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Daily Crunch: IBM names new CEO The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Arvind Krishna will replace Ginni Rometty as IBM CEO in April Krishna, IBM’s senior vice president for cloud and cognitive software, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: IBM names new CEO February 1, 2020 at 03:00AM

How Dubsmash revived itself as #2 to TikTok Lip-syncing app Dubsmash was on the brink of death. After a brief moment of virality in 2015 alongside Vine (R.I.P), Dubsmash was bleeding users faster than it could recruit them. The app let you choose an audio track like a rap song or movie quote and shoot a video of you pretending to say the […] Social – TechCrunch - How Dubsmash revived itself as #2 to TikTok February 1, 2020 at 02:00AM

Even as Microsoft Azure revenue grows, AWS’s market share lead stays strong When analyzing the cloud market, there are many ways to look at the numbers; revenue, year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter growth — or lack of it — or market share. Each of these numbers tells a story, but in the cloud market, where aggregate growth remains high and Azure’s healthy expansions continues, it’s still struggling to gain […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Even as Microsoft Azure revenue grows, AWS’s market share lead stays strong February 1, 2020 at 02:00AM

Twitter suspends notorious UK hate preacher for violating abuse rules Twitter has confirmed it has temporarily suspended the account of controversial rightwing commentator, Katie Hopkins. The move was reported earlier by the BBC. Hopkins, a former MailOnline columnist and presenter on LBC radio, is a veteran of the social media platform, joining Twitter just under a decade ago — and using it amplify her brand of […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter suspends notorious UK hate preacher for violating abuse rules January 31, 2020 at 08:00PM

Arvind Krishna will replace Ginni Rometty as IBM CEO in April IBM announced today that the Board of Directors has elected IBM Senior Vice President for Cloud and Cognitive Software Arvind Krishna to replace current CEO Ginni Rometty. He will take over on April 6th after a couple of months of transition time. Rometty will remain with the company as Chairman of the Board. Krishna reportedly […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Arvind Krishna will replace Ginni Rometty as IBM CEO in April January 31, 2020 at 08:00AM

Daily Crunch: Facebook’s profits disappoint The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Facebook hits 2.5B users in Q4 but shares sink from slow profits In its latest quarterly earnings report, Facebook said it […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook’s profits disappoint January 31, 2020 at 03:00AM

Social media boosting service exposed thousands of Instagram passwords A social media boosting startup, which bills itself as a service to increase a user’s Instagram followers, has exposed thousands of Instagram account passwords. The company, Social Captain, says it helps thousands of users to grow their Instagram follower counts by connecting their accounts to its platform. Users are asked to enter their Instagram username […] Social – TechCrunch - Social media boosting service exposed thousands of Instagram passwords January 31, 2020 at 03:00AM

Hyperledger Fabric, the open source distributed ledger, reaches release 2.0 The open source Hyperledger Foundation announced the release of Hyperledger Fabric 2.0 today, the first such project to reach a 2.0 release. It’s a notable milestone. The blockchain as a business tool has certainly had a rocky road over the last few years, but there is still plenty to like about smart contracts that have […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Hyperledger Fabric, the open source distributed ledger, reaches release 2.0 January 31, 2020 at 01:00AM

OpsRamp raises $37.5M for its hybrid IT operations platform OpsRamp, a service that helps IT teams discover, monitor, manage and — maybe most importantly — automate their hybrid environments, today announced that it has closed a $37.5 million funding round led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with participation from existing investor Sapphire Ventures and new investor Hewlett Packard Enterprise. OpsRamp last raised funding in […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - OpsRamp raises $37.5M for its hybrid IT operations platform January 31, 2020 at 12:01AM

Snapchat launches Bitmoji TV: zany 4-min cartoons of your avatar If you were the star of every show, would you watch more mobile television? Snapchat is betting that narcissism drives resonance for its new weekly videos that put you and your friends’ customizable Bitmoji avatars into a flurry of silly animated situations. Bitmoji TV premieres on Saturday morning, and it’s remarkably funny, exciting, and addictive. […] Social – TechCrunch - Snapchat launches Bitmoji TV: zany 4-min cartoons of your avatar January 30, 2020 at 09:00PM

Facebook will pay $550 million to settle class action lawsuit over privacy violations Facebook will pay over half a billion dollars to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged systematic violation of an Illinois consumer privacy law. The settlement amount is large indeed, but a small fraction of the $35 billion maximum the company could have faced. Class members — basically Illinois Facebook users from mid-2011 to mid-2015 […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook will pay $550 million to settle class action lawsuit over privacy violations January 30, 2020 at 10:00AM

Facebook hits 2.5B users in Q4 but shares sink from slow profits Facebook beat Wall Street estimates in Q4 but slowing profit growth beat up the share price. Facebook reached 2.5 billion monthly users, up 2%, from 2.45 billion in Q3 2019 when it grew 1.65%, and it now has 1.66 billion daily active users, up 2.4% from 1.62 billion last quarter when it grew 2%. Facebook […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook hits 2.5B users in Q4 but shares sink from slow profits January 30, 2020 at 07:00AM

How the world’s largest cannabis dispensary avoids social media restrictions Planet 13 is the world’s largest cannabis dispensary. Located in Las Vegas, blocks off the Strip, the facility is the size of a small Walmart. By design, it’s hard to miss. Planet 13 is upending the dispensary model. It’s big, loud and visitors are encouraged to photograph everything. As part of the cannabis industry, Planet […] Social – TechCrunch - How the world’s largest cannabis dispensary avoids social media restrictions January 30, 2020 at 02:01AM

