Techmeme: Bangalore-based Rupeek Fintech, an online lender that dispenses loans against gold jewelry and heirlooms, has raised $60M, source says at a valuation of $300M+ (Saritha Rai/Bloomberg)

Top News

Facebook says it will now ban ads that promise to cure or prevent COVID-19, or attempt to “create a sense of urgency” about it — - Facebook is tightening up its rules on ads that reference the coronavirus outbreak. — It is banning ads that mentioned it if they attempt to …

More: Wired, Tech Times, CNET, and Mashable

Tweets: @sarah_mojarad, @fabiochiusi, @lmatsakis, @wired, @iamslick, and @karlitaliliana

Salesforce:

Salesforce says Keith Block has stepped down as co-CEO but will still advise Marc Benioff; Gavin Patterson named President and CEO of Salesforce International — Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) today announced that Keith Block has stepped down as co-CEO of Salesforce and Marc Benioff is Chair and CEO of the company.

More: TechCrunch, TheStreet, Reuters, ZDNet, Silicon Valley Business …, SiliconANGLE, Axios, and IT Management

Tweets: @parkerharris, @benioff, @sallyshin, and @wsj

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Salesforce acquires Vlocity, a provider of cloud and mobile software built atop Salesforce, for $1.33B, reports Q4 revenue of $4.85B, up 35% YoY, vs $4.75B est. — - Keith Block became co-CEO alongside Marc Benioff less than two years ago. — Salesforce announced the $1.33 billion acquisition …

More: Vlocity, Salesforce.com, PR Newswire, Enterprise Times, and Yahoo Finance. Tweets: @teddyschleifer

Rebekah Valentine / GamesIndustry.biz:

Facebook has acquired Sanzaru Games, developer of Asgard's Wrath, for an undisclosed amount; the game studio will remain independent under Oculus Studios — Studio behind Asgard's Wrath to join Oculus Studios and continue VR development — Facebook has acquired Asgard's Wrath developer Sanzaru Games for an undisclosed amount.

More: Oculus Blog, Yahoo Finance, Wccftech, Road to VR, Hollywood Reporter, Android Central, Social Media Today, Gamasutra, Input, TechCrunch, and UploadVR

Tweets: @ericflo, @boztank, @wumpagem, @scobleizer, and @vtnvivi

The Walt Disney Company:

Bob Chapek has been named CEO of The Walt Disney Company, effective immediately; Bob Iger will serve as executive chairman through 2021 — Robert A. Iger Assumes Role of Executive Chairman through 2021 Mr. Iger Will Direct the Company's Creative Endeavors Mr. Chapek Brings 27 Years …

Reuters:

Ex-Apple employees and supply chain experts say preparation for new iPhone production, which usually starts early in the year, may be delayed due to COVID-19 — SAN FRANCISCO/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Travel restrictions to China because of the coronavirus have come just as Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) …

More: International Business Times, MacRumors, Tom's Guide, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, iDownloadBlog.com, iMore, iPhone in Canada Blog, and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @stephennellis and @danwwang

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

PayPal is investigating unauthorized transactions affecting numerous German users; a researcher says hackers could be exploiting PayPal's Google Pay integration — All signs point to an attack exploiting PayPal's Google Pay integration. … Hackers have found a bug in PayPal's Google Pay integration …

More: Forbes, CyberNews, Computing, Spyware news, HackRead, TechRadar.com, and BleepingComputer

Tweets: @iblueconnection, @iblueconnection, @grannyclear, @chey_cobb, @norton, @chey_cobb, and @metacurity

Tom Krisher / NBC Bay Area:

NTSB says the driver in a 2018 Tesla accident was distracted by a game on his phone and that the NHTSA's hands-off approach to self-driving tech is “misguided” — Just before the crash, the Tesla steered to the left into a paved area between the freeway travel lanes and an exit ramp

More: CNBC, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Engadget, NTSB, BGR, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, Game Rant, iPhone Hacks, Protocol, Digital Trends, New York Times, and Houston Chronicle

Tweets: @chrisgailus, @pauldoroshenko, @quinnypig, @mattoyeah, and @jwilliamsap

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:

Bangalore-based Rupeek Fintech, an online lender that dispenses loans against gold jewelry and heirlooms, has raised $60M, source says at a valuation of $300M+ — - Indian startup raises $60 million from investors including GGV — India's citizens hoard more gold than any other country

More: KrASIA, The Economic Times, Business Standard, Livemint, VCCircle, YourStory.com, Entrackr, Moneycontrol, Inc42 Media, and Tech in Asia

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google patches a Chrome zero-day bug found by its Threat Analysis Group, the third actively exploited Chrome zero-day discovered in the past year — This is the third Chrome zero-day discovered being exploited in the wild in the past year. — Google has released today a Chrome update …

More: Google Chrome Releases, Neowin, Lifehacker, Digital Trends, Naked Security, Threatpost, MSPoweruser, Security Affairs, and Pocketables. Tweets: @campuscodi

Bloomberg:

Autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai has raised $462M in its latest funding round led by Toyota at a valuation of more than $3B — Toyota Motor Corp. invested $400 million in Pony.ai to strengthen its ties with the Chinese provider of driverless-car systems.

