TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Quilt, Furno Materials, RA Capital speakers

Quilt, Furno Materials & RA Capital share the stage at Disrupt 2024

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TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Quilt, Furno Materials, RA Capital speakers

Launching a new product is challenging, but doing it in a space dominated by tech giants requires bold innovation, sharp strategy, and the ability to scale quickly. TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 — taking place at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30 — brings together three experts who are doing just that, while simultaneously addressing one of the world’s greatest challenges: climate change. 

We’re thrilled to welcome Paul Lambert, founder and CEO of Quilt; Gurinder Nagra, CEO of Furno Materials; and Brigid O’Brien, managing partner at RA Capital Management to the Builder’s Stage lineup at Disrupt 2024. They’ll share the strategies that have allowed them to take on the incumbents. 

They will also explore how startups can differentiate themselves, turn legacy players’ weaknesses into competitive advantages, and make the bold decisions necessary to scale in industries that haven’t changed in decades. This panel is a must-see for founders, investors, and senior executives looking to understand how to succeed in highly competitive markets.

Meet the speakers

Paul Lambert, Founder and CEO, Quilt

Drawing on his experience building successful companies and having assembled a world-class team from Google, Nest, and Tesla, Paul Lambert is now leading the charge at Quilt in developing a design-forward, smart home climate solution. With thousands of homeowners on the waitlist and $33 million in Series A funding, Quilt is on the verge of revolutionizing a market long dominated by fossil-fuel-based systems by making sustainable home heating more intuitive and efficient.

Gurinder Nagra, CEO, Furno Materials

At Furno Materials, Gurinder Nagra is reimagining cement production — one of the world’s most carbon-heavy industries. Leaning into his extensive scientific education from the University of New South Wales and Stanford University, he’s leveraging novel combustion technologies to create energy-efficient, zero-emission cement plants that are modular and compact, setting a new standard for the future of sustainable infrastructure.

Brigid O’Brien, Managing Partner, RA Capital Management

Brigid O’Brien at RA Capital Management is committed to driving investments in companies focused on planetary health. With extensive experience in decarbonizing operations at BHP, the world’s largest mining company, O’Brien brings unmatched expertise in scaling technologies that address climate challenges. At BHP Ventures, she spearheaded investments in innovative areas such as biomining, green steel, and sustainable resource extraction, positioning her at the forefront of sustainable industrial transformation.

Secure your seat at Disrupt 2024

This panel offers a rare opportunity to learn how to outmaneuver established competitors, scale innovation, and deliver transformative products in legacy industries — all while framing these activities around saving the planet. Secure your seat at Disrupt 2024 today to learn how these visionary leaders are driving the next wave of market disruption.

Fivetran, DataStax & NEA are coming to Disrupt 2024

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TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 The Data Pipeline speakers

In the world of modern AI, data is more than just a resource — it’s the fundamental core that aligns decision-makers, supports processes and enables innovation. As AI applications become more robust and pervasive, the pace of such advancement is only as good as the evolution of the data infrastructure behind it. 

We are delighted to discuss the data deluge with industry experts George Fraser, CEO of Fivetran; Chet Kapoor, chairman and CEO of DataStax; and Vanessa Larco, partner at NEA, live on the SaaS Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. 

The panel will dive deep into the shift from mere data accumulation to meaningful integration, exploring how businesses are building, managing, securing and scaling their data infrastructures. They’ll share insights on what’s on the horizon for data evolution and the strategies companies need to employ to stay ahead in a data-driven world.

Meet the AI leaders transforming data into actionable intelligence

George Fraser, CEO of Fivetran

Under Fraser’s leadership, Fivetran has revolutionized data integration by making it as simple and reliable as turning on a light switch. Born in Y Combinator, Fivetran now has data connectors that power businesses of all sizes, earning them accolades from Google Cloud and Snowflake. Fraser’s commitment to simplifying data access reflects his vision of a future where data flows seamlessly, enabling innovation across every industry.

