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Aaron Levie: ‘We have way too many manual processes in businesses’ Box CEO Aaron Levie has been working to change the software world for 15 years, but the pandemic has accelerated the move to cloud services much faster than anyone imagined. As he pointed out yesterday in an Extra Crunch Live interview, who would have thought three months ago that businesses like yoga and cooking classes […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Aaron Levie: ‘We have way too many manual processes in businesses’ May 30, 2020 at 05:00AM

4 views on the future of retail and the shopping experience While the present is largely bleak, preparing for the future has retailers adopting technologies faster than ever. Their resilience and innovation means retail will look and fee different when the world reopens. Social – TechCrunch - 4 views on the future of retail and the shopping experience May 30, 2020 at 05:00AM

Salesforce stock is taking a hit today after lighter guidance in yesterday’s earning’s report In spite of a positive quarter with record revenue that beat analyst estimates, Salesforce stock was taking a hit today because of lighter guidance. Wall Street is a tough audience. The stock was down $8.29/share or 4.58% as of 2:15 pm ET. The guidance, which was a projection for next quarter’s earnings, was lighter than […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Salesforce stock is taking a hit today after lighter guidance in yesterday’s earning’s report May 30, 2020 at 04:00AM

Daily Crunch: Trump takes aim at social media companies President Trump follows through on his threat to challenge the legal protections enjoyed by social media and internet companies, Magic Leap’s CEO is stepping down and China sees its biggest autonomous driving round yet. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 29, 2020. 1. Trump signs an executive order taking direct aim at social media companies […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Trump takes aim at social media companies May 30, 2020 at 04:00AM

How startups can leverage elastic services for cost optimization The landscape shifts quickly, but managed services providers enable organizations to repurpose full-time staff members from impacted operations to more strategic product lines or initiatives. Enterprise – TechCrunch - How startups can leverage elastic services for cost optimization May 30, 2020 at 12:03AM

Facebook takes on Twitter with Venue, a ‘second screen’ companion for live events Facebook’s R&D group, NPE Team, is launching a new app for engaging fellow fans around live events, Venue. This is the third new app to launch just this week from Facebook’s internal team focused on experimenting with new concepts in social networking. With Venue, the company aims to offer a digital companion for live events, […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook takes on Twitter with Venue, a ‘second screen’ companion for live events May 29, 2020 at 11:00PM

Cisco to acquire internet monitoring solution ThousandEyes When Cisco bought AppDynamics in 2017 for $3.7 billion just before the IPO, the company sent a clear signal it wanted to move beyond its pure network hardware roots into the software monitoring side of the equation. Yesterday afternoon the company announced it intends to buy another monitoring company, this time snagging internet monitoring solution […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cisco to acquire internet monitoring solution ThousandEyes May 29, 2020 at 10:00PM

Twitter screens Trump’s Minneapolis threat-tweet for glorifying violence After applying a fact-checking label Tuesday to a misleading vote-by-mail tweet made by US president Donald Trump, Twitter is on a roll and has labeled another of the president’s tweets — this time screening his words from casual view with what it calls a “public interest notice” that states the tweet violated its rules about glorifying […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter screens Trump’s Minneapolis threat-tweet for glorifying violence May 29, 2020 at 07:00PM

New book: Understanding Swift Answers common beginner questions and more Swift Developer News - Hacking with Swift - New book: Understanding Swift May 29, 2020 at 07:00PM

Trump signs an executive order taking direct aim at social media companies On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order taking aim at the legal shield that internet companies rely on to protect them from liability for user-created content. That law, known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is essential to large social platforms like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, the kind of companies the president […] Social – TechCrunch - Trump signs an executive order taking direct aim at social media companies May 29, 2020 at 06:00AM

Going to war with Twitter, Trump threatens critical social media legal protections Accusing Twitter of censorship for adding a contextual label to false claims he made about the 2020 election process, President Trump has again declared war on social media companies. After the White House told reporters that the president would soon announce an executive order “pertaining to social media,” the draft of that order is out […] Social – TechCrunch - Going to war with Twitter, Trump threatens critical social media legal protections May 29, 2020 at 03:00AM

Daily Crunch: Twitter vs. Trump Tensions escalate between President Trump and his favorite social media platform, Google and Microsoft considering investing in the Indian telecom market and the Raspberry Pi foundation announces a new Raspberry Pi. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 28, 2020. 1. Jack Dorsey explains why Twitter fact-checked Trump’s false voting claims After Twitter flagged a pair […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Twitter vs. Trump May 29, 2020 at 03:00AM

Mirantis releases its first major update to Docker Enterprise In a surprise move, Mirantis acquired Docker’s Enterprise platform business at the end of last year and while Docker itself is refocusing on developers, Mirantis kept the Docker Enterprise name and product. Today, Mirantis is rolling out its first major update to Docker Enterprise with the release of version 3.1. For the most part, these […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Mirantis releases its first major update to Docker Enterprise May 29, 2020 at 02:00AM

Wasabi announces $30M in debt financing as cloud storage business continues to grow We may be in the thick of a pandemic with all of the economic fallout that comes from that, but certain aspects of technology don’t change no matter the external factors. Storage is one of them. In fact, we are generating more digital stuff than ever, and Wasabi, a Boston-based startup that has figured out […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Wasabi announces $30M in debt financing as cloud storage business continues to grow May 28, 2020 at 11:00PM

