North Korea stole over $659M in crypto heists during 2024, deployed fake job seekers

North Korean-backed hackers stole at least $659 million through multiple cryptocurrency heists in 2024, while also deploying IT workers to infiltrate blockchain companies as insider threats, according to Japan, South Korea, and the United States in a rare joint statement (PDF) on Tuesday. The anno

UK plans to ban public sector organizations from paying ransomware hackers

U.K. public sector and critical infrastructure organizations could be banned from making ransom payments under new proposals from the U.K. government.  The U.K.'s Home Office launched a consultation on Tuesday that proposes a “targeted ban” on ransomware payments. Under the proposal,

Venture funding remains stable in France thanks to AI startups

Alex Dewez, a partner at 20VC, just released its highly anticipated State of the French Tech Ecosystem 2024 report. This is a nice follow-up to Atomico's State of European Tech report, with a more granular view on French startups in particular. As a reminder, the bottom line of Atomico's r

UK's CMA slaps Google Search and its 90%+ market share with an antitrust investigation

The Competition and Markets Authority — the U.K.'s antitrust watchdog — is wasting no time in lodging its first official investigation of 2025 under its new rules that came into effect this month. It's looking into the market dominance of Google in search, including the new work it'

Bioptimus raises $41M to develop a ‘GPT for biology’

A fledgling French AI startup has raised $41 million to develop a foundational AI model for biology. Just as OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm as a super-smart generative AI tool capable of natural language conversation in text form, Bioptimus is taking that concept but training

LemFi moves remittances further into Asia and Europe with $53M in new funding

For many emerging market economies, remittances have become a lifeline. Inflows surpassed $669 billion in 2023, according to World Bank research, and they now represent significant portions of GDP in these countries, often outpacing foreign direct investment as the primary source of foreign exchang

How Barcelona became an unlikely hub for spyware startups

Toward the end of 2023, an Israeli security researcher from Tel Aviv said that he was approached on LinkedIn with an opportunity to work abroad with “good pay.” He said that the company's HR department told him that it was a “legitimate” offensive security company that was starting from

The CIA’s first CTO, Nand Mulchandani, prepares for the Trump administration

In April 2022, the CIA decided to swipe right on Nand Mulchandani, appointing him as its first-ever chief technology officer. It was a good look for the CIA. Mulchandani, who previously served as the CTO and acting director of the Defense Department's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, is so

OpenAI presents its preferred version of AI regulation in a new ‘blueprint’

OpenAI on Monday published what it’s calling an “economic blueprint” for AI: a living document that lays out policies the company thinks it can build on with the U.S. government and its allies. The blueprint, which includes a forward from Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s VP of global

‘Free Our Feeds’ campaign aims to billionaire-proof Bluesky's tech

As Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg continue to reshape the social media space, a group of international tech entrepreneurs and advocates has launched a campaign to protect social media from the control and influence of billionaires. The initiative, Free Our Feeds, aims to protect Bluesky's under

Raspberry AI raises $24M from a16z to accelerate fashion design

The world of fashion is moving at a faster pace each year. Most retailers introduce new styles each season, and fast-fashion companies like Shein, H&M, and Zara update their collections continuously. To keep pace with the rapid demand for new styles, brands and manufacturers have been turning t

Clearwater agrees to buy investment management platform Enfusion for $1.5B

Clearwater Analytics, a company developing accounting, compliance, and risk reporting tools for asset managers, said on Monday it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire investment management platform Enfusion for $1.5 billion. Clearwater, which says it has obtained an $800 million loan

Biden administration proposes sweeping new restrictions on exporting AI chips

With a week left in office, President Joe Biden introduced a new set of guidelines and restrictions for exporting U.S.-made AI chips. On Monday the administration announced its Interim Final Rule on AI diffusion. This ruling is meant to “provide clarity to allied and partner nations about ho

Xiaohongshu (RedNote), China’s answer to Instagram, hits No. 1 on the App Store as TikTok faces US shutdown

On the heels of TikTok’s looming shutdown on January 19 over its ownership in the U.S. (unless the Supreme Court intervenes), it looks like another Chinese app is catching some attention. American users are flocking to Chinese short-form video app Xiaohongshu (known as RedNote in English). Th