Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! We're starting out the morning reading about yet another cyberattack, how one VC firm is trying to give LPs options during this IPO drought, and a new chip company that thinks it can take on Nvidia. We've also got: an Emma Watson-backed women's health startup; layoffs at VC firm NFX; an Uber + OpenAI integration; a new way to mine lithium, and more. Let's go! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto / Getty Images

1. Another day, another breach: Money transfer giant MoneyGram confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack that exposed customers' personal information and transaction data. It's not clear how many were affected, but MoneyGram serves over 50 million people. Read More

2. Giving back to LPs: TC got the scoop that General Catalyst is gearing up to launch a "continuation fund" worth between $800 million and $1 billion. Continuation funds would offer the VC a way to create liquidity for LPs during this IPO drought. Read More

3. Another Nvidia challenger? Even as Cerebras preps for its IPO, another startup, TensorWave, thinks it can come for Nvidia's top spot in AI compute with its cloud solution that's powered by AMD chips. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: Dia Dipasupil / Staff / Getty Images

🧙 10 points for Gryffindor: Women's reproductive health startup Hertility has found a backer in Emma Watson. Dr. Helen O'Neill, Hertility's CEO and co-founder, told TC she knew the actress' stance on women's rights meant she'd be a great fit as an investor. Read More

⚖️ Rebalancing act: VC firm NFX built and runs its own software to find and evaluate companies, but with AI advances, the firm doesn't need to do it all in-house anymore. So it let go of four employees on the software and product teams, and plans to rebalance with more investors. Read More

🔋 Hey Chat, which EV should I buy? Uber will launch an OpenAI GPT-4o powered AI assistant to answer questions about EVs for EV-curious U.S. drivers. This might be the first step towards a broader OpenAI integration in the future. Read More

💧 The water belongs to the tribe: Startup Lithios is the latest to find new ways to recover lithium for batteries. The company uses a technique inspired by batteries themselves to pull lithium from water below the Earth's surface and then return the water to the Earth. Read More

🧑‍⚖️ U.S. tells Google to open up: Google will have to open its app store to rivals, giving Android users more choice in how they download apps, per a federal judge's order. The final ruling in the Epic and Google saga also blocks Google from paying developers to launch apps exclusively on Google Play. Read More

Around the Web

👾 The Silicon Valley lobbying monster: Technology is an industry like any other, yet it's probably regulated the least. That's in large part because the sector pours millions into super political action committees (PACs) to influence politicians into supporting its agenda — whether it's AI or crypto. The New Yorker goes deep on this. Read More

💰 FTX creditors FTW: FTX's bankruptcy reorganization plan has been approved, and the company has collected between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion worth of property, reports CNBC. That money, plus interest, will go to FTX's creditors. Read More

🇲🇽 Nearshoring chips: Chipmaker Foxconn is building a huge factory in Mexico to make Nvidia's Blackwell AI servers, reports The Financial Times, writing that it's a "stark illustration of how global technology supply chains are decoupling from China." Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Revyze

📚 Like TikTok for education: People love to say that they use TikTok to learn new things. Well, Revyze is using the TikTok method, sprinkled with some Duolingo gamification, to get kids hooked on learning. And it's apparently working, in France, at least. Read More