As remote working keeps rolling, Oyster raises $59M Series D at $1.2B valuation

No one is putting the remote working genie back in the bottle. Which is good news for Oyster, a payroll and HR platform that specializes in distributed workforces — or “global employment” as its marketing paints it. The 2019-founded U.S. startup has just closed a $59 million Series D funding

Tinder update targets college students as dating apps struggle

For the college students who are satisfied with dating apps, which may not be many, Tinder announced Wednesday a series of updates to Tinder U, its in-app feature that caters to current college students ages 18 to 24. This includes new badges to add to their profiles, such as graduation year, major

Ireland’s privacy watchdog ends legal fight with X over data use for AI after it agrees to permanent limits

The lead privacy watchdog for X (formerly Twitter) in the European Union has ended court proceedings against the social media platform for processing user data for AI model training without people’s consent. This comes after it said the company had agreed to permanently abide by an undertakin

Mayfield allocates $100M to AI incubator modeled after its entrepreneur-in-residence program

Navin Chaddha, the leader and managing partner of 55-year-old VC firm Mayfield Fund, has a penchant for approaching venture investing in a way that deviates slightly from other established firms. When Mayfield raised a $955 million fund last year, Chaddha told technewss the firm didn’t need

Anthropic launches Claude Enterprise plan to compete with OpenAI

Anthropic is launching a new subscription plan for its AI chatbot, Claude, catered toward enterprise customers that want more administrative controls and increased security. Claude Enterprise will compete with OpenAI’s business-specific solution, ChatGPT Enterprise, released roughly a year ag

Slauson & Co. raises $100M Fund II proving appetite for inclusion persists

VC firm Slauson & Co. has closed a $100 million Fund II, a big step up from its initial $75 million fund.  “We invest in everybody,” Ajay Relan, partner at Slauson & Co., told technewss, adding that the firm wants to make sure all perspectives are included in its products and ser

DubClub wants amateur sports bettors to win more

The American sports betting market produced $10.9 billion in revenue in 2023 for casinos, sportsbooks and iGaming, according to the American Gambling Association. One of the reasons this industry is so lucrative is because the majority of people who bet on sports lose. A three-year-old Chicago-base

Revefi seeks to automate companies’ data operations

Sanjay Agrawal and Shashank Gupta, who helped co-found the business intelligence company ThoughtSpot, say that several years ago, they observed that organizations were struggling to deal with the increasing amount of data under their purview. Even enterprises with robust data analytics and orchest

With $50M in new funding, You.com thinks its AI can beat Google on hard questions

If you build an AI search product, you compete with Google. But Google has a lot easier time answering queries with a single, simple answer, such as “how many is a dozen?” than it does answering complex questions like “what influence did Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense&

reMarkable’s Paper Pro adds color, light and more but keeps the focus on ‘focus’

The new Paper Pro tablet from reMarkable moves the company’s vision of combining PC with paper closer to reality, adding color and capability while keeping the philosophy of focus intact. The Norwegian company has been something of an unlikely success story. In a day and age where more and m

UK regulator greenlights Microsoft’s Inflection acquihire, but also designates it a merger

Good news for Microsoft: The U.K.'s antitrust regulator says that the tech titan’s high-profile acquihire of the team behind AI startup Inflection doesn’t cause competition concerns, and thus it won’t be pursuing a full-scale investigation. However, the Competition and Market

Why Lyft’s CEO says ‘it would be insane’ not to go all in on bikeshare

In the summer of 2023, Lyft was contemplating the sale of its micromobility business after receiving strong interest from prospective buyers. Today, the ride-hail company is doubling down on its docked scooter and bikeshare operations, positioning itself as the ideal partner for cities looking to e

Spotify launches its evolving playlist, daylist, globally

Spotify is launching daylist globally. It’s a personalized playlist that evolves throughout the day depending on your listening habits. This rollout comes after the company introduced it first to English-speaking markets last year. The playlist will be available to both free and premium users

Impact investors FMO and BlueOrchard back Ghana's digital lender Fido in $30M Series B round

Digital lending platforms have become an easy and swift alternative source of credit for microenterprises and individuals overlooked by traditional banking institutions. These platforms have turned into a lifeline for millions of underbanked and demand will keep growing, pushing the value of the di