Techmeme: CB Insights: global fintech funding totaled $15B in Q1, up 55% QoQ, with only one new unicorn, Cairo-based MNT-Halan, in the quarter, a first since 2016's end (TechCrunch)

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April 19, 2023, 2:10 PM

Top News

Washington Post:

Analysis: Google's C4 dataset, used to train LLMs like Meta's LLaMA, has troubling content from 4chan, Kiwi Farms, white supremacist site Stormfront, and more — AI chatbots have exploded in popularity over the past four months, stunning the public with their awesome abilities …

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @aaronjschaffer, @marypcbuk, @justinhendrix, @willoremus, @nitashatiku, @charlesmbrenner, @goldman, @mmitchell_ai, @neoavatara, @rr_edmonds, @daveleebbg, @timmarchman, @lordravenscraft, @maxkennerly, @justinhendrix, and @blackamazon

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Stability AI debuts StableLM, its first suite of instruction-following LLMs, in alpha, starting with 3B and 7B parameters, with 15B to 65B versions to follow — Stability AI, the startup behind the generative AI art tool Stable Diffusion, today open-sourced a suite of text-generating AI models intended …

More: Stability AI, GitHub, and VentureBeat

Tweets: @mreflow, @nonmayorpete, @pvncher, and @_akhaliq

Bloomberg:

Sources: Google released Bard despite internal concerns; some employees called the chatbot “a pathological liar” whose answers may result in “injury or death” — Shortly before Google introduced Bard, its AI chatbot, to the public in March, it asked employees to test the tool.

More: The Verge, Insider, and The Conversation

Tweets: @jbenton, @thestalwart, @rustybrick, @daveyalba, and @daveyalba

Zac Bowden / Windows Central:

Sources: Microsoft plans to release its first ARM-powered Surface Go, the Surface Go 4, in 2023, and is working on a smaller Surface Pro with an 11-inch display — Microsoft plans wave of smaller 2-in-1 Windows tablets. — What you need to know — Microsoft is planning to ship the Surface Go 4 with ARM for the first time.

More: Thurrott, XDA Developers, The Verge, Neowin, and Liliputing. Tweets: @zacbowden

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

The UK CMA opens a consultation after Google proposes letting developers use alternate payment methods for IAP and reducing its cut to settle an antitrust probe — Google has proposed letting developers offering apps through its UK Play mobile app store to have the option …

More: The Keyword, GOV.UK, GOV.UK, The Register, The Guardian, PYMNTS.com, 9to5Google, Finextra, City A.M., Financial Times, Engadget, Bloomberg, Phandroid, Reuters, and Mobilegamer.biz

Tweets: @cmagovuk, @jamestitcomb, and @lutherlowe

Shirin Ghaffary / Vox:

Meta starts another round of layoffs, impacting technical teams; source: Meta will possibly layoff around 4,000 people in this round, out of the planned 10,000 — The company plans to lay off employees on Wednesday, according to sources. — Meta will conduct another mass round of layoffs on Wednesday …

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

Source: Meta plans to cut or relocate its London-based Instagram employees; Adam Mosseri, who relocated to London in 2022, plans to move back to the US

Tweets: @sarahfrier

Reuters:

Netflix Q1: revenue up 4% YoY to $8.16B, 1.8M paid net additions, vs. 2.06M est. and -0.2M in Q1 2022, and global streaming paid memberships up 5% YoY to 232.5M — Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) on Tuesday reported first-quarter revenue and earnings roughly in line with Wall Street expectations …

More: Netflix, CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN, Coinspeaker, The Hollywood Reporter, MacDailyNews, The Streamable, and The Information

Tweets: @eric_seufert, @richlightshed, @tvgrimreaper, @discussingfilm, @jaycodon, @aquinas82nd, @sherman4949, and @rihardjarc

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Jay Peters / The Verge:

Netflix upgrades its ad-supported plan's video quality from 720p to 1080p and lets subscribers watch two streams at once, starting with Canada and Spain

More: PCMag, TechHive, AppleInsider, Mobile Dev Memo, Pocket Gamer.biz, MSPoweruser, MobileSyrup, T3, Neowin, MacRumors, Wccftech, TechRadar, iDownloadBlog.com, TechCrunch, Financial Times, and BGR