Chet Kapoor, Chairman and CEO of DataStax

With deep roots in Silicon Valley’s most influential tech firms, Kapoor leads DataStax in its mission to help enterprises use data to scale AI in real time. From launching Astra DB, a cutting-edge cloud-native database, to advancing generative AI applications with new vector capabilities, Kapoor’s leadership has made DataStax a key player in the data revolution. 

Vanessa Larco, Partner at NEA

A driving force at NEA, Larco brings a unique perspective to her role, believing in the power of passion and focus when building a company and leveraging her experience to invest in next-gen enterprise and consumer tech. She’s been instrumental in backing companies that are now redefining their industries, such as Rewind AI, Cleo and Rocket.Chat. With a background in product team leadership at Box, Disney, Xbox and Twilio, Larco has a hands-on approach and her ability to see the potential in companies and founders makes her a compelling voice on the future of data and tech innovation. 

Gain industry insights only at Disrupt 2024

Join us at Disrupt 2024 to explore how these leaders are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. You’ll learn why the next generation of AI isn’t just about better algorithms but about the smart, seamless flow of data that fuels them. And you can engage with the very people who are building the tools and frameworks that will power our data-driven future. 

Don’t miss out — secure your Disrupt 2024 pass today to get a front-row seat into tomorrow’s tech innovation.

Encryption your data. Digital Lock. Hacker attack and data breach. Big data with encrypted computer code. Safe your data. Cyber internet security and privacy concept. Database storage 3d illustration

Evolve hack fallout continues, fintech M&A heats up and Plaid talks enterprise push

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Encryption your data. Digital Lock. Hacker attack and data breach. Big data with encrypted computer code. Safe your data. Cyber internet security and privacy concept. Database storage 3d illustration

Image Credits: JuSun / Getty Images

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at the Evolve Bank hack, three notable acquisitions, Plaid’s enterprise customer growth and more.

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. PT, subscribe here.

The big story

On June 26, Evolve Bank & Trust, a financial institution that’s popular with fintech startups, announced that it had been victim of a cyberattack and data breach that could have affected its partner companies as well. The incident, according to the company, involved “the data and personal information of some Evolve retail bank customers and financial technology partners’ customers” such as Affirm, Mercury, Bilt, Alloy and Stripe. On June 29, fintech company Wise announced that some of its customers’ personal data may have been stolen in the data breach.

Also last week, Thread Bank — a popular partner to BaaS startups such as Unit — got hit with enforcement action from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Analysis of the week

This past week was an active one for fintech M&A. Just seven months after announcing a $6 million seed funding round, data intelligence startup Hyperplane announced it had been acquired by Brazil’s Nubank. The company’s main focus is to allow banks to train their own models to power tools across their risk, collections and marketing departments. Meanwhile, Chime also announced plans to acquire Salt Labs “for as much as $173 million.” TechCrunch covered Salt Labs’ $10 million raise in March of 2023 here. And Robinhood is adding more AI features for investors with its acquisition of AI-powered research platform Pluto Capital.

Dollars and cents

Payabli, which builds the infrastructure that allows companies — specifically software companies — to embed and facilitate payments through APIs, raised $20 million in a Series A funding.

Another company in the space is Rainforest, which also raised $20 million in its own Series A funding round, less than one year after its seed financing. Rainforest embeds payment processing into other software platforms. 

Belgium’s Chift, which lets SaaS companies integrate with dozens of financial tools with a unified API, raised a $2.5 million seed round.

Armed with $8 million in seed funding, Egyptian banking-as-a-service startup Connect Money is out to tap its popularity to explore emerging business opportunities out of African markets.

As a foreigner, navigating health insurance systems can often be difficult. German startup Feather thinks it has a solution and raised €6 million to help some of the 40-plus million expats working and living in Europe.

What else we’re writing

Plaid’s expansion into being a multi-product company has led to it starting to see real traction beyond traditional fintech customers. President Jen Taylor told me exclusively just how many enterprise customers the company has now, detailing how growth in that segment is starting to outpace the rest of its business. 