Greylock’s Reid Hoffman and Sarah Guo to talk fundraising at Early Stage SF 2020 Early Stage SF is around the corner, and we are more than excited for this brand new event. The intimate gathering of founders, VCs, operators and tech industry experts is all about giving founders the tools they need to find success, no matter the challenge ahead of them. Struggling to understand the legal aspects of […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Greylock’s Reid Hoffman and Sarah Guo to talk fundraising at Early Stage SF 2020 January 30, 2020 at 02:00AM

HeyMama, a premium social network for working moms, raises $2 million As we spend more and more time on our phones, working busier and busier jobs, and leading more and more overwhelming lives, personal connection with others is harder and harder to come by. HeyMama wants to change that. The premium social network is aimed squarely at working mothers, looking to give them a space to […] Social – TechCrunch - HeyMama, a premium social network for working moms, raises $2 million January 29, 2020 at 11:00PM

Product Hunt launches beta of YourStack, a home for your favorite things The team behind Product Hunt is launching a new social network called YourStack, a platform aiming to connect people that are passionate about products and help them discover what things their friends love. “It’s super simple, you just search through and create a stack of products you love,” Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover tells TechCrunch. […] Social – TechCrunch - Product Hunt launches beta of YourStack, a home for your favorite things January 29, 2020 at 09:00AM

Study of YouTube comments finds evidence of radicalization effect Research presented at the ACM FAT 2020 conference in Barcelona today supports the notion that YouTube’s platform is playing a role in radicalizing users via exposure to far-right ideologies. The study, carried out by researchers at Switzerland’s Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, found evidence that users […] Social – TechCrunch - Study of YouTube comments finds evidence of radicalization effect January 29, 2020 at 08:00AM

All users can now access Facebook’s tool for controlling which apps and sites can share data for ad-targeting Facebook is making available to all users worldwide its “Off-Facebook Activity” tool, which allows users to manage and delete the data that third-party websites and apps share with Facebook. The feature was first introduced in 2018 at Facebook’s annual developer conference, but only launched to users in select geographies last year. When the tool was […] Social – TechCrunch - All users can now access Facebook’s tool for controlling which apps and sites can share data for ad-targeting January 29, 2020 at 08:00AM

Toothless: Facebook proposes a weak Oversight Board Facebook’s internal “Supreme Court” can’t set precedents, can’t make decisions about Facebook Dating or Marketplace, and can’t oversee WhatsApp, Oculus, or any messaging feature, according to the bylaws Facebook proposed today for its Oversight Board. It’s designed to provide an independent appeals process for content moderation rulings. But it will only be able to challenge […] Social – TechCrunch - Toothless: Facebook proposes a weak Oversight Board January 29, 2020 at 07:00AM

Daily Crunch: Facebook expands privacy options The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. All users can now access Facebook’s tool for controlling which apps and sites can share data for ad-targeting Facebook is making […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook expands privacy options January 29, 2020 at 04:00AM

RealityEngines launches its autonomous AI service RealityEngines.AI, an AI and machine learning startup founded by a number of former Google executives and engineers, is coming out of stealth today and announcing its first set of products. When the company first announced its $5.25 million seed round last year, CEO Bindu Reddy wasn’t quite ready to disclose RealityEngines’ mission beyond saying that […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - RealityEngines launches its autonomous AI service January 29, 2020 at 03:00AM

Nutanix execs discuss how they built their 2016 IPO roadshow deck Bringing a startup from idea to IPO isn’t an easy task, but if you can build something successful, one major milestone is to go public. Before your Nasdaq debut, however, there’s a major step — building a deck and taking it on the road for investors. Cloud computing company Nutanix went public in 2016, so […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Nutanix execs discuss how they built their 2016 IPO roadshow deck January 29, 2020 at 03:00AM

Pinterest launches virtual makeup ‘Try On’ feature, starting with lipstick A new Pinterest feature will allow users to virtually try on products, starting with lipstick, before they shop from retailers like Estée Lauder, Sephora, bareMinerals, Neutrogena, NYX Professional Makeup, YSL Beauté, Lancôme, and Urban Decay from L’Oréal. To use the new feature, pinners will first open Pinterest’s smart camera, “Lens,” while in Search, then click […] Social – TechCrunch - Pinterest launches virtual makeup ‘Try On’ feature, starting with lipstick January 29, 2020 at 12:02AM

ServiceNow acquires conversational AI startup Passage AI ServiceNow announced this morning that it has acquired Passage AI, a startup that helps customers build chatbots in multiple languages, something that should come in handy as ServiceNow continues to modernize its digital service platform. The companies did not share terms of the deal. With Passage AI, ServiceNow gets a bushel of AI talent, which […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - ServiceNow acquires conversational AI startup Passage AI January 29, 2020 at 12:02AM

Cooks Venture raises $4 million from Golden West Food Group to ramp up distribution Cooks Venture, the agtech company looking to revolutionize the chicken industry, has today announced the close of a $4 million funding round led by Golden West Food Group. Cooks Venture has been working in stealth for many years, but launched onto the scene in 2018 with a plan to reshape agriculture from the ground up. […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cooks Venture raises $4 million from Golden West Food Group to ramp up distribution January 29, 2020 at 12:02AM

