Paul Sawers, Author at TechCrunch

After AWS and Google, Microsoft says it’s removing Azure ‘egress’ data transfer fees — but with caveats

Paul Sawers — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 17:58:29 +0000

Microsoft has revealed that it, too, will allow business customers to transfer data out of its Azure cloud infrastructure with no “egress fees” attached, following hot on the heels of similar moves by cloud rivals AWS and Google. While Microsoft positions the announcement as a voluntary pro-customer move, the fact that it was quietly revealed […]

Proton Mail desktop app officially launches, but remains for premium subscribers only

Paul Sawers — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 11:00:44 +0000

Proton Mail, the end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) email service from Swiss company Proton, is now officially available via a dedicated desktop app some three months after debuting in beta. However, despite previous claims that the client would be available to all Proton Mail users in early 2024, the company has decided to restrict it to paying […]

Polar Signals wants to help companies cut cloud costs with more efficient code

Paul Sawers — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 15:00:02 +0000

A young startup is setting out to help enterprises cut their cloud costs by writing “more efficient” code — and it has secured $6.8 million in fresh funding from notable backers including Alphabet’s GV, Spark Capital and Lightspeed. Polar Signals, as the company is called, kicked off its seed round back in 2021 with $4 […]

Generative AI video startup Tavus raises $18M to bring face and voice cloning to any app

Paul Sawers — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:00:05 +0000

Tavus, a four-year-old generative AI startup that helps companies create digital “replicas” of individuals for automated personalized video campaigns, has confirmed a fresh $18 million in funding and revealed that it’s opening its platform for third parties to integrate their software with the company’s technology. Reports emerged back in August that Tavus had raised “about […]

Spotify to increase subscription price in France to counter new music-streaming tax

Paul Sawers — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 09:40:27 +0000

Spotify has revealed plans to increase subscription fees in France, in response to a new tax directed at music-streaming services operating in the country. The move comes nearly three months after the company vowed to begin disinvesting in France, initially pulling support from two festivals with the promise of more action to come this year […]

AWS follows Google in announcing unrestricted free data transfers to other cloud providers

Paul Sawers — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 15:26:39 +0000

Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary AWS has revealed that it will allow customers to transfer their data out of its ecosystem with no so-called “egress fees” attached. The news follows some two months after Google announced similar plans, though in Google’s case as the third-biggest player in the public cloud triopoly after AWS and Microsoft, it […]

Whistleblower Software rebrands, expands into compliance with $16M

Paul Sawers — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 07:00:34 +0000

Danish startup Whistleblower Software is rebranding as Formalize as it expands into the broader compliance software sphere — and it has raised a fresh €15 million ($16 million) to fund the expansion. The announcement comes as the compliance software market has exploded, due in large part to growing regulatory pressure — and investors have taken […]

Punkt rocks its minimalist roots with first smartphone

Paul Sawers — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:00:21 +0000

Punkt first made a name for itself in the world of mobile with pared-down, monochromatic phones focused on voice, text and not much else. Now, the Swiss company has taken its concept of minimalism and changed it up, with the launch of its first smartphone — a device that positions itself at the crossroads of […]

TikTok launches data portability API ahead of Europe’s DMA regulatory deadline

Paul Sawers — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 14:16:15 +0000

TikTok is introducing a data portability API to help it comply with new European regulations designed to rein in Big Tech’s market dominance through various obligations and restrictions. The European Union (EU) assigned “gatekeeper” status to six tech companies last September, with TikTok parent ByteDance placed in the regulatory firing line alongside Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, […]

Thoma Bravo takes critical event management software company Everbridge private in $1.8B deal

Paul Sawers — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 15:55:29 +0000

Everbridge, a critical event management (CEM) software company, is going private in a $1.8 billion all-cash deal that will see it taken over by private equity giant Thoma Bravo — 20% more than what was originally announced last month.* Founded in 2002 initially as 3N Global, Everbridge helps governments and enterprises from across the industrial […]

Humane reveals first international market for the Ai Pin, partnering with South Korea’s SK Telecom

