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☆ Bankrupt EV start-up Fisker wants to sell its 3,300 unsold electric vehicles at an 80% discount to a company that rents cars to NYC Uber and Lyft drivers
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The company wants to sell just under 3,300 Ocean electric SUVs to American Leasing, lawyers said at a Wednesday hearing reported by TechCrunch. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Even as it prepared to deliver vehicles last year, it was scavenging parts from the personal EVs of the company's CEO and its CFO, Business Insider reported last month. It said selling 200 of the vehicles to American Leasing on an abbreviated timeline would bring in crucial cash to make payroll next month. Some creditors, including people who previously bought Fisker vehicles, are worried that the company will run out of resources to pay its debts and support owners.

Persons: —, Uber, Fisker, Linda Richenderfer Organizations: Service, American Leasing, TechCrunch, Business, Street, US, Office, Justice Department Locations: New York

☆ The VC that predicted a 'mass extinction event for startups' says it's time for a 'Great Reawakening'
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-03 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewLast year's dearth of capital for startups forced many founders to stretch their cash runways. Efficiency is a hallmark of any good business, but Tom Loverro, an investor at 44-year-old Bay Area venture capital firm IVP, thinks startup founders should step off the brake pedal. The venture capitalist who rightly predicted a "mass extinction event for startups" over a year ago now says the worst is behind us. "We're on the cusp of a Great Reawakening for startups," Loverro wrote in a LinkedIn post. Given that the cloud software market is stabilizing and venture funding is available again to the best-in-breed startups, Loverro is telling startups with sound unit economics to increase their cash burn to speed up progress.

Persons: —, Tom Loverro, Loverro, shutdowns, Darwin, Ball, That's, Uber Organizations: Service, IVP, Business, Autonomy, TechCrunch, LinkedIn Locations: Stockholm

☆ Inside the downfall of Henrik Fisker's second automotive startup, which just filed for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-18 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

AdvertisementA Fisker spokesperson said it would be "unfair" to compare the two companies. A Fisker spokesperson denied comments that Henrik took on a more passive role and said he was "deeply involved." AdvertisementA Fisker spokesperson said Magna was responsible for testing and releasing the Ocean and it had been fully certified by regulators in the US and Europe. A Fisker spokesperson pushed back on the comments questioning Henrik's business prowess. For Henrik, whose earlier company, Fisker Automotive, filed for bankruptcy in 2013, his present predicament echoes the past.

Persons: —, Henrik Fisker, Wendy Gruel's, Geeta Gupta, Gupta, Henrik Fisker's, James Bond, Henrik, Fisker, Rivian, Tesla, Phil McCarten, Magna, hadn't, YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, Kurt Mechling, he'd, they'd Organizations: Service, Business, TechCrunch, Aston Martin, BMW Z8, Magna International, Fisker Inc, Apollo Global Management, Tesla, Ford, GM, Magna, Reuters, Fisker, Business Insider, Engineers, Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, Technicians, California Bureau of Automotive, BI, New York Stock Exchange, Fisker Automotive Locations: Fisker, Europe, California, Graz, Austria, Panera

☆ Inside Henrik Fisker's second failed automotive startup
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-12 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

AdvertisementA Fisker spokesperson said it would be "unfair" to compare the two companies. A Fisker spokesperson denied comments that Henrik took on a more passive role and said he was "deeply involved." AdvertisementA Fisker spokesperson said Magna was responsible for testing and releasing the Ocean and it had been fully certified by regulators in the US and Europe. But in the year since the Ocean's release, the company has delivered around 7,000 vehicles, a Fisker spokesperson said. A Fisker spokesperson pushed back on the comments questioning Henrik's business prowess.

