Thursday, May 2, 2024

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch PM. We have a great lineup of stories for you today, including what happens when founders became embroiled in an accelerator’s bankruptcy, Spotify putting lyrics behind the paywall, and Hyundai shelling out some big bucks for self-driving. Also, Illinois bets on Rivian’s next-generation vehicle and Microsoft decides not to let police use its generative AI. Dive in!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

How Newchip’s bankruptcy threatened the cap tables of thousands of startups: Mary Ann Azevedo and I worked to bring you the latest in the Newchip accelerator saga. We spoke with a number of founders, investors and others to find out how the organization’s bankruptcy was affecting them. Some of the founders — even those who were happily going through the program — were stunned to learn their company warrants were part of the bankruptcy and could be auctioned off. Read More

Microsoft says no to the police: The enterprise tech giant changed its policy to ban U.S. police departments from using generative AI through the Azure OpenAI Service, the company’s fully managed, enterprise-focused wrapper around OpenAI technologies. Read More

Hyundai gets e-Motional when it comes to self-driving: Hyundai agreed to spend nearly $1 billion on Motional. The investment will give the automaker a majority stake while providing the self-driving startup with the necessary capital to keep operating. Read More

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images

Spotify hits play on a new revenue stream: By paywalling lyrics, Spotify may be forcing many free subscribers into a paid plan. Spotify is rather mum about what’s happening, so maybe it's just a test. Read More

Illinois bets on Rivian: The state is supporting the electric vehicle maker with $827 million in incentives so that Rivian can expand its factory in Normal, Illinois, to build the R2. Read More

AI is not SaaS: Ron Miller wants us to know this right upfront. This is the message passed on by Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner at Glasswing Ventures, speaking last week at the TechCrunch Early Stage event in Boston. What Seseri had to say might surprise some companies that are developing an AI startup. Read More

Apple tweaks some fees: Apple is still working on how it applies new fees that can affect iOS developers in the European Union. Developers of free apps will be able to avoid the fee entirely, while other developers earning under a certain revenue threshold will get more time before they have to pay Apple the fee. Read More

Speaking of the EU: Lawmakers there are pushing to legally require messaging platforms to scan citizens’ private communications for child sexual abuse material, which could lead to millions of false positives per day, hundreds of security and privacy experts warned in an open letter. Critics argue the proposal asks the technologically impossible — and won’t protect children from abuse. Read More

Check out Acura’s new all-electric SUV: It’s sleek, it has pockets, you can twirl in it. Just kidding. Emme Hall goes through the nuts and bolts of this new vehicle. And not everything is a win. Read More

Meet Lamini: The Palo Alto-based startup is building a platform to help enterprises deploy generative AI tech. Its sales pitch was so enticing that investors gave the company $25 million. Read More

Google expands its passkey support: Google is bringing passkey support to its Advanced Protection Program, which is used by people who are at high risk of targeted attacks, such as campaign workers, candidates, journalists, human rights workers, and more. It used to be that the APP required hardware security keys, but that will soon change to a choice of passkeys only or alongside a password or hardware security key. Read More

S2G Ventures gets room to run: Walmart heir Lukas Walton’s Builders Vision was S2G’s sole limited partner. Now the organization is bringing others on board. Read More

Around the web

Image Credits: Getty Images/Patra Kongsirimongkolchai / EyeEm

Paramount’s suitors: Sony Pictures and Apollo are making a joint bid to buy Paramount, offering $26 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports. This is the second time Apollo has attempted to buy the entertainment giant. This time around, and perhaps it'll be the good luck charm, Sony will be the majority stakeholder. Read More

Moderna beats estimates: The COVID pandemic continues to help Moderna, which posted a narrower loss for the first quarter, CNBC reports. Read More

Google and its passkeys: You read above what we had to say about the whole passkeys thing as it relates to Google. Now read Engadget’s take.

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TechCrunch Minute

Where CZ’s sentencing leaves the state of crypto: Four months behind bars and a massive fine, that’s what CZ is getting from the government for his crypto exchange’s misdeeds. Regardless of how you view the verdict — too much, too little, just right — his sentencing is a big deal for web3. Hit play and let’s chat!