Natasha Lomas
TechCrunch
Philippines
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Recent articles by Natasha:
As EU eyes ‘balance’ on precarious gig work, Glovo offers pledge of ‘fairer’ conditions for couriers –
Spain’s on-demand delivery platform Glovo has announced what it’s calling “The Couriers Pledge” — an initiative which commits its business to setting a new — “fairer” — social rights standard for its gigging couriers. The self-defined “standard” covers earnings, safety, communication and support for development opportunities. Glovo says the commitments will (eventually) apply to couriers […] → Read More
Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, raises trust and security questions over its e2e encryption
Frances Haugen, one of (now) multiple Facebook whistleblowers who have come forward in recent years with damning testimony related to product safety, gave testimony in front of the UK parliament today — where, in one key moment, she was invited to clarify her views on end-to-end encryption following a report in the British newspaper the […] → Read More
Greece’s Pop Market, another dark store grocery delivery startup, gets $3.5M –
Make way for yet another ‘quick-commerce’ player in Europe’s heavily heating on-demand grocery space: Pop Market is a Greek startup which launched last week in Athens — taking orders via and app and touting 15min delivery times and a curated selection of “thousands” of items (including fresh fruit and vegetables). The seed round, which Pop […] → Read More
Tier scoots off with ‘first close’ of its $200M Series D –
Berlin-based e-scooter rentals company Tier Mobility has announced what it’s billing as the “first close” of a $200 million Series D, as investors continue to plough money into urban micromobility. Today’s announcement follows a $60M debt raise this summer, and a $250M Series C last November (led by SoftBank). It’s not clear from its PR […] → Read More
Facebook agrees terms to pay French publishers for news reuse
Facebook has reached a multi-year agreement to pay French publishers for resharing their content on its platforms, it announced today. The social media giant said the licensing agreement with the Alliance of national and regional newspapers “means that people on Facebook will be able to continue uploading and sharing news stories freely amongst their communities, […] → Read More
Inside a European push to outlaw creepy ads
European Union lawmakers are mobilizing support for a ban on tracking-based advertising to be added to a new set of Internet rules for the bloc — which were proposed at the back end of last year but are now entering the last stretch of negotiations ahead of becoming pan-EU law. If they succeed it could have […] → Read More
Facebook fined $70M for flouting Giphy order made by UK watchdog
Facebook — or whatever name the tech giant picks for a reportedly looming rebrand of its data-mining empire as it seeks to teleport its business into the metaverse to escape the unending cavalcade of toxic publicity its execs generate — has a new ‘bad behavior’ badge to sport: It’s just been fined nearly $70 million […] → Read More
Resistant AI scores $16.6M for its anti-fraud fintech tools –
Resistant AI, which uses artificial intelligence to help financial services companies combat fraud and financial crime — selling tools to protect credit risk scoring models, payment systems, customer onboarding and more — has closed $16.6 million in Series A funding. GV (formerly Google Ventures) led the round, with participation from existing investors Index Ventures (led […] → Read More
Resistant AI scores $16.6M for its anti-fraud fintech tools –
Resistant AI, which uses artificial intelligence to help financial services companies combat fraud and financial crime — selling tools to protect credit risk scoring models, payment systems, customer onboarding and more — has closed $16.6 million in Series A funding. GV (formerly Google Ventures) led the round, with participation from existing investors Index Ventures (led […] → Read More
Gorillas grabs ‘close to’ $1BN, Series C values the on-demand grocery delivery biz at $2.1BN –
Berlin-based on-demand grocery delivery and dark store operator Gorillas has grabbed “close to” $1 billion in Series C funds, in the latest sign of the searing interest driving activity in urban food shopping option across the continent and beyond. The round is being led by another food-focused on-demand delivery startup — German’s Delivery Hero — […] → Read More
OfficeRnD, a SaaS for managing hybrid workplaces, grabs $10M –
The decentralized reality of office work after the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drive plenty of startup activity. To wit: OfficeRnD, which makes workplace management software that’s increasingly geared toward helping businesses provide a ‘hybrid office’ model — meaning they’re offering flexible work spaces to staff who want to spend some of their time working out […] → Read More
Allplants scoops $52M to deliver more plant-based microwave meals –
Vegan meal delivery startup Allplants has nabbed £38 million (~$52M) in Series B funding led by Draper Esprit to serve up more tasty plant-based, heat-at-home meals direct to UK consumers. The round is being touted as the biggest ever Series B by a plant-based food company in Europe. Earlier, the London-based startup raised a $7.5M […] → Read More
Researchers show Facebook’s ad tools can target a single user –
A new research paper written by a team of academics and computer scientists from Spain and Austria has demonstrated that it’s possible to use Facebook’s targeting tools to deliver an ad exclusively to a single individual if you know enough about the interests Facebook’s platform assigns them. The paper — entitled Unique on Facebook: Formulation […] → Read More
Wisdom is a social audio app for opening access to mentorship –
UK social audio startup Wisdom has launched a new mentorship marketplace that’s described as a mix between Clubhouse and the celebrity-focused courses platform Masterclass. The app lets users log on to find conversations which they can join live (with the chance to ask questions) or listen back to on-demand (streamed talks are automatically saved to […] → Read More
Berlin’s Mayd bags $15M seed to deliver meds fast –
Berlin-based Mayd has spied an opportunity to build out a medicine delivery platform in Europe which partners with the small-scale pharmacies that tend to be the norm on the continent, capitializing on how the pandemic has generally accelerated demand for on-demand delivery. The startup, which was only founded at the beginning of this year, has […] → Read More
Ireland’s draft GDPR decision against Facebook branded a joke –
Facebook’s lead data protection regulator in the European Union is inching toward making its first decision on a complaint against Facebook itself. And it looks like it’s a doozy. Privacy campaign not-for-profit noyb today published a draft decision by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) on a complaint made under the EU’s General Data Protection […] → Read More
UK startup blasts gov’t plan to downgrade data protection –
The UK government’s post-Brexit appetite to ‘reform’ domestic privacy rules by reducing the level of protections wrapping people’s data is already having wider ramifications for the country’s tech ecosystem. Last month the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced a consultation on reducing privacy standards — claiming ‘simplified’ rules would be a boon […] → Read More
Ex-minister predicts ‘huge battleground’ over UK’s plan to set Internet content rules –
The former UK minster of state for what is now the digital and culture department, DCMS, has warned of the looming battle in parliament over the exact shape of incoming online safety legislation. In an interview with TechCrunch, Ed Vaizey — a former Conservative Party MP, now Lord Vaizey of Didcot, who was head of […] → Read More
Tech giants’ slowing progress on hate speech removals underscores need for law, says EC –
Tech giants have got worse at removing illegal hate speech from their platforms under a voluntary arrangement in the European Union, according to the Commission’s latest assessment. The sixth evaluation report of the EU’s Code of Conduct on removing illegal hate speech found what the bloc’s executive calls a “mixed picture” with platforms reviewing 81% […] → Read More
Cord gets $17.5M to get more devs plugged into its API for real-time collaboration –
Cord, a startup that offers a single API to add Slack-like collaboration features to any app, has bagged $17.5 million in Series A funding. The round — which is pegged to fund product development, including by hiring engineers, designers and product managers — was led by European VC Index. Other investors participating include NFX and […] → Read More