Persons: —, Henrik Fisker, Wendy Gruel's, Geeta Gupta, Gupta, Henrik Fisker's, James Bond, Henrik, Fisker, Rivian, Tesla, Phil McCarten, Magna, hadn't, YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, Kurt Mechling, he'd, they'd Organizations: Service, Business, TechCrunch, Aston Martin, BMW Z8, Magna International, Fisker Inc, Apollo Global Management, Tesla, Ford, GM, Magna, Reuters, Fisker, Business Insider, Engineers, Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, Technicians, California Bureau of Automotive, BI, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Fisker, Europe, California, Graz, Austria, Panera

☆ Artists are terrified Instagram is stealing their work. They're turning to hot platform Cara — but it's not a perfect solution.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-12 | by ( Shubhangi Goel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewSome artists are angry that Meta is using their photos on Instagram and Facebook to train its artificial intelligence models. Some artists are moving to Cara, a social media platform designed for artists. Losing hard-earned followingsProfessional artists said they have issues with Instagram beyond AI, including that they feel forced to buy ads to be seen. Far from perfectArtists, including Kent in San Francisco, said they're using platforms like Cara to hedge against the whims of any one platform. Switching platforms comes with its own headaches — the spike in new Cara users led to a series of app crashes last week.

Persons: —, they're, Christina Kent, Cara, Jingna Zhang, Chris Cox, Meridian Culpepper, — it's, Kent, Culpepper, I'm, Noah Smith, haven't Organizations: Service, Facebook, Business, Meridian, Meta, Singapore, Washington Post Locations: San Francisco, Cara, Luxembourg, Instagram, Los Angeles, Singapore, Kent

☆ Elon Musk's X has embraced porn. Now what?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewElon Musk's X overhauled its sensitive media policy this week, signaling an increasing coziness with the world of adult content. Porn is already a part of twitters audiences appetite so they will have to meet (OSA) priority content duties anyway. Related storiesBut taking pornography on board so squarely ramps up concerns for X users. It's also unclear how X vets material that is posted nonconsensually, Thornhill, who has advised UK lawmakers on porn regulation, said. Earlier this year, TechCrunch also reported that Musk was toying with the idea of revitalizing X's "communities" feature, with NSFW adult content.

Persons: —, Elon Musk's, TechCrunch —, Brooke Erin Duffy, Harper Thornhill Organizations: Service, Business, TechCrunch, Cornell University, Associated Press, Workers ' Union

☆ Signal CEO: OpenAI's ScarJo stunt is some 'edge lord' nonsense
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Signal's CEO has weighed in on the OpenAI-Scarlett Johansson controversy, accusing the buzzy AI company of having a "dorm room" culture. OpenAI unveiled the "Sky" artificial intelligence voice option last week alongside an announcement about the company's new GPT-4o large language model. On Monday, Johansson released a statement alleging that Altman had previously approached her about voicing Sky, which she declined. AdvertisementThe company has paused using the Sky voice in its products, OpenAI said.

Persons: —, Meredith Whittaker isn't, Scarlett Johansson, Whittaker, Sam Altman, Johansson, they're, OpenAI, Altman Organizations: Service, OpenAI, TechCrunch, Business

☆ TikTok is testing 60-minute videos, which could be a big threat to YouTube
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Shubhangi Goel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

TikTok is testing 60-minute video uploads, challenging YouTube's long-form content domain. TikTok has gradually increased its video length limits to 10 minutes for all users. Longer video uploads may shift viewership from streaming services like YouTube. AdvertisementTikTok is giving some users the option to upload 60-minute videos to the platform. The company told TechCrunch it does not immediately plan to roll out the 60-minute upload function widely.

Persons: TikTok, —, Matt Navarra Organizations: YouTube, Service, TechCrunch, Business

☆ Kapital: 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Small businesses dominate the global economy, and yet few banks focus on lending credit to this underserved demographic. According to the World Bank, small and medium-sized businesses make up 90% of global companies but only get 10.5% of total bank credit available. Even those that do get bank credit often don't have the kind of robust business management platform that large enterprises have. It gives businesses access to capital through revolving credit lines and business credit cards, while its business management platform provides real-time visibility into operations, cash flows, management of loans, payroll, benefits and invoicing. "That's what we're fixing — we give them visibility of their finances," Rene Saul, who co-founded Kapital with Fernando Sandoval in 2020, told TechCrunch.

