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Fortnite’s Ariana Grande concert offers a taste of music in the metaverse

5 years 1 month ago
Ariana Grande strutted and soared around a candy-colored series of Fortnite sets in Epic’s latest major in-game live music event. The multi-day “tour” offered gamers and Grande fans alike plenty to enjoy while showcasing Epic’s impressively smooth and visually inventive vision for live events that millions of people can enjoy simultaneously. Fortnite players have known […]
Taylor Hatmaker

UN’s IPCC report on climate change sounds ‘code red’ for planet

5 years 1 month ago
A major UN scientific report has concluded that human activity is changing the climate at an unprecedented rate. The report has been describe as a “code red for humanity” by its authors. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is stern and blunt in its conclusions: “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed […]
Mike Butcher

Car-sharing startup Turo has filed confidentially for an IPO

5 years 1 month ago
Turo, the peer-to-peer car-sharing startup, has initiated the confidential process of filing for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission. The number of shares to be offered in the IPO and the price range have not yet been determined, the company said in a statement. Turo declined to provide additional information to […]
Aria Alamalhodaei

Instagram tests ads in its Shop tab

5 years 1 month ago
Instagram is further investing in its e-commerce business, Instagram Shops, with the launch of a new advertising product, Ads in Instagram Shop. The company says it’s currently testing the new format, which includes both single images and the option for an image carousel, with select U.S.-based advertisers ahead of an expansion to other markets in […]
Sarah Perez

SpaceX to acquire satellite connectivity startup Swarm Technologies

5 years 1 month ago
SpaceX will be acquiring satellite connectivity startup Swarm Technologies, the first such deal for the 19-year-old space company headed by Elon Musk. Swarm operates a constellation of 120 sandwich-sized satellites as well as a ground station network. The deal would transfer control of Swarm’s ground and space licenses to SpaceX, in addition to any licenses […]
Aria Alamalhodaei

Senators press Facebook for answers about why it cut off misinformation researchers

5 years 1 month ago
Facebook’s decision to close accounts connected to a misinformation research project last week prompted a broad outcry from the company’s critics — and now Congress is getting involved. A handful of lawmakers criticized the decision at the time, slamming Facebook for being hostile toward efforts to make the platform’s opaque algorithms and ad targeting methods […]
Taylor Hatmaker

Turkey’s first decacorn: Trendyol raises $1.5B at a $16.5B valuation

5 years 1 month ago
Trendyol, an e-commerce platform based in Turkey, has raised $1.5 billion in a massive funding round that values the company at $16.5 billion. General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Princeville Capital and sovereign wealth funds, ADQ (UAE) and Qatar Investment Authority co-led the round.  The deal marks SoftBank’s first in the country. The new financing […]
Mary Ann Azevedo

Roku expands its original programming lineup with 23 more shows acquired from Quibi

5 years 1 month ago
Roku this morning announced an expansion of its original content lineup, with the addition of 23 new Roku Original programs that will debut on August 13 on The Roku Channel free streaming hub. The new programing — which also hails from Roku’s acquisition of failed streamer Quibi’s catalog — will supplement the initial slate of […]
Sarah Perez

Privacy-oriented search app Xayn raises $12M from Japanese backers to go into devices

5 years 1 month ago
Back in December 2020 we covered the launch of a new kind of smartphone app-based search engine, Xayn. “A search engine?!” I hear you say? Well, yes, because despite the convenience of modern search engines’ ability to tailor their search results to the individual, this user-tracking comes at the expense of privacy. This mass surveillance […]
Mike Butcher

The China tech crackdown continues

5 years 1 month ago
We should expect more of the same from the Chinese government: More complaints about the impact of "excessive" capital in its industries, more tumbling share prices and more held IPOs.
Alex Wilhelm

How one founder bucked the data-driven trend and created a startup based on inspiration

5 years 1 month ago
When Oleg Stavitsky and his co-founders started Endel, they didn’t necessarily expect for it to become a venture-backed business with the likes of Amazon’s Alexa Fund as investors. Stavitsky and his founding team describe themselves as a “collective of imaginative creatives and artists,” and the group had previously developed a unique set of apps for […]
Darrell Etherington

Equity Monday: Apple’s privacy flap continues as crypto regulation looms

5 years 1 month ago
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You […]
Alex Wilhelm

Amazon and parent of its top Indian seller Cloudtail to end relationship

5 years 1 month ago
Amazon and parent of its top Indian seller Cloudtail have decided to not continue their joint venture after May 2022, the two firms said in a statement Monday, hours after India’s top court ruled that the American e-commerce firm and Walmart’s Flipkart must face antitrust investigations in the South Asian market. Billionaire N.R. Narayana Murthy’s […]
Manish Singh
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