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December 17, 2024, 7:30 PM
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memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Wall Street Journal: |
Databricks is raising $10B from a16z, Thrive, and others at a $62B valuation, among the largest VC raises in history; docs show Databricks has $2.6B in revenue — As CEO of Databricks, Ali Ghodsi has performed a series of ‘strategic surgeries’ to make his company one of the fastest-growing startups in Silicon Valley
More: Databricks, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, CNBC, SFGATE, Proactive, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Analytics India Magazine, and Pulse 2.0
Bluesky: @ivanthek. X: @naveengrao, @databricks, @jefrankle, @batteryventures, @jasonlk, @mattturck, @gergelyorosz, @tanayj, @dee_bosa, and @shaig
LinkedIn: Carson Fullard, Richard Wylie, Adabara Abdullahi, Joe Marini, and Marina Block
| Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: |
Ireland's Data Protection Commission fines Meta €251M for a Facebook security breach that affected ~29M users globally, ~3M in the EU and EEA, in September 2018 — Meta has been fined €251 million (around $263 million) in the European Union for a Facebook security breach …
More: Data Protection Commission, CNET, Associated Press, Social Media Today, Nairametrics, InfoRiskToday.com, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, InformationWeek, BleepingComputer, Android Headlines, Benzinga, The Record, Silicon Republic, Reuters, RTÉ, Neowin, and NewsBytes
X: @dpcireland, @lewis_crofts, @dpcireland, and @floorter
Forums: r/technology and Slashdot
| Sean Hollister / The Verge: |
Framework releases a $39 modular component that adds two M.2 slots to the Laptop 16, letting users have 26TB+ of storage, and updates the Laptop 16's cooling — The most ambitious laptop ever made just got a long-promised modular upgrade. … At launch, you only had two options …
More: Framework Blog, Thurrott, Tom's Hardware, TechPowerUp, XDA Developers, Liliputing, and Notebookcheck
| Tony Romm / Washington Post: |
The US FTC issues long-awaited rules requiring companies to display the full price of hotels, concert tickets, and more up front, rather than hiding “junk fees” — The industries must display the full price of a hotel room, concert ticket or sporting event upfront to customers or face potential federal punishment.
More: Federal Trade Commission, PYMNTS.com, TechCrunch, Engadget, Variety, New Republic, Android Authority, Boston Herald, and The Mirror
Bluesky: @megangray, @edzitron.com, @joshsternberg.com, @ddayen, @tonyromm, and @warren.senate.gov. Mastodon: @josh@josh.tel. LinkedIn: Amy Hinote
Forums: r/hyatt, r/technology, and Slashdot
| Paayal Zaveri / Bloomberg: |
Grammarly plans to acquire collaborative tools startup Coda and bring on Coda co-founder and CEO Shishir Mehrotra as its CEO; Coda had a $1.4B valuation in 2021 — Coda co-founder and CEO Shishir Mehrotra will take over that position at Grammarly, according to statement from the two companies Tuesday.
More: The Information, Grammarly Blog, SiliconANGLE, Thurrott, and TechCrunch
Bluesky: @om.co and @ianbetteridge.com
| Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica: |
SCOTUS rejects ISPs' challenge to a NY law requiring ISPs to offer $15/month or $20/month service to low-income clients, by not revisiting a lower court ruling — The Supreme Court yesterday rejected the broadband industry's challenge to a New York law that requires Internet providers …
More: TechSpot and MediaPost
Bluesky: @karlbode.com. Forums: r/technology, r/LeopardsAteMyFace, r/scotus, Slashdot, and Ars OpenForum
| Edith Hancock / Wall Street Journal: |
The European Commission opens a formal DSA investigation into TikTok over concerns foreign actors used it to interfere in the Romanian presidential elections — The probe comes after judges in the country annulled the outcome of the first round of presidential elections, citing concerns of Russian interference
More: European Commission, TechCrunch, Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Information, Semafor, Ziarul BURSA, Politico, TheJournal.ie, Irish Independent, NTD, Silicon Republic, UPI, BBC, Romania Insider, Financial Times, G4Media.ro, belganewsagency.eu, The Romania Journal, Brussels Signal, Daily Sabah, Le Monde, Reuters, Novinite.com, Notebookcheck, The Irish Times, and BTA. X: @eu_commission
| Financial Times: |
The UK opens a consultation on AI and copyright, aiming to offer an “opt out” exception to copyright law, forcing companies to open models to scrutiny, and more — Consultation could see easier access to copyrighted works but require tech groups to be clearer on what they have used
More: The Guardian, GOV.UK, The Sun, Fortune, Find out how algorithmic tools …, GOV.UK, Forbes, Publishing Perspectives, TechCrunch, PYMNTS.com, Advanced Television, Digital Music News, New Scientist, TVNewsCheck, The Mirror, CNBC, ComputerWeekly.com, The Independent, The Bookseller, and CMU
Bluesky: @andywpoliver, @profbillmcguire, @tomhumberstone.com, @jeffjarvis, and @jakeillustrates. Mastodon: @amorphophalex@mastodon.social
Forums: r/unitedkingdom and r/technology
| Marina Temkin / TechCrunch: |