Persons: Rene Saul, Fernando Sandoval Organizations: World Bank

☆ This is what one of Facebook's first employees says he learned working for Mark Zuckerberg before getting fired 9 months in
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewNoah Kagan, an early Facebook employee, may have worked for Mark Zuckerberg for only nine months, but he says the brief stint taught him a lot about Zuckerberg's management style. Then I got fired," Kagan wrote in an X post on Tuesday before launching into what he said were the "10 non-obvious lessons" he picked up from Zuckerberg. Kagan joined Facebook as a product manager in 2005, the same year Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard University to run the company full time. Representatives for Kagan and Zuckerberg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours. Zuckerberg told employees in January 2023: "I don't think you want a management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work."

Persons: —, Noah Kagan, Mark Zuckerberg, Kagan, Zuckerberg, uPGrc5aq6V — Noah Kagan, Mark, he's, Zuckerberg didn't, Meta Organizations: Service, Facebook, Zuckerberg, Business, Harvard University, Harvard, LinkedIn, Business Insider, Meta

☆ Tesla sends out another wave of layoff notices as employees enter 4th week of job cuts
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The company sent out another round of layoff notices on Sunday night, according to impacted workers who posted about the cuts on social media. The latest round of cuts mean that employees at the company are entering their fourth straight week of layoff notices. At least seven Tesla workers took to LinkedIn to say they'd received layoff notices on Sunday. "After watching my team gradually slimmed down week after week since mid-April, I received the dreaded 'Hello Employee' email this Sunday afternoon," one Tesla worker wrote on LinkedIn. Another worker shared a screenshot of her layoff email on LinkedIn that showed her last day of work would be May 5.

Persons: —, Elon Musk, they'd, Tesla, Elon, Musk, Tesla's, Drew Baglino, Rohan Patel, Patel, TechCrunch he'd Organizations: Service, LinkedIn, Business, Workers, BI, TechCrunch Locations: California, Texas

☆ AI is ushering edtech into a new era. Three investors share what they're most excited about in the space.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The past few years have been tough for edtech companies. In recent months, multiple edtech startups have raised fresh funding rounds while specifically touting AI as a core part of their business model. These deals could signal that AI is ushering in a new era for edtech companies, and VCs who invest in the space are excited about the renaissance. And Ednition, also one of Donnelly's portfolio companies, provides an infrastructure-as-a-service platform for other edtech companies to improve the data that goes into their AI models. That's why it's so important to invest in ed-tech AI startups that help people rethink how they interact with technology and learn new skills necessary to successfully enter the workforce, he said.

Persons: PitchBook, VCs, Brian Dixon, Dixon, we've, Numerade, Kapoor, Katelyn Donnelly, she's, I've, you'll, Donnelly, Avalance, OpenAI, we're, ChatGPT, Ryan Craig, Craig, edtech Organizations: Business, Labs, Kapor, Partners, Chingona Ventures, TechCrunch, Kapoor Capital, Lirvana Labs, Odyssey Education, University Ventures, ACT Locations: VCs, edtech

☆ Exclusive: 11x, a London-based AI startup that builds automated digital workers, is raising money from US fund Benchmark
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

11x, a London-based AI startup that creates automated digital workers, has raised funding from US investing giant Benchmark Capital. The company aims to provide businesses with "digital AI workers" that can complete repetitive and mundane tasks to free up employees to focus on other things. The startup has raised a Series A round of funding, led by US fund Benchmark, four sources familiar with the discussions told Business Insider. Related stories11x's deal was led by Benchmark general partner Sarah Tavel, who will join the startup's board. The startup created a digital sales worker named Alice and plans to release several other digital workers in the future.

Persons: Hasan Sukkar, Sarah Tavel, Uber, Alice, Slack Organizations: Benchmark, Business, US, Bessemer Venture Partners, Twitter, Benchmark Capital, Google, Project A, Ventures, Tiny Ventures, LinkedIn Locations: London, Syrian, Europe, Syria

☆ Google layoffs continue as cuts hit Flutter, Dart, and Python teams
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Layoffs at Google have reportedly hit Flutter, Dart, and Python teams. A Google representative confirmed layoffs to TechCrunch but did not disclose the specifics. One product manager working on Flutter and Dart said the layoffs "affected a LOT of teams." Flutter, Dart, and Python are among those affected by the latest layoffs, according to media reports and employee social media posts. Google confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch but did not specify which teams, roles, or how many employees were let go.

