Ingrid Lunden, Author at TechCrunch

Itching to write a book? AI publisher Spines wants to make a deal

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 12:54:04 +0000

Generative AI has upended how we write things, or even if we write at all. Now a startup wants to be the main character in the next chapter of that story: AI that replaces the role of the publisher. Spines is a self-publishing platform that claims that — thanks to being powered by artificial intelligence […]

Venture funding in Europe fell to $45B in 2024, says Atomico

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 00:10:32 +0000

Funding for European tech appears to have stabilized in 2024 after dropping precipitously in 2023, but the signs continue to point to more tough times ahead, according to the latest State of European Tech report. The annual survey, produced by European VC firm Atomico, notes that startups in the region are on track to raise […]

JobGet, a ‘LinkedIn’ for hourly workers, acquires rival Snagajob

Ingrid Lunden — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:51:18 +0000

If you’re an hourly worker, the number of go-to options you have for finding new jobs is shrinking a little. JobGet, a Boston-based startup that operates an hourly job-hunting site with social features built in, à la LinkedIn, is acquiring Snagajob, one of its rivals in the U.S. market. JobGet claims this will make it […]

Bitsight buys dark web security specialist Cybersixgill for $115M

Ingrid Lunden — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 15:32:07 +0000

More consolidation is afoot in the world of cybersecurity. Bitsight, a cybersecurity startup last valued at $2.4 billion when ratings firm Moody’s took a stake in the business and became its largest shareholder in 2021, is acquiring Cybersixgill for $115 million. Boston-based Bitsight’s focus is cyber risk management. It works with enterprises to assess their […]

German travel startup Tourlane raises $26M led by Sequoia

Ingrid Lunden — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:14:01 +0000

Global travel continues to gain ground, with the World Travel and Tourism Council predicting the industry will cross $11 trillion in revenues this year. Consumers are evolving from the so-called “revenge travel” of the post-COVID-19 years, dedicating a growing share of their budget to a wider array of experiences away from home. Add AI to […]

Meta slapped with a €798M fine in Europe over anticompetitive Marketplace practices

Ingrid Lunden — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:07:07 +0000

Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has been hit with yet another huge regulatory fine in Europe, this time over abusive practices related to Facebook Marketplace. The European Commission announced that it would fine Meta €797.72 million — nearly $840 million — for breaching EU antitrust rules connected to how it ties its […]

Tessl raises $125M at $500M+ valuation to build AI that writes and maintains code

Ingrid Lunden — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 08:02:30 +0000

Many startups and larger tech companies have taken a crack at building artificial intelligence to code software. Now another new player is coming out of the shadows to throw its hat into the ring, with a mission to fix the many problems that will arise when humans and all those AIs are writing code together. […]

Nokia acquires Rapid, the API company once valued at $1B

Ingrid Lunden — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 15:09:22 +0000

Nokia, once the world’s biggest mobile phone company but now mainly a provider of infrastructure and services to carriers, has made an acquisition in its bid to be a bridge between the worlds of tech and telecoms. It’s acquiring Rapid, formerly known as RapidAPI, a startup that operates an API marketplace. Nokia will be integrating […]

DeepL launches DeepL Voice, real-time, text-based translations from voices and videos

Ingrid Lunden — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 11:35:55 +0000

DeepL has made a name for itself with online text translation it claims is more nuanced and precise than services from the likes of Google — a pitch that has catapulted the German startup to a valuation of $2 billion and more than 100,000 paying customers. Now, as the hype for AI services continues to […]

PointFive snaps up $20M for breakthrough tech to track usage across multiple clouds

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 13:01:32 +0000

Enterprise spending on cloud services continues to go up, up, up — to the tune of $675 billion this year — thanks to organizations’ firm embrace of software-as-a-service, the popularity of distributed working, and the arrival of compute-intensive tech like AI. A startup called PointFive believes it has found a better way to get a […]

Fleek, a marketplace for wholesale secondhand clothes, sews up $20.4M

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:53:25 +0000

Fleek, an online marketplace that connects second-hand clothing wholesalers with those who sell it at retail, has raised a $20.4 million Series A.

Upwind, an Israeli cloud cybersecurity startup, is raising $100M at a $850M-$900M valuation, say sources

Ingrid Lunden — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 00:15:43 +0000

Cybersecurity continues to command a lot of attention from enterprises looking for better protection from malicious hackers, and VCs want in on the action. In the latest example, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Upwind — a specialist in assessing and securing cloud infrastructure — is closing in on a $100 million round at a […]

Led by a founder who sold a video startup to Apple, Panjaya uses deepfake techniques to bite into video dubbing

Ingrid Lunden — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 12:45:00 +0000

There’s a big opportunity for generative AI in the world of translation, and a startup called Panjaya is taking the concept to the next level: a hyperrealistic, GenAI-based dubbing tool for videos that recreates a person’s original voice speaking the new language, with the video and the speaker’s physical movements automatically modifying to match up […]

Canada orders shutdown of TikTok offices over security risks (but won’t block app)

Ingrid Lunden — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:07:33 +0000

With all eyes on how a new Trump administration in the U.S. will interface with China Tech in the years ahead, its neighbor to the north has leveled a blow to one of the biggest apps to come out of the country. Canada has ordered the closure of ByteDance’s operations in Canada — specifically the […]

LinkedIn launches its first AI agent to take on the role of job recruiters

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:32:06 +0000

LinkedIn, the social platform used by professionals to connect with others in their field, hunt for jobs, and develop skills, is taking the wraps off its latest effort to build artificial intelligence tools for users. Hiring Assistant is a new product designed to take on a wide array of recruitment tasks, from ingesting scrappy notes […]

One Zero, the AI fintech started by the founder of Mobileye, is raising $100M, say sources

Ingrid Lunden — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 20:29:56 +0000

Amnon Shashua, the founder and CEO of Mobileye, has an eye for complicated problems that he believes can be solved with AI, and that AI itself can be fixed to become more reliable. On the sidelines of building and running his self-driving car technology company — which he took public, then sold to Intel, then […]

Cyera acquires Trail Security for $162M; Cyera is now raising at a $3B valuation

Ingrid Lunden — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 10:17:48 +0000

Cyera, the Israel-founded, U.S.-based cybersecurity unicorn that uses artificial intelligence to build what’s known as data security posture management — a full assessment and picture of where a customers’ data has been created, where it is stored, and how it is used — has been on a growth tear in the last year, picking up […]

Doctors complain of IT ‘in the stone age’

Ingrid Lunden — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:26:47 +0000

The United Kingdom’s NHS — the world’s largest public health service — is working on creaking IT infrastructure, doctors tell the Financial Times. “I am at a top London hospital and yet at times I feel as though we are operating in the stone age,” one doctor tells the FT. For example, doctors email lists […]

Monogoto, an innovator in ‘connectivity as a service,’ raises $27M

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:30:19 +0000

Connectivity and connected networks are part and parcel of the way many devices and services operate today, thanks to innovations and expansions in mobile networks, on-device processing, and the cloud. But behind the scenes, there remains a lot of fragmentation: Different regions, technologies, tariffs, and devices can spell a lot of work for enterprises or service […]

20VC closes new $400M fund to ‘make Europe great again,’ says Harry Stebbings

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 11:15:13 +0000

Harry Stebbings (pictured above), the U.K. podcaster who broke into the world of tech with his 20-minute interviews of venture capitalists and founders, parlayed that fame into becoming a VC himself. Now, Stebbings has closed his third investment vehicle, and it’s his biggest yet: 20VC, the firm named after the podcast series, has closed a […]