XRP cryptocurrency crashes following announcement of SEC suit against Ripple

The value of one of the world’s most valuable cryptocurrencies is crashing and a recently filed SEC complaint is at the root of the free fall. According to CoinMarketCap, the XRP token’s value has declined more than 42% in the past 24 hours and is down more than 63% from its 30-day high

Nuro can now operate and charge for autonomous delivery services in California

"">Autonomous delivery startup Nuro is allowed to launch commercial driverless services on public roads in California — the first company to clear this hurdle — after receiving a permit from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. Nuro, which was founded in June 2016 by Google alums Dave

Letterhead wants to be the Shopify of email newsletters

You're probably investing in an email newsletter these days, whether you're an international brand, a nonprofit or a local news publisher. Maybe email is even your focus now, because you got burned by Facebook, Google or other closed platforms during the past decade. The problem is that the

Dear Sophie: What's ahead for US immigration in 2021?

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. “Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says

No rules, no problem: DeepMind’s MuZero masters games while learning how to play them

DeepMind has made it a mission to show that not only can an AI truly become proficient at a game, it can do so without even being told the rules. Its newest AI agent, called MuZero, accomplishes this not just with visually simple games with complex strategies, like Go, Chess and Shogi, but with vis

Fluent Forever raises $4.9M for its language learning system

Fluent Forever, a startup that uses a novel learning system to help its users master a new language faster, has raised a $4.9 million funding round led by Denver-based Stout Street Capital. Other investors in this round include The Syndicate, LAUNCH, Mana Ventures, Noveus VC, Flight.VC, Insta VC, U

The Biden administration can change the world with new crypto regulations

The U.S. government is failing us with regard to fintech and blockchain regulation. Devoid of any regulatory framework in the past four years we've been operating in limbo when it comes to the development and advancement of crypto products. Innovators in the fintech and blockchain industries ha

Nuro acquires autonomous trucking startup Ike

Autonomous delivery company Nuro has acquired Ike, a startup founded by veterans of Apple, Google and Uber Advanced Technologies Group that aimed to commercialize self-driving trucks. The deal, the latest in a busy season of acquisitions and consolidation in the autonomous vehicle industry, brings

Voyager Space Holdings to acquire majority stake in commercial space leader Nanoracks

Voyager Space Holdings continues to build up its portfolio of strategic space service offerings with the acquisition of a majority stake in X.O. Markets, the parent company of Nanoracks. Nanoracks has provided commercial space services for years now, and most recently provided the Bishop Airlock th

Nikola’s stock crashes after announcing cancelation of contract with Republic Services for 2,500 garbage trucks

The undoing of Nikola continues. Today, the company announced the termination of its contract with Republic Services for 2,500 garbage trucks. Announced back in August, the deal had Nikola building garbage trucks in 2023 with on-road testing scheduled for 2024. This is the latest deal to unravel fo

Looking ahead after 2020’s epic M&A spree

When we examine any year in enterprise M&A, it’s tempting to highlight the biggest, gaudiest deals — and there were plenty of those in 2020. I’ve written about 34 acquisitions so far this year. Of those, 15 were worth $1 billion or more, 12 were small enough to not require tha

Yayzy app automatically calculates the environmental impact of your spending

Ahead of the turning of the New Year, many people are wishing they could do something about the environment. Now, a U.K. startup hopes to make our environmental impact more personal. Yayzy has now launched an iOS app (Android is coming) which literally links to your bank account to work out the env

TikTok parent ByteDance hiring for AI drug discovery team

ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, is entering the health industry as it seeks to diversify a business dependent on advertising and livestreaming sales. The company, which prides itself on content algorithms, has started seeking talent in AI drug discovery across Mountain View, Shang

Telegram, nearing 500 million users, to begin monetizing the app

Instant messaging app Telegram is “approaching” 500 million users and plans to generate revenue starting next year to keep the business afloat, its founder Pavel Durov said on Wednesday. Durov said he has personally bankrolled the seven-year-old business so far, but as the startup scale