Techmeme: Elisity, a cybersecurity startup that protects networks with AI-powered monitoring and access control tools, raises $26M, following last year's $7.5M seed round (Kyle Wiggers/VentureBeat)

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June 15, 2021, 10:47 AM

Top News

New York Times:

Interviews with ~200 people show how Amazon's warehouse employment system, under strain before the pandemic, burned through workers and created huge confusion — Each year, hundreds of thousands of workers churn through a vast mechanism that hires and monitors, disciplines and fires.

More: Insider and WRAL TechWire

Tweets: @greenhousenyt, @nytimes, @ronlieber, @raju, @shelfawareness, @ejleven, @marklittlenews, @lkatzenberg, @pamelapaulnyt, @kimseverson, @benyt, @jodikantor, @anthony, @llchristyll, and @jodikantor

Jason Del Rey / Vox:

Interviews with 30+ current and former Amazon employees detail allegations of racial bias and discrimination; many say its HR department was part of the problem — In interviews with Recode, dozens of Amazon employees detailed allegations of racial bias and discrimination on the job …

More: New York Times. Tweets: @delrey

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

UK's CMA says it will launch an investigation into Apple and Google's mobile ecosystems over whether their market power is harming users — Today, the UK's competition watchdog (the Competition and Markets Authority) announced an official investigation into the mobile device ecosystem, citing Apple and Google's effective duopoly.

More: GOV.UK, CNET, MacRumors, Engadget, BBC, AppleInsider, Bloomberg, MacDailyNews, The Mac Observer, phonearena.com, and cityam.com

Tweets: @cmagovuk, @wavesblog, and @benedictevans

Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is auctioning his original source code for the web as an NFT, the first time he would be able to raise money directly from his invention — Sotheby's sale will be first time creator has been able to raise money directly from invention — Sir Tim Berners-Lee is auctioning …

More: NBC News, Insider, Engadget, BBC, TechSpot, MUO, Mashable, Fast Company, cityam.com, and Boing Boing

Tweets: @tim and @carnage4life. Thanks:@tim

Olivia Carville / Bloomberg:

Interviews with 53 people shed light on Airbnb's secretive safety team, made up of ~100 agents, some with military backgrounds, who handle emergency situations — The first-floor apartment on West 37th Street, a few blocks south of Times Square, was popular with tourists …

More: Insider and New York Post

Tweets: @livcarville, @bponsot, @jamesgibney, @joelwebershow, @melinanders, @timsteno, and @timobrien

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Amazon brings its cashierless tech to a full-size grocery store for the first time in a new 25K square foot Amazon Fresh location in Seattle — Amazon's newest physical grocery store opening in the Seattle area this week is unique as it will feature the company's “Just Walk Out” cashierless technology.

More: About Amazon, The Verge, CNET, and PCMag

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Automattic acquires Day One, a popular journaling app for Apple devices with 15M+ downloads on the Mac and iOS App Store; terms of the deal were not disclosed — Automattic is expanding its lineup of online writing platforms with its acquisition of Day One, a popular journaling app for Mac and Apple mobile devices.

Source: Matt Mullenweg, The WordPress.com Blog, and Day One Journal Blog. More: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, and MacRumors

Tweets: @photomatt, @paulmayne, @naveen, @sirjrg, @ricmac, @chrismessina, @leftlane, @kevinokeefe, @om, @chrismessina, @post_status, @ericlbarnes, @ranjanxroy, @gartenberg, and @dangillmor

Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:

EU's top court says Facebook can't avoid potential EU-wide privacy orders from data protection authorities beyond its legal watchdog in Ireland — - EU top court rules on scope of so-called one-stop-shop system — Dispute stems from Belgian data order over Facebook cookies

More: Reuters, Silicon Republic, TechCrunch, Associated Press, CNET, The Hill, Fortune, and RTÉ. Tweets: @jason_kint

Kate Kaye / Digiday:

Analysis: Amazon's properties, including Amazon.com, WholeFoods.com, and Zappos.com, are blocking Google's new FLoC tracking system from gathering data — Amazon is blocking Google's controversial cookieless tracking and targeting method. — Most of Amazon's properties including Amazon.com …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

IRL, which is building a messaging-based social network, raises $170M Series C led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, at a $1.17B valuation — Social calendar app IRL has been busy building a messaging-based social network, or what founder and CEO Abraham Shafi calls a “WeChat of the West.”

More: The Verge, Forbes, and Reuters

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Thumbtack, a home improvement services marketplace, raises $275M at a $3.2B valuation led by the Qatar Investment Authority — On the heels of making an acquisition in December of home management startup Setter, Thumbtack — one of the pioneers in the home services gig economy — has raised a big round to double down on the model.

