JAY's

Multiverse virtual worlds will be healthier for society than our current social networks The basis of the classic James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies” is an evil media mogul who instigates war between the U.K. and China because it will be great for TV ratings. There’s been a wake-up call recently that our most popular social networks have been indirectly designed to divide populations into enemy camps and […] Social – TechCrunch - Multiverse virtual worlds will be healthier for society than our current social networks March 1, 2020 at 02:00AM

Notivize makes it easier for non-technical teams to optimize app notifications A new startup called Notivize aims to give product teams direct access to one of their most important tools for increasing user engagement — notifications. The company has been testing the product with select customers since last year and says it has already sent hundreds of thousands of notifications. And this week, it announced that […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Notivize makes it easier for non-technical teams to optimize app notifications February 29, 2020 at 09:00AM

Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra on waitlists, freemium pricing and future products "No matter what Gmail — or any other company for that matter — does, it doesn't really change our focus on our customers." Enterprise – TechCrunch - Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra on waitlists, freemium pricing and future products February 29, 2020 at 08:00AM

Facebook Messenger ditches Discover, demotes chat bots Chat bots were central to Facebook Messenger’s strategy three years ago. Now they’re being hidden from view in the app along with games and businesses. Facebook Messenger is removing the Discover tab this week as it focuses on speed and simplicity instead of broad utility like China’s WeChat. The changes are part of a larger […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook Messenger ditches Discover, demotes chat bots February 29, 2020 at 05:00AM

Facebook brings its 3D photos feature to users with single-camera phones Facebook first showed off its 3D photos back in 2018, and shared the technical details behind it a month later. But unless you had one of a handful of phones with dual cameras back then (when they weren't so common), you couldn't make your own. Today an update brings 3D photos to those of us still rocking a single camera. Social – TechCrunch - Facebook brings its 3D photos feature to users with single-camera phones February 29, 2020 at 05:00AM

Microsoft’s Cortana drops consumer skills as it refocuses on business users With the next version of Windows 10, coming this spring, Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant will lose a number of consumer skills around music and connected homes, as well as some third-party skills. That’s very much in line with Microsoft’s new focus for Cortana, but it may still come as a surprise to the dozens of […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft’s Cortana drops consumer skills as it refocuses on business users February 29, 2020 at 04:00AM

Teen hit Yolo raises $8M to let you Snapchat anonymously It wasn’t a fad. Yolo became the country’s No. 1 app just a week after launch by letting teens ask for anonymous replies to questions they posted on Snapchat. But nine months later, Yolo is still in the top 100 iOS apps and has 10 million active users. Now it’s safeguarding the app from predators […] Social – TechCrunch - Teen hit Yolo raises $8M to let you Snapchat anonymously February 29, 2020 at 01:00AM

If virtual worlds are so popular, why don’t we have them yet? If virtual worlds are so enticing, why haven’t we already shifted to them as our online social hubs? The thought of virtual worlds for socializing evokes Second Life (launched in 2003), where users created unique avatars to socialize, build and trade with each other. Contemporaneous press hype told us that our entry into the metaverse […] Social – TechCrunch - If virtual worlds are so popular, why don’t we have them yet? February 29, 2020 at 12:01AM

DocuSign acquires Seal Software for $188M to enhance its AI chops Contract management service DocuSign today announced that it is acquiring Seal Software for $188 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close later this year. DocuSign, it’s worth noting, previously invested $15 million in Seal Software in 2019. Seal Software was founded in 2010, and, while it may not be a mainstream brand, its […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - DocuSign acquires Seal Software for $188M to enhance its AI chops February 28, 2020 at 09:01AM

Tinder’s video series ‘Swipe Night’ gets a second season Following a successful debut for Tinder’s first foray into original content, the company is giving its interactive video series “Swipe Night” another run. The company confirmed today it’s renewing “Swipe Night” for a second season that will launch this summer, again as an in-app experience within Tinder’s dating app. Variety first reported the news of […] Social – TechCrunch - Tinder’s video series ‘Swipe Night’ gets a second season February 28, 2020 at 06:00AM

Google Cloud’s newest data center opens in Salt Lake City Google Cloud announced today that its new data center in Salt Lake City has opened, making it the 22nd such center the company has opened to date. This Salt Lake City data center marks the third in the western region, joining LA and The Dalles, Oregon with the goal of providing lower latency compute power […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud’s newest data center opens in Salt Lake City February 28, 2020 at 05:01AM

Facebook has paused election reminders in Europe after data watchdog raises transparency concerns Big tech’s lead privacy regulator in Europe has intervened to flag transparency concerns about a Facebook election reminder feature — asking the tech giant to provide it with information about what data it collects from users who interact with the notification and how their personal data is used, including whether it’s used for targeting them […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook has paused election reminders in Europe after data watchdog raises transparency concerns February 28, 2020 at 02:01AM

London-based Gyana raises $3.9M for a no-code approach to data science Coding and other computer science expertise remain some of the more important skills that a person can have in the working world today, but in the last few years, we have also seen a big rise in a new generation of tools providing an alternative way of reaping the fruits of technology: “no-code” software, which […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - London-based Gyana raises $3.9M for a no-code approach to data science February 28, 2020 at 02:01AM

As Block exits, Salesforce forecasts it will surpass $20B in revenue in FY2021 When Keith Block joined Salesforce from Oracle in 2013, the CRM giant was already a successful SaaS vendor on a billion dollar quarterly revenue cadence. When the co-CEO announced he was stepping down yesterday, the company reported revenue of $4.9 billion for the quarter. During his tenure, the the company’s scale more than quadrupled, earning […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - As Block exits, Salesforce forecasts it will surpass $20B in revenue in FY2021 February 27, 2020 at 07:00AM

