Welcome back to review week! There’s a lot of news this week, including a hack at Coinbase. YC believes Google is a “monopoly”. Layoffs at Microsoft. And more. Have a great weekend!
uh-oh: Coinbase says that customer personal information, including government-issued IDs, was stolen in a data breach. The hackers have asked the company for $20 million, CEO Brian Armstrong said in an X post that he will not pay the hacker’s ransom.
IPO Time, Baby: After confidential submission in December, Chime applied for the IPO this week. There are a lot of gaps in the S-1, so we didn’t get much information, such as the stocks that insiders will be selling as part of the IPO. But we learned one piece of information. Chime signed a contract with the Dallas Mavericks in 2018 and won the Chime logo in the team’s jersey.
Knock on Wood: This story has been popping out all week. Inventwood created wood called “Superwood” as strong as steel. Finally, Inventwood plans to use wood chips to create structural beams of any dimension that do not require finishing.
This is TechCrunch review week, summarizing the biggest news of the week. Want to deliver this to your inbox as a newsletter every Saturday? Sign up here.
news
Big Bowl of Granola: VCs and Founders love to talk about the apps they use. Latest Case: Granola is a recently used AI note-taking app despite being launched a year ago. And when there is use, money continues. The company announced it raised $43 million in the Series B funding round at a $250 million valuation.
Word of choice: “Google is chilling independent companies like YC from funding and accelerating innovative startups that could challenge Google’s advantage,” YC submitted to the search giant to Amicus Brief, filed in the US antitrust law. However, YC is not seeking a complete breakup of Google.
Love to see it: Apple has announced a bunch of accessibility features, including app store apps and accessibility nutrition labels that notify users of in-game accessibility features. A new magnifier for Mac. A new Braille experience. more.
Layoffs at Microsoft: The company reportedly laid off 3% of its employees, or about 6,500 people, affecting all levels, locations and teams. This follows Microsoft’s solid quarter, with revenues of $700.1 billion (up 13%) and net income of $25.8 billion (up 28%). In Washington, about 40% of the 2,000 fired people were engineers.
Gemini in your car: at Android show – Google’s Android-only event a week before Google I/O – the company announced that it will bring Gemini to cars that support Android Auto. Drivers (and passengers) can send texts, play music, and use natural language to do everything else that smart assistants do.
LOL: What was once called HBO Go has changed its name to HBO Now. This later became HBO Max, and announced that it had changed its name to HBO Max again before settling on Max.
Call it a Bus: Uber has launched Route Share, a commuting shuttle service that picks passengers up at pre-set stops every 20 minutes. “We can see a natural extension of how we can bring route share to self-driving cars,” said Sachin Kansal, Uber’s Chief Product Officer.
Wait, what? The New York Times spoke with two investors who said they were pitching a new startup aimed at using blood tests to provide “human health optimization.” Does it sound familiar? But wait until you hear who has pitched the startup: Billy Evans, partner of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Maybe it will work this time?
analysis
Speaking of Uber, in 2022, senior reporter Rebecca Bellan wrote an article entitled “Uber’s Amazonification of Uber.” Now, the company is taking it a step further, introducing a weekly discounted day designed to boost its subscription program and expand its role beyond transportation.