Author: TechBrunch
US technology giant Broadcom warns that a trio of VMware vulnerabilities have been actively exploited by malicious hackers to compromise the network of corporate customers. Three vulnerabilities, collectively referred to as “espageape” by one security researcher, affect VMware ESXI, workstations, and fusion. It is a widely used software hypervisor product that allows you to manage multiple virtual machines on a single server. Hypervisors are commonly used to reduce the need to take up space on physical servers. Broadcom, which acquired VMware in 2023, said the vulnerability (tracked as CVE-2025-22224, CVE-2025-22225, and CVE-2025-22226) could allow Virtual Machine administrators or attackers with…
CIA director John Ratcliffe confirmed that the Trump administration has suspended information sharing operations with Ukraine following a fierce exchange between leaders of both countries on Friday. In response to questions in a Wednesday interview with Fox's Maria Bartilomo, Ratcliffe did not provide further details about the decision, but said President Trump asked Ukraine to “suspend” when sending weapons shipments and intelligence news. Ratcliffe said the pause came after President Trump questioned whether he was “committed to the peace process” following a meeting in the elliptical office between the two leaders and whether Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelenkie was “committed to…
According to the Financial Times, Apple is challenging UK government data access orders. The order targeted iCloud backups that were protected by end-to-end encryption. Last month, Press Leaks revealed the existence of a January order asking Apple to build a backdoor on iCloud encrypted backups. UK officials are exercising their powers through the National Security Monitoring Act to force iPhone manufacturers to provide clear data to law enforcement agencies. Apple responded by announcing that UK users would be terminated from accessing a strongly encrypted version of their Icloud storage features. The challenges via IPT are submitted simultaneously for each FT,…
The UK startup, which originated from founder Jacob Nathan's high school science project on the use of enzymes to decompose plastic waste, was oversubscribed to $108.3 million in Series A funding. Founded in London in 2019, Epoch Biodesign has become a team of over 30 powerful interdisciplinary chemists, biologists and software engineers. Using new funds, expand production of plastic-eating enzymes. This means that this year they will be relocating the Biol Cycling process from the lab where they are developing it into their first production facility. After that, Nathan says the startup is looking for a way to accelerate scaling.…
Epilus, a defense technology startup specializing in anti-drone systems, has raised an over-registered Series D of $250 million, telling TechCrunch. Torrance, California-based Epirus was previously valued at $1.35 billion in the 2022 $200 million Series C, as announced at the time. Epilus gave no specific ratings for this round, but confirmed that TechCrunch is over $1 billion. (Bloomberg reported in January 2025 that Epilus was upping this round with a lower rating than Series C.) Series D was co-led by DC-based investment companies 8VC and Washington Harbor Partners LP. Other investors include Gaingels and General Dynamics Land Systems, a subsidiary…
Just four years ago, the climate-friendly fintech startup suction was on the verge of a $2 billion public list. One startup's board member has now pleaded guilty to wire fraud, and one of the co-founders has been arrested for conspiring to fraudulent investors, according to a federal criminal complaint filed by the US Power of Attorney Office in the Central District of California. Fintech startups have been under federal scrutiny for questionable financial and carbon accounting practices for many years. However, the new complaints shed light on a series of loans obtained using fraudulent tactics. Suction co-founder Joseph Samberg was…
One of Africa's most active investors known for their early bets on unicorns such as Flutterwave, Andela and Wave has secured fresh capital to invest in startups across the continent. According to a report by VC Firm Parttech, this is because last year we only saw a small dip in Africa's funding transactions and volume. Loftink Capital, which has supported startups in the pre-seed and seed stages for more than a decade, has reached $43 million at the first end of its third fund, Loftink Alpha. Unlike its previous focus, the fund targets seed and series startups while maintaining a…
“We've come a long way from our pants,” Andy Dunn, founder of online fashion retailer Bonobos, told TechCrunch. Now, the former CEO is tackling a completely different challenge. He wants to help people make friends. Dunn's latest venture, Pie is a social app focused on bringing people together in real life. With the $11.5 million Series A Rase and funds paid to organizers to host the event, Pie has grown to over 130,000 active users despite being only available in San Francisco and Chicago. But more users meant that in-person events hosted through the app were also more crowded, making…
Foundation Capital has come a long way since being forced to reduce its fund size from $750 million in 2008 to $282 million (the sixth main fund) in 2013. On Tuesday, the 30-year-old company announced it had gathered its $600 million 11th flagship fund, 20% larger than its predecessor's $500 million fund, which was closed about three years ago. The Foundation believes that its revival is sticking to seed stage investment, which is knitting. “Most companies that have been around for 30 years have usually become multi-stage, multi-joe fiss, multi-tactics. Instead, we are still very focused on the early stages,”…
Hackers who stole around $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency from Crypto Exchange Bybit have driven almost all of their stolen revenues and converted them to Bitcoin. On February 21, Bybit said that a “sleek attack” on one of its wallets led to the theft of 401,346 Ethereum, worth around $1.4 billion at the time, making it the biggest crypto theft in history, and perhaps the biggest robbery. Blockchain surveillance companies and researchers, as well as the FBI, have accused the North Korean government of being behind the hack. Since the digital robbery, hackers have moved all Ethereum that they stole from…