Twitter opens its ‘Hide Replies’ feature to developers Last November, Twitter rolled out its Hide Replies feature to all users worldwide. The feature, largely designed to lessen the power of online trolls to disrupt conversations, lets users decide which replies to their tweets are placed behind an extra click. Today, Twitter is making Hide Replies available to its developer community, allowing for the […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter opens its ‘Hide Replies’ feature to developers February 27, 2020 at 04:00AM

Storytelling community Wattpad embraces adult content with new personalization tools Wattpad, the online storytelling community that’s home to some 80 million monthly users, has successfully tapped into the power of crowdsourcing to help uncover the next potential hits for media companies including Netflix, Hulu, NBCU, Sony Pictures Television, and others worldwide. It even launched its own YA book line to bring its online stories to […] Social – TechCrunch - Storytelling community Wattpad embraces adult content with new personalization tools February 27, 2020 at 03:01AM

Tempo reveals $17M-funded $2000 weight lift training screen Tempo wants to be the Peloton of barbells. It’s a 42-inch tall screen with 3D machine vision that tracks and teaches you as you workout. The giant upright HD display makes it feel like your personal trainer is right there with you while you compete with others in live and on-demand classes. Tempo’s Microsoft Kinect-esque […] Social – TechCrunch - Tempo reveals $17M-funded $2000 weight lift training screen February 27, 2020 at 03:01AM

Freshworks acquires AnsweriQ Customer engagement platform Freshworks today announced that it has acquired AnsweriQ, a startup that provides AI tools for self-service solutions and agent-assisted use cases where the ultimate goal is to quickly provide customers with answers and make agents more efficient. The companies did not disclose the acquisition price. AnsweriQ last raised a funding round in […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Freshworks acquires AnsweriQ February 27, 2020 at 02:01AM

Twilio 2010 board deck gives peek at now-public company’s early days Twilio is best known for its communications API, which allows developers to add messaging, voice or video to their apps with just a small slice of code. The company’s tools are used by customers like Lyft, Airbnb, Salesforce, Box and Duke University. The former startup went public in 2016 at $15 a share. Yesterday Twilio’s […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Twilio 2010 board deck gives peek at now-public company’s early days February 27, 2020 at 02:01AM

How to build neumorphic designs with SwiftUI Try out a new design trend and learn something new Swift Developer News - Hacking with Swift - How to build neumorphic designs with SwiftUI February 27, 2020 at 01:01AM

Stonly grabs $3.5 million to make customer support more interactive Stonly is building a service for customer support teams so that they can share step-by-step guides to solve the most common issues. The startup just raised a $3.5 million funding round led by Accel with business angels also participating, such as Eventbrite CTO Renaud Visage and PeopleDoc founders Jonathan Benhamou and Clément Buyse. The startup […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Stonly grabs $3.5 million to make customer support more interactive February 26, 2020 at 04:01PM

Salesforce grabs Vlocity for $1.33B, a startup with $1B valuation It’s been a big news day for Salesforce . It announced that co-CEO Keith Block would be stepping down, and that it had acquired Vlocity for $1.33 billion in an all-cash deal. It’s no coincidence that Salesforce targeted this startup. It’s a firm that builds six industry-specific CRMs on top of Salesforce — communications, media […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Salesforce grabs Vlocity for $1.33B, a startup with $1B valuation February 26, 2020 at 10:00AM

Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block steps down Salesforce today announced that Keith Block, the company’s co-CEO, is stepping down. This leaves company founder Marc Benioff as the sole CEO and chair of the CRM juggernaut. Block’s bio has already been wiped from Salesforce’s leadership page. Block stepped into the co-CEO role in 2018, after a long career at the company that saw […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block steps down February 26, 2020 at 08:00AM

Three-quarters of Americans lack confidence in tech companies’ ability to fight election interference A significant majority of Americans have lost faith in tech companies’ ability to prevent the misuse of their platforms to influence the 2020 presidential election, according to a new study from Pew Research Center, released today. The study found that nearly three-quarters of Americans (74%) don’t believe platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google will be […] Social – TechCrunch - Three-quarters of Americans lack confidence in tech companies’ ability to fight election interference February 26, 2020 at 06:00AM

Facebook’s latest ‘transparency’ tool doesn’t offer much — so we went digging Just under a month ago Facebook switched on global availability of a tool which affords users a glimpse into the murky world of tracking that its business relies upon to profile users of the wider web for ad targeting purposes. Facebook is not going boldly into transparent daylight — but rather offering what privacy rights […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s latest ‘transparency’ tool doesn’t offer much — so we went digging February 26, 2020 at 04:01AM

HP offers its investors billions in shareholder returns to avoid a Xerox tie-up To ward off a hostile takeover bid by Xerox, which is a much smaller company, HP (not to be confused with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a separate public company) is promising its investors billions and billions of dollars. All investors have to do to get the goods is reject the Xerox deal. In a letter to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - HP offers its investors billions in shareholder returns to avoid a Xerox tie-up February 26, 2020 at 03:01AM

Games already are social networks Video games are only getting more popular. Roughly 2.5 billion people around the world played games last year, double the number of players in 2013. Gaming is a $149 billion industry, growing 7% year over year, with the U.S. as its largest market. In America, the average gamer is 33 years old and 46% of […] Social – TechCrunch - Games already are social networks February 26, 2020 at 02:01AM

