Elon Musk says incoming Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino will start in about 6 weeks

Friday, May 12, 2023

Helloooo and welcome to Friday Crunch!

It’s with a heavy heart that we have some personal news to share: Christine and Haje end their run as the co-hosts of this beautiful, venerable newsletter. Don’t worry, they’re still thick as thieves, but Christine is taking on the Daily Crunch mantle on her own, while Haje is off to work on another TechCrunch newsletter. All will be revealed in due time (cue dramatic music).

“It’s been a glorious year of hosting you in the highs and lows of tech news,” said Haje as he awkwardly pretended to interview himself in this introduction. “And I can’t wait to hang out with Christine and the rest of y’all at Disrupt later this year!”

Enjoy your weekend, get some sunshine if you can, and listen to your favorite song on repeat like you’re a teenager again, because as grown-ups we do that sort of thing way too rarely.

— Christine and Haje

Image Credits: Collage by TechCrunch / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3

Well, that was quick: We were still reeling from Elon Musk’s news yesterday that he found a CEO for Twitter when he made the announcement today that it will be former NBCUniversal advertising veteran Linda Yaccarino, Amanda reports. Just before that announcement, Yaccarino made her own farewell known. Ingrid and Amanda have more on that.
It’s dating, not influencing: Tinder’s updated community guidelines now say the dating app will remove social handles from bios to discourage users who are on there to gain social media followers, Aisha reports.
I always feel like somebody’s watching me: And as it turns out, millions of Toyota customers in Japan had no privacy (whoa-oh-oh). The automaker is apologizing for exposing location data for a decade. Zack has more.

Startups and VC

Yesterday, Brian published another installment of his Actuator newsletter — and it’s a particularly juicy one, with a couple of great interviews and all the robotics news that’s fit to print. It includes a Q&A with professor of ethics and technology at the Hertie School in Berlin, Joanna Bryson, and Marek Michalowski, the brains behind the Keepon robot (Michalowski is currently a product manager at Alphabet X). In summary: Don’t miss it.

Six years ago, Yiğit Ihlamur, a former senior program manager at Google, observed that AI was surpassing human capabilities in certain areas — at least by his estimation. Equipped with this perspective, he looked into various sectors with the goal of tackling a problem that he could work on for the rest of his life. Long story short, Kyle reports that “AI-powered” VC firm Vela emerges from stealth with $25 million under management.

Here’s another six worth taking a closer look at as you settle into your weekend:

Car sharing acquisition: Rebecca reports that Getaround aims to scale car-sharing platform with HyreCar acquisition.
More cash for the planet: Pale Blue Dot continues investing in its climate vision, with a second $100 million fund, Haje reports.
$1 billion flowing to Indian edtech: Manish reports that Indian edtech giant Byju’s raises $250 million, on track to close another $700 million.
I didn’t do it: Kate reports that Terraform co-founder Do Kwon pleads not guilty to fake travel documents charges, along with a timeline of the Terraform debacle overall.
Our favorite hardware startup: Famous for quirk and wild designs, Teenage Engineering teases the tape recorder of Harri’s dreams, reports Harri.
No listing for you: TuSimple continues its slide into the ether with new delisting warning, writes Kirsten.

The debate happening inside every VC firm

On her last day at TechCrunch, Natasha Mascarenhas reached out to four investors to find out whether FOMO is encouraging them to climb aboard the AI bandwagon.

“Some are hiring talent to jump headfirst, others are happy to back the ‘ChatGPT for X’ spin-outs, and many are sitting in awe, watching their existing investments spark an AI debate of their own, no due diligence needed,” she wrote.

Charles Hudson, managing partner and founder, Precursor
Jason Lemkin, managing director, SaaStr Fund
Cathy Guo, partner, Sapphire Ventures
Navin Chaddha, managing director, Mayfield Fund

Two more from the TC+ team:

What will we be doing when the robots take our jobs?: As AI consumes search, what will be left for us humans? by Alex.
Let’s go mining for investors: Haje explores how you can find the right investors for your startup.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Amazon Web Service’s new version of its Aurora database, Amazon Aurora I/O-Optimized, is now generally available, with Ron reporting, “the big news from this version is that it gets rid of all I/O charges for database use, a move that should reduce overall database costs for customers with large workloads, and bring more predictability to their cloud database bills.”

Meanwhile, Rita reports that China’s phone giant Oppo disbanded its chip design unit amid shrinking shipment numbers.

Now here’s five more for your Friday:

Your data needs a passport: A major decision on the legality of Facebook’s EU-U.S. data transfers is due to be adopted today, but Natasha L writes it could be a few more weeks before that is publicly available.
Cover your eyes: You can now upload NSFW images to Reddit from desktops, Ivan reports.
“Wading into web3”: Rita writes that Nexon takes MapleStory into web3 with Haechi’s help.
Vertical video: Twitch’s new clip editor makes sharing vertical video on YouTube and TikTok a snap, reports Taylor.
More layoffs: Autonomous delivery startup Nuro announced it will lay off 30% of its workforce as it shifts resources to other areas, Kirsten writes.

Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there’s something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $800 when you buy your pass now through May 15, and save 15% on top of that with promo code DC.