Author: TechBrunch

The biotech sector has embraced the microbiome in recent years, a green field market powered by cheap genome sequencing and venture dollars, promising bespoke treatments for everything from gut troubles to skin problems. But a report in Science alleges that these companies lack scientific rigor and meaningful regulation, offering little more than guesswork on a complex and understudied area of human health. The startups in question offer a nuanced response to this criticism that emphasizes their efforts to achieve legitimacy in an area they admit has the potential for snake oil. The microbiome is a general term for the unique…

If you asked many VCs at the end of 2023 whether the IPO market would eventually reopen in 2024, most would have said yes. That's what we know from TechCrunch, of which he surveyed over 40 people in December and they said so. But with two weeks left in the first quarter, there are still no large IPOs completed and very few in the pipeline. Reddit is the only large IPO with a fixed price. Otherwise, there are few SEC public documents, leading to only speculation about who will go public. Examples include Shein, which reportedly filed a secret S-1…

Italy's competition and consumer authority AGCM has fined TikTok 10 million euros (approximately $11 million) following an investigation into concerns about algorithmic safety. Last year, authorities launched an investigation into the so-called “French Scar” issue, in which users on the platform reportedly shared videos of marks on their faces from pinching their skin. In a press release on Thursday, the AGCM said it had sanctioned three regional ByteDance Group companies, Ireland-based TikTok Technology Limited, TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited and TikTok Italy Srl, for what it summarized as “unfair commercial practices”. He announced that he had received it. “The company…

Cost remains one of the biggest obstacles to electric vehicle adoption. Most current EVs sell for higher prices than fossil fuel-powered cars, which prevents many people from purchasing them. That may change soon. Battery materials startup Coreshell this week unveiled a breakthrough technology that could lower the cost of lithium-ion batteries. It's probably not the kind of advancement that would make an EV with 500 miles of range possible, but not many people need that kind of capability. If the core-shell approach proves its worth, it could pave the way for cheaper batteries that don't rely on China. Forecasts for…

Google today announced significant changes to Chrome's Safe Browsing feature. This allows the service to work in real-time by checking your browsing habits against server-side lists without sharing them with Google. Previously, Chrome downloaded a list of sites known to harbor malware, unwanted software, and phishing scams once or twice an hour. Going forward, Chrome will move to a system that sends the URL you're visiting to its servers, where it matches it against a rapidly updated list. The advantage of this is that it takes up to an hour to get an updated list. As Google points out, the…

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Reddit is introducing a new ad format that resembles posts made by users on the platform, the company announced Thursday. The announcement comes as Reddit prepares for an initial public offering (IPO). A new ad format called freeform ads is designed to make users feel like the content they share with each other, helping advertisers maximize engagement. While the new format may be attractive to advertisers, ads that look like regular posts may be an unwelcome addition to users. Advertisers can use this format to combine multiple media types such as images, video, and text using ready-made templates. Reddit says…

ShopMy, the marketing platform for content creators to connect with brands and monetize their content, today announced that it has raised $18.5 million. The company plans to use the funding to expand its network of 40,000 creators, including Alix Earle, the internet's newest “It Girl” with more than 10 million followers on TikTok and Instagram. . ShopMy's marketing platform allows you to build a digital storefront, access a catalog of millions of products, create commissionable links, chat directly with businesses through our mobile app, and earn money from product recommendations. We provide creators with the tools they need. The company…

After his venture capital fund Kleiner Perkins fell into disarray a few years ago, one of B2B's star investors, Ted Schlein, kind of quit to start his own company. Two years ago, he first launched his $300 million fund, Ballistic Ventures, focused on cybersecurity, his interesting business model, and a roster of investment partners. Now, Ballistic has already closed its second fund, which is even bigger than the first. “We started raising a second round of $300 million, but we stopped at $360 million,” Schlein told TechCrunch. Over the past few months, I've made numerous calls with potential limited partners…

When open source streaming service Apache Kafka was created at LinkedIn in 2011, it was a different world. Most companies were still on-premises. The concept of cloud computing was just beginning to emerge. WarpStream, an early-stage startup, recognized the value of streaming in a cloud-native context and built a new solution from the ground up based on the Apache Kafka protocol and designed for the cloud era. Today, the company announced a $20 million investment. WarpStream CEO Richard Artoul and co-founder CTO Ryan Worl said they realized in their previous jobs that moving data to Kafka was complex and expensive,…