Jack Dorsey explains why Twitter fact-checked Trump’s false voting claims After Twitter flagged a pair of President Trump’s tweets with a fact-checking label on Tuesday, tensions between the president and his favored social media platform are running high. On Wednesday night, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey—rarely one to pick a political fight—took to his own platform to clarify the company’s decision. Fact check: there is someone […] Social – TechCrunch - Jack Dorsey explains why Twitter fact-checked Trump’s false voting claims May 28, 2020 at 02:00PM

Investors say emerging multiverses are the future of entertainment The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the adoption of new technologies and cultural shifts that were already well underway. According to a clutch of heavy-hitting investors, this dynamic is particularly strong in gaming and extended reality. Unlike other segments of the startup and tech world, where valuations have been slashed, early-stage companies focused on building new […] Social – TechCrunch - Investors say emerging multiverses are the future of entertainment May 28, 2020 at 10:00AM

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg shares his COVID-19 strategy and tactics This week, Verizon Communications CEO Hans Vestberg joined us for an episode of Extra Crunch Live. Vestberg is leading the company through the midst of one its biggest rollouts to date with the push into 5G connectivity. In our discussion, he spoke about how he’s managing the organization during this global crisis, his thoughts on […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg shares his COVID-19 strategy and tactics May 28, 2020 at 06:00AM

Docker expands relationship with Microsoft to ease developer experience across platforms When Docker sold off its enterprise division to Mirantis last fall, that didn’t mark the end of the company. In fact, Docker still exists and has refocused as a cloud-native developer tools vendor. Today it announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft around simplifying running Docker containers in Azure. As its new mission suggests, it involves […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Docker expands relationship with Microsoft to ease developer experience across platforms May 28, 2020 at 04:00AM

Instagram to test new revenue streams, including badges and IGTV ads Instagram today is launching new tools that enable video creators to make money, including badges that viewers can purchase during Instagram Live videos and the introduction of IGTV ads. Both launches are considered a test, as the company is limiting the features’ availability during its experimentation phase, it says. Badges will give viewers a way […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram to test new revenue streams, including badges and IGTV ads May 28, 2020 at 03:00AM

RudderStack raises $5M seed round for its open-source Segment competitor RudderStack, a startup that offers an open-source alternative to customer data management platforms like Segment, today announced that it has raised a $5 million seed round led by S28 Captial. Salil Deshpande of Uncorrelated Ventures and Mesosphere/D2iQ co-founder Florian Leibert (through 468 Capital) also participated in this round. In addition, the company also today announced […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - RudderStack raises $5M seed round for its open-source Segment competitor May 28, 2020 at 02:00AM

Facebook launches Collab, a mix-and-match app for making collaborative music videos Facebook’s internal R&D group, NPE Team, is rolling out yet another new app today called Collab after having just launched a new group audio calling app, CatchUp, on Tuesday. With Collab, the focus has now returned to video, and specifically, the concept of watching, mixing, and matching original videos together, beginning with music. In Collab, […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook launches Collab, a mix-and-match app for making collaborative music videos May 28, 2020 at 12:04AM

Toro snags $4M seed investment to monitor data quality Toro’s founders started at Uber helping monitor the data quality in the company’s vast data catalogs, and they wanted to put that experience to work for a more general audience. Today, the company announced a $4 million seed round. The round was co-led by Costanoa Ventures and Point72 Ventures with help from a number of […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Toro snags $4M seed investment to monitor data quality May 27, 2020 at 11:00PM

Census raises $4.3M seed to put product info in cloud data warehouses to work Companies spend inordinate amounts of time and money building data warehouses and moving data from enterprise applications. But once they get the data in, how do they get specific information like product data back out and distribute it to business operations, who can use it to better understand customers? That’s where Census comes in. It […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Census raises $4.3M seed to put product info in cloud data warehouses to work May 27, 2020 at 11:00PM

Kentik raises $23.5M for its network intelligence platform Kentik, the company once known as CloudHelix, today announced that it has raised a $23.5 million growth funding round led by Vistara Capital Partners, with existing investors August Capital, Third Point Ventures, DCVC, and Tahoma Ventures also participating. With this round, Kentik has now raised a total of $61.7 million. The company’s platform allows enterprises […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Kentik raises $23.5M for its network intelligence platform May 27, 2020 at 11:00PM

After Twitter fact-check, Trump threatens to regulate or close down social media platforms Once again, Trump has doubled down. Following the addition of a fact-checking warning label added to his tweet about mail-in ballots, Trump took to the platform yet again to denounce it. In what may be his strongest words to date against a service that has largely given him free rein to this point, the President […] Social – TechCrunch - After Twitter fact-check, Trump threatens to regulate or close down social media platforms May 27, 2020 at 11:00PM

Google removes millions of negative TikTok reviews amid backlash in India ByteDance’s TikTok app, which has gained hundreds of millions of users in India with its short-form videos, is facing criticism in its biggest overseas market after disturbing videos surfaced on the platform. Phrases such as BanTikTok, DeleteTikTok, and BlockTikTok have trended on Twitter in India in the past three weeks after numerous users expressed disgust […] Social – TechCrunch - Google removes millions of negative TikTok reviews amid backlash in India May 27, 2020 at 05:00PM

