Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch PM, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package. Today, Tesla does some more job cutting, Sam’s Club gets techy with it and we have a big batch of venture rounds. Also, the European Commission is called out for its plans to detect child sexual abuse material. Let’s dive in!

TechCrunch Top 3

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Tesla makes more job cuts: The electric vehicle maker made a surprise move today and laid off people from its charging team. The move comes as other top automakers have jumped on the Tesla Supercharger bandwagon. Read More

Sam’s Club introduces exit technology: Instead of handing over your receipt on your way out the door, Sam’s Club is putting technology to work to make sure you are walking out with only what you purchased. This checkout technology is now deployed at over 120 clubs across the U.S. Read More

Did you iPhone alarm go off today?: If not, you aren't alone. Apple is working on a fix after receiving complaints that iPhone alarms were ringing silently. Perhaps Apple thought you needed more rest. Read More

Afternoon must-reads

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Amazon CodeWhisperer gets a new name: CodeWhisperer is now Q Developer. It helps with some of the tasks developers do in the course of their daily work, like debugging and upgrading apps, troubleshooting, and performing security scans — much like CodeWhisperer did. Read More

EU’s CSAM-scanning legislation: Some folks want the European Commission to more fully disclose its dealings with private technology companies and other stakeholders, in relation to a controversial piece of tech policy that could see a law mandate the scanning of European Union citizens’ private messages in a bid to detect child sexual abuse material. Read More

Spotify is going all in on developer tools: Paul Sawers writes, “Spotify is leaning even further into this play with the launch of a new suite of products and services designed to make Backstage the de facto developer portal platform for the software development industry.” Read More

Original content gets its moment on Instagram: Now you don’t have to have thousands of followers for someone to find your original content on Instagram. The Meta-owned social media platform is updating its algorithm to give all creators equal footing. Read More

Arc, Windows version: Over 1 million people have been on the waitlist for The Browser Company to make a Windows version of the Arc web browser. Today, you don’t have to wait for any longer. In fact, you don’t even have to be on the waitlist. It’s all yours. Read More

Notable Capital’s Hans Tung on why founders need to play the long game: Mary Ann Azevedo speaks with Tung about everything from down rounds (it’s okay to have one) to the investing landscape (“AI is an outlier”) to investment pace (everyone has to wait). Read More

Money, money, money

Beehiiv attracts $33 million to make its newsletter publishing platform more sticky. Read More

“Wallet-as-a-service” startup Ansa raises $14 million with female investors leading the way. Read More

A pair of Airbnb alums grab $5 million to bring intelligence and automation to data protection. Read More

SafeBase, now with $33 million, taps AI to automate software security reviews. Read More

Shinkei is leveraging $6 million in new capital so its humane, quality-preserving fish-harvesting tech can upend the seafood industry. Read More

Seam raises $5 million to make customer data accessible to every business user. Read More

Around the web

Image Credits: Getty Images/Patra Kongsirimongkolchai / EyeEm

Walmart makes a premium brand: Walmart is always one-upping, and it’s done it again with the introduction of a private label food brand called bettergoods. There’s a twist, though, and it’s not just another box of macaroni and cheese, but a plant-based version. And an oat milk ice cream. The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s have some takes.

#Sorrynotsorry: Is Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang difficult to work for? His staff tells Fortune, “Yes.” Heck, even Huang says “Yes.” I guess that’s one way to agree on the way to run a business. Read More

Coca-Cola’s crisp, refreshing first quarter: Reuters reports that the beverage giant’s bets on pricey drinks have paid off. Read More

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TechCrunch Minute

OpenAI’s media deal rush continues with FT deal: However, the Financial Times-OpenAI tie-up tells us a bit more than that one media company will soon have a few more duckets in its pockets. No, it’s yet another OpenAI deal that will see the Microsoft-backed AI shop further cement its ability to ingest training material without legal risk, and start to pay some of the providers of said material for their work. All good, right? Hit play and let’s chat!