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11

Madica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa

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Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial…

05

Senate passes a bill that would ban TikTok if ByteDance doesn’t sell it

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The bill gives Bytedance nine months to force a sale with a 90-day extension, which is effectively a year to complete the deal.

03

Tesla’s new growth plan is centered around mysterious cheaper models

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Tesla’s been undergoing some major changes, and now we have a sense of why: the company says it is upending its product roadmap because of “pressure” on EV sales. The new and accelerated plan now includes “more affordable models” that the…

Tuesday, Apr 23

23

Tesla profits drop 55%, company says EV sales ‘under pressure’ from hybrids

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Tesla profits fell 55% to $1.13 billion in the first quarter from the same year-ago period as a protracted EV price-cutting strategy continued to cut into the automaker’s bottom line. Tesla reported revenue of $21.3 billion in the first…

19

Tesla launches new Model 3 Performance variant to rev up demand

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Tesla has officially revealed a new Performance variant of the recently-refreshed Model 3 sedan as the company looks to fight off receding demand. The new version of the Model 3, which starts $52,990, has a new active damping system and…

Tesla earnings week spotlights EV price cuts, ‘balls to the wall’ autonomy push

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Tesla investors, still digesting a 43% drop in share price since the beginning of the year, are gearing up for what will likely be unimpressive financial results for the first quarter and a shift in priorities for CEO Elon Musk, who is…

18

Perplexity is raising $250M+ at a $2.5B-$3B valuation for its AI search platform, sources say

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Perplexity, the AI search engine startup, is a hot property at the moment. TechCrunch has learned that the company is currently raising at least $250 million more at a valuation of between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. The news comes on the…

Fisker plans more layoffs as cash dwindles and bankruptcy looms

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Fisker says it’s planning more layoffs less than two months after cutting 15% of its workforce, as the EV startup scrambles to raise cash to stay alive. Fisker expects to seek bankruptcy protection within the next 30 days if it can’t come…

16

Texture makes a bid to become the world’s go-to platform of the energy transition

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The startup, founded by an Arcadia alumnus, seeks to become a common data collection and sharing platform for renewable power sources like wind, solar, and batteries.

15

Amazon wants to host companies’ custom generative AI models

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AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing business, wants to be the go-to place companies host and fine-tune their custom generative AI models. Today, AWS announced the launch of Custom Model Import (in preview), a new feature in Bedrock, AWS’…

Bump raises $3M seed to help creators manage finances

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Bump allows creators to track income and market value, which can help them negotiate better deals and see how much money they are owed from partners.

13

Amazon launches a new grocery delivery subscription in the US

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Amazon said Tuesday that it has launched a new unlimited grocery delivery subscription for Prime members and customers with an EBT card (Electronic Benefit Transfer) in the U.S. if you’re living in one of the 3,500 eligible cities and…

05

Rivian targets gas-powered Ford and Toyota trucks and SUVs with $5,000 ‘electric upgrade’ discount

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Rivian is offering discounts of up to $5,000 on its EVs — and a year of free charging — to customers willing to trade in their gas-powered trucks and SUVs. The company is offering discounts on three R1T pickup truck trims and one R1S SUV…

01

UnitedHealth says Change hackers stole health data on ‘substantial proportion of people in America’

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The health tech giant processes 15 billion health transactions a year, and handles health information for about half of all Americans.

Monday, Apr 22

22

US government says security flaw in Chirp Systems’ app lets anyone remotely control smart home locks

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CISA said Chirp Systems ignored the federal agency and the reporting security researcher.

21

Amazon ends California drone deliveries

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Amazon confirmed it is ending Prime Air drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California. The Central California town of 3,500 was the company’s second U.S. drone delivery site, after College Station, Texas. Operations were announced in…

‘Send now, pay later’ startup Pomelo lands $35M Series A from secretive Vy Capital, Founders Fund

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Pomelo, a startup that combines international money transfer with credit, has raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Dubai venture firm Vy Capital, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Additionally, the company is announcing a $75…

19

Rippling’s Parker Conrad on the company’s new round, new SF lease and, also, its newest critic

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Last week, TechCrunch broke the news that the workforce management software outfit Rippling was on the cusp of closing a new, $200 million round of funding at a hefty $13.4 billion valuation led by Coatue. We also reported that the round…

TechCrunch Minute: Tesla’s Cybertruck recall, layoffs set the stage for its Q1 earnings

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Tesla is not having a good start to the week. In its defense, it didn’t have a very good end to last week, either. Today the news is that recent price cuts have irked Tesla investors, who sent its shares off around 4% in early trading…

18

Informatica makes a point to say it’s not for sale — to Salesforce or anyone else

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Nothing gets us going like a big M&A rumor, and history has shown where there’s smoke there has often been fire — but that’s not always the case. Last week the big rumor involved Salesforce acquiring Informatica in a deal amounting to…

Oura’s smart ring hits Target stores

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Oura on Monday announced that its smart ring will be available in select Target stores in the U.S. The deal, which also brings the wearable to the retailer’s site, follows similar announcements with Amazon in March and Best Buy last April.…

SoftBank-backed TabaPay is buying the assets of a16z-backed Synapse, after it filed for bankruptcy

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After a tumultuous year, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) startup Synapse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets will be acquired by TabaPay, according to the two companies. The deal is pending bankruptcy court approval. Founded in…

EU opens probe of TikTok Lite, citing concerns about addictive design

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The European Union has opened a second formal investigation into TikTok, announcing Monday that it suspects the video sharing platform of breaking the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), an online governance and content moderation framework…

12

TLcom Capital closes second fund at $154M to back early-stage startups across Africa

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Venture capital activity in Africa has shown resilience over the past six months, with major firms backing startups on the continent closing their funds despite the ongoing funding winter. In the latest development, TLcom Capital, an…

10

Green search engine Ecosia launches a cross-platform browser

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Ecosia, the search engine that funds tree-planting initiatives with its search ad profits, has launched a new cross-platform browser to grow its online footprint. The new browser, available for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, is built on…

08

Peak XV’s Piyush Gupta is leaving firm to start own secondary-focused VC fund

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Piyush Gupta, one of the operating leaders at Peak XV Partners, is leaving the firm at the end of this month to start his own fund, four people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Gupta joined Peak XV (called Sequoia India and SEA…

02

TikTok Shop expands its secondhand luxury fashion offering to the UK

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TikTok Shop, TikTok’s social commerce marketplace, is launching a secondhand luxury category in the U.K., putting it in closer competition with The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, Depop, Poshmark, and Mercari, among others. The offering…

Sunday, Apr 21

17

Fintech startup Ramp sees 32% bump in valuation, Mercury expands into consumer banking

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Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Ramp’s big raise and valuation jump, Mercury’s move into personal banking, Klarna’s new credit card, global funding rounds and more! To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and…

Saturday, Apr 20

21

U.S. House passes revised bill to ban TikTok or force sale

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this afternoon that would require TikTok-owner ByteDance to sell the popular social media app or see it banned in the United States. Efforts to ban TikTok go back to the Trump Administration,…

17

Notable Capital’s Hans Tung on the state of VC and the upside to down rounds

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To some investors, “down round” is a dirty phrase, but not to Notable Capital’s Hans Tung. Hans is a managing partner at Notable Capital, formerly GGV Capital, a venture firm focusing on investments in the U.S., Latin America, Israel, and…