Twitter adds a warning label fact-checking Trump’s false voting claims On the heels of a furor over his tweets accusing MSNBC host Joe Scarborough of murder, Twitter has quietly begun to fact-check the president. A new warning label encouraging Twitter users to “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” appeared on a series of tweets in which the president baselessly claimed ballots received through mail-in voting […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter adds a warning label fact-checking Trump’s false voting claims May 27, 2020 at 08:00AM

Twitter plans to expand its misinformation labels—but will they apply to Trump? President Trump is again testing Twitter’s stomach for misinformation flowing from its most prominent users. In a flurry of recent tweets, Trump floated conspiracy theories about the death of Lori Klausutis, an intern for former congressman Joe Scarborough who was found dead in his Florida office in 2001—a freak accident a medical examiner reported resulted […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter plans to expand its misinformation labels—but will they apply to Trump? May 27, 2020 at 04:00AM

Extra Crunch Live: Join Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg for a live Q&A today at 2pm EDT/11am PDT As the leader of a publicly traded corporation with 135,000 employees, Verizon Communications CEO Hans Vestberg has a unique perspective on the state of the world. When he appears today on Extra Crunch Live, our virtual speaker series for Extra Crunch members, we’ll ask him about this extraordinary moment in history and his plans for […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Extra Crunch Live: Join Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg for a live Q&A today at 2pm EDT/11am PDT May 27, 2020 at 12:03AM

Baton raises $10M Series A to organize post-sale implementation Baton, an early-stage startup that wants to help customers organize the post-sales implementation process, emerged from stealth today with a $10 million Series A investment. Activant Capital led the round with help from Global Founders Capital and Hybris founder Carsten Thoma. Like so many startups, the idea for Baton stemmed from a pain point that […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Baton raises $10M Series A to organize post-sale implementation May 27, 2020 at 12:03AM

Scandit raises $80M as COVID-19 drives demand for contactless deliveries Enterprise barcode scanner company Scandit has closed an $80 million Series C round, led by Silicon Valley VC firm G2VP. Atomico, GV, Kreos, NGP Capital, Salesforce Ventures and Swisscom Ventures also participated in the round — which brings its total raised to date to $123M. The Zurich-based firm offers a platform that combines computer vision […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Scandit raises $80M as COVID-19 drives demand for contactless deliveries May 26, 2020 at 08:00PM

This Week in Apps: Facebook takes on Shopify, Tinder considers its future, contact-tracing tech goes live We continue to look at how the pandemic is impacting the world of mobile apps. Notably, we saw the launch of the Apple/Google exposure notification API with the latest version of iOS. Social – TechCrunch - This Week in Apps: Facebook takes on Shopify, Tinder considers its future, contact-tracing tech goes live May 24, 2020 at 05:00AM

IBM confirms layoffs are happening, but won’t provide details IBM confirmed reports from over night that it is conducting layoffs, but wouldn’t provide details related to location, departments or number of employees involved. The company framed it in terms of replacing people with more needed skills as it tries to regroup under new CEO Arvind Krishna. “IBM’s work in a highly competitive marketplace requires […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - IBM confirms layoffs are happening, but won’t provide details May 23, 2020 at 01:00AM

Facebook’s Workplace, now with 5M paying users, adds drop-in video Rooms and more One of the biggest technology takeaways of the last couple of months has been that organizations need confident, wide-ranging digital strategies to stay afloat, and Facebook — in its wider bid to build products to serve businesses — is taking note. In the same week that the social network doubled down on business tools for […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s Workplace, now with 5M paying users, adds drop-in video Rooms and more May 22, 2020 at 09:00AM

Extra Crunch Live: Join Box CEO Aaron Levie May 28th at noon PT/3 pm ET/7 pm GMT We’ve been on a roll with our Extra Crunch Live Series for Extra Crunch members, where we’re talking to some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley about business, investment and the startup community. Recent interviews include Kirsten Green from Forerunner Ventures, Charles Hudson from Precursor Ventures and investor Mark Cuban. Next week, we’re pleased […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Extra Crunch Live: Join Box CEO Aaron Levie May 28th at noon PT/3 pm ET/7 pm GMT May 22, 2020 at 05:00AM

Facebook makes big remote work moves with plan for new hubs in Dallas, Denver and Atlanta In a live-streamed town hall, Mark Zuckerberg gave an overview for what he expects in the near future as Facebook pursues accommodations to keep workers productive and safe during the COVID-19 crisis. The move comes as large tech companies reassess the viability of their iconic Silicon Valley campuses, now empty as the pandemic keeps most […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook makes big remote work moves with plan for new hubs in Dallas, Denver and Atlanta May 22, 2020 at 04:00AM

Daily Crunch: Twitter tests limiting replies Twitter is giving users tools to avoid abusive or annoying replies, MakeSpace raises $55 million and Sphero gets a new CEO and a new spinoff. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 21, 2020. 1. Twitter is testing a feature that limits who can reply to your tweets Users can pick from one of three options: […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Twitter tests limiting replies May 22, 2020 at 02:00AM

The Trash app’s new features can create AI-edited music videos and more The team behind Trash, an app that uses artificial intelligence to edit your video footage, launched a number of new features this week that should make it more useful for anyone — but especially independent musicians. I wrote about the startup last summer, when CEO Hannah Donovan told me that her work as Vine’s general […] Social – TechCrunch - The Trash app’s new features can create AI-edited music videos and more May 22, 2020 at 02:00AM