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Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:

Netflix plans to ship its last red DVD envelopes in September 2023, after 25 years of mailing shows and movies to subscribers and paving the way for streaming

More: New York Times, About Netflix, Barron's Online, Ars Technica, The Verge, MobileSyrup, HotHardware, Tubefilter, HD Guru, City A.M., Livemint, TechSpot, O'Grady's PowerPage, The Guardian, TweakTown, Light Reading, The Streamable, Techlusive, Bloomberg, The Economic Times, Silicon Valley Business …, Associated Press, Nikkei Asia, GSMArena.com, Variety, TechCrunch, XDA Developers, Yahoo Finance, Gizmodo, SlashGear, Polygon, GameSpot, Mashable, Investor's Business Daily, TechRadar, IGN, PCMag, BGR, TechHive, Neowin, Digital Trends, WRAL TechWire, and AppleInsider

LinkedIn: Tyler Stewart, Nick Ross, and Chris Grosso

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Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix delays a “broad rollout” of its paid sharing plan to Q2 2023, including to the US, after its Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain launch in February

More: MacRumors, ZDNet, Forbes, Reuters, XDA Developers, 9to5Mac, New York Post, Techlusive, fpt., PhoneArena, Android Central, Inc42 Media, Engadget, The Streamable, iMore, Pocket-lint, Cult of Mac, gHacks Technology News, Mashable, Digit, T3, Memeburn, AppleInsider, Financial Times, The Hollywood Reporter, PYMNTS.com, The Verge, Adweek, Polygon, Slashdot, Android Police, PCMag, IGN, Deadline, TechHive, NBC News, GameSpot, and Insider

LinkedIn: Jax Hillard. Tweets: @tvgrimreaper and @raventbrunner

See also Mediagazer

Wall Street Journal:

Some iPhone users say Apple's policies made it hard for them to regain access to their accounts after thieves used the optional Recovery Key to lock them out — The recovery key was designed to make Apple IDs safer. Instead, these victims permanently lost family photos and other precious digital possessions.

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Insider, AppleInsider News, and Daring Fireball

Mastodon: @dsilverman@mastodon.social. Tweets: @joannastern, @rstarsick, @joannastern, @doracrisan, @cenedella, and @nicnguyen

Financial Times:

In a joint statement, the FBI, Interpol, and 13 other law enforcement agencies say Meta's plan to expand the use of E2EE in its apps “blindfolds” them to CSAM — FBI, Interpol and UK National Crime Agency among law enforcement groups warning about tech company's plans

More: New York Post, Virtual Global Taskforce, The National Tribune, and Stuff.co.nz

Tweets: @pickardje and @draintheswamps7

Yang Jie / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: TSMC is pushing back on some “unacceptable” conditions the US imposed on chip-factory subsidies, as the company seeks up to $15B in government support — With construction under way in Arizona, Taiwanese semiconductor maker calls some aid terms unacceptable

More: Tom's Hardware, AppleInsider, and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @dnystedt, @mdudas, @wsj, and @carlquintanilla

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Ditto, which offers a database to let developers sync data P2P across mobile and edge devices, emerges from stealth with a $45M Series A led by Acrew Capital — Many apps today assume that data lives in only one location, typically a single cloud database. But the reality is more complex.

Tweets: @dittolive and @adam_fish

TechCrunch:

CB Insights: global fintech funding totaled $15B in Q1, up 55% QoQ, with only one new unicorn, Cairo-based MNT-Halan, in the quarter, a first since 2016's end — Global fintech funding totaled $15 billion in the first quarter of this year, growing 55% from the fourth quarter, according to CB Insights' latest State of Fintech report.