Chicago’s ActiveCampaign raises $100M for an all-in-one marketing and sales automation platform Marketing and sales automation — tools that leverage the advances and data of our digital age to better identify and then interact with customers — is big business, with the whole market expected to generate some $6.6 billion in revenues for related companies by 2025. But “companies” is the operative word here: it’s a very […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Chicago’s ActiveCampaign raises $100M for an all-in-one marketing and sales automation platform January 28, 2020 at 09:00PM

Persona raises $17.5M for an identify verification platform that goes beyond user IDs and passwords The proliferation of data breaches based on leaked passwords, and the rising tide of regulation that puts a hard stop on just how much user information can be collected, stored and used by companies have laid bare the holes in simple password and memorable-information-based verification systems. Today a startup called Persona, which has built a […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Persona raises $17.5M for an identify verification platform that goes beyond user IDs and passwords January 28, 2020 at 08:01PM

Pantheon bets on WebOps as it charts a course to an IPO It has been 10 years since Pantheon launched. At the time, it was mostly a hosting service for Drupal sites, but about six years ago, it added WordPress hosting to its lineup and raised more VC money as some of its competitors did the same. After its 2016 Series C round, things started quieting down, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Pantheon bets on WebOps as it charts a course to an IPO January 28, 2020 at 05:00AM

Kidtech startup SuperAwesome raises $17M, with strategic investment from Microsoft’s M12 venture fund Kidtech startup SuperAwesome has raised an additional $17 million in funding, which includes a new strategic investment from Microsoft’s venture fund, M12. Others participating in the round include existing investors, Mayfair Equity, Hoxton Ventures, and Ibis, along with other angels. To date, SuperAwesome has raised $37 million in outside investment. SuperAwesome has been tapping into […] Social – TechCrunch - Kidtech startup SuperAwesome raises $17M, with strategic investment from Microsoft’s M12 venture fund January 28, 2020 at 04:01AM

Get ready to see Spotify’s looping videos on Instagram Following Spotify’s confirmation of a new Stories feature, initially being tested by social media influencers, the company this morning announced it will now allow artists to reach their Instagram fan bases in a new way, too. However, in this case, they aren’t creating Spotify Stories they can market elsewhere on their social media, but instead […] Social – TechCrunch - Get ready to see Spotify’s looping videos on Instagram January 28, 2020 at 02:00AM

Vine reboot Byte officially launches Two years after Vine’s co-founder Dom Hofmann announced he was building a successor to the short-form video app, today Byte makes its debut on iOS and Android. Byte lets you shoot or upload and then share six-second videos. The tiny time limit necessitates no-filler content that’s denser than the maximum 1-minute clips on TikTok. Byte […] Social – TechCrunch - Vine reboot Byte officially launches January 25, 2020 at 12:00PM

Facebook’s dodgy defaults face more scrutiny in Europe Italy’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched proceedings against Facebook for failing to fully inform users about the commercial uses it makes of their data. At the same time, a German court has today upheld a consumer group’s right to challenge the tech giant over data and privacy issues in the national courts. Lack of […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s dodgy defaults face more scrutiny in Europe January 25, 2020 at 03:00AM

As SaaS stocks set new records, Atlassian’s earnings show there’s still room to grow Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. SaaS stocks had a good run in late 2019. TechCrunch covered their ascent, a recovery from early-year doldrums and a summer slowdown. In 2020 so far, SaaS and cloud stocks have surged to all-time highs. […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - As SaaS stocks set new records, Atlassian’s earnings show there’s still room to grow January 25, 2020 at 12:01AM

Meet the b2b videoconferencing startup that’s gone crazy for online dating Founder Andreas Kröpfl has spent almost a decade hard-grafting in the b2b unified communications space, building a videoconferencing business with a patented single-stream system and a claim of no ‘drop-offs’ thanks to “unique low-bandwidth technology”. His Austria-based startup’s current web-based videoconferencing system, eyeson (née Visocon), which launched in 2018, has had some nice traction since […] Social – TechCrunch - Meet the b2b videoconferencing startup that’s gone crazy for online dating January 24, 2020 at 09:00PM

Wikipedia now has more than 6 million articles in English Wikipedia has surpassed a notable milestone today: The English version of the world’s largest online encyclopedia now has more than six million articles. The feat, which comes roughly 19 years after the website was founded, is a testament of “what humans can do together,” said Ryan Merkley, chief of staff at Wikimedia, the nonprofit organization […] Social – TechCrunch - Wikipedia now has more than 6 million articles in English January 24, 2020 at 10:00AM

Xerox wants to replace HP board that rejected takeover bid In Xerox’s latest effort to get HP to bend to its will and combine the two companies, it announced its intent today to try and replace the entire HP Board of Directors at the company’s stockholder’s meeting in April. That would be the same board that unanimously rejected Xerox’s takeover bid. Xerox and HP have […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Xerox wants to replace HP board that rejected takeover bid January 24, 2020 at 06:00AM

NBC partners with Snapchat on four daily shows for 2020 Tokyo Olympics Snapchat and NBC Olympics are again teaming up to produce customized Olympics content for users in the U.S. — this time, for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer. The companies had previously worked together during the Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. The PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games in 2018 reached over 40 million U.S. users, […] Social – TechCrunch - NBC partners with Snapchat on four daily shows for 2020 Tokyo Olympics January 24, 2020 at 04:01AM

