Author: TechBrunch
After Meta's X competitor Threads admitted last week that it doesn't actively promote political content, the company today announced testing of a new trending feature, “Topics,” where such content might surface anyway. did. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday that Threads will roll out the feature first in the U.S. to help users find “timely topics” being discussed by others on the social network. announced that it would begin small-scale testing. The topic of the day in this section's title is determined by Meta's AI system and is based on what people are engaging with on the thread, Meta told…
Wingman Ventures seeks the best in Swiss startups, and its diverse portfolio already spans from mobile commerce to robotics. The Zurich-based venture capital firm, which focuses on pre-seed startups, announced today that it will rebrand to Founderful and has already raised $85 million for its new Fund II, with more to come. The goal is to raise $120 million within the next few months. The fund's backers include institutional investors, family offices, and the founders of unicorn companies such as Duolingo, Climeworks, GetYourGuide, Deliver Hero, and Scandit. So far, there have been two exits: Insights, a vision chip startup acquired…
Spotify has announced an expansion of its partnership with video and podcast recording platform Riverside and announced the retirement of some of its traditional podcasting tools. The company is discontinuing its web and mobile-native creation tools, including its “Music + Talk” tool, an experimental feature that allows podcasters to include fully licensed music tracks in their podcast episodes on Spotify. Masu. The decision to end the “Music + Talk” feature, which first launched in June, was a huge blow to music podcasters who share music tracks during in-podcast discussions. Spotify is also ending its “Record with Friends” and “Voice Messages”…
Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter (now X), where the rules are made up and the check marks don’t matter. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO announced his bid to buy Twitter in April 2022, zealously driven to rid the platform of spam bots and protect free speech; now, it’s the one-year anniversary since he made his dramatic entrance to the company in October 2022, and the platform has changed so much that even its name is different. “This is just my strong, intuitive sense that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the…
TechCrunch Early Stage, taking place on April 25th in the vibrant city of Boston, Massachusetts, has an exciting lineup. We have considered a large number of applications from experienced founders and professionals in the startup world who want to shine in the Audience Choice segment. Don't miss out: Get your tickets at a discounted early bird price before they're gone! Audience Choice voting will end in a few days on February 15th. This week is your last chance to have your say and help decide who attends your event. We selected six great candidates. Each is ready to lead an…
Apple's Vision Pro not only gives consumers a new way to interact with apps through spatial computing, it also gives app developers a way to generate revenue without a subscription. According to a recent report from app intelligence company Appfigures, more than half (52%) of Vision Pro-only apps are paid downloads. This percentage is surprising considering only 5% of apps across the App Store monetize in this way. In addition to the large group of paid downloads, 35% of Vision-only apps were not monetized through the App Store, and 13% offered subscriptions. Our analysis looked at all apps optimized for…
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello. Welcome to Equity, the startup business podcast. Uncover the numbers and nuances behind the headlines. This morning we bring you a variety of interesting stories that bring together technology, politics, and AI in unique ways. It's worth digging deeper. stock: This week is another big one, with companies like Hubspot, Instacart, Monday.com, and Cisco reporting their quarterly results.we have to learn many What software and hardware sales looked like at the end of last year, and what some important technology companies are predicting for the rest of 2024. Cipher: Compared to…
A new dating app has arrived just in time for Valentine's Day, but there's a catch. You need a credit score of at least 675 to use it. Launched today by financial platform Neon Money Club, Score is a dating app for people with good to excellent credit that aims to raise awareness about the importance of money in relationships. Luke Bailey, co-founder and CEO of Neon Money Club, told TechCrunch that “we need to bring the conversation into areas that aren't traditionally discussed in finance.” He added that traditional methods of raising awareness are outdated. “Before you can educate…
Last year’s tech-wide reckoning continues. The tech industry has seen more than 240,000 jobs lost in 2023, a total that’s already 50% higher than last year and growing. Earlier this year, mass workforce reductions were driven by the biggest names in tech like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, Meta and Zoom. Startups across many sectors also announced cutbacks through the first half of the year. And while tech layoffs slowed down in the summer and fall, it appears that cuts are ramping up yet again. Many economists have cautioned against fears of a recession, which would seem like a reason for…
Following recent launches in the UK and Ireland, workforce management platform Rippling continues its ambitious international expansion with the opening of its Asia Pacific headquarters in Sydney, Australia today. The company, which already has 15,000 customers and is valued at $11.25 billion, plans to invest millions of dollars in APAC expansion, co-founder Parker Conrad (pictured above) told TechCrunch The company said it already has 30 people in its Sydney office and will be hiring more for its sales, marketing and product teams. Rippling was last seen on TechCrunch. A whopping $500 million was raised in just 12 hours. After the…