TechCrunch Newsletters - Former Twitter execs sue Musk for $128M

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Today we have a huge acquisition, a huge download of new venture rounds, yet another Musk lawsuit, and data on European startup fundraising! To work!

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TechCrunch Top 3

1. Deel snaps up PaySpace, reaches $500M ARR: Payroll and compliance company Deel is buying African-based HR software and services company, PaySpace. The move comes days after Deel bought Zavvy, which brought AI-powered career capabilities to its platform. Deel also told TechCrunch that it has crossed the $500 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) milestone. It had reached $100 million ARR back in early 2022, and $295 million in early 2023.

   Elsewhere, cybersecurity code-scanning startup Cycode is buying Bearer, a startup that helps developers write secure software.

2. Google, Indian devs tussle over Android rules: After Google delisted a number of Indian mobile apps from the Play Store, some of the impacted companies begrudgingly started to comply with Play Store billing rules to get their apps back on the store. Then the situation took a turn after Google met with India’s IT Minister, and subsequently said it is “temporarily reinstating the apps of the developers with appeals pending in the Supreme Court.” Google and Alphabet are fighting around the world to defend their ability to extract a large cut of mobile app store revenue earned by third-party developers.
3. Musk sued by former Twitter employees for $128M: When SpaceX’s Elon Musk bought Twitter (now called X), he fired not only many rank-and-file workers, he also showed many of the company’s former C-suite to the door. Now some of those fired executives are suing Musk for nine figures worth of severance payments. At issue is whether or not Musk fired them “for cause,” or if that was simply a pretext to avoid paying them severance.

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Founders Fund sheds another partner: After Keith Rabois left Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures, the firm has lost another investor: Sam Blond, former chief revenue officer at Brex. Blond is not only leaving Founders Fund, however; he’s leaving the investing game altogether.

Signal’s Meredith Whittaker scorns anti-encryption efforts: One of the most annoying sagas to raise its ugly head every few years is the effort to weaken (read: destroy) encryption so that governments can better see what we’re all saying and doing online. The effort is usually disguised as calls to better protect children, bolster national security, or some such sugarcoated excuse. Signal’s Whittaker, a leading voice on privacy and security, obviously disagreed, saying the latest wave of attacks on encryption are “parochial and very politically motivated pieces of legislation often indexed on the idea of protecting children.”

Deezer hails Apple fine, blasts Cupertino’s DMA response: Apple’s list of fans isn’t very long in the online music streaming world. After the company was hit by a massive fine in the EU, Deezer joined Spotify in praising the penalty. But the smaller music service went further, arguing that the “EU Commission [should] reexamine Apple’s DMA terms in light of this new fine to make it clear that what Apple has proposed is not enough to comply with the new regulation,” TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez reports.

The Big Tech vs. EU battle is heating up, according to the FT, as a key deadline hangs over the heads of many leading tech companies.

And in better news from Europe, TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher reports that despite a somewhat lackluster 2023, venture dealmaking and M&A activity on the continent are showing signs of life.

Today in AI: I have three key AI stories for you this morning. First, Anthropic launched a suite of new AI models under its Claude brand. The Claude 3 group of models, the well-funded startup says, are better than some well-known competing models like OpenAI’s GPT-4. Second, the Verge reports that ChatGPT can now read its answers out loud for readers. And finally, CNBC covered Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s comments concerning his company’s recent mishaps with its Gemini AI model.

A massive run of new venture rounds: Colombian payment orchestration startup Yuno has closed a $25 million round at a $150 million valuation, putting points on the board not only for the beleaguered fintech technology secretary, but also for Latin America itself. And French commerce platform Catalog has raised a €3 million funding round, another tidbit of data indicating that things are warming up technology companies in France.

In larger dollar terms, Axonius’s enterprise asset management business (it’s focused on digital assets and infrastructure, mind), just raised $200 million at a flat $2.6 billion valuation. The company is racing towards $100 million in ARR, TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden reports, putting it on the IPO-trajectory.

And there were so many more! Stockholm-based Cellcolabs has raised $8.7 million to revolutionize stem cell harvesting. RemotePass raised $5.5 million for its remote worker management service (perhaps Deel will buy it next?). Spanish startup Multiverse Computing raised €25 million to help run AI models more cheaply. And, finally, Whistleblower Software has rebranded to Formalize and raised $16 million.

Here’s how to get rid of all your duplicate photos (as long as you are on iOS). Developer MacPaw has a new app called CleanMyPhone, which “helps users free up storage by removing duplicate photos and other unwanted images.” As someone who takes a gazillion pictures of his toddler, I need this.

Speaking of phones: Nothing’s new budget-friendly Nothing Phone (2a) is now up for pre-order for $349.

Before you go

Here’s how to turn off X’s audio and video calling feature: Yeah, no one wants more phone calls. But even if you do, there are privacy and security concerns around X’s new calling feature. So, TechCrunch’s cybersecurity desk has put together a handy guide that you can use to opt out of the feature entirely.

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