Author: TechBrunch

Airbnb already has labels such as “Guest Favorites” and “Superhosts” that indicate the quality of accommodations and hosts. The company is currently adding new labels to the top 25% and top 1% of property pages. Typically, Airbnb releases updates twice a year, in so-called winter and summer releases. But this time, the travel company has chosen to release a spring update as well. A new Top Properties badge that relies on metrics such as subcategory ratings, review sentiment, host cancellations, and quality-related customer service issues is part of this rollout. Additionally, the company badges the bottom 10% of properties to…

Talk of a federal ban on ransom payments is growing as cybercriminals continue to reap the financial benefits of attacks. U.S. officials have long opposed paying ransom demands. But while several U.S. states, including North Carolina and Florida, have made it illegal for local governments to pay ransom demands, the Biden administration also decided last fall against a nationwide ban on ransom payments. did. The reason is simple. Not only would banning ransom payments be difficult to enforce and require complex mechanisms that are not yet in place, but criminalizing payments to hackers would ultimately penalize victims of cybercrime. Critics…

Punkt first made a name for itself in the world of mobile with pared-down, monochromatic phones focused on voice, text and not much else. Now, the Swiss company has taken its concept of minimalism and changed it up, with the launch of its first smartphone — a device that positions itself at the crossroads of utility, privacy and minimalism. If you’re reading this, chances are you own either an iPhone or Android device, depending on your personal preferences and economic disposition. The Apple and Google mobile duopoly has been met with some challengers through the years, including that time when…

Apple has announced that it will appeal the historic €1.84 billion fine issued today by the European Commission for Apple's anti-competitive conduct in the streaming music market. In a post to its Newsroom, Apple called Stockholm, Sweden-based company Spotify the “main champion” and “biggest beneficiary” of the EC's decision, saying the streamer had a 56% share in the European streaming music market. % share of the market. The Cupertino-based tech giant had already published its position on Spotify in the days leading up to the EC's ruling, saying that Spotify's lawsuit was “an attempt to gain free and unlimited access…

Tourism continues to recover from the impact of COVID-19, with global tourism receipts reaching $2.23 trillion in 2023, exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the first time since 2020. This has huge ramifications for startups building technology to serve this sector. Mews, one of his startup companies building tools to improve his IT management in hotels, announced a $110 million growth round to win more business . The financing, led by Kinnevik, has a post-money valuation of $1.2 billion. This is slightly more than Amsterdam-based Muse's Series C announced in late 2022, when Muse raised $185 million at a valuation of $865…

Regina Yeh and Topsort co-founder Francisco Larraín say they've learned a lot in the two years since they launched their auction-based advertising startup. The company raised $8 million in seed funding in 2022, valuing the company at $110 million. Topsort develops retail media technology that allows small businesses to use auctions as a way to create effective advertising. Tired of the complexity of creating ad campaigns on Meta, Amazon, and Google, they created a simple API that users can install. When launching a campaign, customers can add items such as sponsored listings, banner ads, and video ads. Then, control how…

Spotify welcomes the European Commission's decision announced today to hold Apple accountable for anti-competitive practices in the streaming music market with a hefty €1.84 billion fine. The streamer said the fine sends a “powerful message” that even a “monopolist like Apple” cannot “abuse its power” to control how other companies interact with customers. He said that. “Today's decision marks a key moment in the fight for a more open internet for consumers. The European Commission (EC) has made its conclusion clear: Apple's actions to restrict communications to consumers are Illegal,” Spotify shared in a statement on its company blog. Despite…

Qatar announced a startup investment program through its development bank at the recent Web Summit. The program aims to attract seed and growth-stage technology companies looking to establish or expand operations in the country. TechCrunch has learned that the program, known as the “Startup Qatar Investment Program”, is backed by a $100 million fund managed by Qatar Development Bank (QDB). QDB said in a statement that the program will provide funding of up to $500,000 to startups looking to establish a presence in Qatar and up to $5 million to startups looking to expand their operations in the Middle Eastern…

The European Union has fined Apple 1.84 billion euros for violating antitrust rules in the market for music streaming services on the iOS mobile platform. The penalty focuses on the enforcement of Apple's anti-steering provisions, which impose limits on music streaming apps' ability to notify consumers of cheaper offers outside of Apple's App Store. The iPhone maker has its own music streaming service, Apple Music, but rivals such as Spotify say the restrictions put them at a disadvantage compared to platform operators. Today, the European Commission said this restriction prevents European consumers from making free choices. “Apple's rules have resulted…

The CEO of a Norwegian hardware startup shared with me his pitch deck, which included some unusual slides. It included the company's capitalization table, a breakdown of who owned what part of the company. Cap tables are typically shared during the investment diligence stage. If you take a closer look at the table, something is very wrong. This cap chart is an exact reproduction of the cap chart that was in the deck. Condensed and edited to remove investor names. Image credit: Haje Kamps/TechCrunch The problem here is that the company gave up more than two-thirds of its equity to…