A multiverse, not the metaverse Following web forums, web platforms and mobile apps, we are entering a new stage of social media — the multiverse era — where the virtual worlds of games expand to become mainstream hubs for social interaction and entertainment. In a seven-part Extra Crunch series, we will explore why that is the case and which challenges […] Social – TechCrunch - A multiverse, not the metaverse February 26, 2020 at 02:00AM

CircleCI-AWS GovCloud partnership aims to bring modern development to U.S. government Much like private businesses, the United States government is in the process of moving workloads to the cloud, and facing a similar set of challenges. Today, CircleCI, the continuous delivery developer service, announced a partnership with AWS GovCloud to help federal government entities using AWS’s government platform to modernize their applications development workflows. “What this […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - CircleCI-AWS GovCloud partnership aims to bring modern development to U.S. government February 26, 2020 at 01:01AM

Forensic Architecture redeploys surveillance-state tech to combat state-sponsored violence The specter of constant surveillance hangs over all of us in ways we don't even fully understand, but it is also possible to turn the tools of the watchers against them. Forensic Architecture is exhibiting several long-term projects at the Museum of Art and Design in Miami that use the omnipresence of technology as a way to expose crimes and violence by oppressive states. Social – TechCrunch - Forensic Architecture redeploys surveillance-state tech to combat state-sponsored violence February 25, 2020 at 11:00AM

Venmo prototypes a debit card for teenagers Allowance is going digital. Venmo has been spotted prototyping a new feature that would allow adult users to create a debit card connected to their account for their teenage children. That could potentially let parents set spending notifications and limits while giving kids more flexibility in urgent situations than a few dollars stuffed in a […] Social – TechCrunch - Venmo prototypes a debit card for teenagers February 25, 2020 at 07:01AM

Facebook’s Creator Studio gains a mobile companion Facebook’s Creator Studio has added a mobile companion. The insights dashboard for creators and publishers, which debuted globally in August 2018, is now available as a mobile app for both iOS and Android. Similar to the desktop hub, the Creator Studio app allows users to track how their content is performing across Facebook Pages, as […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s Creator Studio gains a mobile companion February 25, 2020 at 05:00AM

Databricks makes bringing data into its ‘lakehouse’ easier Databricks today announced that launch of its new Data Ingestion Network of partners and the launch of its Databricks Ingest service. The idea here is to make it easier for businesses to combine the best of data warehouses and data lakes into a single platform — a concept Databricks likes to call ‘lakehouse.’ At the […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Databricks makes bringing data into its ‘lakehouse’ easier February 25, 2020 at 12:01AM

Lightspeed leads Laiye’s $42M round to bet on Chinese enterprise IT Laiye, a Chinese startup that offers robotic process automation services to several major tech firms in the nation and government agencies, has raised $42 million in a new funding round as it looks to scale its business. The new financing round, Series C, was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Lightspeed China Partners. Cathay Innovation, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Lightspeed leads Laiye’s $42M round to bet on Chinese enterprise IT February 24, 2020 at 01:00PM

Rallyhood exposed a decade of users’ private data Rallyhood says it’s “private and secure.” But for some time, it wasn’t. The social network designed to help groups communicate and coordinate left one of its cloud storage buckets containing user data open and exposed. The bucket, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), was not protected with a password, allowing anyone who knew the easily-guessable […] Social – TechCrunch - Rallyhood exposed a decade of users’ private data February 24, 2020 at 09:00AM

DSP Concepts raises $14.5M for its Audio Weaver platform DSP Concepts — a startup whose Audio Weaver software is used by companies as varied as Tesla, Porsche, GoPro and Braun Audio — is announcing that it’s raised $14.5 million in Series B funding. The startup goal, as explained to me by CEO Chin Beckmann and CTO Paul Beckmann (yep, they’re a husband-and-wife founding team), […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - DSP Concepts raises $14.5M for its Audio Weaver platform February 22, 2020 at 02:01AM

Shopify joins Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra Association After eBay, Visa, Stripe, and other high-profile departures, the Facebook -backed cryptocurrency collective Libra scored a win today with the addition of Shopify. The ecommerce platform will become a member of Libra Association, contributing at least $10 million and operating a node that processes transactions for the Facebook-originated stable coin. If Libra manages to assuage […] Social – TechCrunch - Shopify joins Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra Association February 22, 2020 at 01:01AM

Daily Crunch: Twitter threads are getting easier Twitter is rolling out a “continue thread” button, ViacomCBS has big plans for its streaming service and Morgan Stanley acquires E-Trade. Here’s your Daily Crunch for February 20, 2020. 1. Twitter adds a button so you can thread your shower thoughts Twitter is adding a new feature for mobile users to make it easier to […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Twitter threads are getting easier February 21, 2020 at 03:01AM

As Morgan Stanley buys ETrade, Robinhood preps social trading Before it was worth $7.6 billion, the original idea for Robinhood was a stock trading social network. At my kitchen table in San Francisco in 2013, the founders envisioned an app for sharing hot tips to a feed complete with a leaderboard of whose predictions were most accurate. Once they had SEC approval, they pivoted […] Social – TechCrunch - As Morgan Stanley buys ETrade, Robinhood preps social trading February 21, 2020 at 02:00AM

