes premium feeds could also be used for other purposes, such as supporting helpful bots or raising funds to maintain community Mastodon servers, for example. The latter is especially useful because today the Fediverse is made up of independent servers interconnected to form a decentralized,…