Amid the AI boom, non-AI startups that raised a Series A 18 months ago are likely facing challenges in securing their Series B, even with decent revenue growth — Earlier this year, IVP general partner Tom Loverro, proclaimed that the post-pandemic downturn is over, and companies … | Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
OpenAI adds o1 to its API, but only for certain developers to start, announces new versions of GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini as part of its Realtime API, and more — OpenAI is bringing o1, its “reasoning” AI model, to its API — but only for certain developers, to start.| Blake Brittain / Reuters: |
The US ITC says smartphones made by Lenovo's Motorola infringe on Ericsson's 5G patents, which could lead to an import ban; a final ruling is set for April 2025 — The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday that smartphones made by Lenovo's (0992.HK) Motorola Mobility infringe patents owned …
Forums: r/Android
| Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac: |
Apple Maps on the web adds support for Look Around, Apple's version of Google Street View — Apple in June introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, allowing users of other platforms such as Windows PCs to access its map service directly from a web browser.| Todd Spangler / Variety: |
CAA partners with YouTube to help CAA clients identify and remove AI-generated content that features their likeness, with a wider rollout planned in early 2025 — In what's being touted as the first partnership of its kind, CAA is collaborating with YouTube on a program promising to let actors … | John Voorhees / MacStories: |
Game emulator Delta adds an in-app link to pay outside of the App Store, via Patreon, likely the first US app to use Apple's External Purchase Link Entitlement — Delta, the MacStories Selects App of the Year, received an important update today that allows users of the game emulator to support …
More: 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, and The Verge
Bluesky: @viticci.macstories.net. Mastodon: @johnvoorhees@mastodon …. Threads: @rileytestut, @altstoreio, @rileytestut, @rileytestut, and @rileytestut. X: @iryantldr
| Leo Schwartz / Fortune: |
UK-based BVNK, a stablecoin infra startup with ~$40M in annualized revenue, raised a $50M Series B led by Haun Ventures; a source said it values BVNK at ~$750M — As crypto prices soar to all-time highs, venture investors are pouring capital into a red-hot corner of the blockchain industry …
More: BVNK Blog, PYMNTS.com, crypto.news, Cointelegraph, Fintech Finance, Coinspeaker, CoinDesk, Tech.eu, NFTgators, and Finextra. LinkedIn: Tina Meschino
| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
Salesforce says it will hire 2,000 people to sell AI agent software, a month after saying it would hire 1,000 for the task and two years after laying off 7,000+ — Salesforce will hire 2,000 people to sell artificial intelligence software to clients, CEO Marc Benioff said on Tuesday …
More: Reuters, The Information, SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, and Cryptopolitan
X: @brij and @mindthelongterm
| Anna Tong / Reuters: |
NYC-based AI-powered accounting startup Basis raised a $34M Series A led by Khosla Ventures, with Nat Friedman, Jeff Dean, Adam D'Angelo, and others investing — Artificial intelligence startup Basis has raised $34 million in a Series A funding round for its AI-powered accounting automation product, the company said on Tuesday.
More: SiliconANGLE
| New York Times: |
Sources: OpenAI is working to sever the nonprofit's control while compensating its board, possibly in the billions, and promised investors a two-year schedule — As the maker of ChatGPT battles Google and Meta for A.I. supremacy, it's also fighting to end control by a nonprofit board.| New York Times: |
A San Francisco jury convicts tech consultant Nima Momeni of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee on April 4, 2023 — Nima Momeni, 40, was convicted by a San Francisco jury in the fatal stabbing of Bob Lee, a well-known tech executive.
More: Washington Examiner, Fortune, Gizmodo, Benzinga, CBS News, Financial Times, ABC7, Associated Press, Engadget, TechCrunch, NBC Bay Area, The Guardian, CRN, NBC News, WTTG-TV, KTVU-TV, Wall Street Journal, UPI, The US Sun, Bloomberg, Newser, Metro.co.uk, New York Daily News, TMZ.com, Mission Local, New York Post, Fox News, SFist, Hollywood Life, NewsNation, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Business Insider, The Information, The San Francisco Standard, and SFGATE
| Emily Mason / Bloomberg: |
Parafin, a startup run by ex-Robinhood staff offering spend management and savings tools as well as loan products, raised a $100M Series C at a $750M valuation — - Firm offers loan products, spend management and savings tools — Valuation was boosted from $520 million at last equity raise
More: PYMNTS.com, Parafin, FinSMEs, and VC News Daily
| Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
Google adds support for third-party tools to Gemini Code Assist, letting the service access real-time data and information from outside apps — Google on Tuesday announced support for third-party tools in Gemini Code Assist, its enterprise-focused AI code completion service.
More: VentureBeat, DevOps.com, ZDNET, InfoWorld, and Google Cloud Blog
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