Some tech I loved is getting worse and I’m mad Time is supposed to make technology better. The idea is simple: With more time, humans make newer, better technology and our lives improve. Except for when the opposite happens. Google is a good example of this. I’ve been harping on the matter for a while now. Google mobile search, in case you haven’t used it […] Social – TechCrunch - Some tech I loved is getting worse and I’m mad January 24, 2020 at 02:00AM

Crisp, the demand forecast platform for the food industry, goes live The food industry may be the biggest industry in the world, but it’s also one of the least efficient. BCG says 1.6 billions tons of food, worth $1.2 trillion, is wasted in food every year and those numbers are only expected to go up. A number of players have stepped up to try and solve […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Crisp, the demand forecast platform for the food industry, goes live January 24, 2020 at 12:01AM

Twitter DMs now have emoji reactions Twitter is pouring a little more fuel on the messaging fire. It’s added a heart+ button to its direct messaging interface which lets users shortcut to a pop-up menu of seven emoji reactions so they can quickly express how they’re feeling about a missive. Emoji reactions can be added to text or media messages — […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter DMs now have emoji reactions January 23, 2020 at 11:00PM

In latest JEDI contract drama, AWS files motion to stop work on project When the Department of Defense finally made a decision in October on the decade long, $10 billion JEDI cloud contract, it seemed that Microsoft had won. But nothing has been simple about this deal from the earliest days, so  it shouldn’t come as a surprise that last night Amazon filed a motion to stop work […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - In latest JEDI contract drama, AWS files motion to stop work on project January 23, 2020 at 11:00PM

Proxyclick raises $15M Series B for its visitor management platform If you’ve ever entered a company’s office as a visitor or contractor, you probably know the routine: check in with a receptionist, figure out who invited you, print out a badge and get on your merry way. Brussels, Belgium- and New York-based Proxyclick aims to streamline this process, while also helping businesses keep their people […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Proxyclick raises $15M Series B for its visitor management platform January 23, 2020 at 03:00PM

Yo Facebook & Instagram, stop showing Stories reruns If I watch a Story cross-posted from Instagram to Facebook on either of the apps, it should appear as “watched” at the back of the Stories row on the other app. Why waste my time showing me Stories I already saw? It’s been over two years since Instagram Stories launched cross-posting to Stories. Countless hours […] Social – TechCrunch - Yo Facebook & Instagram, stop showing Stories reruns January 23, 2020 at 11:00AM

Google Cloud gets a Secret Manager Google Cloud today announced Secret Manager, a new tool that helps its users securely store their API keys, passwords, certificates and other data. With this, Google Cloud is giving its users a single tool to manage this kind of data and a centralized source of truth, something that even sophisticated enterprise organizations often lack. “Many […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud gets a Secret Manager January 23, 2020 at 08:00AM

IBM snaps out of revenue doldrums, breaking a five-quarter losing streak in Q4 International Business Machines is living a case study of a large, established company vying to transform. Over the last decade, the technology elder has struggled to move into areas like cloud and AI. IBM has leaned on a combination of its own R&D abilities and deep pockets to push into modern markets, but has struggled […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - IBM snaps out of revenue doldrums, breaking a five-quarter losing streak in Q4 January 23, 2020 at 05:00AM

Shared inbox startup Front raises $59 million round led by other tech CEOs Front is raising a $59 million Series C funding round. Interestingly, the startup hasn’t raised with a traditional VC firm leading the round. A handful of super business angels are investing directly in the productivity startup and leading the round. Business angels include Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian President Jay Simons, Okta co-founder […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Shared inbox startup Front raises $59 million round led by other tech CEOs January 23, 2020 at 02:01AM

Octi launches a social network built around augmented reality Octi has created a new social network that uses augmented reality to connect the act of seeing your friends in real life with viewing digital content like their favorite YouTube videos and Spotify songs. When I wrote about the startup in 2018, it was building AR technology that could do a better job of recognizing […] Social – TechCrunch - Octi launches a social network built around augmented reality January 23, 2020 at 12:02AM

TriggerMesh scores $3M seed from Index and Crane to help enterprises embrace ‘serverless’ TriggerMesh, a startup building on top of the open source Kubernetes software to help enterprises go “serverless” across apps running in the cloud and traditional data centers, has raised $3 million in seed funding. The round is led Index Ventures and Crane Venture Partners. TriggerMesh says the investment will be used to scale the company […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - TriggerMesh scores $3M seed from Index and Crane to help enterprises embrace ‘serverless’ January 23, 2020 at 12:02AM

Descartes Labs launches its new platform for analyzing geospatial data Descartes Labs, a well–funded startup based in New Mexico, provides businesses with geospatial data and the tools to analyze it in order to make business decisions. Today, the company announced the launch of its Descartes Labs Platform, which promises to bring its data together with all of the tools data scientists — including those with […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Descartes Labs launches its new platform for analyzing geospatial data January 23, 2020 at 12:01AM

ServiceNow acquires Loom Systems to expand AIOps coverage ServiceNow announced today that it has acquired Loom Systems, an Israeli startup that specializes in AIOps. The companies did not reveal the purchase price. IT operations collects tons of data across a number of monitoring and logging tools, way too much for any team of humans to keep up with. That’s why there are startups […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - ServiceNow acquires Loom Systems to expand AIOps coverage January 22, 2020 at 11:01PM