More: CB Insights Research. Tweets: @bayareawriter

M. Sriram / Reuters:

CB Insights: Indian startups raised just $2B in Q1, down 75% YoY and the smallest quarterly total in nearly three years, across 271 companies, down from 561 YoY

LinkedIn: Sriram Mani. Tweets: @reuters, @adityakalra, @beinders, @christopherkay, and @followthemani

Bloomberg:

Sources: some US tech companies push to narrow the scope of a Senate bill meant to ban TikTok over worries the bill may expose them to national security reviews — US tech companies are pushing to narrow the scope of legislation that could ban TikTok in the US, creating new obstacles …

More: Financial Times, Axios, and The Verge. Tweets: @mattnavarra

Jane Lee / Reuters:

GlobalFoundries sues IBM for allegedly sharing confidential IP and trade secrets with Rapidus, a Japanese chip consortium working with IBM to produce 2nm chips — Chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries Inc (GFS.O) said on Wednesday it had filed a lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp …

More: Bloomberg, GlobalFoundries, and WRAL TechWire

Jennifer Elias / CNBC:

Docs: Google plans to unveil the Pixel Fold on May 10, offering a 7.6" main screen, a 5.8" outside screen, and Tensor G2, launching in June for upward of $1,700 — - Google is planning to launch its first foldable smartphone at upward of $1,700, making it the highest price-point product …

Wired:

A look at Itana, a controversial startup city set to be built near Lagos in partnership with Binance and investors like Peter Thiel-backed Pronomos Capital — Nigeria's Itana partnered with Binance and the Charter Cities Institute to build a physical tech hub near Lagos, but the plan has sparked controversy.

Tweets: @nelsoncj3, @nelsoncj3, @wired, and @blowhound

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Tel Aviv-based Coro, which sells an AI cybersecurity service to mid-market companies, raised a $75M Series C2 from Energy Impact at a $575M post-money valuation — Simplification has been a big theme in the enterprise world in the last couple of years. If a company can consolidate multiple …

More: SiliconANGLE, Silicon Valley Business …, CTech, FinSMEs, Globes Online, Coro Cybersecurity, and SecurityWeek

Toby Sterling / Reuters:

ASML reports Q1 revenue up 91% YoY to €6.74B, vs. €6.31B est., and net income up 181% YoY to €1.96B, vs. €1.62B est., and expects 2023 demand to exceed capacity — ASML Holding NV (ASML.AS) beat first-quarter earnings forecasts on Wednesday on continued strong demand …

More: Coinspeaker, Investor's Business Daily, and CNBC

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Stop re-entering Shopify order details in Zoho CRM — This is a guest blog from Xapplets (Zeeyes AI Inc).Here's a scene that plays out in many growing Shopify stores every day: a customer places an order …

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From Mediagazer

New York Times:

Fox News pulling Maria Bartiromo off the air reflects a growing willingness to break from Trump on certain issues, following its $787.5M Dominion settlement

CBS News:

A US federal judge allows the Pentagon to fire three Stars and Stripes journalists, ruling the government likely did not violate their First Amendment rights

Abbie VanSickle / New York Times:

SCOTUS rules via an emergency order that political parties are entitled to the same low-cost TV ad rates as candidates, giving an advantage to Republicans

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More News

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:

Snap expands its revenue share program to add creators with 50K+ followers and 25M+ monthly views, and says its TikTok rival Spotlight has 350M monthly users

More: Engadget and Tubefilter

Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:

Some people are using AI chatbots as a supplement to, or in lieu of, traditional mental health services, despite the privacy implications and experts' warnings

More: The Information. Tweets: @kennethcolereal, @ldrogen, and @cherthedev

See also Mediagazer

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

The EU sets up the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency in Seville, Spain, to support the oversight of large platforms under the Digital Services Act

More: Euractiv, Cointelegraph, and European Commission

Globe and Mail:

Canada-based Miovision, whose AI manages cities' traffic flows, acquires Global Traffic Technologies for $107M, after raising $150M from Maverix, Telus, and EDC

More: Traffic Technology Today, Miovision, Miovision, Toronto Star, CTV News, BetaKit, and FinSMEs

Tweets: @ruffoloj and @joshokane

Christine Hall / TechCrunch:

NYC-based Odeko, which sells smart operations software to independent coffee shops and cafes, raised a $53M Series D, bringing its total equity funding to $177M

More: Daily Coffee News, Odeko, Restaurant Technology News, and FinSMEs. Tweets: @ggvcapital

Eric Rosenbaum / CNBC:

Some US software firms are facing large tax bills after lawmakers failed to extend a provision letting companies fully expense R&D costs in the year incurred