ChartHop grabs $5M seed led by a16z to automate the org chart ChartHop, a startup that aims to modernize and automate the organizational chart, announced a $5 million seed investment today led by Andreessen Horowitz. A big crowd of other investors also participated including Abstract Ventures, the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund, CoFound, Cowboy Ventures, Flybridge Capital, Shrug Capital, Work Life Ventures and a number of unnamed individual […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - ChartHop grabs $5M seed led by a16z to automate the org chart February 21, 2020 at 12:01AM

Twitter adds a button so you can thread your shower thoughts Hold that tweet — and add another one. Twitter is adding a new feature for mobile users to make it easier to link dispersed ‘shower thoughts’ together — and another thing styleee. Per 9to5Mac, the feature — which Twitter tweeted about yesterday — is slowly rolling out to its iOS app. (At the time of writing […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter adds a button so you can thread your shower thoughts February 20, 2020 at 09:00PM

Thomas Kurian on his first year as Google Cloud CEO “Yes.” That was Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s simple answer when I asked if he thought he’d achieved what he set out to do in his first year. A year ago, he took the helm of Google’s cloud operations — which includes G Suite — and set about giving the organization a sharpened focus by […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Thomas Kurian on his first year as Google Cloud CEO February 20, 2020 at 07:01AM

Google Cloud opens its Seoul region Google Cloud today announced that its new Seoul region, its first in Korea, is now open for business. The region, which it first talked about last April, will feature three availability zones and support for virtually all of Google Cloud’s standard service, ranging from Compute Engine to BigQuery, Bigtable and Cloud Spanner. With this, Google […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud opens its Seoul region February 20, 2020 at 04:01AM

TikTok introduces parental controls with new ‘Family Safety Mode’ feature, launching first in U.K. TikTok announced today the introduction of a new set of parental controls, called “Family Safety Mode,” designed to let parents set limits on their teenage children’s use of the TikTok mobile app. The suite of features includes screen time management controls, limits on direct messages, and a restricted mode that limits the appearance of inappropriate […] Social – TechCrunch - TikTok introduces parental controls with new ‘Family Safety Mode’ feature, launching first in U.K. February 20, 2020 at 02:01AM

SentinelOne raises $200M at a $1.1B valuation to expand its AI-based endpoint security platform As cybercrime continues to evolve and expand, a startup that is building a business focused on endpoint security has raised a big round of funding. SentinelOne — which provides a machine learning-based solution for monitoring and securing laptops, phones, containerised applications and the many other devices and services connected to a network — has picked up […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - SentinelOne raises $200M at a $1.1B valuation to expand its AI-based endpoint security platform February 20, 2020 at 02:01AM

Google Cloud acquires mainframe migration service Cornerstone Google today announced that it has acquired Cornerstone, a Dutch company that specializes in helping enterprise migrate their legacy workloads from mainframes to public clouds. Cornerstone, which provides very hands-on migration assistance, will form the basis of Google Cloud’s mainframe-to-GCP solutions. This move is very much in line with Google Cloud’s overall enterprise strategy, which […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud acquires mainframe migration service Cornerstone February 20, 2020 at 01:01AM

Microsoft Dynamics 365 update is focused on harnessing data Microsoft announced a major update to its Dynamics 365 product line today, which correlates to the growing amount of data in the enterprise, and how to collect and understand that data to produce better customer experiences. This is, in fact, the goal of all vendors in this space including Salesforce and Adobe, who are also […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft Dynamics 365 update is focused on harnessing data February 20, 2020 at 12:02AM

BluBracket scores $6.5M seed to help secure code in distributed environments BluBracket, a new security startup from the folks who brought you Vera, came out of stealth today and announced a $6.5 million seed investment. Unusual Ventures led the round with participation by Point72 Ventures, SignalFire and Firebolt Ventures. The company was launched by Ajay Arora and Prakash Linga, who until last year were CEO and […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - BluBracket scores $6.5M seed to help secure code in distributed environments February 20, 2020 at 12:01AM

Ordway lands $10M Series A to bridge gap between sales and finance Ordway, a Washington, DC startup, is building a platform to deal with all of the stuff that happens after you make sale. It starts with the order and goes all the way to revenue, however that revenue manifests itself — as a one time payment or a recurring subscription. Today the company announced a $10 […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Ordway lands $10M Series A to bridge gap between sales and finance February 19, 2020 at 11:00PM

Twitter acquires Stories template maker Chroma Labs Is “Twitter Stories” on the way? Or will we just get tools to send prettier tweets? Well now Twitter has the talent for both as it’s just acquired Chroma Labs. Co-founded by Instagram Boomerang inventor John Barnett, Chroma Labs’ Chroma Stories app let you fill in stylish layout templates and frames for posting collages and […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter acquires Stories template maker Chroma Labs February 19, 2020 at 09:01AM

Cloud spending said to top $30B in Q4 as Amazon, Microsoft battle for market share We all know the cloud infrastructure market is extremely lucrative; analyst firm Canalys reports that the sector reached $30.2 billion in revenue for Q4 2019. Cloud numbers are hard to parse because companies often lump cloud revenue into a single bucket regardless of whether it’s generated by infrastructure or software. What’s interesting about Canalys’s numbers […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cloud spending said to top $30B in Q4 as Amazon, Microsoft battle for market share February 19, 2020 at 09:01AM

Secret’s founder returns with anti-loneliness app Ikaria “I don’t feel good about that. That sucks” Chrys Bader-Wechseler reflects when asked about the bullying that went down on the anonymous app Secret he co-founded in 2013. After $35 million raised, 15 million users, and a spectacular flame out two years later, the startup was dead. “Since I left secret I feel alive and […] Social – TechCrunch - Secret’s founder returns with anti-loneliness app Ikaria February 19, 2020 at 05:00AM

