Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Today's newsletter will be short, as I'm rushing off to moderate a panel at SXSW. Make sure you're checking out the live blog! This morning, we've got notes on Trump's continued backing of Elon Musk, Niantic's big sale, North Korean hackers, vibe shifts at Y Combinator, Ryan Breslow's new 'super app,' Estonia's embrace of defense tech, and more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Getty Images

1. Best buds: Trump says any act of violence against Tesla dealerships will count as domestic terrorism, following a few instances of vandalism and Molotov cocktails as people express their anger at Elon Musk's involvement in DOGE and what they're wreaking. Read More

2. Gotta catch 'em all: Pokémon Go maker Niantic is selling its gaming division to mobile gaming giant Scopely for $3.5 billion. Niantic will now focus on building real-world 3D maps through a new standalone entity called Niantic Spatial. Read More

3. Sneaky: A group of hackers linked to North Korea uploaded Android spyware onto the Google Play app store, and even tricked some people into downloading it. All signs point to this being a surveillance operation, based on the functionality of the spyware apps observed by cybersecurity firm, Lookout. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

🤑 Keep your millions: Y Combinator's AI startups are raising less money, but it's not necessarily due to lack of interest from investors. Rather, it seems the shift is coming from founders, who'd rather maintain a larger stake in their companies. Read More

🤠 The founder's new groove: Bolt's co-founder and once-again CEO Ryan Breslow spoke openly about some of his more controversial decisions, including the $30 million loan that led to a lawsuit. He also teased his new "super app" that will feature "one-click everything." Just don't call it an 'everything app.' Read More

👯 Living on the edge: Ditto wants to change how companies work with edge devices by tapping hardware that companies' workforce already use, like smartphones. "We replace hardware with software," CEO Adam Fish said. The company just raised $82 million to continue its efforts. Read More

Around the Web

⚔️ Arm up: As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues and Trump signals a desire to pull the U.S. out of policing the world, Estonia is shifting its thriving tech sector into a military industrial complex that can tap rising European defense spending, per Bloomberg. Read More

♥️ My iron heart: An Australian man with heart failure survived more than 100 days with an artificial heart, reports The Guardian. The BiVACOR artificial heart, created by Dr Daniel Tims, is the first complete replacement for hearts. Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: sjharmon / Getty Images

🧐 The New Yorker has entered the 21st Century: At least when it comes to its copy-editing guidelines, which previously had reporters hilariously writing things like "e-mails" and "in box" and "web site." Read More