Author: TechBrunch

If there's one thing VCs agree on when backing AI startups, it's that AI requires a different investment approach than previous technology changes. “These are funky times,” said Eileen Lee, founder and managing partner of Cowboy Ventures, on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. The longtime venture capitalist said some AI companies have gone from “zero to $100 million in revenue in a year,” and the rules for investing have changed dramatically. But Lee also pointed out that, based on her firm's research, Series A investors aren't just looking for rapid revenue growth. “It's an algorithm with different variables and different…

In the debut episode of the Build Mode podcast, host Isabel Johannessen speaks with Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI, to uncover what it really takes to build a company that lasts, with and for your customers, from day one. Build Mode is TechCrunch's new podcast, a messy, tactical, real-talk version that pulls back the curtain on how startups are actually built. Season 1: Product, Meet Market goes beyond product-market fit to consider all aspects of getting your product into the hands of your customers, from finding the right users and gaining their trust to turning initial traction into lasting…

Last June, the hosts of the popular podcast “All In” launched their own tequila brand at a star-studded party, and 750 bottles of the $1,200 spirit quickly sold out. But getting these bottles into customers' hands proved more difficult than expected. Jason Calacanis, one of the podcast's hosts, told TechCrunch that bottles of the long-awaited Besties All-In Tequila began shipping to customers last week, ending a nearly five-month wait. Karacanis said it was the unusual bottle that was at issue. “The handcrafted bottles took a little longer to create than expected, but the bottles started shipping last week.” The bottles…

An international coalition of law enforcement agencies coordinated by Europol has targeted and crushed three cybercrime operations in the latest round, which authorities are calling “Operation Endgame.” Europol said in a press release that the police operation targeted the information-stealing malware Rhadamanthys, the Elysium botnet and the VenomRAT remote access Trojan. Authorities say all three “played significant roles in international cybercrime.” Police seized more than 1,000 servers as part of the operation. Europol announced that police arrested the unnamed “key suspect” behind VenomRAT in Greece on November 3. “The dismantled malware infrastructure consisted of hundreds of thousands of infected computers…

Early-stage venture fund Betaworks has announced the latest 10 companies to rise from its prestigious Camp program, a twice-yearly 13-week residency program launched in 2016 that has given way to names such as Hugging Face and Grey's Social. The theme of this year's camp is interfaces, as well as companies designing products that impact the way users experience AI. (Previous camp themes focused on application layers and agents). Applications opened in June, camp began in August, and DemoDay was November 4th. The companies participating in the 13th BetaWorks Camp are: Nora — A browser extension that tracks shopping habits, founded…

US cybersecurity agency CISA said federal government departments are not sufficiently patching Cisco firewalls to protect against active hacking activity targeting them. In an updated advisory released Wednesday, CISA said it is now “actively tracking the exploitation” of two security flaws in Cisco's Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software, which hardens a variety of enterprise-grade firewalls used by major companies and government agencies to protect networks from malicious outsiders. CISA said the flaw has been being exploited by a “sophisticated” but as-yet-unnamed attacker since September, prompting CISA to issue its third emergency directive this year ordering government agencies to patch affected…

Deepwatch, a cybersecurity company that develops an AI-powered detection and response platform, on Wednesday laid off dozens of employees, citing AI in part. Deepwatch CEO John DiLullo told TechCrunch in an email that the company is “aligning our organization to accelerate our significant investments in AI and automation.” A current DeepWatch employee, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, told TechCrunch that the layoffs affected between 60 and 80 of the company's approximately 250 employees. A Linkedin post by the person who said he was fired also mentioned 80 people. “They're doing things with…

There have been reports across social media of Elon Musk's X users being stuck in an infinite loop and, in some cases, being locked out of their X accounts. It appears that the required two-factor security changes failed. On October 24, X said in a post that it is asking users who rely on passkeys or hardware security keys (such as Yubikey) as a two-factor authentication method to re-register using the x.com domain. (Users who use authenticator apps are not affected.) Mr. X said this is part of an effort to retire the old twitter.com domain, which currently redirects to…

A group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to several state governors, including Arizona, California, Colorado and Wisconsin, warning that their states are inadvertently sharing driver data with federal immigration authorities. The letter, first reported by Reuters, told governors that each state provides U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies with “fleet self-service access to the personal data of all residents” through a nonprofit called the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (Nlets), which is managed by state law enforcement agencies. Nlets facilitate the sharing of state residents' personal data (in this case, driver's license data) between state,…

Australian Intelligence Secretary Mike Burgess has warned that Chinese-backed hackers are “probing” and in some cases gaining access to the country's critical infrastructure. Mr Burgess, head of the country's main intelligence agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Agency, said at least two Chinese government-backed hacker groups were preparing sabotage and espionage operations. The comments, made in a speech at a conference in Melbourne on Wednesday, echoed similar remarks from the US government, which warned that ongoing hacking operations could pose a risk of economic and social disruption. Burgess said a group of hackers known as Bolt Typhoon is trying to break…