Techmeme
September 19, 2019, 10:45 AM

Top News

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Automattic raises $300M Series D from Salesforce Ventures at a post-money valuation of $3B  —  Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce and soon Tumblr, has closed a $300 million funding round at a $3 billion post-money valuation.  The Series D round has a single investor, Salesforce Ventures.
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
Huawei unveils flagship 6.53-inch Mate 30 Pro without Google-licensed apps, with Kirin 990 chipset, 8GB RAM, 4,500mAh battery, and fast 27W wireless charging  —  The Huawei Mate 30 Pro has now gone official with the troubled handset coming with a serious spec sheet that includes the Kirin 990 chipset …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
GitHub buys code analysis tool Semmle, which helps identify security vulnerabilities and has Microsoft, Google among clients; Semmle raised $31M in VC funding  —  Microsoft's GitHub today announced that it has acquired Semmle, a code analysis tool that helps developers and security researchers …
Official Google India Blog:
Google says Google Pay has 67M monthly active users and has processed transactions worth $110B+ in India in the last 12 months, unveils Google Pay for Business  —  Rama Devi has taught more than a thousand women how to use the internet in her role as a Saathi—now she's helping farmers become more productive.
Robert Iger / Vanity Fair:
Book excerpt: as he exits Apple's board, Disney's Bob Iger recounts talks with Steve Jobs before Disney bought Pixar, and how their friendship grew  —  As he exits Apple's board, the Disney chief reminisces about his relationship with its mercurial founder—and how their radical visions aligned to save two companies.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: AT&T is considering parting ways with its DirecTV unit, including spinning it off into a separate public company or combining assets with Dish  —  Telecom giant considers fate of DirecTV satellite unit  —  AT&T Inc. is exploring parting with its DirecTV satellite unit …
Kara Swisher / Vox:
Apple's VP of communications Steve Dowling is leaving the company after five years in the role; Dowling joined the company 16 years ago  —  Steve Dowling, who has headed Apple's communications for the last five years, is leaving after 16 years at the company.
Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine:
Inside the growing split between Silicon Valley and the Democratic Party, once allies, as leading presidential candidates express extreme worries about Big Tech  —  Three summers ago, a worker stood up at “Q&A,” Facebook's weekly all-hands, town-hall-style meeting, which is usually held …
Jason D. Rowley / Crunchbase News:
DCVC, which focuses on early-stage “deep” technology startups, closes a $725M fifth fund; the fourth DCVC fund, raised in 2016, topped out at $212M  —  Back in April, Crunchbase News spotted a filing by DCVC (formerly known as Data Collective) indicating that the Palo Alto-based …
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Built Robotics, which makes autonomous construction equipment, raises $33M Series B led by Siemens-backed Next47, bringing its total raised to $48M  —  Built Robotics, a company aiming to make construction equipment autonomous, is announcing a $33M Series B round this morning.
More: ZDNet and VentureBeat
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook debuts Portal TV, a TV accessory for video calling, streaming, AR gaming, and co-viewing Facebook Watch shows, shipping November 5 for $149  —  Facebook wants to take over your television with a clip-on camera for video calling, AR gaming, and content co-watching.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Eliot Brown / Wall Street Journal:
Profile of WeWork CEO Adam Neumann and his sometimes chaotic lifestyle, as sources detail worrying stories, like his wife firing multiple employees she just met  —  The skills that helped fuel We Co.'s breakneck growth are piling up as potential liabilities as the company prepares to go public

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More News

Washington Post:
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Earlier Picks

Lauren Smiley / Wired:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge: