Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News: Lincoln, Nebraska-based Spreetail, which offers logistics, customer support, and content services to e-commerce brands, raised $208M — Nebraska is not known for large funding announcements, but that did not hinder Spreetail from securing some serious funding. Lees verder op Tech Meme
Bloomberg: The US says the focus of its $39B chip making fund, a part of the $52B CHIPS Act, is on strengthening national security, not subsidizing struggling companies — As President Joe Biden’s administration prepares to accept requests for $39 billion in funding to jumpstart US production of microchips … Lees verder op Tech Meme
Joseph Cox / VICE: A reporter says he used an AI-generated replica of a voice to get past the voice verification system of UK’s Lloyds bank and accessed an account’s information — Banks in the U.S. and Europe tout voice ID as a secure way to log into your account. I proved it’s possible to trick such systems with free or cheap AI-generated voices. Lees verder op Tech Meme
Bloomberg: Source: the DOJ is preparing to file an antitrust suit to block Adobe’s Figma acquisition as soon as next month; Adobe says it expects to close the deal in 2023 — The Justice Department is preparing an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Adobe Inc.’s $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma Inc., people familiar with the matter said. Lees verder op Tech Meme
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: Block reports Q4 revenue up 15% YoY to $4.65B, vs. $4.61B est., Square gross profit up 22% YoY to $801M, and Cash App gross profit up 64% YoY to $848M — – Block stock rose slightly in extended trading after the payments company reported fourth-quarter revenue and gross profit that beat Wall Street’s expectations. Lees verder op Tech Meme
RT Watson / The Block: Doc: NFT startup Dapper Labs, which raised $600M+, lays off 20% of staff, after laying off ~134 staff, or ~22% of it’s workforce, in November 2022 — – Dapper Labs lays off another 20% of staff. — CEO says company is restructuring and has a “strong cash position.” Lees verder op Tech Meme
Brian Fung / CNN: Filing: DOJ seeks court sanctions against Google in its antitrust suit, citing Google’s policy of deleting certain employee chats automatically after 24 hours — data-check-event-based-preview= data-network-id= data-details=> — Google should face court sanctions over … Lees verder op Tech Meme
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: NYC-based Vitally, whose customer success software combines productivity and collaboration tools, raised a $30M Series B, taking its total funding to $40.6M — Customer success platforms (CSPs), or software designed to help business-to-business companies manage and monitor their customer success efforts, are increasingly in demand. Lees verder op Tech Meme
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Vitally, which makes customer success software that combines productivity and collaboration tools, raised a $30M Series B, bringing its total funding to $40.6M — Customer success platforms (CSPs), or software designed to help business-to-business companies manage and monitor their customer success efforts, are increasingly in demand. Lees verder op Tech Meme
Tom Warren / The Verge: Microsoft says Sydney is an old codename for a chatbot some Bing users in India began testing in late 2020; sources: Sydney had less personality until late 2022 — Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot history dates back at least six years, with Sydney first appearing in 2021. Lees verder op Tech Meme