11 VCs share their thoughts on enterprise startup trends and opportunities Compared to other tech firms, enterprise companies have held up well during the pandemic. If anything, the problems enterprises were facing prior to the economic downturn have become even more pronounced; if you were thinking about moving to the cloud or just dabbling in it, you’re probably accelerating that motion. If you were trying to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - 11 VCs share their thoughts on enterprise startup trends and opportunities May 22, 2020 at 12:04AM

6 CISOs share their game plans for a post-pandemic world CISOs have shifted their roles quickly and dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, but many have had to fight fires they never expected. Enterprise – TechCrunch - 6 CISOs share their game plans for a post-pandemic world May 21, 2020 at 11:00PM

Facebook introduces new Messenger safeguard aimed at combating scams and fake friends Facebook this morning announced a new feature for Messenger designed to cut down on malicious parties looking to scam users. The company scans accounts for suspicious activity, leveraging machine learning to pick up anomalies like accounts sending a large number of requests in a short time span or numerous message requests to users under 18. […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook introduces new Messenger safeguard aimed at combating scams and fake friends May 21, 2020 at 11:00PM

Couchbase raises $105M Series G funding round Couchbase. the Santa Clara-based company behind the eponymous NoSQL cloud database service, today announced that it has raised a $105 million all-equity Series G round “to expand product development and global go-to-market capabilities.” The oversubscribed round was led by GPI Capital, with participation from existing investors Accel, Sorenson Capital, North Bridge Venture Partners, Glynn Capital, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Couchbase raises $105M Series G funding round May 21, 2020 at 10:00PM

Salesforce Commerce Cloud releases four quick-start pandemic business packs As we move deeper into the pandemic, it’s clear that the way we conduct business is changing, maybe forever. That means that business has to change too — and fast. But if you’ve never conducted business digitally or only nominally, how do you suddenly transform on the fly? Salesforce Commerce Cloud CEO Mike Micucci says […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Salesforce Commerce Cloud releases four quick-start pandemic business packs May 21, 2020 at 10:00PM

Chief, the leadership network for women, raises $15 million in funding Chief, the social network dedicated exclusively to women in professional leadership positions, announced today that it has $15 million in funding from its existing investors, including General Catalyst, Inspired Capital, GGV Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital and BoxGroup. The startup is a highly-vetted network of women who are leaders in their business, either managing […] Social – TechCrunch - Chief, the leadership network for women, raises $15 million in funding May 21, 2020 at 10:00PM

Facebook’s new safety feature for women in India: Easily lock the account from strangers Facebook has rolled out a new safety feature in India that will enable users to easily lock their account so that people they are not friends with on the platform cannot view their posts and zoom into and download their profile picture and cover photo. The feature is especially aimed at women to give them […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s new safety feature for women in India: Easily lock the account from strangers May 21, 2020 at 07:00PM

Twitter is testing a feature that limits who can reply to your tweets Twitter today acknowledged that it has begun testing a new setting that lets users limit who can reply to tweets. The setting was first noted earlier this year. Similar to Facebook’s post view settings, the current implementation features a small glove icon in the corner. Tapping on it brings up a “Who Can Reply?” window. […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter is testing a feature that limits who can reply to your tweets May 21, 2020 at 09:00AM

With BuzzFeed’s new feature, you can take a Quiz Party with friends It’s been a rough couple months for BuzzFeed (and media in general), but the company is still releasing fun new features. Today’s addition offers a new, more social take on the quizzes that the site is known for. Instead of taking a quiz on your own and then sharing the results on social media (or […] Social – TechCrunch - With BuzzFeed’s new feature, you can take a Quiz Party with friends May 21, 2020 at 06:00AM

Google Cloud earns defense contract win for Anthos multi-cloud management tool Google dropped out of the Pentagon’s JEDI cloud contract battle fairly early in the game, citing it was in conflict with its “AI principals.” However, today the company announced a new 7 figure contract with DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a big win for the cloud unit and CEO Thomas Kurian. While the company would […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud earns defense contract win for Anthos multi-cloud management tool May 21, 2020 at 02:00AM

Daily Crunch: Facebook unveils its Shops e-commerce platform Facebook and Instagram are making a bigger push into e-commerce, MasterClass raises $100 million and Microsoft launches a new project management tool called Lists. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 20, 2020. 1. Facebook and Instagram roll out Shops, turning business profiles into storefronts Both Facebook and Instagram already supported a degree of e-commerce — […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook unveils its Shops e-commerce platform May 21, 2020 at 02:00AM

Directly, which trains customer service chatbots with expert advice, raises $11M more Directly, a startup whose mission is to help build better customer service chatbots by using experts in specific areas to train them, has raised more funding as it opens up a new front to grow its business: APIs and a partner ecosystem that can now also tap into its expert network. Today Directly is announcing […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Directly, which trains customer service chatbots with expert advice, raises $11M more May 20, 2020 at 11:00PM

BetterCloud scores $75M Series F as SaaS management needs grow BetterCloud gives IT visibility into its SaaS tools providing the means to discover, manage and secure those tools. In the middle of a crisis that has forced most companies to move workers home, being able to manage SaaS usage in this way is growing increasingly significant. Today the company announced a $75 million Series F. […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - BetterCloud scores $75M Series F as SaaS management needs grow May 20, 2020 at 11:00PM

