SleekFlow snaps up $7M to tap the conversational AI opportunity across Asia
SleekFlow, a Singapore- and Hong Kong-headquartered social commerce platform that has built a conversational AI suite for customer engagement targeted to Asian markets, said Wednesday it had secured an additional $7 million in funding. The money will be used to continue developing its AI, as well a
The banks that loaned Musk $13B to buy Twitter might be having regrets
X, formerly known as Twitter, looks like a pretty bad investment right about now.
As readers might recall, Elon Musk borrowed $13 billion from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and five other major banks to help finance its $44 billion acquisition. According to the WSJ, the deal has since become the
Google’s Nest Learning Thermostat is still the one to beat
A refurbished third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat was one of the first things I picked up upon moving into my first house last month. As a longtime New York City apartment dweller, I'd largely observed the device from afar, wondering how a thermostat of all things became foundational to G
Cisco employees face a month of silence ahead of second layoff in 2024
After tech giant Cisco announced plans for its second round of layoffs this year, employees tell technewss that they will not know if they are affected for close to a month.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Cisco was planning a second round of layoffs this year, after letting go of aroun
PayPal could challenge Apple Wallet in the EU
PayPal is poised to take advantage of the iPhone’s newly opened-up NFC capabilities by developing a mobile wallet of its own for EU users. Earlier this month, Apple announced it would allow third-party developers to access new NFC (near-field communications) and Secure Element APIs, which tod
Fintech shutdowns, Klarna's move into banking and which companies are hiring
Welcome to technewss Fintech! This week, we're looking at the respective demise of Tally and Score, plus examining Klarna's latest business move. We also have a list of fintech companies that are looking to add headcount.
To get a roundup of technewss's biggest and most important fin
How Fabric plans to make advanced cryptography ubiquitous
Fabric Cryptography, a hardware startup by MIT and Stanford dropouts (and married couple) Michael Gao and Tina Ju, wants to make modern cryptographic techniques like zero-knowledge proof (which lets you prove things without giving up exactly what you know) and fully homomorphic encryption (which en
Life sciences investor BEVC raising $25M climate fund
Life sciences investor BEVC is raising a $25 million fund aimed at climate-related startups, according to an SEC filing.
BEVC is new on the scene, having been founded just last year in Berkeley, Calif. Its three co-founders all have backgrounds in the life sciences, and its first two investments,
YouTube takes on TikTok Shop with expanded Shopify partnership
As TikTok Shop gains traction, YouTube is expanding its partnership with Shopify to onboard more brands for its YouTube Shopping affiliate program, the company announced on Tuesday. The expanded partnership means creators will get access to thousands of new brands to tag in their shopping videos, m
Waymo is now giving 100,000 robotaxi rides a week
Waymo disclosed Tuesday it’s now giving more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across its three main commercial markets in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix.
Those figures were shared by Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana in a social media post on X. The new 100,000 figure is doubl
US government accuses Iran of Trump campaign hack; Iran scoffs
On Monday, the U.S. government formally accused Iran of hacking the Donald Trump campaign.
In a joint statement issued by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the three agencies said that the intelligen
The Rounds scoops up $24M to bring its 'household restocking' delivery service to more markets
The Rounds, the startup that delivers recurring grocery and household essentials in reusable packaging, announced on Monday its $24 million Series B funding round. The new capital will go toward product development, hiring and expanding the service to additional markets.
Alongside the funding anno
Defcon AI closes $44M seed round to solve a problem of ‘maximum complexity’: Military logistics
The U.S. Department of Defense is a mammoth organization. It not only employs millions of service members and hundreds of thousands of civilian employees, but also has the world's largest military budget that's used to buy and maintain more equipment than can likely fit into a single paragr
Eppo lands new cash to grow its app, website and AI experimentation business
The AI industry continues to release tons of new models, and companies looking to stay competitive are racing to adopt them for their purposes. In fact, nearly 10% of businesses plan to spend a whopping $25 million this year on AI initiatives, according to tech consulting firm Searce.
But while lo