Friday, October 25, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we have notes on the ongoing fallout of the data breach at Change Healthcare, Joby Aviation raising even more money, and Volkswagen's EVs with a twist. We also have details of Apple's huge security bounty program, Lumen Orbit's ambitious plan to build data centers in space, why electric aircraft startup Lilium is shutting down, and more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Patrick Sison / AP

1. UnitedHacked: More than 100 million U.S. citizens had their private health information stolen as a result of a ransomware attack on a UnitedHealth subsidiary in February. The company said it's still notifying those who've been impacted, and the investigation is "still in its final stages." Read More

2. Please, sir, can I have some more? Barely a month after Toyota injected $500 million into Joby Aviation, the eVTOL startup is already out seeking more capital. Joby is looking to raise at least $200 million in a fresh share offering. Read More

3. EVs with a twist: Volkswagen spinoff Scout Motors has unveiled two EVs for the U.S. market. They're rugged, large, look nostalgic and have a built-in, gas-powered generator system. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: Hakan Nural/Anadolu / Getty Images

🍎 Get paid to hack Apple: The tech giant says it will pony up $1 million to security researchers who can find vulnerabilities in its private AI cloud security. An extra $250,000 is reserved for those who figure out how to steal sensitive user data. Read More

🌱 Aiming really high: TC got the scoop that Lumen Orbit has closed an oversubscribed $10 million round, which would make it one of the hottest deals at the most recent YC batch. Lumen's idea is to build AI data centers in space that can scale to gigawatt capacity. Read More

🤖 Edited by AI: Google is going to add a disclosure to photos that have been edited using AI… sort of. The disclosure will be right at the bottom of the "details" section of a photo if you care to search for it, but it won't be obvious just from looking at the pic. Read More

🛬 Stalled on the runway: Electric aircraft startup Lilium is shutting down after it failed to raise emergency money from the German government. Lilium had raised more than $1 billion from investors before going public via SPAC in 2021, but like many SPACs, the startup went public too soon. Read More

👏 Perplexity claps back: In a defensive blog post, Perplexity didn't want to admit that its tech pillages content from news publications to spit out summaries and compete for the same audiences. Instead, the startup accused the media of preferring "to live in a world where publicly reported facts are owned by corporations…" Read More

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Around the Web

💰 How BYD saves money: Inside EVs reports that the Japanese government tore apart Chinese EV-maker BYD's Atto 3 to find out how the company manages to keep costs so low. The secret is apparently producing as many components in-house and integrating them. Read More

🤑 Keep em' coming: Yes, venture investing has slowed. But all those megadeals are still rolling in. At least, that's what the data from Crunchbase News shows. Nearly 240 rounds of $100 million or more have been attributed to U.S.-based startups. Read More

🦸 Crypto has a masked vigilante: ZachXBT, a twenty-something who prefers anonymity, has untangled a $243 million bitcoin theft, per Wired. It might be the biggest-ever crypto heist targeting a single victim. Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

🦄 Unicorn Land: There have been 49 unicorns formed in the U.S. in 2024 so far – from school transportation startup Zūm to real estate startup Rentberry. Check out our list! Read More