You’ll want to turn on this new Apple iPhone feature

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Good afternoon. Wow, you all were craving some news today, as over a dozen of our stories caught some big attention from readers. You particularly flocked to a warning for iPhone users while we had the displeasure of reporting on a handful of layoffs. Meanwhile, venture capitalists sprinkled money into many different industries. Lots to read, so let’s go!

— Christine

Image Credits: grinvalds / Getty Images

Are you ready for an AI-assisted future?

New iOS version, new goodies: After getting the new Apple iOS version, you’ll see that one of the new features for the iPhone is “stolen device protection.” It isn’t automatically turned on, but after you see all it can do, you will probably gleefully do so.

Amazon gets a fine: France’s privacy watchdog fined Amazon $35 million over its surveillance system of warehouse workers, calling it “overly intrusive.”

More layoffs: We saw stalled growth affecting companies all over the place today, from the media to gaming to automotive. Expense management company Brex cut 20% of its staff, while TikTok laid off 60 employees. Meanwhile, Vroom prepares to shed 800 jobs as it shuts down its online used car marketplace, and Riot Games will cut 530 employees amid the closing of its publishing arm.

Image Credits: Nathan Stirk / Getty Images

More top reads

More venture capital: We had a lengthy list from TechCrunch AM, and I’m here to add more: Sequoia led Coana’s $1.6 million pre-seed round for its software composition analysis tool; ModernFi secures $18.7 million for its bank deposit management platform; authentication startup Clerk grabs $30 million; and Torq, a cybersecurity automation company, lands $42 million.

More capital for crypto: Head over to TechCrunch+ to read about 1RoundTable seeking to raise up to $800 million for its fourth fund, a growth-stage crypto fund. Along the way, it is betting on a “long-term, less volatile” strategy.

Have a Google day!: We’ve got a lot of Google news for you, so hang tight. First, Google Chrome gets more of an AI treatment that includes a writing helper, theme creator and tab organizer. Next, Google’s new Gemini now powers the conversational experience within the Google Ads platform. And finally, the company finds itself in some hot water with an online travel agency after making some tweaks to comply with how search results should be displayed in the European Union.

AI in the margins: “AI startups often have worse economics than most software startups,” says Alex. Go over to TechCrunch+ and change his mind.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have VR: Darrell says that virtual reality needs to build for its best use cases instead of for all-around computing. Do you agree?

Be an Artisse-t: AI selfies are still a thing, and venture capitalists love it. AI photo creation app Artisse is the latest to grab new capital in the form of $6.7 million in seed funding to help users generate photos of themselves using uploaded selfies combined with prompts.

All about smartphones: First there was the new Samsung Galaxy S24, and now we have the OnePlus 12 going up for preorder today at some premium prices. Brian has all the specs for you. Meanwhile, speaking of Samsung, its self-repair program encompasses 50 devices, including foldables.

Image Credits: Tooga / Getty Images

On the pods

Today on Found, Becca and Dom are joined by Ben Goodwin, the co-founder and CEO of Olipop, to talk about how he led the gut-healthy soda brand to amass $200 million in gross sales just five years after its launch.

They also talked about:

How the team prioritizes access to the product in low-income areas and food deserts.
Fundraising and pitching to CPG investors.
The importance of health and wellness companies to do research to back up their products’ claims.
The key to changing consumer behavior.

Listen here.