Thundra announces $4M Series A to secure and troubleshoot serverless workloads Thundra, an early stage serverless tooling startup, announced a $4 million Series A today led by Battery Ventures. The company spun out from OpsGenie after it was sold to Atlassian for $295 million in 2018. York IE, Scale X Ventures and Opsgenie founder Berkay Mollamustafaoglu also participated in the round. Battery’s Neeraj Agarwal is joining […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Thundra announces $4M Series A to secure and troubleshoot serverless workloads January 22, 2020 at 11:01PM

Placer.ai, a location data analytics startup, raises $12 million Series A Placer.ai, a startup that analyzes location and foot traffic analytics for retailers and other businesses, announced today that it has closed a $12 million Series A. The round was led by JBV Capital, with participation from investors including Aleph, Reciprocal Ventures and OCA Ventures. The funding will be used on research and development of new […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Placer.ai, a location data analytics startup, raises $12 million Series A January 22, 2020 at 11:01PM

LumApps raises $70M Series C led by Goldman Sachs LumApps, the cloud-based social intranet for the enterprise, has closed $70 million in Series C funding. Leading the round is Goldman Sachs Growth, with participation from Bpifrance via its Growth Fund Large Venture. Others participating include Idinvest Partners, Iris Capital, and Famille C (the family office of Courtin-Clarins). The round brings the total raised by […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - LumApps raises $70M Series C led by Goldman Sachs January 22, 2020 at 03:00PM

India likely to force Facebook, WhatsApp to identify the originator of messages New Delhi is inching closer to recommending regulations that would require social media companies and instant messaging app providers operating in the nation to help law enforcement agencies identify users who have posted content — or sent messages — it deems questionable, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. India will submit the suggested […] Social – TechCrunch - India likely to force Facebook, WhatsApp to identify the originator of messages January 22, 2020 at 09:00AM

Corporate relocation startup Shyft raises $15M Shyft is announcing that it has raised $15 million in Series A funding to make the moving process less painful — specifically in the situations where your employer is paying for the move. There other startups are looking to offer concierge-type services for regular moving — I used a service called Moved last year and […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Corporate relocation startup Shyft raises $15M January 22, 2020 at 07:00AM

Spotify’s new test lets influencers post Stories to introduce their own playlists Spotify is testing a new Stories feature that will allow select influencers to incorporate video elements into their public playlists, TechCrunch has learned and Spotify confirmed. The first influencer to test the feature is makeup and fashion YouTube star Summer Mckeen, who currently has a social media fan base that includes 2.33 million YouTube subscribers, […] Social – TechCrunch - Spotify’s new test lets influencers post Stories to introduce their own playlists January 22, 2020 at 06:00AM

Google Cloud lands Lufthansa Group and Sabre as new customers Google’s strategy for bringing new customers to its cloud is to focus on the enterprise and specific verticals like healthcare, energy, financial service and retail, among others. It’s healthcare efforts recently experienced a bit of a setback, with Epic now telling its customers that it is not moving forward with its plans to support Google […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud lands Lufthansa Group and Sabre as new customers January 22, 2020 at 04:00AM

Canonical’s Anbox Cloud puts Android in the cloud Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, today announced the launch of Anbox Cloud, a new platform that allows enterprises to run Android in the cloud. On Anbox Cloud, Android becomes the guest operating system that runs containerized applications. This opens up a range of use cases, ranging from bespoke enterprise app to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Canonical’s Anbox Cloud puts Android in the cloud January 22, 2020 at 04:00AM

Snyk snags $150M investment as its valuation surpasses $1B Snyk, the company that wants to help developers secure their code as part of the development process, announced a $150 million investment today. The company indicated the investment brings its valuation to over $1 billion (although it did not share the exact figure). Today’s round was led by Stripes, a New York City investment firm […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Snyk snags $150M investment as its valuation surpasses $1B January 21, 2020 at 11:00PM

TechCrunch’s Top 10 investigative reports from 2019 Facebook spying on teens, Twitter accounts hijacked by terrorists, and sexual abuse imagery found on Bing and Giphy were amongst the ugly truths revealed by TechCrunch’s investigating reporting in 2019. The tech industry needs more watchdogs than ever as its size enlargens the impact of safety failures and the abuse of power. Whether through malice, […] Social – TechCrunch - TechCrunch’s Top 10 investigative reports from 2019 January 20, 2020 at 02:00AM

Instagram drops IGTV button, but only 1% downloaded the app At most, 7 million of Instagram’s 1 billion-plus users have downloaded its standalone IGTV app in the 18 months since launch. And now, Instagram’s main app is removing the annoying orange IGTV button from its home page in what feels like an admission of lackluster results. For reference, TikTok received 1.15 billion downloads in the […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram drops IGTV button, but only 1% downloaded the app January 19, 2020 at 01:00AM

Harvestr gathers user feedback in one place Meet Harvestr, a software-as-a-service startup that wants to help product managers centralize customer feedback from various places. Product managers can then prioritize outstanding issues and feature requests. Finally, the platform helps you get back to your customers once changes have been implemented. The company just raised a $650,000 funding round led by Bpifrance with various […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Harvestr gathers user feedback in one place January 18, 2020 at 03:00AM

Microsoft announces global Teams ad push as it combats Slack for the heart of enterprise comms The long-running contest between Microsoft and its Teams service and Slack’s eponymous application continued this morning, with Redmond announcing what it describes as its first “global” advertising push for its enterprise communication service. Slack, a recent technology IPO, exploded in the back half of last decade, accreting huge revenues while burrowing into the tech stacks […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft announces global Teams ad push as it combats Slack for the heart of enterprise comms January 18, 2020 at 02:00AM

