Ibotta’s IPO opens sharply higher, hinting at warming public-market interest in tech shares

Ibotta began it’s path as a public company on Thursday by opening at $117 per share, a big increase from its IPO price of $88, itself an increase from its proposed range of $76 to $84 per share. And this pop is despite boosting the size of its offering earlier …...Read More

Wiz is in talks to buy Lacework for $150-200M; security firm was last valued at $8.3B

Consolidation continues apace in the world of security. Sources tell us that Lacework — a cloud security startup that was valued at $8.3 billion post-money in its last funding round — is in talks to be acquired by another security player, Wiz, for a price of just $150 million – …...Read More

Hackers are threatening to publish a huge stolen sanctions and financial crimes watchlist

Hackers are threatening to publish a huge stolen sanctions and financial crimes watchlist The stolen World-Check database contains 5.3 million records A financially motivated hacking group says it has stolen a confidential database containing millions of records that companies use for screening potential customers for links to sanctions and financial …...Read More

How to play Pokémon and other Game Boy games on your iPhone

Apple finally updated its App Store guidelines to allow global developers to host retro game emulators on iOS. Now, you don’t need to jailbreak your iPhone or download any sketchy software — you can get a sophisticated emulator right in the palm of your hand for free on the App …...Read More

Cape dials up $61M from A16Z + more for mobile service that doesn't use personal data

AT&T’s recent mega customer data breach — 74 million accounts impacted — laid bare how much data carriers have on their users, and also that the data is there for the hacking. Today, a startup called Cape — based out of Washington DC and founded by a former executive from …...Read More

Tesla Semi charging corridor project is still alive despite Biden admin funding snub

Tesla is pushing forward with a plan to build an electric big rig charging corridor stretching from Texas to California, despite being snubbed by a lucrative federal funding program that’s part of Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. But the original scope of the project could still change, TechCrunch has learned. The …...Read More

Meta releases Llama 3, claims it's among the best open models available

Meta has released the latest entry in its Llama series of open source generative AI models: Llama 3. Or, more accurately, the company has open sourced two models in its new Llama 3 family, with the rest to come at an unspecified future date. Meta describes the new models — …...Read More

Meta adds its AI chatbot, powered by Llama 3, to the search bar across its apps

Meta’s making several big moves today to promote its AI services across its platform. The company has upgraded its AI chatbot with its newest Large Language Model, Llama 3, and it is now running it in the search bar of its four major apps, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp across …...Read More

TechCrunch Minute: NASA needs your help to bring rocks back from Mars

NASA’s decision to scrap its $11 billion, 15-year mission to Mars to bring back samples could create a startup feeding frenzy, TechCrunch reports. Describing its plans as too slow, and too expensive, NASA is going back to the drawing board, with an eye on getting the space industry to help. …...Read More

Uber, Nvidia-backed Serve Robotics hits public markets with $40M splash

Serve Robotics, the Uber and Nvidia-backed sidewalk robot delivery company, debuted publicly on the New York stock exchange Thursday, making it the latest startup to choose going public via a reverse merger as an alternative path to capital needed to fund growth. The company, which spun out of Uber’s acquisition …...Read More