Dell sells RSA to consortium led by Symphony Technology Group for over $2B Dell Technologies announced today that it was selling legacy security firm RSA for $2.075 billion to a consortium of investors led by Symphony Technology Group. Other investors include Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and AlpInvest Partners. RSA came to Dell when it bought EMC for $67 billion in 2015. EMC bought the company in 2006 […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Dell sells RSA to consortium led by Symphony Technology Group for over $2B February 19, 2020 at 05:00AM

Facebook prototypes tabbed News Feed with Most Recent & Seen Facebook may make it easier to escape its ranking algorithm and explore the News Feed in different formats. Facebook has internally prototyped a tabbed version of the News Feed for mobile that includes that the standard Most Relevant feed, the existing Most Recent feed of reverse chronological posts that was previously buried as a sidebar […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook prototypes tabbed News Feed with Most Recent & Seen February 19, 2020 at 03:01AM

Egnyte unifies its security and productivity tooling into single platform Egnyte announced today it was combining its two main products — Egnyte Protect and Egnyte Connect — into a single platform to help customers manage, govern and secure the data from a single set of tools. Egynte co-founder and CEO Vineet Jain says that this new single platform approach is being driven chiefly by the […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Egnyte unifies its security and productivity tooling into single platform February 19, 2020 at 12:02AM

Facebook asks for a moat of regulations it already meets It’s suspiciously convenient that Facebook already fulfills most of the regulatory requirements it’s asking governments to lay on the rest of the tech industry. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is in Brussels lobbying the European Union’s regulators as they form new laws to govern artificial intelligence, content moderation, and more. But if they follow Facebook’s suggestions, […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook asks for a moat of regulations it already meets February 18, 2020 at 09:00AM

Rippling starts billboard battle with Gusto Remember when Zenefits imploded, and kicked out CEO Parker Conrad. Well, Conrad launched a new employee onboarding startup called Rippling, and now he’s going after another HR company called Gusto with a new billboard, “Outgrowing Gusto? Presto change-o.” The problem is, Gusto got it taken down by issuing a cease & desist order to Rippling […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Rippling starts billboard battle with Gusto February 18, 2020 at 07:00AM

Facebook pushes EU for dilute and fuzzy Internet content rules Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is in Europe this week — attending a security conference in Germany over the weekend where he spoke about the kind of regulation he’d like applied to his platform ahead of a slate of planned meetings with digital heavyweights at the European Commission. “I do think that there should be regulation […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook pushes EU for dilute and fuzzy Internet content rules February 18, 2020 at 01:01AM

The drunken HQ Trivia finale before it shut down was insane “Not gonna lie. This f*cking sucks. This is the last HQ ever!” yelled host Matt Richards . And it just got crazier from there.The farewell game of HQ Trivia before it shut down last night was a beautiful disaster. The hosts cursed, sprayed champagne, threatened to defecate on the homes of trolls in the chat […] Social – TechCrunch - The drunken HQ Trivia finale before it shut down was insane February 16, 2020 at 04:01AM

HQ Trivia shuts down after acquisition falls through HQ Trivia is dead. Today the company laid off its full staff of 25 and will cease operation of its trivia, sports, and word guessing games, a source close to the company confirmed. HQ Trivia had a deal in the works to be acquired, but they buyer pulled out yesterday and investors aren’t willing to […] Social – TechCrunch - HQ Trivia shuts down after acquisition falls through February 15, 2020 at 08:00AM

Bloomberg memes push Instagram to require sponsorship disclosure Instagram is changing its advertising rules to require political campaigns’ sponsored posts from influencers to use its Branded Content Ads tool that adds a disclosure label of “Paid Partnership With”. The change comes after the Bloomberg presidential campaign paid meme makers to post screenshots that showed him asking them to make him look cool. Instagram […] Social – TechCrunch - Bloomberg memes push Instagram to require sponsorship disclosure February 15, 2020 at 02:00AM

Alibaba Cloud revenue reaches $1.5B for the quarter on 62% growth rate Alibaba issued its latest earnings report yesterday, and as part of that the Chinese eCommerce giant reported that cloud revenue grew 62% to $1.5 billion U.S., crossing the RMB10 billion revenue threshold for the first time. Alibaba also announced that it had completed its migration to its own public cloud in the most recent quarter, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Alibaba Cloud revenue reaches $1.5B for the quarter on 62% growth rate February 15, 2020 at 01:01AM

Instagram prototypes “Latest Posts” feature Instagram users who miss the reverse chronological feed might get a new way to see the most recent pics and videos from who they follow. Instagram has been spotted internally prototyping a “Latest Posts” feature. It appears as a pop-up over the main feed and brings users to a special area showing the newest content […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram prototypes “Latest Posts” feature February 14, 2020 at 03:00PM

Facebook’s latest experiment is Hobbi, an app to document your personal projects Facebook is adding another app to its group of experimental projects from the NPE Team, an initiative it announced last year focused on rapidly trying out new ideas in social to see how users react. This week, the team released its fourth app experiment with the launch of Hobbi, a photo and video sharing app […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s latest experiment is Hobbi, an app to document your personal projects February 14, 2020 at 08:00AM

Tinder tests new social features, including prompts and a ‘Share to Matches’ option Tinder is testing a series of new social features designed to boost conversations between users on its service. One of the new features is a conversational prompt, first teased during parent company Match Group’s recent earnings. The prompt encourages users to respond to questions or finish a sentence in order to better showcase their personality […] Social – TechCrunch - Tinder tests new social features, including prompts and a ‘Share to Matches’ option February 14, 2020 at 06:00AM