Zendesk launches Sell Marketplace to bring app store to CRM product Zendesk acquired Base CRM in 2018 to give customers a CRM component to go with its core customer service software. After purchasing the company, it changed the name to Sell, and today the company announced the launch of the new Sell Marketplace. Officially called The Zendesk Marketplace for Sell, it’s a place where companies can […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Zendesk launches Sell Marketplace to bring app store to CRM product January 18, 2020 at 02:00AM

Cloud services provider DigitalOcean is laying off staff, sources say 30-50 affected After appointing a new CEO and CFO last summer, cloud infrastructure provider DigitalOcean is embarking on a wider reorganisation: the startup has announced a round of layoffs, with potentially between 30 and 50 people affected. DigitalOcean has confirmed the news with the following statement: “DigitalOcean recently announced a restructuring to better align its teams to its […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cloud services provider DigitalOcean is laying off staff, sources say 30-50 affected January 18, 2020 at 12:02AM

Visa’s Plaid acquisition shows a shifting financial services landscape When Visa bought Plaid this week for $5.3 billion, a figure that was twice its private valuation, it was a clear signal that traditional financial services companies are looking for ways to modernize their approach to business. With Plaid, Visa picks up a modern set of developer APIs that work behind the scenes to facilitate […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Visa’s Plaid acquisition shows a shifting financial services landscape January 17, 2020 at 09:00AM

44% of TikTok’s all-time downloads were in 2019, but app hasn’t figured out monetization Despite the U.S. government’s concerns over TikTok, which most recently led to the U.S. Navy banning service members’ use of the app, TikTok had a stellar 2019 in terms of both downloads and revenue. According to new data from Sensor Tower, 44% of TikTok’s total 1.65 billion downloads to date, or 738+ million installs, took […] Social – TechCrunch - 44% of TikTok’s all-time downloads were in 2019, but app hasn’t figured out monetization January 17, 2020 at 04:01AM

Epsagon scores $16M Series A to monitor modern development environments Epsagon, an Israeli startup that wants to help monitor modern development environments like serverless and containers, announced a $16 million Series A today. U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), a new investor led the round. Previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and StageOne Ventures also participated. Today’s investment brings the total raised to $20 million, according to the […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Epsagon scores $16M Series A to monitor modern development environments January 17, 2020 at 01:00AM

Cyral announces $11M Series A to help protect data in cloud Cyral, an early stage startup that helps protect data stored in cloud repositories, announced an $11 million Series A today. The company also revealed a previous undisclosed $4.1 million angel investment, making the total $15.1 million. The Series A was led by Redpoint Ventures. A.Capital Ventures, Costanoa VC, Firebolt, SV Angel and Trifecta Capital also […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cyral announces $11M Series A to help protect data in cloud January 16, 2020 at 11:01PM

Cloudinary passes $60M ARR without VC money Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. Today we’re continuing our exploration of companies that have reached material scale, usually viewed through the lens of annual recurring revenue (ARR). We’ve looked at companies that have reached the $100 million ARR mark and a […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cloudinary passes $60M ARR without VC money January 16, 2020 at 06:00AM

Google Cloud gets a premium support plan with 15-minute response times Google Cloud today announced the launch of its premium support plans for enterprise and mission-critical needs. This new plan brings Google’s support offerings for the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in line with its premium G Suite support options. “Premium Support has been designed to better meet the needs of our customers running modern cloud technology,” […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud gets a premium support plan with 15-minute response times January 16, 2020 at 04:01AM

Kadena fulfills hybrid blockchain vision with launch of public chain For the last few years blockchain startup Kadena, has been working on a vision of bringing blockchain to the enterprise. Today it announced the final piece of that vision with the launch of the Kadena public blockchain. In earlier releases, the company offered the ability to build private blockchains on AWS or Azure. Company co-founder […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Kadena fulfills hybrid blockchain vision with launch of public chain January 16, 2020 at 01:00AM

Former Docker CEO Steve Singh joins Madrona Madrona Venture Group announced today that is has hired former Docker CEO Steve Singh as a managing director at the firm. Singh stepped down as CEO of Docker last May and Seattle-based Madrona seems like logical landing spot. He is a long-time resident of Seattle, and has been working behind the scenes with Madrona for […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Former Docker CEO Steve Singh joins Madrona January 16, 2020 at 12:02AM

Customer data platform ActionIQ raises $32M ActionIQ co-founder and CEO Tasso Argyros knows that there are plenty of companies promising to help businesses use their customer data to deliver personalized experiences — as he put it, “The space has gotten very, very hot over the last couple of years.” But in the face of growing competition, ActionIQ (founded in 2014 and […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Customer data platform ActionIQ raises $32M January 16, 2020 at 12:02AM

The crypto rich find security in Anchorage Not the city, the $57 million-funded cryptocurrency custodian startup. When someone wants to keep tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other coins safe, they put them in Anchorage’s vault. And now they can trade straight from custody so they never have to worry about getting robbed mid-transaction. With backing from […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - The crypto rich find security in Anchorage January 15, 2020 at 10:00PM

Google acquires AppSheet to bring no-code development to Google Cloud Google announced today that it is buying AppSheet, an 8 year-old no-code mobile application building platform. The company had raised over $17 million on a $60 million valuation, according to PitchBook data. The companies did not share the purchase price. With AppSheet, Google gets a simple way for companies to build mobile apps without having […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google acquires AppSheet to bring no-code development to Google Cloud January 15, 2020 at 06:00AM

