Amplifica Capital ‘wants to be the fund that LatAm’s female tech founders reach out to first’

Anna Raptis, founder and CEO at Mexico-based venture capital firm Amplifica Capital, was always someone who’s been “interested in facilitating economic development.” Born in Australia, she followed that lead, holding positions with the United Nations and the World Bank, spending two decades working in the energy sector. That’s what ultimately brought her to Mexico: a … Read more

Cost-effective IP strategies can lead to massive exit valuations

Kyle Graves Contributor Share on Twitter Kyle Graves, counsel at Snell & Wilmer, provides a practical approach to IP counseling, IP-related business transactions and the enforcement of IP rights. Conventional startup perspectives on intellectual property rights and exit events often recite the anecdotal experience of software founders operating in industries dominated by strong network effects … Read more

Tech bosses who willingly flout UK online child safety rules to face criminal liability

The UK government has confirmed it will expand criminal liability powers contained in draft online safety legislation which is currently making its way through parliament with the aim of preventing platforms from intentionally flouting child-safety rules. The current version of the (already much amended) Online Safety Bill, which is set to return to parliament today for … Read more

Sequoia India-backed GoMechanic faces severe trouble

GoMechanic has laid off a significant number of its workforce as the Sequoia India-backed startup struggles to raise funds amid serious concerns of accounting troubles, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The Gurgaon-headquartered startup has cut 70% of the workforce and asked the remaining staff to work without pay for three months, Indian … Read more

Stell wants to modernize the “unsexy” workflows slowing down America’s industrial base

There is very, very little room for error in aerospace and defense (A&D) manufacturing. For companies that build products like missiles, rocket boosters and avionics, each part must not deviate more than a hairsbreadth from its technical specifications. Despite the precise demands of the industry, however, parts ordering is generally done using systems that are … Read more

CloseFactor raises $15.2M to automate repetitive sales processes

Several years ago, co-founders Leena Joshi, Ben Cheung and Erik Buchanan experienced frustration with the amount of manual work they were putting into collecting information about sales and marketing accounts. The tools in the market were focused solely on the collection of information, they say, instead of curating what was actually relevant, actionable and up … Read more

Nick Cave says imitation ChatGPT song is ‘a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human’

Photo by Naomi Rahim/WireImage Nick Cave isn’t too impressed with ChatGPT’s capacity for music. On his personal blog, the singer-songwriter gave a withering rebuke to a set of lyrics written by the AI chatbot “in the style of Nick Cave.” “What ChatGPT is, in this instance, is replication as travesty,” writes Cave. “ChatGPT may be … Read more

Google is piloting its own ‘soundbox’ in India for merchants to get audio-based payment alerts

Soundboxes — hardware used by merchants that emits sounds every time a mobile payment is made — have taken off in India, where point of sale activity can get busy and voice alerts from the soundbox help alert multitasking shopkeepers and assistants to a transaction going through. Now, to keep pushing ahead to build out … Read more