FireHydrant lands $8M Series A for disaster management tool When I spoke to Robert Ross, CEO and co-founder at FireHydrant last week, we had a technology adventure. First the audio wasn’t working correctly on Zoom, then Google Meet. Finally we used cell phones to complete the interview. It was like a case study in what FireHydrant is designed to do — help companies manage […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - FireHydrant lands $8M Series A for disaster management tool May 20, 2020 at 11:00PM

Identity management startup Truework raises $30M to help you verify your work history As organizations look for safe and efficient ways of running their services in the new global paradigm of increased social distancing, a startup that has built a platform to help people verify their work details in a secure way is announcing a round of growth funding. Truework, which provides a way for banks, apartment-rental agencies, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Identity management startup Truework raises $30M to help you verify your work history May 20, 2020 at 10:00PM

Facebook and Instagram roll out Shops, turning business profiles into storefronts Starting today, you’ll be able to browse and buy products directly from a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile. Both Facebook and Instagram already supported a degree of ecommerce — for example, Facebook has its Marketplace and will likely make a bigger push through its Libra cryptocurrency initiative, while Instagram allows users to buy products […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook and Instagram roll out Shops, turning business profiles into storefronts May 20, 2020 at 03:00AM

Daily Crunch: Disney’s streaming chief departs for TikTok TikTok enlists a big name from Disney as its new CEO, Walmart is shuttering its Jet e-commerce brand and EasyJet admits to a major data breach. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 19, 2020. 1. Disney streaming exec Kevin Mayer becomes TikTok’s new CEO Mayer’s role involved overseeing Disney’s streaming strategy, including the launch of […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Disney’s streaming chief departs for TikTok May 20, 2020 at 02:00AM

Microsoft launches industry-specific cloud solutions, starting with healthcare Microsoft today announced the launch of the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, an industry-specific cloud solution for healthcare providers. This is the first in what is likely going to be a set of cloud offerings that target specific verticals and extends a trend we’ve seen among large cloud providers (especially Google), who tailor specific offerings to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft launches industry-specific cloud solutions, starting with healthcare May 20, 2020 at 01:00AM

Microsoft launches Azure Synapse Link to help enterprises get faster insights from their data At its Build developer conference, Microsoft today announced Azure Synapse Link, a new enterprise service that allows businesses to analyze their data faster and more efficiently, using an approach that’s generally called ‘hybrid transaction/analytical processing’ (HTAP). That’s a mouthful, it essentially enables enterprises to use the same database system for analytical and transactional workloads on […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft launches Azure Synapse Link to help enterprises get faster insights from their data May 20, 2020 at 01:00AM

Microsoft launches Project Bonsai, its new machine teaching service for building autonomous systems At its Build developer conference, Microsoft today announced that Project Bonsai, its new machine teaching service, is now in public preview. If that name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you remember that Microsoft acquired Bonsai, a company that focuses on machine teaching, back in 2018. Bonsai combined simulation tools with different machine learning techniques to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft launches Project Bonsai, its new machine teaching service for building autonomous systems May 20, 2020 at 01:00AM

Algolia gets a new CEO as founder steps down Search-as-a-service startup Algolia is announcing some changes at the helm of the startup. Co-founder and CEO Nicolas Dessaigne is transitioning to a non-operational role at the company. He’ll still be a board member, but Bernadette Nixon is joining the company to take on the CEO position. Algolia is building a search engine API. The company […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Algolia gets a new CEO as founder steps down May 19, 2020 at 11:00PM

Europe to Facebook: Pay taxes and respect our values — or we’ll regulate A livestreamed “debate” yesterday between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a European commissioner shaping digital policy for the internal market, Thierry Breton, sounded cordial enough on the surface, with Breton making several chummy references to “Mark” — and talking about “having dialogue to establish the right governance” for digital platforms — while Zuckerberg kept it […] Social – TechCrunch - Europe to Facebook: Pay taxes and respect our values — or we’ll regulate May 19, 2020 at 10:00PM

Arculus raises €16M to upgrade assembly lines with its ‘modular production platform’ Arculus, the Ingolstadt, Germany-based startup that has developed a “modular production platform” to bring assembly lines into the 21st century, has raised €16 million in Series A investment. Leading the round is European venture firm Atomico, with participation from Visionaries Club and previous investor La Famiglia. Arculus says it will use the injection of capital […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Arculus raises €16M to upgrade assembly lines with its ‘modular production platform’ May 19, 2020 at 07:00PM

Disney streaming exec Kevin Mayer becomes TikTok’s new CEO Kevin Mayer, head of The Walt Disney Company’s direct-to-consumer and international business, is departing to become CEO of TikTok, as well as COO of the popular video app’s parent company ByteDance. Founder Yiming Zhang will continue to serve as ByteDance CEO, while TikTok President Alex Zhu (formerly the co-founder of the predecessor app Musical.ly) becomes […] Social – TechCrunch - Disney streaming exec Kevin Mayer becomes TikTok’s new CEO May 19, 2020 at 07:00AM

Verizon wraps up BlueJeans acquisition lickety split When Verizon (which owns this publication) announced it was buying video conferencing company BlueJeans for around $500 million last month, you probably thought it was going take awhile to bake, but the companies announced today that they has closed the deal. While it’s crystal clear that video conferencing is a hot item during the pandemic, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Verizon wraps up BlueJeans acquisition lickety split May 19, 2020 at 06:00AM

