Author: TechBrunch
Security researchers say they believe financially motivated cybercriminals stole “vast amounts of data” from hundreds of customers of cloud storage giant Snowflake, who host their vast data banks on the company. Mandiant, an incident response firm that is working with Snowflake to investigate the recent spate of data thefts, said in a blog post on Monday that the two companies have notified about 165 customers that their data may have been stolen. This is the first time Snowflake has publicly disclosed how many customers were affected since the account hacking began in April. Snowflake has said little about the attack…
If you’re looking for startup ideas that can help slow climate change, you might become an expert in home energy assessments. At least, that was the case for the founders of Kelvin, a French startup that uses computer vision and machine learning to facilitate energy efficiency audits of homes. Clémentine Lalande, Pierre Joly and Guillaume Sempé started to look at energy efficiency audits of homes, because renovation works have a huge impact on reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. But like other companies in the construction industry, most companies in this sector do not use technology to improve their processes.…
A final call and a big shout out to all early stage founders: now is the time to dig deep and take advantage of TechCrunch Disrupt 2024's unparalleled opportunity: the Startup Battlefield 200. Applications for Startup Battlefield 200 close today The Startup Battlefield 200 experience is not just good, it's amazing. But if you don't apply here by 11:59 PM PDT today, you won't know the results. Why should you buckle down and commit? Thousands of early-stage startups compete for participation, but only the top 200, carefully vetted by the TechCrunch editorial team, earn a coveted spot on the San…
Privacy watchdogs in the UK and Canada have launched a joint investigation into the 23andMe data breach last year. On Monday, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) announced investigations into genetic testing companies, saying the organizations would leverage “the combined resources and expertise of both agencies.” 23andMe disclosed a security incident last year that affected the genetic and ancestry data of 6.9 million users, about half of its total user base. The company said in its data breach notice that it did not detect the hackers' activity for about five months, between…
The UAE faces a good problem: The real estate market is booming and there's no shortage of buyers. According to Deloitte, rents in Dubai are expected to rise 23% year-on-year in 2024, returning to pre-pandemic levels, while sales are up 18%, a trend that's set to continue for the next few years. Some of that demand is no doubt spreading to neighboring Abu Dhabi, so much so that its sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Company, recently participated in a $14 million Series A funding round raised by Dubai-based Stake, which plans to bring its fractional real estate investment platform to…
The folks at Collaborative Fund certainly like a challenge. They don't specialize in SaaS, VCs' favorite business model, but instead prefer to invest in areas like climate, health, and food. Plus, they like consumer-focused companies, whose fickle attitudes can add another layer of complexity to any business plan. Oh, and they decided to raise their sixth flagship fund at a time when limited partners are getting increasingly stingy. It turns out that wasn't a bad strategy after all: Collaborative recently raised $125 million for its sixth flagship fund, a process that was completed in just over 90 days, the firm…
Apple today kicks off its week-long Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) event with its traditional keynote at 1 pm ET / 10 am PT. The presentation will focus on the company's software products and the developers behind them, including the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS and watchOS. You can watch the stream on Apple's event page , and there's also a stream on YouTube , though it tends to be a bit delayed. Over the past few years, critics have pointed out that the company has so far lagged behind companies like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI when…
Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicks off today at 10am PST/1pm ET with the customary Tim Cook keynote. Last year's event will be remembered as the one where Vision Pro was finally introduced to the world, but the company wants to make WWDC 2024 even more memorable by finally clarifying its generative AI plans. Some things to look forward to include a major update to Siri, Mail incorporating Apple's Ajax LLM for suggested email replies, plus a new look and new features for Apple Photos. Find out how to live stream your event here. The opening of WWDC is…
Although funding for Italian startups is on the rise, the country still ranks eighth in Europe for venture capital investment, according to Dealroom. The newly founded Italian Founders Fund (IFF) wants to help catch up, both in terms of quantity and quality: with 50 million euros to invest in 25 companies, it understands the pain points of entrepreneurs and positions itself as a sector-agnostic, founder-friendly fund. IFF already has four companies in its portfolio, with a fifth deal in the works, and two have been publicly announced so far: Prior to customer survey platform Glaut in April, IFF led a…
Time is running out to get involved in the Startup Battlefield 200, a showcase of the top startups from across industries from around the world. This elite group (200 companies) will dominate (and dazzle) the exhibit floor at TechCrunch Disrupt. Tomorrow is the last day to apply for Startup Battlefield 200 We're accepting applications from early-stage startups until tomorrow, June 10th, at 11:59pm PDT. Founders, do you qualify? Investors, do you want to recommend one of your startups? Apply here now to make it in time for the deadline! Investor Tip: Startup Battlefield 200 is a unique opportunity for founders…