Techmeme: Austin-based legal tech services startup Disco raises $60M in equity and $40M in debt, bringing its total raised to $235M, at a valuation of $785M (FinSMEs)

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January 4, 2021, 10:10 AM

Top News

Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:

A group of over 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their plan to form a union, open to both employees and contractors — A group of more than 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their efforts to form a union. With the help of Communication Workers of America Union's Campaign …

New York Times:

Executives of the Alphabet Workers Union say discrimination and harassment continue and the company cracks down on those who are to speak out — Our company's motto used to be “Don't be evil.” An organized work force will help us live up to it. — Ms. Koul and Mr. Shaw are, respectively …

More: Alphabet Workers Union, Engadget, Axios, Forbes, VentureBeat, Mercury News, Reuters, The Economic Times, CNBC, and Neowin

Tweets: @cgreensit, @byjacobward, @flyingwithsara, @gigworkersrise, @balkissoon, and @alphabetworkers

The Verge:

Samsung announces its Galaxy Unpacked event will be held on January 14, where it's expected to unveil the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra — Ring in 2021 with Samsung's latest smartphones — Samsung will officially be announcing its latest lineup of Galaxy flagship phones …

More: Samsung Global Newsroom, CNET, Laptop Mag, Android Authority, 9to5Google, Business Insider, The Verge, MacRumors, Android Central, CNBC, MSPoweruser, and ZDNet

Elian Peltier / New York Times:

A British judge rules against extraditing Julian Assange to the US, which has accused him of violating the Espionage Act, citing mental health concerns — The WikiLeaks founder, who is currently jailed in Britain, had been indicted in the United States on 17 charges of violating the Espionage Act.

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Sources: Google and Snap are in advanced talks to invest $200M+ in Indian Twitter-like social network ShareChat at a $1B+ valuation — ShareChat, which added Twitter as an investor in 2019, is in talks to add two more American giants to its captable. — The Indian social network …

Gabrielle Coppola / Bloomberg:

Aeva, a lidar company started by two Apple engineers, says it is raising $200M at a ~$3B valuation from a Hong Kong-based hedge fund ahead of reverse merger — - Deal values Aeva around $3 billion ahead of reverse merger — Volkswagen shareholder Porsche SE is strategic investor

More: PR Newswire and MacDailyNews

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:

A look at the biggest TikTok trends of 2020, the industries it impacted, the lens it offered on service workers amid COVID-19, and how it shaped US culture — Business, entertainment, news, activism and social connection will never be the same. — It's been well over two years since TikTok arrived …

Tweets: @taylorlorenz, @v_ness, and @taylorlorenz

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

AMP Robotics, which creates robotics systems that sort recyclable material, raises $55M Series B led by XN, bringing its total raised to $75M — AMP Robotics, a Denver, Colorado-based startup creating robotic systems that sort recyclable material, this morning announced that it has closed …

More: FinSMEs

Zak Doffman / Forbes:

While Facebook touts e2e encryption on WhatsApp, Apple's privacy labels highlight how much user metadata WhatsApp collects compared to iMessage — WhatsApp, the world's leading messenger with 2 billion users sending 100 billion messages each day, popularized secure messaging.

Tweets: @sub8u, @scottdavis99, @timsweeneyepic, @howtaobrowncow, @cpottruck, @blopeur, @stroughtonsmith, @mcbill, @bartclaeys, @thechowdery, @stroughtonsmith, @timsweeneyepic, @codinghorror, @jamesthomson, @bradmillscan, and @jcallico

Jennifer Ouellette / Ars Technica:

Interview with two anthropologists about combining “pick and trowel” field work with the use of big data to bring a new birds-eye perspective to archeology — Combining traditional “pick and trowel” field work with a sweeping birds-eye view.