Judge halts Microsoft work on JEDI contract after AWS request A sealed order from a judge today has halted the $10 billion, decade long JEDI project in its tracks until AWS’s protest of the contract award to Microsoft can be heard by the court. The order signed by Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith of the US Court Federal Claims stated: The United States, by and through […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Judge halts Microsoft work on JEDI contract after AWS request February 14, 2020 at 05:00AM

Google closes $2.6B Looker acquisition When Google announced that it was acquiring data analytics startup Looker for $2.6 billion, it was a big deal on a couple of levels. It was a lot of money and it represented the first large deal under the leadership of Thomas Kurian. Today, the company announced that deal has officially closed and Looker is […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google closes $2.6B Looker acquisition February 14, 2020 at 02:01AM

Datometry snares $17M Series B to help move data and applications to the cloud Moving data to the cloud from an on-prem data warehouse like Teradata is a hard problem to solve, especially if you’ve built custom applications that are based on the data. Datometry, a San Francisco startup, has developed a solution to solve that issue, and today it announced a $17 million Series B investment. WRVI Capital […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Datometry snares $17M Series B to help move data and applications to the cloud February 14, 2020 at 01:00AM

Tozny introduces encrypted identity tool as part of security service platform Tozny, a Portland, Oregon startup that wants to help companies more easily incorporate encryption into their programs and processes, introduced TozID today. It is an identity and access control tool that can work independently or in conjunction with the company’s other encryption tools. “Basically we have a Security as a Service platform, and it’s designed […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Tozny introduces encrypted identity tool as part of security service platform February 14, 2020 at 12:01AM

Facebook Dating launch blocked in Europe after it fails to show privacy workings Facebook has been left red-faced after being forced to call off the launch date of its dating service in Europe because it failed to give its lead EU data regulator enough advanced warning — including failing to demonstrate it had performed a legally required assessment of privacy risks. Late yesterday Ireland’s Independent.ie newspaper reported that […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook Dating launch blocked in Europe after it fails to show privacy workings February 13, 2020 at 07:00PM

FTC votes to review influencer marketing rules & penalties Undisclosed influencer marketing posts on social media should trigger financial penalties, according to a statement released today by the Federal Trade Commission’s Rohit Chopra. The FTC has just voted 5-0 to approve a Federal Register notice calling for public comments on questions related to whether The Endorsement Guides for advertising need to be updated. “When […] Social – TechCrunch - FTC votes to review influencer marketing rules & penalties February 13, 2020 at 05:00AM

Ever Loved’s funeral marketplace undercuts undertakers Fifty percent of families are scared they can’t cover the cost of a funeral. They end up overpaying because no one wants to comparison shop amidst a tragedy. That’s why ex-Googler Alison Johnston’s startup Ever Loved built a free funeral crowdfunding tool. Now it’s addressing one of the most expensive parts of saying goodbye: burial. […] Social – TechCrunch - Ever Loved’s funeral marketplace undercuts undertakers February 13, 2020 at 01:00AM

Model9 gets $9M Series A to move data between mainframes and cloud Model9, an Israeli startup launched by mainframe vets, has come up with a way to transfer data between mainframe computers and the cloud, and today the company announced a $9 million Series A. Intel Capital led the round with help from existing investors including StageOne, North First Ventures and Glenrock Israel. The company reports it […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Model9 gets $9M Series A to move data between mainframes and cloud February 13, 2020 at 12:01AM

UK names its pick for social media ‘harms’ watchdog The UK government has taken the next step in its grand policymaking challenge to tame the worst excesses of social media by regulating a broad range of online harms — naming the existing communications watchdog, Ofcom, as its preferred pick for enforcing rules around ‘harmful speech’ on platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok in […] Social – TechCrunch - UK names its pick for social media ‘harms’ watchdog February 12, 2020 at 10:00PM

Facebook will pay Reuters to fact-check Deepfakes and more Eye-witness photos and videos distributed by news wire Reuters already go through an exhaustive media verification process. Now the publisher will bring that expertise to the fight against misinformation on Facebook. Today it launches the new Reuters Fact Check business unit and blog, announcing that it will become one of the third-party partners tasked with […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook will pay Reuters to fact-check Deepfakes and more February 12, 2020 at 09:00PM

Good news for enterprise startups: SaaS helped kill the single-vendor stack In the old days of enterprise software, when companies like IBM, Oracle and Microsoft ruled the roost, there was a tendency to shop from a single vendor. You bought the whole stack, which made life easier for IT — even if it didn’t always work out so well for end users, who were stuck using […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Good news for enterprise startups: SaaS helped kill the single-vendor stack February 12, 2020 at 03:00AM

Infosys is acquiring Simplus for $250M to grow its Salesforce consulting arm Infosys is a huge consulting organization based in India, which works with clients as they implement complex software integrations. Today, the company announced it was buying Simplus, a Salesforce integration consultant, for $250 million. The company, which is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, launched in 2014 and has raised almost $50 million, according to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Infosys is acquiring Simplus for $250M to grow its Salesforce consulting arm February 12, 2020 at 03:00AM

Tangle EE project joins Eclipse Foundation to bring distributed ledger apps to enterprise As the number of IoT devices proliferate, and machines conduct transactions with machines without humans involved, it becomes increasingly necessary to have a permissionless system that facilitates this kind of communication in a secure way. Enter the IOTA Foundation, a Berlin-based open source distributed ledger technology (DLT) project, which has hooked up with the Eclipse […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Tangle EE project joins Eclipse Foundation to bring distributed ledger apps to enterprise February 12, 2020 at 01:01AM