GO1, an enterprise learning platform, picks up $40M from Microsoft, Salesforce and more With a large proportion of knowledge workers doing now doing their jobs from home, the need for tools to help them feel connected to their profession can be as important as tools to, more practically, keep them connected. Today, a company whose platform helps do precisely that is announcing a growth round of funding after […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - GO1, an enterprise learning platform, picks up $40M from Microsoft, Salesforce and more May 19, 2020 at 12:03AM

Electric gets another $7 million in funding from 01 Advisors and the Slack Fund Electric, the platform that puts the IT department in the cloud, has today announced new funding following a continuation of its Series B earlier this year. Dick Costolo and Adam Bain (01 Advisors) and the Slack Fund participated in the $7 million capital infusion. 01 Advisors put up the majority of the financing ($6 million) […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Electric gets another $7 million in funding from 01 Advisors and the Slack Fund May 18, 2020 at 10:00PM

The Great Reset We’re entering a new paradigm, and that brings possibilities. Now, founders, is the time to build. Social – TechCrunch - The Great Reset May 18, 2020 at 03:00AM

The real threat of fake voices in a time of crisis We must adopt better technological defenses to ensure that deepfake text doesn’t further threaten American democracy during a time of crisis. Social – TechCrunch - The real threat of fake voices in a time of crisis May 17, 2020 at 04:00AM

(Formerly Augean) Burro is giving a helping hand to field workers Rather than focusing on robots that will replace human workers outright, the company has created a semi-autonomous robotic cart that saves pickers a long trip. Enterprise – TechCrunch - (Formerly Augean) Burro is giving a helping hand to field workers May 16, 2020 at 05:00AM

Facebook to acquire Giphy in a deal reportedly worth $400 million Facebook will acquire Giphy, the web-based animated gif search engine and platform provider, Facebook confirmed today, in a deal worth around $400 million, according to a report by Axios. Facebook said it isn’t disclosing terms of the deal. Giphy has grown to be a central source for shareable, high-engagement content, and its animated response gifs are […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook to acquire Giphy in a deal reportedly worth $400 million May 16, 2020 at 04:00AM

Daily Crunch: Facebook is acquiring Giphy Facebook acquires a popular GIF search engine, video game sales see major growth and Sorrentino reports promising results for a COVID-19 treatment. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 15, 2020. 1. Facebook to acquire Giphy in a deal reportedly worth $400 million Facebook will acquire Giphy, the web-based animated GIF search engine and platform provider. […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook is acquiring Giphy May 16, 2020 at 03:00AM

Building and investing in the ‘human needs economy’ Products and services that have material impact on basic needs and livelihoods and address a core draw on a consumer’s time, money or energy present great opportunities. Social – TechCrunch - Building and investing in the ‘human needs economy’ May 16, 2020 at 12:04AM

What’s new in Swift 5.3? Multiple trailing closures, massive package manager improvements, and more. Swift Developer News - Hacking with Swift - What’s new in Swift 5.3? May 15, 2020 at 11:00PM

Facebook’s social Zoom competitor Messenger Rooms goes live globally Zoom was never meant to be a social network, but the enterprise video chat app has become essential software for those looking to stay in touch with friends and family during the pandemic. Today, Facebook looks to steal back the service’s social video chat growth as it globally launches Messenger Rooms, its new group video […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s social Zoom competitor Messenger Rooms goes live globally May 15, 2020 at 05:00AM

Microsoft is acquiring Metaswitch Networks to expand its Azure 5G strategy Just weeks after announcing a deal to acquire 5G specialist Affirmed Networks, Microsoft is making another acquisition to strengthen its cloud-based telecoms offering. It’s acquiring Metaswitch Networks, a U.K.-based provider of cloud-based communications products used by carriers and network providers (customers include the likes of BT in the U.K., Sprint and virtual network consortium RINA. […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft is acquiring Metaswitch Networks to expand its Azure 5G strategy May 15, 2020 at 03:00AM

Venafi acquires Jetstack, the startup behind the cert-manager Kubernetes certificate controller It seems that we are in the middle of a mini acquisition spree for Kubernetes startups, specifically those that can help with Kubernetes security. In the latest development, Venafi, a vendor of certificate and key management for machine-to-machine connections, is acquiring Jetstack, a UK startup that helps enterprises migrate and work within Kubernetes and cloud-based ecosystems, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Venafi acquires Jetstack, the startup behind the cert-manager Kubernetes certificate controller May 15, 2020 at 02:00AM

Adobe announces AI toolbox for Experience Platform Most companies don’t have the personnel to do AI well, so they turn to platform vendors like Adobe for help. Like other platforms, it has been building AI into its product set for several years now, but wanted to give marketers a set of tools that take advantage of some advanced AI capabilities out of […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Adobe announces AI toolbox for Experience Platform May 15, 2020 at 02:00AM

Why we’re doubling down on cloud investments right now We believe that the next generation of transformative cloud companies will emerge even faster as a result of the new normal created by COVID-19. Enterprise – TechCrunch - Why we’re doubling down on cloud investments right now May 15, 2020 at 12:03AM

Google makes it easier to migrate VMware environments to its cloud Google Cloud today announced the next step in its partnership with VMware: the Google Cloud VMware Engine. This fully managed service provides businesses with a full VMware Cloud Foundation stack on Google Cloud to help businesses easily migrate their existing VMware-based environments to Google’s infrastructure. Cloud Foundation is VMware’s stack for hybrid and private cloud […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google makes it easier to migrate VMware environments to its cloud May 14, 2020 at 11:00PM