More: The Verge and Reuters

Hannah Gilberstadt / Pew Research Center:

Pew: 74% of Americans have little or no confidence in tech companies like Facebook and Google preventing misuse of their platforms to influence 2020 election — Nearly three-quarters of Americans (74%) express little or no confidence in technology companies like Facebook …

More: TechCrunch, Axios, International Business Times, and OpinionToday.com newsletter

Tweets: @facttank, @pewresearch, and @helloitsthao

Will Oremus / OneZero :

In-depth look at the iOS App Store and the potentially anti-competitive ways it restricts consumers and third-parties, an increasing area of regulatory scrutiny — Its App Store has a choke hold on your devices. That may not last much longer. — ou've just dropped $500 on a new iPad Air.

More: The Interface. Tweets: @ozm, @siobhannyc, @willoremus, @meganmorrone, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, @ozm, @willoremus, and @dlberes

Alfred Ng / CNET:

A look at US schools' growing use of mobile phone tracking tech from companies like Inpixon, using scanners to pick up Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cell signals — Teachers often lament that phones can be a distraction in classrooms. Some governments have even banned phones outright in schools.

Tweets: @alfredwkng and @alfredwkng

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Review of Apple's Chinese Store websites shows around 30 of 42 have reopened, most with shortened hours, as the company seeks to rebound from COVID-19's impact — - Company's store website shows 29 of 42 locations are opening — Apple recently pulled March quarter guidance on virus impact

More: 9to5Mac, KrASIA, AppleInsider, iDownloadBlog.com, MacDailyNews, iPhone in Canada Blog, Nikkei Asian Review, Seeking Alpha, and MacRumors

Tweets: @thereds8 and @markgurman

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

SambaNova Systems, a startup that provides systems to run AI apps from the datacenter to the edge, raises $250M Series C led by BlackRock — The infrastructure required to handle AI workloads is often as complex as it is sprawling, but a cottage industry of startups has emerged whose focus is developing solutions for end customers.

More: Silicon Valley Business …, SambaNova, Wall Street Journal, SiliconANGLE, and FinSMEs. Tweets: @farshchi

FinSMEs:

ServiceMax, which offers cloud-based field service applications built on the Salesforce platform, raises $80M round led by Salesforce Ventures and Silver Lake — ServiceMax, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based provider of asset-centric field service management solutions, raised $80m in growth funding.

More: Wall Street Journal, PR Newswire, Seeking Alpha, San Francisco Business Journal, and diginomica. Tweets: @blsuth

Matt Novak / Gizmodo:

US DOD has adopted a series of ethical principles for the use of AI, says recommendations came after 15 months of consultation with “leading AI experts” — The U.S. military has adopted new ethics guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in its futuristic robot tanks …

More: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, The Diplomat, Breaking Defense, Federal News Network, SpaceNews.com, Army Technology, DW.COM, The Independent, FedScoop, Federal Computer Week, Fortune, The Register, Associated Press, The Hill, and The Next Web. Tweets: @bradsmi

Lara O'Reilly / Digiday:

Sources: France's third largest telecom, Bouygues, awarded a contract to Google to develop a targeted TV ad system using data from Bouygues' set-top TV boxes — Google has long pitched YouTube as an alternative to traditional TV advertising, but it's never managed to make a move into the $170 billion global TV ad market itself.

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:

Checkout, a digital payments processing startup, acquires ProcessOut, a startup which helps match e-commerce companies with payment providers — Checkout.com, the quiet London-based payment platform, has acquired its first startup, ProcessOut. Checkout.com surprised everyone last year …

Jake Bright / TechCrunch:

Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia reports 2019 revenues of €160.4M, up 24% YoY, operating loss of €227.9M, up 34% YoY; active customers reached 6.1M in Q4 — Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia got into the black (by a small amount) on its gross profit vs. fulfillment expenses …

More: Motley Fool, MarketWatch, and Business Wire

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