Google backs productivity startup building algorithmic inbox for Slacks, emails and texts There have been plenty of stories written about the so-called “Slack-lash” and the growing unrest among workers dealing with DM interruptions that take their attention away from the task at hand. Slack is a poster boy for the problem, but VCs have invested heavily in a number of collaboration tools over the past several years […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google backs productivity startup building algorithmic inbox for Slacks, emails and texts February 12, 2020 at 01:01AM

Negotiatus, looking to help businesses optimize purchasing, raises $10 million Negotiatus, a SaaS business meant to optimize and streamline the purchasing and procurement process for businesses, has today announced the close of a $10 million Series A round. The funding was led by Rally Ventures, with participation from ERA, 645 Ventures, Green Visor Capital and Stage 2 Capital. This brings the company’s total funding to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Negotiatus, looking to help businesses optimize purchasing, raises $10 million February 12, 2020 at 01:00AM

Jam lets you safely share streaming app passwords Can’t afford Netflix and HBO and Spotify and Disney+…? Now there’s an app specially built for giving pals your passwords while claiming to keep your credentials safe. It’s called Jam, and the questionably legal service launched in private beta this morning. Founder John Backus tells TechCrunch in his first interview about Jam that it will […] Social – TechCrunch - Jam lets you safely share streaming app passwords February 11, 2020 at 11:00AM

Fb Workplace co-founder launches downtime fire alarm Kintaba “It’s an open secret that every company is on fire” says Kintaba co-founder John Egan. “At any given moment something is going horribly wrong in a way that it has never gone wrong before.” Code failure downtimes, server outages, and hack attacks plague engineering teams. Yet the tools for waking up the right employees, assembling […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Fb Workplace co-founder launches downtime fire alarm Kintaba February 11, 2020 at 04:00AM

Elon Musk tweets out #DeleteFacebook, saying ‘it’s lame’ Facebook receives plenty of pointed criticism from numerous corners, including for refusing to police political speech on Facebook, its seemingly endless string of privacy breaches and its apparent coziness with the Trump administration. One of the platform’s most prominent critics, somewhat unexpectedly, is comic, writer and actor Sacha Baron Cohen. Indeed, his powerful speech to […] Social – TechCrunch - Elon Musk tweets out #DeleteFacebook, saying ‘it’s lame’ February 11, 2020 at 03:00AM

Amazon wants to depose president and secretary of Defense as part of JEDI protest Today, AWS made public its Motion to Supplement the Record in its protest of the JEDI contract decision. As part of that process, the company has announced it wants to depose President Trump and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. When Amazon announced at the end of last year that it was protesting the DoD’s decision […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Amazon wants to depose president and secretary of Defense as part of JEDI protest February 11, 2020 at 03:00AM

Xerox sweetens HP offer to $24 per share as take-over drama continues Ever since Xerox set its sights on HP last November, the companies have been engaged in an ongoing battle. Xerox would like very much to take over the much larger HP, while the printer giant has so far rejected Xerox’s advances. Today, Xerox decided to sweeten the pot, raising its offer by two dollars per […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Xerox sweetens HP offer to $24 per share as take-over drama continues February 11, 2020 at 12:01AM

After $479M round on $12.4B valuation, Snowflake CEO says IPO is next step Snowflake, the cloud-based data warehouse company, doesn’t tend to do small rounds. On Friday night word leaked out about its latest mega round. This one was for $479 million on a $12.4 billion valuation. That’s triple the company’s previous $3.9 billion valuation from October 2018, and CEO Frank Slootman suggested that the company’s next finance […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - After $479M round on $12.4B valuation, Snowflake CEO says IPO is next step February 10, 2020 at 03:00AM

Senators attempt to force Twitter to ban Iranian leadership Four senators, including Ted Cruz (R-TX), have asserted that, as a consequence of sanctions placed on Iran, Twitter must cease providing its services to Ayatollah Khamenei and other leaders in the country. “The Ayatollah enjoys zero protection from the United States Bill of Rights,” he wrote in a letter to the company. Although the move […] Social – TechCrunch - Senators attempt to force Twitter to ban Iranian leadership February 8, 2020 at 06:00AM

Instagram prototypes letting IGTV creators monetize with ads Instagram may finally let IGTV video makers earn money 18 months after launching the longer-form content hub. Instagram confirms to TechCrunch that it has internally prototyped an Instagram Partner Program that would let creators earn money by showing advertisements along with their videos. By giving creators a sustainable and hands-off way to generate earnings from […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram prototypes letting IGTV creators monetize with ads February 7, 2020 at 05:01PM

Twitter-backed ShareChat eyes fantasy sports in India The growing market of fantasy sports in India may soon have a new and odd entrant: ShareChat . The local social networking app, which in August last year raised $100 million in a financing round led by Twitter, has developed a fantasy sports app and has been quietly testing it for six months, two sources […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter-backed ShareChat eyes fantasy sports in India February 7, 2020 at 10:00AM

Instagram gives unfollow suggestions in new ‘following categories’ Instagram will now show you who you interact with least frequently in case you want to unfollow them. In an effort to help you keep your feed clean and relevant, today Instagram is launching ‘following categories’ that divides the list of who you follow into batches including “most seen in feed” and “least interacted with”. […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram gives unfollow suggestions in new ‘following categories’ February 7, 2020 at 05:00AM

