Travis VanderZanden’s slow-motion departure from Bird is now complete. The scooter rental company announced in a late-Friday news dump that the executive has stepped down from his role as chairperson of Bird’s board, “effective immediately.”
Replacing VanderZanden is John Bitove, who played a role in saving Bird’s bacon this past December via its merger...
Are corporations too influential?
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This week, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how some of the biggest companies in the world have as much — if not more — power than entire countries. Most countries, at least, have some level...
Police want robotaxi video footage to help solve crimes
Police are starting to turn to robotaxis — specifically all of that footage captured by cameras — for video evidence to help solve crimes. While it might not be a trend quite yet, evidence suggests that the robotaxi is the new proving ground for privacy advocates and law enforcement, especially as companies like Cruise and Waymo scale to new cities.
Self-driving...
TechCrunch roundup: Vertical AI crypto losses decline machine learning investor survey
According to Paris Heymann, a partner at Index Ventures, the current wave of AI-powered products and services can be sorted into three layers:
Foundational models
AI infrastructure
AI applications
“Some of these applications will be broadly horizontal,” he writes in TC+, “but...
Say goodbye to Q2 and the crypto hacks scams and rug pulls that came with it
Follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto news, memes and more.
Welcome back to Chain Reaction.
As if the pessimism around crypto weren’t enough, the industry is facing yet another quarter of hackers and scammers looking to make a quick buck. And to make things worse, it’s getting harder to trace and recover lost funds as well.
According...
Niantic lays off 230 employees cancels NBA and Marvel games
Pokémon GO maker Niantic laid off 230 employees today, just one year after it laid off around 90 employees.
During last year’s layoffs, Niantic cancelled four projects, including a Transformers game. Some Niantic games will meet the same fate this time around. After four months in the App Store, Niantic is shutting down NBA All-World; the company will...
Millions affected by MOVEit mass-hacks as list of casualties continues to grow
Hackers have compromised the personal data of more than 15 million individuals by exploiting a security vulnerability in the MOVEit file transfer tool, as the number of victim organizations continues to grow.
There are more than 140 known victims of Clop ransomware attacks targeting a vulnerability in MOVEit Transfer, an enterprise file transfer...
ChatGPT prompts: How to optimize for sales marketing writing and more
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot, has taken the world by storm.
Capable of writing emails, essays and more given a few short prompts, ChatGPT has become one of the fastest-growing apps in history. Beyond that, it’s begun to find a place in the enterprise, particularly with the launch of plugins that connect the chatbot to third-party apps, websites...
As $100M venture rounds evaporate IPOs might have to carry the weight
Earlier this year we wrote that the “the $100 million venture round is going extinct.” Often our predictions wind up sideways. This time we were on the right track.
According to new data from PitchBook, the U.S. venture market is continuing to endure lackluster velocity for...
Techstars raising $150 million for new accelerator fund
Startup accelerator Techstars is raising $150 million for its new fund, SEC filings show. The accelerator is seeking new capital ahead of the end of the deployment period of its third institutionally-backed fund, Techstars Accelerator 2021, later this year.
Techstars declined to offer details on how it intends to use or deploy the funding, citing regulatory...
OpenAI brings the competition to DeepMinds doorstep with new London office
OpenAI is expanding overseas. To London, specifically.
Today, the Microsoft-backed AI startup announced that it plans to open an office in London, its first international outpost. When OpenAI’s London location opens its doors, it’ll focus on advancing “research and engineering capabilities” while balancing collaborating with “local communities and...
Vertical AI: The next logical iteration of vertical SaaS
Paris Heymann Contributor
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Paris Heymann is a partner at Index Ventures, where he invests primarily in B2B SaaS and data.
More posts by this contributor
Acquisition, retention, expansion: Why SaaS founders must understand GDR and NDR
Metrics that matter:...
Reka emerges from stealth to build custom AI models for the enterprise
Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT-4 are all the rage these days, owing to their unparalleled ability to analyze and generate text. But for organizations looking to leverage LLMs for specific tasks — say, writing ad copy in a brand’s style — their generalist nature can become a liability.
When the instructions get too precise, even the...
How Sheins influencer trip to a Chinese factory backfired
As Shein eyes an IPO, the company’s image needs a serious makeover. From stealing indie designers’ work, to violating local labor laws, Shein has fallen out of vogue on social media, so the company invited a group of influencers to tour one of its factories in Guangzhou, China.
“I expected the facility to be so filled with people just slaving away,...
