TechCrunch Industry News

Meta is set to appeal Kenya’s court decision declaring it as the primary employer of the moderators that review content on its platforms in sub-Saharan Africa.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adobe today announced that it is bringing its Firefly generative image generator to its enterprise customers and allowing them to customize the model with their own branded assets.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uber plans to bring peer-to-peer car sharing to North America, starting with Toronto and Boston, the company said Thursday at its Go-Get product event in London.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and the main contributor to the open-source WordPress project, launched an AI assistant for the popular content management system on Tuesday.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The team behind the AI friendship bot Replika is launching another AI companion — one that’s made to flirt.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At its annual WWDC 2023 conference, Apple took the wraps off of the Vision Pro, its long-rumored augmented reality (AR) headset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Indian edtech giant Byju’s has filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court to challenge the acceleration of the $1.2 billion term loan B and to disqualify Redwood, who it alleges has conducted a series of predatory tactics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

European Deeptech startups get another shot in the arm this week in the shape of IQ Capital’s new $200m venture fund. The new fund takes its assets under management to more than $1bn.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

YouTube was the slowest major platform to disallow misinformation during the 2020 U.S. election and almost three years later, the company will toss that policy out altogether. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PropTech firm Aurum is acquiring NestAway, a once high-flying Indian startup operating in the same space, for up to $10.9 million, in a deal that marks a near complete erosion in value for the startup’s investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shopify’s Shop app is introducing a new rewards program called Shop Cash, the e-commerce platform announced on Friday.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Enzo Biochem, a New York-based biotechnology company, has confirmed that a ransomware attack exposed the clinical test information of almost 2.5 million patients.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Casepoint says it’s investigating a potential cybersecurity incident after hackers claimed to have compromised the legal technology platform to steal terabytes of sensitive data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is now just less than a week away. Many developer communities are already organizing watch parties across the world.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Volvo is continuing to drip-feed more information about its upcoming electric Volvo EX30 small SUV. Last week the automaker promised the new EV would have the smallest carbon footprint of any previously made Volvo vehicle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI has expanded the availability of its ChatGPT app for iOS users in India and 32 other countries — just a week after its launching it in the U.S.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Indian conglomerate Reliance is poised to outpace Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart in the race for the country’s $150 billion e-commerce market Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ford has reached an agreement with rival Tesla that will give owners of Ford’s EVs access to more than 12,000 Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Embark Trucks, the autonomous trucking company that recently cut 70% of its workforce, is being acquired by Applied Intuition, a simulation and software provider for autonomous vehicle development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reliance Industries, run by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is gearing up to deploy a winning strategy from its past playbook for the fashion market: low-cost products.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk suggested Thursday during a Twitter Spaces with Ford CEO Jim Farley that Tesla might open up some of its automotive operating system code to other automakers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Browser Company, the company behind the web browser Arc, introduced a fun new tool today called Boosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI has announced in a tweet that the official ChatGPT mobile app is now available in more countries.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Music streaming platform SoundCloud has laid off 8% of its staff according to multiple reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I spent a bit of time at Figure’s Sunnyvale offices during a recent visit to the South Bay.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices