Author: TechBrunch

Peloton has had one of the most eventful five years in tech. The home fitness company experienced industry highs and lows in dizzying succession. This is the story of a buzzy startup that grew into a cult following among influencers and fitness enthusiasts. A global pandemic catapulted the brand to unknown heights, only to then see it plummet back to earth amid overinvestment, recalls, mass layoffs, and executive departures. As of mid-2024, Peloton is in decline but not bankrupt. The company avoided a major liquidity crisis with a major debt refinancing in late May, the same month it cut 15%…

Sri Lanka isn't known for its startup ecosystem, but one company has been something of an outlier in the South Asian island nation for the past two decades: WSO2, an open-source enterprise software provider with customers including Samsung, Axa, and AT&T, recently agreed to be acquired by private equity giant EQT, in a deal that TechCrunch reported at the time was valued at more than $600 million (we can now confirm that the valuation was, in fact, $600 million). The transaction, which is pending regulatory approval, will see EQT become the sole owner of WSO2 and acquire all outstanding shares,…

The humble garage is so ingrained in Silicon Valley lore that it's almost a cliché, but that's exactly how Caleb Boyd and Kevin Bush started Molten Industries: in the garage of a Stanford professor's on-campus home, and Kevin Bush rented an apartment. It had everything they needed: space and, most importantly, power. They hoped to essentially break the backbone of methane, separating hydrogen from carbon without emitting atmosphere-heating carbon dioxide. “We call it a garage, but it was really just a carport. We plugged in his EV charger, heated the methane pyrolysis reactor up to about 1,000 degrees Celsius, and…

It’s no accident that the European Union’s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act have such similar-sounding names: They were conceived together and, at the end of 2020, proposed in unison as a twin package of digital policy reforms. EU lawmakers had overwhelmingly approved them by mid-2022, and both regimes were fully up and running by early 2024. While each law aims to achieve distinct things, via its own set of differently applied rules, they are best understood as a joint response to Big Tech’s market power. Key concerns driving lawmakers include a belief that major digital platforms have ignored…

A cyber attack on the UK's Electoral Commission, which led to the leak of 40 million voter register data, could have been entirely preventable if the commission had taken basic security measures, according to a damning report published this week by the UK's data watchdog. A report published Monday by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office blamed the Electoral Commission, which keeps a copy of the register of citizens eligible to vote in UK elections, for a series of security failings that led to the mass theft of voter information beginning in August 2021. The elections commission did not realize the…

Self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation was hoping to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding as it pushes ahead with commercializing self-driving cars by the end of 2024. The company had planned to sell up to $420 million in stock, but exceeded its target, raising $483 million. The new funding comes just over a year after Aurora raised $820 million through a public offering and parallel private placement. “This funding demonstrates investor confidence in Aurora's long-term capabilities and follows our recent analyst day, where investors got to test drive our self-driving trucks, as well as other recent milestones…

The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are suing TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires digital platforms to provide parental notice and obtain consent before collecting and using personal data from children under the age of 13. In a press release issued Friday, the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection said that TikTok and ByteDance “allegedly knew” about the need to comply with COPPA but knowingly allowed millions of children under the age of 13 on their platforms “for years.” The FTC alleges that TikTok did so even after…

Welcome to Startups Weekly, your weekly roundup of must-see stories from the startup world. This week we cover small startup acquisitions, two new unicorns, a wearable AI device, and the venture capital backing Kamala Harris. This week's most interesting startup stories Image credit: Bloomberg / Getty Images With the IPO market all but dead, we can't help but track the other types of exits: mergers and acquisitions. While it's not necessarily the outcome founders and investors expected, we're sure to hear of more startups selling themselves. Canva Taps into Leonardo: Graphic design platform Canva has acquired Leonardo.ai, a generative AI-powered…

Noam Shazier, co-founder and CEO of Character.AI, is returning to Google in a big move after leaving the company in October 2021 to found an a16z-backed startup. In his previous role, Shazier led the team of researchers that developed LaMDA (Language Model for Conversational Applications), a language model used in conversational AI tools. Character.AI co-founder Daniel de Freitas will also join Google, along with other employees from the startup. Character.AI's general counsel Dominic Perera will serve as the startup's interim CEO. The company said the majority of its staff will remain with Character.AI. Google has also signed a non-exclusive deal…

Steam condensation on your bathroom mirror may not seem like a big deal, but it can be a major headache for architects and builders. “Moisture control is a huge pain point,” says Derek Stein, founder and CEO of Adept Materials. “Just Google the name of your favorite homebuilder and then type in 'lawsuits' and you'll find tons of stories.” Homes and offices once “breathed” through cracks and gaps overlooked during construction, but in the quest for greater energy efficiency, builders are becoming more airtight. Airtight buildings help maintain a consistent indoor temperature, but they can also trap moisture. “Essentially, buildings…