Tweets: @rockdocgeoarch

Hannah M. Mayer / Forbes:

How GPT-3 may reshape the AI and SaaS space, with OpenAI's commercial API creating a unique dependence on a closed AI model, and empowering “citizen developers” — The global artificial intelligence (AI) community rocked excitedly in their home office chairs in anticipation …

FinSMEs:

Austin-based legal tech services startup Disco raises $60M in equity and $40M in debt, bringing its total raised to $235M, at a valuation of $785M — Disc o, an Austin, TX-based legaltech company, received $40M debt financing from Comerica. — This deal brought Disco to complete …

More: TechCrunch

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From Mediagazer

Jon Passantino / Status:

Sources: before the layoffs, a group of wealthy DC locals asked Will Lewis whether WaPo would sell them its local and sports sections, but never got an answer

C.J. Robinson / Columbia Journalism Review:

A look at the FOIA system, as right-wing media networks flood it with robo-requests, the number of FOIA agents stays flat, and states opt for higher fees

Hadas Gold / CNN:

Anthropic is running Super Bowl ads criticizing ads in chatbots, prompting a public response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defending plans for ads in ChatGPT

More News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

India-based CRED, which helps users improve their financial behavior, raises $81M Series C led by DST Global and buys $1.2M worth of shares from employees

More: The Economic Times and DealStreetAsia

Josh Ye / South China Morning Post:

Behind the success of Tencent's Honour of Kings, a League of Legends-like mobile title launched in 2015, which became the first game in history to hit 100M DAUs

Tweets: @scmpnews, @zhugeex, and @therealjoshye

Hannah Ellis-Petersen / The Guardian:

Netflix and Prime Video are reshaping India's creative landscape amid threats of censorship; Netflix invested $400M in original content in India in 2019

Tweets: @danrayburn, @bollywoodnewbie, @raju, @sub8u, and @gquaggiotto

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Interview with Atari CEO Fred Chesnais on leveraging the Atari brand, including through hotels and virtual clothing, shipping the VCS console, more

Ann-Marie Alcántara / Wall Street Journal:

A brief look at the evolution of video chat during 2020, as Zoom, Microsoft, and others added features to make the medium more interactive and easier to use

Tweets: @cristymsilva and @gjmount

Washington Post:

A look at questions the gaming industry faces as it reflects on 2020's increased spending on games, Cyberpunk 2077 debacle, murky economics of esports, and more

Tweets: @teddyamen, @launcherwp, and @launcherwp

Adam Clark / Wall Street Journal:

Under pressure, Deliveroo, Uber, and others in Europe are looking to reach labor agreements that offer some benefits without making workers full employees

Tweets: @hypervisible, @grayconnolly, @thekimkavin, @wsjecon, and @mattcoleworks

Earlier Picks

Karlene Lukovitz / MediaPost:

Parks Associates: 20% of US broadband households currently use ad-supported streaming services and 15% use a freemium service, like Peacock

Tweets: @waltmossberg

Wall Street Journal:

An overview of tech to expect in 2021: better webcams, portable UV sanitizers, “assisted reality” glasses, more subscription services attached to hardware

More: New York Times. Tweets: @shashib, @francisxrocca, @billschrier, @shashib, @wsjtech, @nicnguyen, @mims, @mokoenadee, and @joannastern

About Facebook:

Facebook says there were 1.4B+ voice and video calls on WhatsApp on NYE 2020 globally, up 50%+ YoY, and 55M+ live streams across Facebook and Instagram

More: PCMag, Gizmodo, Android Headlines, NextPit, phonearena.com, Engadget, MediaNama, Social Media Today, AppleInsider, SlashGear, and BGR India

Tweets: @alexvoica, @wabetainfo, and @mattnavarra

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Researchers: more than 100K Zyxel firewalls and VPN gateways have a hardcoded admin-level backdoor that can grant attackers root access to devices

More: EYE, TechRadar, Gizmodo, SiliconANGLE, BleepingComputer, and HackRead

Tweets: @sub8u, @binitamshah, @sans_isc, @weldpond, and @artemr

New York Times:

Sources: investigators are checking if SolarWinds was hacked via its offices in Czechia, Poland, and Belarus, where the company moved much of its engineering

Alice Gledhill / Bloomberg:

Bitcoin crossed $34K to reach an all-time high, after growing almost 50% in December

More: CoinDesk, Reuters, Cryptonews, Fortune, CNN, Gizmodo, Forbes, and Mashable

Tweets: @bobonmarkets, @dats, @bsindia, @jeffjohnroberts, and @levie

William C. Gustafson / GitHub:

Developer of Amphetamine says Apple agreed to let the Mac app stay up with its current name and logo, after previously threatening to remove it due to its name