Instagram tests Direct Messaging on web where encryption fails Instagram will finally let you chat from your web browser, but the launch contradicts Facebook’s plan for end-to-end encryption in all its messaging apps. Today Instagram began testing Direct Messages on the web for a small percentage of users around the globe, a year after TechCrunch reported it was testing web DMs. When fully rolled […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram tests Direct Messaging on web where encryption fails January 15, 2020 at 03:00AM

Equinix is acquiring bare metal cloud provider Packet Equinix announced today that is acquiring bare metal cloud provider Packet. The New York City startup that had raised over $36 million on a $100 million valuation, according to Pitchbook data. Equinix has a set of data centers and co-locations facilities around the world. Companies that may want to have more control over their hardware […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Equinix is acquiring bare metal cloud provider Packet January 14, 2020 at 11:00PM

Atrium lays off lawyers, explains pivot to legal tech $75 million-funded legal services startup Atrium doesn’t want to be the next company to implode as the tech industry tightens its belt and businesses chase margins instead of growth via unsustainable economics. That’s why Atrium is laying off most of its   in-house lawyers. Now, Atrium will focus on its software for startups navigating fundraising, hiring, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Atrium lays off lawyers, explains pivot to legal tech January 14, 2020 at 09:00AM

Google brings IBM Power Systems to its cloud As Google Cloud looks to convince more enterprises to move to its platform, it needs to be able to give businesses an onramp for their existing legacy infrastructure and workloads that they can’t easily replace or move to the cloud. A lot of those workloads run on IBM Power Systems with their Power processors and […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google brings IBM Power Systems to its cloud January 14, 2020 at 05:00AM

Adobe Experience Manager now offered as cloud-native SaaS application Adobe announced today that Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is now available as a cloud-native SaaS application. Prior to this, it was available on premises or as a managed service, but it wasn’t pure cloud-native. Obviously being available as a cloud service makes sense for customers, and offers all of the value you would get from […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Adobe Experience Manager now offered as cloud-native SaaS application January 14, 2020 at 02:00AM

Zebra’s SmartSight inventory robot keeps an eye on store shelves How many times have you gone into a store and found the shelves need restocking of the very item you came in for? This is a frequent problem and it’s difficult, especially in larger retail establishments, to keep on top of stocking requirements. Zebra Technologies has a solution: a robot that scans the shelves and […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Zebra’s SmartSight inventory robot keeps an eye on store shelves January 14, 2020 at 01:00AM

Salesforce announces new tools to boost developer experience on Commerce Cloud Salesforce announced some new developer tools today, designed to make it easier for programmers to build applications on top of Commerce Cloud in what is known in industry parlance as a “headless” system. What that means is that developers can separate the content from the design and management of the site, allowing companies to change […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Salesforce announces new tools to boost developer experience on Commerce Cloud January 14, 2020 at 12:01AM

Smasung launches the rugged, enterprise-ready Galaxy XCover Pro We got a bit of a surprise at the end of CES: some hands-on time with Samsung’s latest rugged phone for the enterprise, the Galaxy XCover Pro. The XCover Pro, which is officially launching today, is a mid-range $499 phone for first-line workers like flight attendants, construction workers or nurses. It is meant to be […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Smasung launches the rugged, enterprise-ready Galaxy XCover Pro January 13, 2020 at 12:01AM

Instagram’s Boomerang evolves with SloMo, Echo, & Duo effects Nearly five years after launching, Instagram’s back-and-forth video loop maker Boomerang is finally getting a big update. Users around the globe can now  add SlowMo, “Echo” blurring, and “Duo” rapid rewind special effects to their Boomerangs, as well as trim their length. This is the biggest creative upgrade yet for one of mobile’s most popular […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram’s Boomerang evolves with SloMo, Echo, & Duo effects January 11, 2020 at 07:00AM

How to fix slow List updates in SwiftUI Make it faster with this one weird trick! Swift Developer News - Hacking with Swift - How to fix slow List updates in SwiftUI January 11, 2020 at 01:00AM

Over two dozen encryption experts call on India to rethink changes to its intermediary liability rules Security and encryption experts from around the world are joining a number of organizations to call on India to reconsider its proposed amendments to local intermediary liability rules. In an open letter to India’s IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday, 27 security and cryptography experts warned the Indian government that if it goes ahead […] Social – TechCrunch - Over two dozen encryption experts call on India to rethink changes to its intermediary liability rules January 10, 2020 at 07:00AM

Zuckerberg ditches annual challenges, but needs cynics to fix 2030 Mark Zuckerberg won’t be spending 2020 focused on wearing ties, learning Mandarin, or just fixing Facebook. “Rather than having year-to-year challenges, I’ve tried to think about what I hope the world and my life will look in 2030” he wrote today on Facebook. As you might have guessed, though, Zuckerberg’s vision for an improved planet […] Social – TechCrunch - Zuckerberg ditches annual challenges, but needs cynics to fix 2030 January 10, 2020 at 06:00AM

Daily Crunch: Twitter will let you limit replies The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Farewell, don’t @ me. Twitter will test a way to let you limit replies to your tweets Twitter users will soon […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Twitter will let you limit replies January 10, 2020 at 04:00AM

