New York Times: How Instacart CEO Fidji Simo helped find new revenue streams for the company, including via expanding its ads and software, which made $406M in H1 2023 revenue  —  As it prepares to go public next week, Instacart shows that one secret to making money as a gig economy company is to become an advertising company. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Lenders allege that Indian edtech giant Byju’s hid $533M in an obscure three-year-old hedge fund that once said its main place of business was an IHOP in Miami  —  – New lender suit seeks to recover cash from Camshaft Capital  — Hedge fund was founded just three years ago, lenders say Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Sources: Microsoft’s proposal to unbundle Teams did not satisfy the concerns of EU antitrust regulators, who are readying a formal complaint against the company  —  Microsoft’s recent proposal to split its Teams from a broader business software package and sell it to customers separately … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Financial Times: Munich-based Helsing, which makes software for European armies, raised €209M led by General Catalyst; Saab paid €75M for a 5% stake, implying a €1.5B valuation  —  €209mn deal is latest example of sector defying VC downturn amid Ukraine war, and rising tensions between China and west Lees verder op Tech Meme

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch: Databricks raised a $500M+ Series I at a $43B valuation, after raising $1.6B at a $38B valuation in August 2021, before a possible IPO, and reports 10K+ clients  —  Data analytics and AI software maker Databricks has raised a Series I round worth more than $500 million, earning a valuation of $43 billion. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Pixis, which sells AI tools for marketing campaigns, raised an $85M Series C1 led by Touring Capital, taking its total funding to $209M, and reports $50M in ARR  —  Pixis, an AI-powered platform for brands to monitor and orchestrate their marketing campaigns, today announced that it raised $85 million … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Washington Post: Sources: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu plans to fly to the US to meet Elon Musk, the latest attempt by Musk allies to stave off X’s growing antisemitism crisis  —  The meeting with the Israeli prime minister is the latest effort by Musk friends and colleagues to head off a growing battle with the Anti-Defamation League Lees verder op Tech Meme

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Amazon expands its search and discovery mobile features, like multimodal search and Find-on-Amazon, which lets users find similar products to those in a photo  —  Amazon is introducing new features that make it easier to search for products on mobile and is challenging other product search engines … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Alex Konrad / Forbes: Linear, which sells project management tools to startups like Cohere, Runway, and Ramp, raised a $35M Series B led by Accel, sources say at a ~$400M valuation  —  The four-year-old startup founded by three Finns is already used by fellow startups like Cohere, Ramp and Runway. Lees verder op Tech Meme