Kustomer acquires Reply.ai to enhance chatbots on its CRM platform Last December, when CRM startup Kustomer was announcing its latest round of funding — a $60 million round led by Coatue — its co-founder and CEO Brad Birnbaum said it would use some of the money to build more RPA-style automations into its platform to expand KustomerIQ, its AI-based product that helps understand and respond to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Kustomer acquires Reply.ai to enhance chatbots on its CRM platform May 14, 2020 at 10:00PM

Facebook, telcos to collaborate on most comprehensive subsea cable for Africa and Middle East Facebook, and a group of telecom companies including China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, and Vodafone are collaborating to build the “most comprehensive” subsea cable to serve the African continent and Middle East region where nearly a billion people are still not connected to the internet. The project, called 2Africa, will see the companies lay […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook, telcos to collaborate on most comprehensive subsea cable for Africa and Middle East May 14, 2020 at 08:00PM

UK’s ANNA raises $21M for its SMB-focused business account and tax app Small and medium businesses and sole-traders account for the vast majority of businesses globally, 99.9% of all enterprises in the UK alone. And while the existence millions of separate companies, with their individual demands, speaks of a fragmented market, together they still represent a lot of opportunity. Today, a UK fintech startup looking to capitalise […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - UK’s ANNA raises $21M for its SMB-focused business account and tax app May 14, 2020 at 08:00AM

Startups are transforming global trade in the COVID-19 era The global trade crisis is a setback, but also an opportunity for logistics startups to show the value of digital platforms in an analog industry. Enterprise – TechCrunch - Startups are transforming global trade in the COVID-19 era May 14, 2020 at 05:00AM

Daily Crunch: Facebook will pay $52M to content moderators Facebook strikes a deal to compensate content moderators with PTSD, Tesla might reopen its factory next week and Twitter says some employees can work from home indefinitely. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 13, 2020. 1. Facebook to pay $52M to content moderators suffering from PTSD Facebook employs thousands of content moderators to sift through […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook will pay $52M to content moderators May 14, 2020 at 02:00AM

VMware to acquire Kubernetes security startup Octarine and fold it into Carbon Black VMware announced today that it intends to buy early-stage Kubernetes security startup, Octarine and fold it into Carbon Black, a security company it bought last year for $2.1 billion. The company did not reveal the price of today’s acquisition. According to a blog post announcing the deal from Patrick Morley, general manager and senior vice […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - VMware to acquire Kubernetes security startup Octarine and fold it into Carbon Black May 14, 2020 at 01:00AM

Facebook launches Avatars, its Bitmoji competitor, in the U.S. Facebook’s Avatars feature, which lets you customize a virtual lookalike of yourself for use as stickers in comments and Messenger chats, is today launching in the U.S. Essentially Facebook’s version of Snap’s Bitmoji, Avatars were first introduced last year and have been since made available in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Canada. Based on early feedback, […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook launches Avatars, its Bitmoji competitor, in the U.S. May 14, 2020 at 01:00AM

FeaturePeek moves beyond Y Combinator with $1.8M seed FeaturePeek’s founders graduated from Y Combinator in Summer 2019, which for an early stage startup must seem like a million years ago right now. Despite the current conditions though, the company announced a $1.8 million seed investment today. The round was led by Matrix Partners with some unnamed Angel investors also participating. The startup has […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - FeaturePeek moves beyond Y Combinator with $1.8M seed May 14, 2020 at 12:04AM

FortressIQ snags $30M Series B to streamline processes with AI-fueled data As we move through life in the pandemic, companies are being forced to review and understand how workflows happen. How do you distribute laptops to your workforce? How do you make sure everyone has the correct tool set? FortressIQ, a startup that wants to help companies use data to understand and improve internal processes, announced […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - FortressIQ snags $30M Series B to streamline processes with AI-fueled data May 13, 2020 at 11:00PM

Expel lands $50M Series D as security operations increases in importance Even in these trying economic times, there are some services that companies can’t do without. Having good security tools is one of them. Expel, a 4-year old startup that offers security operations as a service, announced a $50 million Series D financing today. CapitalG led the round with participation from existing investors Battery Ventures, Greycroft, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Expel lands $50M Series D as security operations increases in importance May 13, 2020 at 11:00PM

SirionLabs raises $44M to scale its contract management software SirionLabs, a startup that provides contract management software to enterprises, has raised $44 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand and handle surge in demand from clients. Tiger Global and Avatar Growth Capital led the Seattle-headquartered startup’s Series C round. The eight-year-old startup, which was founded in India, has raised $66 […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - SirionLabs raises $44M to scale its contract management software May 13, 2020 at 10:00PM

Facebook to pay $52 million to content moderators suffering from PTSD Facebook has agreed in principle to pay $52 million to compensate current and former content moderators who developed mental health issues on the job. The Verge reported Tuesday that the settlement will cover more than 11,000 content moderators who developed depression, addictions and other mental health issues while they worked moderating content on the social […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook to pay $52 million to content moderators suffering from PTSD May 13, 2020 at 06:00AM

Facebook upgrades its AI to better tackle COVID-19 misinformation and hate speech Facebook’s AI tools are the only thing standing between its users and the growing onslaught of hate and misinformation the platform is experiencing. The company’s researchers have cooked up a few new capabilities for the systems that keep the adversary at bay, identifying COVID-19-related misinformation and hateful speech disguised as memes. Detecting and removing misinformation […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook upgrades its AI to better tackle COVID-19 misinformation and hate speech May 13, 2020 at 05:00AM