How some founders are raising capital outside of the VC world Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. Today, we’re exploring fundraising from outside the venture world. Founders looking to raise capital to power their growing companies have more options than ever. Traditional bank loans are an option, of course. As is venture […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - How some founders are raising capital outside of the VC world January 10, 2020 at 03:00AM

Sisense nabs $100m at a $1B+ valuation for accessible big data business analytics Sisense, an enterprise startup that that has built a business analytics business out of the premise of making big data as accessible as possible to users — whether it be through graphics on mobile or desktop apps, or spoken through Alexa — is announcing a big round of funding today and a large jump in […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Sisense nabs $100m at a $1B+ valuation for accessible big data business analytics January 10, 2020 at 02:00AM

Insight Partners acquires data management company Veeam for $5B Last year Insight Partners invested $500 million in cloud data management company Veeam. It apparently liked the company so much that today it announced it has acquired the Swiss startup for $5 billion. Veeam helps customers with cloud data backup and disaster recovery. The company, which has been based in Baar, Switzerland, says that it […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Insight Partners acquires data management company Veeam for $5B January 10, 2020 at 01:00AM

Facebook won’t ban political ads, prefers to keep screwing democracy It’s 2020 — a key election year in the US — and Facebook is doubling down on its policy of letting people pay it to fuck around with democracy. Despite trenchant criticism — including from US lawmakers accusing Facebook’s CEO to his face of damaging American democracy — the company is digging in, announcing as […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook won’t ban political ads, prefers to keep screwing democracy January 10, 2020 at 12:02AM

Twitter’s new reply blockers could let Trump hide critics What if politicians could only display Twitter replies from their supporters while stopping everyone else from adding their analysis to the conversation? That’s the risk of Twitter’s upcoming Conversation Participants tool it’s about to start testing that lets you choose if you want replies from everyone, only those your follow or mention, or no one. […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter’s new reply blockers could let Trump hide critics January 9, 2020 at 06:00AM

Facebook and eBay pledge to do more to tackle trade in fake reviews after pressure from UK regulator Facebook and eBay have made commitments to do more to stop fake reviews being sold on their platforms after coming under pressure from a UK markets regulator — even as fresh examples of the problem have been found on Facebook-owned Instagram. Last June the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned the two platform that they […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook and eBay pledge to do more to tackle trade in fake reviews after pressure from UK regulator January 9, 2020 at 01:00AM

What to expect in digital media in 2020 As we start 2020, the media and entertainment sectors are in flux. New technologies are enabling new types of content, streaming platforms in multiple content categories are spending billions in their fight for market share and the interplay between social platforms and media is a central topic of global political debate (to put it lightly). […] Social – TechCrunch - What to expect in digital media in 2020 January 8, 2020 at 08:00PM

Daily Crunch: Facebook bans deepfakes The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Facebook bans deceptive deepfakes and some misleadingly modified media In a policy update announced late yesterday, Facebook’s Monika Bickert wrote that […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook bans deepfakes January 8, 2020 at 04:00AM

Facebook bans deceptive deepfakes and some misleadingly modified media Facebook wants to be the arbiter of truth after all. At least when it comes to intentionally misleading deepfakes and heavily manipulated and/or synthesized media content, such as AI-generated photorealistic human faces that look like real people but aren’t. In a policy update announced late yesterday, the social network’s VP of global policy management, Monika […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook bans deceptive deepfakes and some misleadingly modified media January 7, 2020 at 09:00PM

Douyin, TikTok app in China, hits 400 million daily active users China’s TikTok, which has taken the world by storm, is working its magic in its home nation, too. The Chinese version of TikTok, called Douyin, has amassed 400 million daily active users, parent company ByteDance revealed in its annual report this week (in Chinese). This is an impressive growth for the addictive video app, which had […] Social – TechCrunch - Douyin, TikTok app in China, hits 400 million daily active users January 7, 2020 at 03:00PM

Despite JEDI loss, AWS retains dominant market position AWS took a hard blow last year when it lost the $10 billion, decade-long JEDI cloud contract to rival Microsoft. Yet even without that mega deal for building out the nation’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, the company remains fully in control of the cloud infrastructure market — and it intends to fight that decision. In […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Despite JEDI loss, AWS retains dominant market position January 7, 2020 at 04:00AM

Facebook data misuse and voter manipulation back in the frame with latest Cambridge Analytica leaks More details are emerging about the scale and scope of disgraced data company Cambridge Analytica’s activities in elections around the world — via a cache of internal documents that’s being released by former employee and self-styled whistleblower, Brittany Kaiser. The now shut down data modelling company, which infamously used stolen Facebook data to target voters […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook data misuse and voter manipulation back in the frame with latest Cambridge Analytica leaks January 7, 2020 at 01:00AM

BigID bags another $50M round as data privacy laws proliferate Almost exactly 4 months to the day after BigID announced a $50 million Series C, the company was back today with another $50 million round. The Series D came entirely from Tiger Global Management. The company has raised a total of $144 million. What warrants $100 million in interest from investors in just four months […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - BigID bags another $50M round as data privacy laws proliferate January 6, 2020 at 11:00PM

Twitter offers more support to researchers — to ‘keep us accountable’ Twitter has kicked off the New Year by taking the wraps off a new hub for academic researchers to more easily access information and support around its APIs — saying the move is in response to feedback from the research community. The new page — which it’s called ‘Twitter data for academic researchers’ — can […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter offers more support to researchers — to ‘keep us accountable’ January 6, 2020 at 08:00PM