More: FinSMEs. Tweets: @asemota and @asemota

Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:

Australia-based OCR Labs, which provides identity verification and regulatory compliance services, raises $15M Series A led by Oyak Group — With the gig economy came the need for ID verification, thus startups like OnFido (raised $188.8 million) appeared, alongside several others.

Jonathan Ponciano / Forbes:

MicroStrategy raises another ~$500M in bonds to buy more bitcoin, and bitcoin's price surged to $40K+ after Elon Musk hinted Tesla may again accept BTC payments — Less than a week after announcing the offering, business analytics firm MicroStrategy, which owns more bitcoin than any other corporation …

More: Insider, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Reuters, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Gizmodo, Bitcoin Magazine, Coinspeaker, The Information, NewsBTC, The Block, Crypto Briefing, and Cointelegraph

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Duda, which helps large businesses to build websites, raises $50M Series D led by Claridge IL, bringing its total raised to $100M — Self-expression for many consumers today comes in the form of social media and apps. But if you're a larger business, even if you can't ignore platforms like Facebook …

More: FinSMEs and Tech.eu

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

SCOTUS throws out a lower court ruling that had allowed 3rd-party scraping of LinkedIn users' public profiles, sending the dispute back to federal appeals court — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) LinkedIn Corp another chance to try to stop rival hiQ Labs Inc …

More: TechCrunch, The Register, Social Media Today, TechRadar, Engadget, VentureBeat, Slashdot, Protocol, Cooley LLP, Fortune, IT Management, Gizmodo, cityam.com, and Seattle Business Journal

Tweets: @orinkerr, @saramerken, @meganiorio, @meganiorio, @meganiorio, @adamnash, @carnage4life, @omertene, and @caseynewton

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From Mediagazer

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: David Ellison has asked CNN CEO Mark Thompson to stay on after the WBD acquisition closes; Thompson's current deal extends into 2027

Raquel Coronell Uribe / NBC News:

The White House once again removes CNN from the press pool traveling with Trump; the judge's order only addressed access to White House grounds

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

A US judge dismisses Penske Media's lawsuit against Google over traffic and revenue loss due to AI Overviews since Google never promised any traffic to Penske

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More News

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Elisity, a cybersecurity startup that protects networks with AI-powered monitoring and access control tools, raises $26M, following last year's $7.5M seed round

More: PR Newswire and SiliconANGLE

Todd Feathers / VICE:

A look at lip-reading AI, with development supported by Google, Sony, and Huawei, as startups begin deploying it in hospitals, public transport systems, more

Financial Times:

In a private email, Biden's NSC warned the EU against “protectionist” policies exclusively targeting American tech companies, ahead of Biden's visit to Brussels

More: C4ISRNET

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Twitter is asking for feedback on a new feature letting users “unmention” themselves as an anti-abuse tool and to help users control unwanted attentions

More: 9to5Mac, PCMag, Social Media Today, MUO, Ubergizmo, and BGR India

Tweets: @_dcrc_, @_dcrc_, @scientits, @hdevalence, @devindra, and @charlesarthur

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Netflix is hiring execs to lead consumer products, podcasts, and video games, as it seeks Disney-like franchises that stay relevant in between new seasons

Tweets: @gerberkawasaki, @lucas_shaw, and @lucas_shaw

Earlier Picks

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:

The Pill Club, an online birth control prescription and delivery service, raises $41.9M as an extension to its $51M Series B from Jan. 2019, led by Base 10

More: Birth Control Delivery …, MobiHealthNews, and Silicon Valley Business …

NBC News:

Sources: in 2019, major labor union Teamsters refused a ransomware demand of $2.5M, against the FBI's advice, and instead rebuilt its systems from scratch

More: TechRadar, Softpedia News, and Slashdot

Tweets: @harrymccracken, @ruthbrarian, @jonallendc, @jonallendc, @thetweetofjohn, and @charliemagne

Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Shopify, Sequoia, and others recently bought ~$1B of Stripe stock from existing shareholders before Stripe's expected IPO; bids exceeded $4B

More: TechCrunch, Globe and Mail, Silicon Republic, BetaKit, Coinspeaker, and PYMNTS.com

Tweets: @thekenyeung, @seansilcoff, @carnage4life, @wsjmarkets, and @alex

Wall Street Journal:

US government is ratcheting up pressure on China's overseas 5G ambitions, offering financial incentives and more to countries willing to shun Huawei and ZTE

More: Telecoms.com. Tweets: @jchengwsj, @aaronwall, @mikercarpenter, @wsj, @anthony, @stuwoo, and @adschina

Sara Fischer / Axios:

YouTube will stop accepting ads for its masthead ad unit from certain verticals, including election and political ads, alcohol, gambling, and prescription drugs

More: Search Engine Land, CNN, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, Input, Social Media Today, Gizmodo, Variety, Tubefilter, Engadget, The Hill, and Insider

Tweets: @ericwilson, @evelyndouek, @axios, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, and @alexweprin