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Hi, people, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s e-newsletter that highlights among the extra noteworthy moments in tech over the previous few days. The vacation season is nigh upon us, however the tech trade waits for nobody — on the horizon are IBM, AMD and Intel conferences, plus the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The information cycle gained’t die down anytime quickly, and relaxation assured we’ll proceed doing our greatest to maintain you knowledgeable.
But I’m getting forward of myself. A good quantity occurred this week, together with Amazon’s re:Invent convention, a ransomware disaster at Fidelity, Sam Altman formally returning to OpenAI, Neuralink elevating cash, and SpaceX buying a parachute firm. Also, Tesla formally launched the Cybertruck, Black Friday numbers got here in, Evernote imposed caps on its free plan, and Teenage Engineering unveiled its newest gadget. We cowl all that — and extra — on this version of WiR.
First, a reminder to enroll right here to obtain WiR in your inbox each Saturday for those who haven’t already carried out so. Now, on with the information.
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Amazon reinvents — once more: Amazon’s annual re:Invent convention, which focuses on the tech large’s AWS enterprise, was considerably subdued this 12 months. But AWS CEO Adam Selipsky talked a giant recreation, taking low cost pictures at rivals, from Google and Microsoft to OpenAI. Among the extra notable unveilings was a $195 skinny shopper that appears (suspiciously) much like a Fire TV Cube, a business-oriented AI chatbot known as Q and three new serverless choices. Christine has a roundup of the remainder of the bulletins.
Massive breach at Fidelity: Last Tuesday, Fidelity National Financial, or FNF, an actual property providers firm that payments itself because the “leading provider of title insurance and escrow services” and “North America’s largest title insurance company,” introduced that it had skilled a cyberattack. Lorenzo writes that, since then, householders with mortgages and potential consumers buying properties with FNF or one in every of its many subsidiaries have been left confused and anxious, not figuring out precisely what’s taking place — or what to do.
Altman returns to OpenAI: Sam Altman is formally again as OpenAI’s CEO after a tumultuous week and alter. And OpenAI formally has a brand new board of administrators — plus a non-voting board observer, courtesy of Microsoft — changing many of the board that tried to oust Altman within the days main as much as Thanksgiving.
Neuralink raises money: Neuralink, the Elon Musk–based firm growing implantable chips that may learn mind waves, has raised an extra $43 million in enterprise capital, in response to a submitting with the SEC. Founded in 2016, Neuralink has devised a stitching machine–like system able to implanting ultra-thin threads that hook up with electrodes contained in the mind. But Neuralink is below rising scrutiny for what critics allege are a poisonous office tradition — and unethical analysis practices.
SpaceX buys parachutes: SpaceX is thought for its vertical integration, however one part it’s been outsourcing is parachutes — till earlier this month, when the corporate quietly purchased parachute vendor Pioneer Aerospace for $2.2 million after its father or mother firm went bankrupt. Aria studies that it’s the second identified acquisition for SpaceX, which acquired small satellite tv for pc startup Swarm in 2021 for a $524 million principally inventory deal.
The Cybertruck launches — for actual: Tesla moved ahead on Thursday with the long-awaited launch of its Cybertruck electrical pickup throughout a day presser. Harri notes that the boxy car is Tesla’s first new mannequin since 2020, when it began delivering the Model Y.
Black Friday growth: A rush of deep reductions and the expansion of versatile fee choices have been the drivers behind $9.8 billion in on-line gross sales within the U.S. on Black Friday — a file determine for the day. According to Adobe Analytics, gross sales have been up by 7.5% on final 12 months’s numbers — a determine that Ingrid writes ought to present some shock vacation cheer to retailers, which have been seeing general sluggish development.
Evernote hobbles its free plan: Days after Evernote began testing a free plan with entry to just one pocket book and 50 notes with restricted customers, the corporate has now made this its new default free plan. The note-taking app mentioned that this alteration will likely be relevant for all new and current free customers beginning December 4.
Teenage Engineering releases a groovebox: Teenage Engineering’s new $300 groovebox has no enterprise being this cute, Harri writes — and I can’t disagree. Called the EP-133 Okay.O.II, it’s a mixture drum machine, synthesizer and sampler — an appropriately supersized improve to Teenage Engineer’s pint-sized PO-33 Okay.O.
ChatGPT turns one: OpenAI’s viral AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT turned one this week. Initially a primary free-to-use, web-based and chat-focused interface on prime of one in every of OpenAI’s current fashions, GPT-3.5, ChatGPT would go on to turn into the corporate’s hottest product . . . ever — and the fastest-growing shopper app in historical past. I wrote one thing to mark the event.
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In want of a podcast to fill the time? You’re in luck. TechCrunch has a full roster to maintain you occupied.
This week on a throwback episode of Equity, Alex chats with Anu Hariharan, who beforehand led YC Continuity, about what makes a “great” founder and the way these founders are efficiently guiding their firms towards cash-flow positivity. Hariharan just lately partnered with two of her former colleagues and former Brex government Lucas Fox to launch a brand new fund, Avra, which goals to lift about $350 million and function a program that some are referring to as a “YC for growth.”
Over on Found, the crew was joined by Neil Batlivala from Pair Team, which is constructing the infrastructure that’ll assist essentially the most susceptible populations get the medical and social care they want by means of the approaching Medicaid growth. Dom and Becca talked to Neil about how his earlier well being tech expertise led him to start out an organization solely centered on connecting care amenities like meals pantries and shelters to medical coaching and care by means of Medicaid funding.
And on Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn interviewed Optimism’s CEO and co-founder Jing Wang and chief development officer Ryan Wyatt. Optimism is an Ethereum-focused layer-2 blockchain that focuses on scaling and velocity, whereas additionally reducing prices for customers.
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TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you realize for those who’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, take into account signing up. Here are a number of highlights from this week:
The 2024 IPO cohort comes into focus: Many different unicorns are doubtless going to be watching how the upcoming Shein and Reddit IPOs carry out, since they’ll just about show how excessive private-market valuations translate to the general public markets, Alex writes.
Fastest inexperienced playing cards for those who’re from India or China: Sophie Alcorn, the founding father of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley, writes about how founders from India or China can get inexperienced playing cards as shortly as potential when going through deadlines from traders or companions — together with by means of VC networks and sources.
Tepid cybersecurity funding: If you checked out enterprise capital funding tendencies within the cybersecurity market, you would possibly suppose that the sector was struggling, Alex writes. What’s the rationale? There’s not one, however a number of.