Persons: Dart, — Organizations: Google, Python, TechCrunch, Service, Business

☆ AI has yet to be truly transformational like the internet, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Camilo Fonseca | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

AI-powered solutions need to incorporate real-time data into their responses to be the most useful, he added. "My life has not been transformed by AI," MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria said in an interview with TechCrunch. AdvertisementAI services will have to incorporate "real-time data" to make them transformative to the average person, Ittycheria said. "I think that's where we will start seeing much more sophisticated apps, where you can embed real-time data along with all the reasoning." Bill Gates has compared AI to seismic tech advancements like the invention of the PC or the internet.

Persons: it's, Dev Ittycheria, —, Ittycheria, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: Service, TechCrunch

☆ Inside Andy Jassy's plan for Amazon in the generative AI era
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. By the way, we're wrapping up voting for the championship matchup in our business, tech, and innovation bracket. In today's big story, we're looking at Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's letter to shareholders, which details the tech giant's plan in the age of generative AI . What's on deck:AdvertisementBut first, Amazon, AI, and a letter. The big storyAmazon in the AI ageMichael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BIThe generative AI revolution is coming, and Amazon wants in on the ground floor.

Persons: —, We've, Andy Jassy's, Michael M, Chelsea Jia Feng, Andy Jassy, Ana Altchek, Jassy, that's, Andy Jassy Mike Blake, Eugene Kim, Jassy's, Phillip Faraone, Gregor Fischer, Noam Galai, Here's, it's, Morgan Stanley, Ben Bergman, Rebecca Zisser, Adam Neumann, Neumann, Samantha Lee, Bon Appétit, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, Amazon, Getty, AWS, Bridgewater Associates, Pfizer, Reuters, Prime, TechCrunch, Games, New York Times, Visual China, BI, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Coachella Locations: Wells Fargo, New York, London

☆ The iPhone notification you definitely don't want to get
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Camilo Fonseca | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Apple reportedly notified some iPhone users in 92 countries that they were targeted by spyware. The alerts go to people Apple believes were targeted by spyware, such as politicians, activists, and journalists. AdvertisementThere's one alert that you really don't want to get on your iPhone. That's the warning that some iPhone users in 92 countries received on Wednesday, TechCrunch reported. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Apple Organizations: Apple, Service, TechCrunch, Business

☆ Uber Eats is joining the ranks of apps that want to be just like TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Uber Eats is experimenting with short-form videos. TechCrunch first reported the new feature on Monday in an exclusive interview with Uber Eats' Senior Director of Product, Awaneesh Verma. AdvertisementThe video snippets, which merchants will have the option to provide to Uber Eats, will appear in a feed on the app's home screen as well as in carousels throughout the app, Uber Eats said. AdvertisementAnd because the videos aren't advertisements, Uber Eats won't charge restaurants to display them in the app, the company said. Uber Eats is just the latest company to get in on the short-form video content craze, following the success of TikTok.

Persons: —, you'll, Uber, Awaneesh Verma, Verma, TechCrunch, Instagram Organizations: Service, Business, TechCrunch, Uber Eats, Meta, Facebook, YouTube Locations: New York, San Francisco, Toronto, carousels

☆ Meta tried to 'build a clone of Snapchat' using data from Onavo, unsealed court documents show
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

An analytics app Meta acquired a decade ago turned into a major source of inspiration for product and business decisions, including its work to "clone" Snapchat. Rosen is Meta's chief information security officer, while Tiger was vice president of engineering until he left Meta in 2022. For several years, Onavo was key to how Meta decided to acquire, launch, and change its products, according to over a dozen court documents unsealed last week in an ongoing lawsuit. After the acquisition, Facebook found through Onavo's data on messaging apps that Snapchat was a top five mobile app and WhatsApp had begun to outpace Facebook Messenger. The company was hailed for its tech that compressed data on mobile phones, allowing apps to run in the background without eating up user data.

