Author: TechBrunch

Despite a 43% funding slump recorded in the global off-grid solar power sector last year, investment in productive use of renewable energy (PURE) technologies, particularly in the solar irrigation and cold chain sectors, continues to grow. Interest in the house increased. PURE Technologies raised $65 million in 2023, double the previous year, due to increased investor interest in the sector, according to GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry. Among the startups that raised funding in this space last year is his Figorr, which provides storage and transportation for temperature-sensitive products. PURE technologies primarily include home appliances…

Harvesting fish is an inherently messy job, with slippery creatures crawling around on the water. Shinkei is working on improvements with automated systems that ship fish more humanely and reliably, potentially resulting in a completely different seafood economy. On many fishing boats, fish are left to suffocate on deck, where they flop around and get injured, increasing the chance of bacterial infection, shortening their shelf life, and making them taste bad. A Japanese technique called Ikejime is one such alternative, essentially equivalent to a spike penetrating the brain rather than a long, dirty death. However, this requires a certain degree…

Amazon may scale back its AI-powered “Just Walk Out” no-checkout technology in its stores in favor of smart shopping carts, but Walmart's Sam's Club plans to roll out its fast exit technology in favor of smart shopping carts. He says he is turning to AI to help make the world a better place. Instead of requiring store staff to check members' purchases against their receipts when they leave the store, Sam's Club customers who pay through the register or their Scan&Go mobile app can check their purchases without being double-checked. You can now leave the store. The technology was first…

As data access becomes increasingly tied to business success, it's important to make data available to all business users, regardless of their data wrangling skills. The founder of Seam, an early-stage startup, experienced first-hand the need to make data more accessible while at Okta, and launched his company to solve this problem specifically related to customer data. I have decided to do so. On Tuesday, they announced a $5 million seed to make their vision a reality and announced that they would be making their product available to the public for the first time. “We are building what we call…

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…