Tech

Mullen to bid for bankrupt Electric Last Mile Solutions

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Mullen Automotive is the leading bidder on bankrupt commercial EV maker Electric Last Mile Solutions, its second major deal this month as it strives to deliver its own electric vehicle. The California-based automaker placed a stalking horse bid of nearly $92 million to buy ELMS, which had been developing a commercial EV called the Urban … Read more

Spotify now sells audiobooks

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Spotify is launching audiobooks within the app. | Image: Spotify There is a lot happening today, so I won’t dally. Spotify is finally launching its audiobooks feature, Adnan Syed of Serial is free, and we are opening up the Hot Pod Summit lottery. Spotify launches audiobooks in the US Spotify is bringing audiobooks to its … Read more

Spotify brings audiobooks to U.S. users with a catalog of 300,000 titles to start

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Spotify is today launching support for audiobooks on its streaming service, offering a third type of audio content for its customers beyond music and podcasts. Initially, audiobooks will be made available to U.S. users who will be able to access a selection of some 300,000+ titles, recommended by Spotify editors. But over time, the company … Read more

TrovaTrip, a group travel management platform and marketplace, raises $15M

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TrovaTrip, a travel planning and booking platform that lets creators host adventures with their communities, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Madrona. Founded in 2017, the Portland-based company makes it easy for creators to sell and host multi-day experiences around the world. TrovaTrip offers more than 150 experiences in 48 countries. … Read more

Sardine raises $51.5M led by a16z to sniff out fishy fintech transactions

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As fintechs become more efficient, so too do fraudsters. “Faster instant payments mean faster fraud,” Sardine CEO and co-founder Soups Ranjan told TechCrunch. That’s the thesis behind his startup, which uses behavioral, financial and device-specific user data to detect fraud on behalf of its clients in the crypto and fintech industries. Those conditions also mean … Read more

Revolut confirms cyberattack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users

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Fintech startup Revolut has confirmed it was hit by a highly targeted cyberattack that allowed hackers to access the personal details of tens of thousands of customers. Revolut spokesperson Michael Bodansky told TechCrunch that an “unauthorized third party obtained access to the details of a small percentage (0.16%) of our customers for a short period … Read more

Advisor to Europe’s top court backs antitrust watchdogs looking at privacy

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A non-binding opinion issued today by an influential advisor to the Europe Union’s top court could foreshadow a major regional development at the intersection of privacy and competition regulation — or ‘privacy vs competition’ as it’s sometimes narrowly framed. The opinion follows a referral to the Court of Justice (CJEU) related to an appeal by … Read more

YouTube’s ‘dislike’ and ‘not interested’ options don’t do much for your recommendations, study says

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There is no secret that both viewers and creators are confused by the puzzle that is YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. Now, a new study by Mozilla suggests that users’ recommendations don’t change a lot when they use options like ‘dislike’ and ‘not interested’ to stop YouTube from suggesting similar videos. The organization’s study observed that YouTube … Read more

European neobank Monese nabs $35M from HSBC

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Monese, the London-based fintech that provides digital banking and remittance services to consumers and businesses across Europe, has raised $35 million from global banking giant HSBC. Founded in 2013, Monese is one of several so-called “challenger” banks to emerge from the U.K. capital, serving customers with a range of online-only services including standard cash accounts, savings, … Read more

Healthcare financier Scratchpay secures $35M Series C

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Scratchpay, the Pasadena, Calif.-based petcare financier turned healthcare financier, closed a new round of funding amounting to $35 million. It’s a sign that investors are still looking at growing the fintech scene despite the markets’ downturn and an acknowledgment from investors that there is a slowdown in investments. 8 investors discuss fintech’s potential despite the … Read more

Salesforce built a data lake to transform how customer data moves on the platform

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The ultimate goal of pulling customer data together into a customer data platform (CDP) is building more meaningful customer experiences in real time. Up until now, that’s been more aspirational than real, but Salesforce is announcing Genie, a real time data integration platform, today at the Dreamforce customer conference that aims to make that dream … Read more

Tres raises $7.6M to help web3 teams manage their financials and crypto data

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Tres, a financial “data lake” for web3 companies, has raised $7.6 million in a seed round led by boldstart ventures, its founder and CEO Tal Zackon, exclusively shared with TechCrunch. Investors include F2, The Chainsmokers’ venture fund Mantis, New Form Capital, Kenetic Capital, Blockdaemon Ventures and Alchemy. As well as angel investors like Fireblocks CEO … Read more