Paul Sawers — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 11:43:50 +0000

Hyped hardware startup Humane has announced plans for its first international market, inking a deal with South Korean carrier SK Telecom. The announcement comes shortly after the San Francisco-based company revealed it was pushing back the shipping date of its Ai Pin device from March to mid-April in its domestic U.S. market. Founded in 2017 […]

Subsets helps subscription businesses reduce churn with ‘retention experiments’ and explainable AI

Paul Sawers — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 10:32:02 +0000

Recurring revenue is pretty much the holy grail for any business — it’s precisely why Apple has segued toward being almost as much a services company as it is a hardware company, with 20% of its revenue now emanating from Apple TV+, Apple Music, iCloud, and an array of other subscription and non-subscription-based services. The […]

Clumio raises $75M to automate cloud data backup and recovery

Paul Sawers — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 14:00:52 +0000

Clumio, a data backup and recovery provider for companies using the public cloud, has raised $75 million in a Series D round of funding. The raise comes as the Santa Clara, California-based company claimed a four-fold increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR) last year, driven by new customers such as Atlassian, which is now using […]

Struggling database company MariaDB could be taken private in $37M deal

Paul Sawers — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 16:40:41 +0000

MariaDB is the subject of another potential takeover bid, as the company behind the eponymous open source relational database management system (RDBMS) confirmed it had received a provisional offer from California-based K1 Investment Management. K1 quietly revealed on Friday that it had tabled what is known as an “unsolicited non-binding indicative proposal” for MariaDB, which […]

Why Sequoia is funding open source developers via a new equity-free fellowship

Paul Sawers — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 15:00:19 +0000

Sequoia Capital plans to fund up to three open source software developers annually, as a continuation of a program it debuted last year. The Silicon Valley venture capital firm announced the Sequoia Open Source Fellowship last May, but it was initially offered on an invite-only basis with a single recipient to shout about so far. […]

Finom, a European challenger bank for SMEs, raises $54M

Paul Sawers — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 08:00:57 +0000

Finom, a European challenger bank aimed at SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and freelancers, has raised €50 million ($54 million) in a Series B equity round of funding. Founded out of the Netherlands in 2019, Finom lets businesses open up an online bank account in minutes and receive an IBAN (international bank account number) to […]

Bob W, a European short-stay apartment rental marketplace, raises $43M

Paul Sawers — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 06:00:56 +0000

Bob W, a marketplace for premium short-term apartment rentals, has raised €40 million ($43 million) in a Series B round of funding. Founded out of Finland in 2018, Bob W touts itself as a “tech-enabled hospitality operator,” with some 3,000 “aparthotels” offered for rent in 17 cities across Europe, including Amsterdam, Athens, London, Berlin, Madrid, […]

Daedalus, which is building precision-manufacturing factories powered by AI, raises $21M

Paul Sawers — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 09:00:33 +0000

A fledgling startup founded by one of OpenAI’s first engineering hires is looking to “redefine manufacturing,” with AI-powered factories for creating bespoke precision parts. Daedalus, as the company is called, is based in the southwestern German city of Karlsruhe, where its solo factory is currently housed. Here, Daedalus takes orders from industries such as medical […]

DocuSign lays off 6% of workforce as reported private equity takeover talks stall

Paul Sawers — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 13:40:22 +0000

DocuSign has revealed that it’s laying off 6% of its workforce, impacting some 400 employees. In an SEC filing, the e-signature software company said that the “restructuring plan” will mainly impact those in its sales and marketing teams, and is likely to cost DocuSign between $28 and $32 million in terms of severance payouts, benefits […]

Early-stage UK VC Episode 1 closes $95M third fund

Paul Sawers — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 05:00:35 +0000

Early-stage European venture capital (VC) firm Episode 1 has closed its third fund at £76 million ($95 million), as the London-based investor turns to in-house “data-driven deal sourcing tools” to find the next big thing. Founded in 2013, Episode 1 has a handful of exits to its name from the 70 or so companies it’s […]