A sweeping law enforcement operation led by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency this week took down LockBit, the notorious Russia-linked ransomware gang that has for years wreaked havoc on businesses, hospitals, and governments around the world. The action saw LockBit’s leak site downed, its servers seized, multiple arrests made, and U.S. government sanctions applied in…
Byju’s says its recently launched $200 million rights issue has been fully-subscribed, but the startup’s founder urged some of its major investors to participate amid a rift between the edtech group and some of its largest shareholders. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, valued at $22 billion in its last financing round in early 2022, announced last month…
Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups. This week Becca and Dom are joined by Shan-Lyn Ma, the co-founder and CEO of Zola, an online platform for wedding planning and gift registries. Ma talked about why she decided to launch the business after trying to buy a gift for a…
A spam attack that impacted the open source X rival Mastodon, Misskey, and other apps highlights how the decentralized social web, also known as the Fediverse, is open to abuse. Over the past several days, attackers have targeted smaller Mastodon servers, taking advantage of open registrations to automate the creation of spam accounts. Mastodon founder…
Walmart-backed PhonePe is set to launch its Android app store this week with zero commission for in-app purchases for developers. The app store is based on Indus OS’ tech, a company that PhonePe acquired in 2021. In this story, we are going to take a look at why developers are pushing for an alternative store…
In a role reversal, Xalts, a Singapore fintech startup founded 18 months ago, has acquired Contour Network, a digital trade platform set up by eight major banks including HSBC, Standard Chartered and BNP. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but the acquisition price was in the high single millions and composed of cash and stock.…
To give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved — and overdue — time in the spotlight, TechCrunch is launching a series of interviews focusing on remarkable women who’ve contributed to the AI revolution. We’ll publish several pieces throughout the year as the AI boom continues, highlighting key work that often goes unrecognized. Read more…
MariaDB is the subject of another potential takeover bid, as the company behind the eponymous open source relational database management system (RDBMS) confirmed it had received a provisional offer from California-based K1 Investment Management. K1 quietly revealed on Friday that it had tabled what is known as an “unsolicited non-binding indicative proposal” for MariaDB, which…
Partech has closed its second Africa fund, Partech Africa II, at €280 million ($300 million+), just one year after reaching its first close. At that size, Partech Africa, which originally targeted €230 million before its fundraising efforts started, solidifies its position as the largest fund dedicated to African startups. Amidst a backdrop of global VCs…
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Earlier this week, the 19-year-old son of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, was found dead at UC Berkeley of an apparent drug overdose, according to his grandmother, Esther Wojcicki. The news broke widely yesterday, though Wojcicki posted the news to Facebook several days ago, writing: “Tragedy hit my family yesterday.…