Instagram adds new anti-bullying features, including tag controls, comment management tools As part of its anti-bullying efforts, Instagram today announced a series of new features aimed at helping users better manage negative comments as well as highlight positive ones. It’s also adding new controls to manage who can tag or mention you on Instagram, which can be another source of online bullying. The first of the […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram adds new anti-bullying features, including tag controls, comment management tools May 13, 2020 at 04:00AM

Daily Crunch: LinkedIn doubles down on virtual events LinkedIn adds new features to support virtual events, Elon Musk escalates his battle with Alameda County and Banjo’s CEO resigns after some disturbing revelations. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 12, 2020. 1. LinkedIn adds polls and live video-based events in a focus on more virtual engagement Microsoft -owned LinkedIn announced a couple of big […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: LinkedIn doubles down on virtual events May 13, 2020 at 03:00AM

Atlassian acquires Halp to bring Slack integration to the forefront Atlassian announced today that it was acquiring Halp, an early stage startup that enables companies to build integrated help desk ticketing and automated answers inside Slack. The companies did not disclose the purchase price. It was a big day for Halp, which also announced its second product today called Halp Answers. The new tool will […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Atlassian acquires Halp to bring Slack integration to the forefront May 13, 2020 at 01:00AM

LinkedIn ads polls and live video-based events in a focus on more virtual engagement With a large part of the working world doing jobs from home when possible these days, the focus right now is on how best to recreate the atmosphere of an office virtually, and how to replicate online essential work that used to be done in person. Today, LinkedIn announced a couple of big new feature […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - LinkedIn ads polls and live video-based events in a focus on more virtual engagement May 12, 2020 at 11:00PM

SiMa.ai announces $30M Series A to build out lower-power edge chip solution Krishna Rangasayee, founder and CEO, at SiMa.ai, has 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He decided to put that experience to work in a startup and launched SiMa.ai last year with the goal of building an ultra low-power software and chip solution for machine learning at the edge. Today he announced a $30 […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - SiMa.ai announces $30M Series A to build out lower-power edge chip solution May 12, 2020 at 11:00PM

UpKeep raises $36 million Series B to help facilities and maintenance teams go mobile UpKeep, a mobile-first platform for maintenance and operations collaboration, has today announced the close of a $36 million Series B financing round. The round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors Emergence Capital, Battery Ventures, Y Combinator, Mucker Capital and Fundersclub. UpKeep was founded by Ryan Chan. Chan worked at Trisep Corporation, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - UpKeep raises $36 million Series B to help facilities and maintenance teams go mobile May 12, 2020 at 11:00PM

Microsoft partners with Redis Labs to improve its Azure Cache for Redis For a few years now, Microsoft has offered Azure Cache for Redis, a fully managed caching solution built on top of the open-source Redis project. Today, it is expanding this service by adding Redis Enterprise, Redis Lab’s commercial offering, to its platform. It’s doing so in partnership with Redis Labs and while Microsoft will offer […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Microsoft partners with Redis Labs to improve its Azure Cache for Redis May 12, 2020 at 11:00PM

LinkedIn ads polls and live video-based events in a focus on more virtual engagement With a large part of the working world doing jobs from home when possible these days, the focus right now is on how best to recreate the atmosphere of an office virtually, and how to replicate online essential work that used to be done in person. Today, LinkedIn announced a couple of big new feature […] Social – TechCrunch - LinkedIn ads polls and live video-based events in a focus on more virtual engagement May 12, 2020 at 11:00PM

Reconnecting, reluctantly, with Facebook Haje Jan Kamps is a founder, photographer and journalist who logged time as a TechCrunch writer years ago and who has since launched a platform for virtual conferences called Konf. In a recent catch-up with him about work and life during COVID-19, we wound up talking at some length about Facebook, which is seeing record […] Social – TechCrunch - Reconnecting, reluctantly, with Facebook May 12, 2020 at 09:00AM

Amazon releases Kendra to solve enterprise search with AI and machine learning Enterprise search has always been a tough nut to crack. The holy grail has always been to operate like Google, but in-house. You enter a few keywords and you get back that nearly perfect response at the top of the list of the results. The irony of trying to do search locally has been a […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Amazon releases Kendra to solve enterprise search with AI and machine learning May 12, 2020 at 07:00AM

Instagram Lite shuts down in advance of a relaunch Instagram Lite, the two-year old version of the Instagram app aimed at emerging markets, has quietly disappeared. The previously highly-ranked app vanished from the Google Play charts on April 13 in the countries where it was active, including Kenya, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines. Existing Instagram Lite users have been directed to the main Instagram […] Social – TechCrunch - Instagram Lite shuts down in advance of a relaunch May 12, 2020 at 07:00AM

Twitter to add labels and warning messages to disputed and misleading COVID-19 info Twitter on Monday announced it will begin to add warning messages and labels to tweets spreading disputed or misleading information about COVID-19. The labels will direct users reading these tweets to a Twitter-curated page or to external resources that offer additional information and context about the claims being made in the tweet. The warnings, meanwhile, […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter to add labels and warning messages to disputed and misleading COVID-19 info May 12, 2020 at 04:00AM