LinkedIn: Karen Kerrigan. Tweets: @jesperfj, @stoarca, @patio11, @petebray, and @mikeytag

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Mexico City-based Avalor, which helps aggregate, normalize, de-duplicate, and track risk data from discovery to remediation, raised a $25M Series A led by TCV

More: FinSMEs and Business Wire

Michael Novinson / BankInfoSecurity.com:

Safe Security, formerly Lucideus, which quantifies cyber risk using ML, raised a $50M Series B led by Sorenson Capital, bringing its total funding to $99.2M

More: SecurityWeek, The Economic Times, Safe Security, VCCircle, Wall Street Journal, Verdict, and Gizmodo. Tweets: @manan

Earlier Picks

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Semgrep, formally r2c, whose tools scan developers' code for vulnerabilities, raised a $53M Series C led by Lightspeed, bringing its total funding to $93M

More: Semgrep

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:

Epic Systems partners with Microsoft to use Azure OpenAI Service, including GPT-4, to help automate some processes in Epic's electronic health record software

More: TechRadar, Microsoft, SiliconANGLE, Insider Intelligence, and Tech Xplore

LinkedIn: Peter Durlach. Tweets: @kdpsinghlab, @peteratmsr, @msftnews, @scottgu, @blowdart, and @mmitchell_ai

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:

The European Union strikes a deal for its €43B Chips Act, first proposed in 2022 and which aims to double the bloc's share of global chip output to 20% by 2030

More: Computerworld, Council of the EU, European Commission, NBC News, CNBC, TechSpot, TNW, datacenterdynamics.com, The Korea Herald, Silicon Republic, TechPowerUp, The Register, SiliconANGLE, and Associated Press

LinkedIn: Max Milbredt. Tweets: @thierrybreton, @stormsivers, @matthew_pines, @bgroothuis, and @wenyee_lee

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Meta opens Horizon Worlds to teens in the US and Canada, despite objections from some lawmakers and activists, and introduces age-appropriate safety features

More: Meta, Metaverse Post, CNN, Game Developer, Meta, Road to VR, BigTechWire, PYMNTS.com, BGR, The Verge, The Information, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, PCMag, and The Hill

Tweets: @fairplayforkids and @deannarilling

Chris Matthews / MarketWatch:

During a hearing, House Republicans grilled SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who refused to state whether ether is a security, despite saying bitcoin is a commodity

More: GOPFinancialServices on YouTube, CoinDesk, The Hill, PYMNTS.com, CNBC, NewsBTC, Protos, CryptoPotato, CryptoGlobe, Micky, Crowdfund Insider, The Block, CoinGape, and Cointelegraph

Mastodon: @molly0xfff@hachyderm.io. Tweets: @warrendavidson, @sassal0x, @tylerscrypto, @patrickmchenry, @pt, @0xfoobar, @milesdeutscher, @haileylennonbtc, @aridavidpaul, @financialcmte, @bitboy_crypto, @twobitidiot, @epro, @readdanwrite, and @jeffkirdeikis

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:

Citizen Lab: in 2022, NSO Group deployed at least three new zero-click hacks against iPhones with iOS 15 and early versions of iOS 16; Apple fixed the flaws

More: TechCrunch, The Citizen Lab, Reuters, TechSpot, TechRadar, Dark Reading, gHacks Technology News, Security Affairs, The Overspill, SecurityWeek, Computerworld, and New York Times

LinkedIn: Abel Flores. Mastodon: @jsrailton@mastodon.social and @jsrailton@mastodon.social

Tweets: @lorenzofb, @jsrailton, @runasand, @josephmenn, @elvanderb, @citizenlab, @rondeibert, @techcrunch, and @nasoskook

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Indian customers have yet to fully benefit from Apple's India initiatives due to services like Apple Pay being unavailable and prohibitively expensive products

More: The Economic Times, Times of India, TechPP, Nikkei Asia, Inc42 Media, Cult of Mac, Moneycontrol, Wccftech, Neowin, Livemint, Techlusive, The Apple Post, Patently Apple, Digital Trends, AppleInsider, and CNET

Tweets: @tim_cook, @dmuthuk, @tds19, and @shivaroor

Bailee Hill / Fox News:

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk says he's working on “TruthGPT or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe”