Author: TechBrunch
Fortnite developer Epic Games has hit a deadlock over plans to bring its alternative app store, the Epic Games Store, to the EU. As allowed by the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), Epic Games announced plans earlier this year to bring both its digital storefront and flagship game, Fortnite, back to iOS in Europe. Now, Epic says Apple has rejected its application twice over concerns that its Games Store is too similar to Apple's App Store. In a post by X, Epic Games said that Apple rejected its application due to details such as the location of the game's “Install”…
Quantum Rise, a Chicago-based startup that does AI-driven automation for companies like dunnhumby (a retail analytics platform for the grocery industry), has raised a $15 million seed round from Erie Street Growth Partners. The company's approach is similar to that of UIPath, which is known for bringing robotic process automation to businesses, but it takes a broader view of the AI hurdles companies face and focuses on providing more “hands-on” assistance. Quantum Rise brings AI to companies based on a so-called “consulting 2.0” model, automating workflows, roadmaps and customized AI solutions to accelerate the overall business. The startup is the…
On July 4, YouTube released an updated removal tool for creators, making it easier for them to remove copyrighted music from their videos without affecting other audio, like dialogue or sound effects. “Great news for creators: our updated Erase Song tool makes it easy to remove copyrighted music from your videos (while leaving the rest of the audio intact),” YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan wrote in a post about the tool on X. Great news for creators! Our updated “Remove Song” tool makes it easy to remove copyrighted music from your videos (while leaving the rest of your audio intact).…
India's second-largest telecommunications operator Airtel on Friday denied any intrusion into its systems, following reports of suspected security flaws that raised concerns among customers. The telecoms group, which also sells productivity and security solutions to businesses, said it had conducted a “thorough investigation” and found there had been no intrusion into Airtel's systems. The telecom giant, which has around 375 million subscribers in India, dismissed media reports about the alleged leak as “nothing but a desperate attempt by vested interests to tarnish Airtel's reputation.” The company's statement comes following unconfirmed reports of a possible data leak circulating in local media…
According to a recent Deal Room report on the Spanish tech ecosystem, the combined enterprise value of Spanish startups will exceed €100 billion in 2023. In the latest evidence of this upward trend, Madrid-based venture capital fund Seaya has closed Seaya Andromeda, a €300 million climate technology fund from Madrid-based “Article 9”. Article 9 refers to the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which places a responsibility on investment firms to ensure that their investments have a positive impact on society and the environment. Seaya has been in existence for 12 years and focuses primarily on mission-driven startups in Europe and…
Geneva, Switzerland-based startup venture capital firm Forestay has been busy. This week the firm closed its second fund, Forestay Capital II, at a hard cap of $220 million. The firm was relatively unknown in Europe until a few years ago when it began leading funding rounds for enterprise startups, most notably Zurich-based scanning software startup Scandit, which has raised $273 million to date. The Forrestay II fund will target its “sweet spot” of investing in key growth rounds of $10 million to $15 million at companies' transition stages, and will invest across Europe and Israel. To date, the venture capital…
Threads, Meta's Twitter alternative, has just celebrated its first anniversary. Since its launch on July 5 last year, the social network has hit 175 million monthly active users, a remarkable achievement. But a year later, Threads is still finding its own voice, not as newsworthy as Twitter/X, and not as open as Mastodon or Bluesky. At least for now. Over the past year, the Threads team has been rapidly releasing features and soliciting feedback directly from the social network's users. Since launch, Threads has gained support for multiple profiles, a web app, a Tweetdeck-like interface on desktop, trending topics in…
J2 Ventures, a company run largely by U.S. military veterans, said Thursday it has raised $150 million in its second fund. The Boston-based firm invests in startups whose products are purchased by civilians and the U.S. Department of Defense. At a time when many emerging venture capital firms are struggling to raise second funds, J2's latest fund is more than double the size of its first fund of $67.5 million in 2021. At first glance, the company might seem like it is benefiting from growing venture capital interest in defense technology. But J2 isn't interested in positioning itself as a…
Health technology services provider HealthEquity on Tuesday disclosed in a federal regulatory filing that it had fallen victim to a data breach in which hackers stole “protected health information” of some of its customers. In an 8-K filing with the SEC, the company said it had detected “unusual activity from a business partner's personal device” and concluded that someone had compromised the partner's account and used it to access members' information. HealthEquity shared details of the incident with TechCrunch on Wednesday. HealthEquity spokesperson Amy Cerny said in an email that it was an “isolated incident” and not related to other…
Popular online tabletop and role-playing game platform Roll20 announced on Wednesday that it had suffered a data breach that exposed personal information of some of its users. In a post on its official website, Roll20 said it detected that a “malicious actor” had accessed an account on its administrative website for an hour on June 29, after which the company “blocked all unauthorized access and terminated the network breach.” “A malicious actor made changes to one user account that we immediately reverted. During this time, the malicious actor was able to access and view all user accounts,” the company wrote.…