Overture Maps Foundation releases the first beta of its open map dataset

The Overture Maps Foundation today launched the first beta of its global open map dataset. With this, the foundation, which is backed by the likes of Amazon, Esri, Meta, Microsoft and TomTom, is getting one step closer to launching a production-ready open dataset for developers who need geospatial data to …...Read More

Two Chairs raises $72M Series C in equity and debt to scale its therapist network

When Alex Katz founded Two Chairs in 2017, he firmly believed that in-person therapy is the most effective for behavioral health. Two Chairs used technology — a proprietary matching algorithm — to find the best possible therapists for its clients, but treatments took place primarily inside one of the startup’s …...Read More

Meta's Oversight Board probes explicit AI-generated images posted on Instagram and Facebook

The Oversight Board, Meta’s semi-independent policy council, it turning its attention to how the company’s social platforms are handling explicit, AI-generated images. Tuesday, it announced investigations into two separate cases over how Instagram in India and Facebook in the U.S. handled AI-generated images of public figures after Meta’s systems fell …...Read More

Apple lawsuit behind it, chip startup Rivos plots its next moves

Rivos made headlines in 2022 after Apple filed a trade secrets suit against it, which accused Rivos of hiring away dozens of Apple engineers and using confidential info to develop chips to rival the iPhone maker’s own. Rivos denied the allegations and countersued Apple for unfair competition. Apple ended up …...Read More

Quilt rides heat pump heat wave with hefty $33M Series A

Heat pumps are having a bit of a moment. They outsold gas furnaces for the second year running, and homeowners who install them are eligible for thousands in incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. But they’re not growing quite as fast as they perhaps could be. Getting consumers to adopt …...Read More

Google Wallet appears in India, with local integrations, but Pay will stay

Google Wallet will finally launch in India — nearly two years after its relaunch as a digital wallet platform in the U.S. — according to a preview of the app that the company accidentally posted on the Google Play store in the country. After TechCrunch spotted the listing for the …...Read More

Microsoft's $1.5B check for G42 shows growing US-China rift

As the Gulf region gains growing strategic importance for the tech war between the U.S. and China, Microsoft makes a big move into one of its richest oil countries. On Monday evening, Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion strategic investment in G42, the Abu Dhabi-based company that has become a major …...Read More

Finmid raises $24.7M to help SMBs access loans through platforms like Wolt

Berlin-based finmid — one of the many startups building embedded fintech solutions, in its case targeting marketplaces that want to provide their own payment and financing options — has raised €23 million ($24.7 million) in a Series A round to further build out its product and enter new markets. The …...Read More

Big Tech's ad transparency tools are still woeful, Mozilla research report finds

Efforts by tech giants to be more transparent about the ads they run are — at very best — still a work in progress, according to a report looking at ads transparency tools. The report comes about a half year since the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) rules for …...Read More

Threads is finally testing a recent filter for search results

Meta-owned social network Threads is finally testing a “Recent” filter to sort search results by the latest. Instagram head Adam Mosseri noted Monday that this is a limited test, and the feature is available to only a few people. “We’re starting to test this with a small number of people, …...Read More