Nokia is manufacturing its new 5G phone for enterprise customers in Hungary

Tuesday, October 03, 2023

Ring, ring . . . hello? Today’s top story is about Nokia’s parent company, HMD Global, manufacturing its first smartphone in Europe. Meet the “Made in Hungary” Nokia XR21 5G phone.

Next, open banking has been a hit in countries like Brazil. Meanwhile, over in South Africa, open banking is also finding its stride. Today, Stitch announced $25 million in a Series A extension, led by Ribbit Capital, to continue developing its end-to-end payments solutions for enterprises. Read more.

Meanwhile, now that LinkedIn is of a certain age, it is making some changes under the hood. Namely going all in on some new AI tools for learning, recruitment, marketing and sales. Guess who it is working with on those?

And finally we can’t get away from Sam Bankman-Fried, so we are leaning in. First, learn more about the U.S. government’s involvement. Then see why this trial promises to be just as riveting as the rest of the FTX drama. (TC+)

Image Credits: Nokia

More top reads

We didn’t start the fire — he did: An FBI most-wanted Russian hacker reveals why he burned his passport. Get the scoop.

Vroom: Ford is really accelerating all of this electric vehicle stuff. Check out the new Ford F-150 Lightning Flash, which puts the technology and battery range on center stage. No brake zone here.

For when you want to stay hidden: Cloaked, a privacy and security startup, launched some new apps today that manage your logins with proxy emails, phone numbers and a built-in password manager. Learn more.

If you like keyboard porn: Check out Dry Studio’s Black Diamond 75 gaming keyboard. It actually looks good.

Reverse logic: No more staying at home. DoorDash has deemed it necessary to eat out. The delivery giant is testing a feature that rewards users for dining out. Stretchy pants will have to wait.

Can you pay my telephone bills?: Sparx wants to do for enterprise what Truebill did for consumer recurring bills. And they are doing it for free.

Science labs need love: Automata raised $40 million and is giving science labs an automation and robotics treatment. Find out how.

Such snoops: The European Union says Meta is running ads unlawfully. Here’s how Meta plans to get around that.

New fund alert: Get ready, startups, funding is coming your way. First, Greylock secures $1 billion for its 17th fund amid the launch of an early-stage founders program. Second, Visa earmarks $100 million to invest in generative AI companies. And HCVC is back with a new $75 million deep tech fund. With all of that going on, is venture capital spring here? (TC+)

More for your Tuesday:

US lawmakers ask TikTok about its ByteDance ties after recent exec transfers between the companies

Don’t sweat the valuation headlines, ByteDance is doing great (TC+)

Gmail to enforce harsher rules in 2024 to keep spam from users’ inboxes

Motel One says ransomware gang stole customer credit card data

Fearless Fund barred from awarding grant to Black women founders.

Image Credits: FBI/Department of Justice

TC Opinion: The EU is about to adopt a dangerous law with international consequences

Proponents of the European Media Freedom Act say the legislation will preserve independent reporting and reduce disinformation, but the rules “could lead to users . . . facing arbitrary content moderation and discrimination,” write Christoph Schmon and Paige Collings of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties organization.

“And with some hoping the law’s effects could extend far beyond Europe by changing company policies in the United States and elsewhere, vulnerable people around the world could suffer.”

If you’d like to submit an opinion column to TechCrunch, please read our new editorial guidelines.

Adapting to a world with higher interest rates — a guide for startups

TC+ guest columnist Mohit Agarwal says scaling startups need to consider every savings option at hand, like negotiating with vendors or buying short-dated Treasuries.

“Some boards will prohibit the buying of any form of securities, but most will be on board. After all, why not when there is a riskless 5%+ rate of return to be had.”

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