Klarna nabs Walmart away from Affirm and boosts its IPO prospects

On the heels of its IPO filing, Swedish fintech giant Klarna announced on Monday that it will exclusively provide buy now, pay later loans for Walmart. The partnership with Walmart is one that rival Affirm had previously owned. Klarna will provide the loans to Walmart customers through OnePay, a fintech …...Read More

YC-backed ReactWise is applying AI to speed up drug manufacturing

Artificial intelligence continues stirring things up in chemistry. To wit: Y Combinator-backed Cambridge, U.K.-based ReactWise is using AI to speed up chemical manufacturing — a key step in bringing new drugs to market. Once a promising drug has been identified in the lab, pharma firms need to be able to …...Read More

Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, allowed to leave France — despite ongoing criminal investigation

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, no longer has to stay in France. A source told AFP that the investigating judge in charge of Durov’s case has accepted a request to modify the conditions of his supervision. “As you may have heard, I’ve returned to Dubai …...Read More

TikTok rolls out a 'Security Checkup' tool to help users secure their accounts

TikTok is introducing a new “Security Checkup” tool that allows users to quickly review and update their account’s security settings from a single screen, the company announced on Monday. The feature is similar to Security Checkup tools offered by TikTok rival Instagram and tech giant Google. Users can access the …...Read More

Hackers are exploiting Fortinet firewall bugs to plant ransomware

Security researchers have observed hackers linked to the notorious LockBit gang exploiting a pair of Fortinet firewall vulnerabilities to deploy ransomware on several company networks. In a report published last week, security researchers at Forescout Research said a group it’s tracking dubbed “Mora_001” is exploiting the Fortinet firewalls, which sit …...Read More

VC Aileen Lee highlights how the broader investor exodus is worsening woes for unicorn companies

In this week’s episode of the StrictlyVC Download podcast, veteran VC Aileen Lee was direct about a major consequence of the recent boom-and-bust cycle: many companies stuck in limbo aren’t just struggling to regain their footing after raising too much money at unsustainable valuations; they’ve also lost the champions who …...Read More

Joby Aviation and Virgin Atlantic partner to launch electric air taxis in the UK

Joby Aviation is partnering with Virgin Atlantic to launch electric air taxis in the U.K., marking the seventh country in which the startup hopes to one day commercialize. Joby, which went public in 2021 via special purpose acquisition merger, did not provide a timeline for when it plans to launch …...Read More

How to watch Nvidia GTC 2025, including CEO Jensen Huang's keynote

GTC, Nvidia’s biggest conference of the year, will return this week, with the biggest announcements probably coming Tuesday. If you can’t make it in person, don’t sweat it. TechCrunch will be on the ground covering the major developments. Many of the biggest presentations, talks, and panels will be livestreamed as …...Read More

Nvidia GTC 2025: What to expect from this year's show

GTC, Nvidia’s biggest conference of the year, begins Monday and runs till Friday in San Jose. TechCrunch will be on the ground covering the news as it happens — and we’re expecting a healthy dose of announcements. CEO Jensen Huang will give a keynote address at the SAP Center on …...Read More

Bluesky users debate plans around user data and AI training

Social network Bluesky recently published a proposal on GitHub outlining new options it could give users to indicate whether they want their posts and data to be scraped for things like generative AI training and public archiving. CEO Jay Graber discussed the proposal earlier this week, while on-stage at South …...Read More