Persons: Guy Rosen, Roi Tiger, Rosen, Tiger, Onavo, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Mike Schroepfer, Chris Cox, Javier Olivan, Sandberg, Olivan, Cox, Facebook's, Colin Stretch, WhatsApp, Zuckerberg, Instagram, Snapchat, Stretch, Kali Hays Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Business, Onavo, YouTube, Olivan, TechCrunch Locations: Onavo, Davos, khays@insider.com

☆ See how iPhone apps could change if Apple loses its DOJ antitrust fight
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New app store AltStore could be coming to iPhones in the EU after to 2024 regional rule changes. The Apple App Store rival aims to give developers more control over app distribution and payment. AltStore offers a peek into how iPhone apps could change in the US if Apple loses a DOJ lawsuit. They'll also be able to use the same Patreon integration to distribute 'paid' apps, Testut told TechCrunch. "This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets," Apple told BI in March.

Persons: —, Apple, Riley Testut, They'll, Testut, Apple didn't Organizations: Apple, DOJ, Service, EU, Department of Justice, Digital, TechCrunch, Nintendo, Industry, Business

☆ A major AT&T data leak posted to the dark web included passcodes, Social Security numbers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AT&T reset passcodes after a massive customer data leak surfaced on the dark web. The data included names, email addresses, Social Security numbers, and other personal information. AdvertisementAT&T is reaching out to millions of customers after their personal information — including Social Security numbers — surfaced on the dark web. AT&T reset passwords on millions of customer accounts after Techcrunch notified the company on Monday that a massive customer data leak posted to the dark web included passcodes, the outlet reported. The massive data dump, which surfaced this month, appears to be user information from 2019, the company said in a statement.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, Business

☆ Fisker reportedly temporarily misplaced millions of dollars in payments for its EVs
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Fisker reportedly temporarily misplaced millions of dollars worth of customer payments. The issue made it difficult for Fisker to accurately report its revenue, TechCrunch reported. Fisker dropped prices for its EV on Wednesday and has warned it could run out of funds. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementFisker briefly misplaced millions of dollars worth of payments from customers last year, according to a recent report from TechCrunch.

Persons: Fisker, — Organizations: TechCrunch, EV, Service, Business

☆ Marissa Mayer has a new photo-sharing app. It looks like it's from 2009, but boomers might love it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Marissa Mayer, former Yahoo CEO, just announced a new app from her latest venture. It's called Shine, and it's a photo-sharing app where multiple people can upload photos to a shared album. Are you really trying to tell me that in the year 2024, people can't figure out how to share photos with each other? Shine, the new photo-sharing app ShineYes, there are some other things that could do this. Maybe, just maybe, Marissa Mayer will have another success on her hands here.

Persons: Marissa Mayer, It's, Mayer, —, Aunt Carol Organizations: Service, Yahoo, TechCrunch, Business, DOJ, Flickr, Google

☆ Prepare for the #motivational doom scroll — LinkedIn is trialing TikTok-style short videos
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

LinkedIn is experimenting with presenting video posts in a short-form, infinite-scrolling format. The company confirmed the trial to TechCrunch on Wednesday. These videos appear to be taken from existing posts on LinkedIn. The Microsoft-owned company confirmed the experiment to TechCrunch on Wednesday, as the outlet reported spotting a LinkedIn user who posted about the videos. "I told y'all once LinkedIn as a product catches up to the other platforms it's over," marketing professional Austin Hull wrote.

Persons: —, y'all, Austin Hull Organizations: TechCrunch, Service, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Business

☆ Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook execs to 'figure out' how to track encrypted usage on rival apps like Snap and YouTube, unsealed documents show
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Kali Hays | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Newly unsealed emails reveal that when Meta was still called Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg ordered his executives to find a way to learn how people were using competing apps like Snapchat, even if the information was encrypted. Advertisement"Given how quickly they're growing, it seems important to figure out a new way to get reliable analytics about them," Zuckerberg wrote of Snapchat in the email. The app "doesn't (can't) decrypt data," a Facebook employee noted in an email to Zuckerberg included in a court document. While the existence of Onavo's work to track rival app usage has been reported, details of Meta's actions, the executives involved, and the surrounding communications were unreported. AdvertisementAdvertisers suing Meta said the company failed for years to disclose its use of Onavo technology to intercept rivals' analytics traffic.

Persons: Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Javier Olivan, Snapchat, Olivan, Guy Rosen, Rosen, —, Mike Schroepfer, Kali Hays Organizations: Service, Facebook, Business, Meta, Wall Street, YouTube, SSL, TechCrunch Locations: California, Onavo, khays@insider.com

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