Daily Crunch: LinkedIn is getting a 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. Jeff Weiner will step down as CEO of LinkedIn June 1, product head Ryan Roslansky steps up The changes are LinkedIn’s […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: LinkedIn is getting a new CEO February 7, 2020 at 03:00AM

Daily Crunch: LinkedIn is getting a 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. Jeff Weiner will step down as CEO of LinkedIn June 1, product head Ryan Roslansky steps up The changes are LinkedIn’s […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: LinkedIn is getting a new CEO February 7, 2020 at 03:00AM

Forescout to be acquired by a pair of private equity firms for $1.9B Forescout, the network security company that has been publicly traded since 2017, announced today it was going private again. Private equity firms Advent International and Crosspoint Capital are acquiring the company in an all-cash purchase of $1.9 billion. The two private equity firms will pay $33 per share, which represented a premium of 30% over […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Forescout to be acquired by a pair of private equity firms for $1.9B February 7, 2020 at 03:00AM

Netskope hauls in another $340M investment on nearly $3B valuation Netskope has always focused its particular flavor of security on the cloud, and as more workloads have moved there, it has certainly worked in its favor. Today the company announced a $340 million investment on a valuation of nearly $3 billion. Sequoia Capital Global Equities led the round, but in a round this large, there […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Netskope hauls in another $340M investment on nearly $3B valuation February 7, 2020 at 02:01AM

Facebook’s use of Onavo spyware faces questions in EU antitrust probe — report Facebook’s use of the Onavo spyware VPN app it acquired in 2013 — and used to inform its 2014 purchase of the then rival WhatsApp messaging platform — is on the radar of Europe’s antitrust regulator, per a report in the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports that the Commission has requested a large volume […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s use of Onavo spyware faces questions in EU antitrust probe — report February 7, 2020 at 01:00AM

Datree announces $8M Series A as it joins Y Combinator Datree, the early stage startup building a DevOps policy engine on GitHub, announced an $8 million Series A today. It also announced it has joined the Y Combinator Winter 20 cohort. Blumberg and TLV Partners led the round with participation from Y Combinator . The company has now raised $11 million with the $3 million […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Datree announces $8M Series A as it joins Y Combinator February 7, 2020 at 12:01AM

What’s new in Swift 5.2 Key path expressions as functions, callAsFunction, and more Swift Developer News - Hacking with Swift - What’s new in Swift 5.2 February 6, 2020 at 09:00AM

Google Cloud makes strides but still has a long way to go In earnings reported this week, Alphabet announced that Google Cloud generated a robust $2.61 billion for the quarter, a number that includes revenue from both Google Cloud Platform and G Suite. That puts the division on a nice little run rate of $10.44 billion. It feels like a lot until you consider that Microsoft had a […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud makes strides but still has a long way to go February 6, 2020 at 09:00AM

Where top VCs are investing in open source and dev tools (Part 2 of 2) In part two of a survey that asks top VCs about exciting opportunities in open source and dev tools, we dig into responses from 10 leading open-source-focused investors at firms that span early to growth stage across software-specific firms, corporate venture arms and prominent generalist firms. Where top VCs are investing in open source and […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Where top VCs are investing in open source and dev tools (Part 2 of 2) February 6, 2020 at 08:00AM

Where top VCs are investing in open source and dev tools (Part 1 of 2) The once-polarizing world of open-source software has recently become one of the hotter destinations for VCs. As the popularity of open source increases among organizations and developers, startups in the space have reached new heights and monstrous valuations. Over the past several years, we’ve seen surging open-source companies like Databricks reach unicorn status, as well […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Where top VCs are investing in open source and dev tools (Part 1 of 2) February 6, 2020 at 08:00AM

How Hoop hit #2 with its Tinder for Snapchat Snapchat’s developer platform is blowing up as a gateway to teen social app users. Hoop is the latest Snap Kit blockbuster, rocketing to #2 on the overall App Store charts this month with its Tinder -esque swiping interface for discovering people and asking to message with them over Snapchat. Within a week of going viral, […] Social – TechCrunch - How Hoop hit #2 with its Tinder for Snapchat February 6, 2020 at 05:00AM

Jeff Weiner will step down as CEO of LinkedIn June 1, product head Ryan Roslansky steps up Major change ahead for LinkedIn, the social network for the working world, now with 675 million members. Jeff Weiner, who has been leading the company as CEO for the past 11 years, is stepping down on June 1, 2020. His new role will be executive chairman. Ryan Roslansky, who is currently head of product, will […] Social – TechCrunch - Jeff Weiner will step down as CEO of LinkedIn June 1, product head Ryan Roslansky steps up February 6, 2020 at 04:01AM

Calling all cosmic startups – pitch at TechCrunch’s space event in LA Founders – it’s time to shoot for the stars. For the first time ever, TechCrunch is hosting a brand new event TC Sessions: Space on June 25th in Los Angeles. But that’s not all, because on June 24th TechCrunch will host a Pitch Night exclusively for early stage space startups. Yep, that’s right. On top […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Calling all cosmic startups – pitch at TechCrunch’s space event in LA February 6, 2020 at 02:00AM

Aiven raises $40M to democratize access to open source projects through managed cloud services The growing ubiquity of open source software has been a big theme in the evolution of enterprise IT. But behind that facade of popularity lies another kind of truth: companies may be interested in using more open-source technology, but since there is a learning curve with taking on an source project, not all of them […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Aiven raises $40M to democratize access to open source projects through managed cloud services February 6, 2020 at 01:00AM