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has quietly started rolling out its own payments app, dubbed Super.money, as it broadens its fintech ambitions more than a year and half after separating from PhonePe. The Walmart-owned firm’s new app, now live in beta on Play Store, allows users to make mobile payments via UPI, an interoperable network that is the most popular way Indians transact online.

High-interest headlines

Citi sees AI displacing more bank jobs than any other sector

Goldman Sachs deploys its first generative AI tool across the firm

Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures lays off fintech team in pivot towards AI

Pay for new stuff by trading in your old stuff right at checkout

Prudence, Profits, and Growth (global fintech report co-authored by BCG and QED Investors)

Only up from Here: 2024’s State of Fintech and the Hero’s Journey (from Bain Capital Ventures partner Matt Harris)

Want to reach out with a tip? Email me at [email protected] or send me a message on Signal at 408.204.3036. You can also send a note to the whole TechCrunch crew at [email protected]. For more secure communications, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and links to encrypted messaging apps.

What the AT&T phone records data breach means for you

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An AT&T store in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

Image Credits: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg / Getty Images

On Friday, AT&T said cybercriminals stole the phone records of “nearly all” of its customers, a data breach that will force the company to notify around 110 million people. 

AT&T said the stolen data included records like which phone numbers a certain customer called and texted, the total count of calls and texts, and call durations for a six-month period between May 1, 2022 and October 31, 2022. AT&T said the stolen data does not include any content of calls or texts, nor their time or date. 

For some of the affected customers, the cybercriminals were also able to steal cell site identification numbers linked to phone calls and text messages, according to AT&T. This means that — potentially — someone could use this information to figure out the approximate location of a customer. 

“This can reveal where someone lives, works, spends their free time, who they communicate with in secret including affairs, any crime-based communication or typical private/sensitive conversations that require secrecy,” said Rachel Tobac, a social engineering expert and founder of cybersecurity firm SocialProof Security. “This is a big deal for anyone affected.” 

AT&T blamed the incident on a recent breach at cloud service provider Snowflake, which has affected dozens of companies, including Ticketmaster, Santander Bank and LendingTree subsidiary QuoteWizard. At this point, it’s unclear exactly who was behind the Snowflake breach. Mandiant, the cybersecurity firm hired by Snowflake to investigate, said a financially motivated cybercriminal group they identify as UNC5537 was responsible.

The type of data stolen in AT&T’s data breach is typically referred to as metadata because it doesn’t include the contents of calls or texts, but only information about those calls and texts. That, however, doesn’t mean there are no risks for the victims of this breach.

Tobac said that this type of data makes it easier for cybercriminals to impersonate people you trust, making it easier for them to craft more believable social engineering or phishing attacks against AT&T customers. 

Contact Us

Do you have more information about this AT&T incident? Or about the Snowflake breach? From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram, Keybase and Wire @lorenzofb, or email. You also can contact TechCrunch via SecureDrop.

“The attackers know exactly who you’re likely to pick up a call from, who you’re likely to text back, how long you communicate with that person, and even potentially where you were located during that conversation due to the metadata that was stolen,” said Tobac.

Runa Sandvik, the founder of Granitt, a firm that helps journalists and activists be more secure, said that “even if you don’t do anything ‘important’ or ‘sensitive,’ who you talk to; when; and how often is still personal to you and should remain private to you as well.”

“I think everyone should be very angry about this and demand better from the telcos, it’s not enough to say ‘oh by the way your data was taken, we are sorry and are taking this very seriously’,” Sandvik told TechCrunch.

Sandvik said it’s more concerning for higher-risk individuals affected by the breach. “Some may consider changing their numbers and using a different provider, but it just really depends on the circumstances.” Higher-risk individuals can also include those who have a reason to shield their identity, such as survivors of domestic abuse. 

Sandvik also said that using encrypted chat apps — like Signal, which doesn’t hold the type of metadata AT&T just lost; and WhatsApp — could be better for security because these companies have a better track record of protecting user data. 

Jake Williams, a cybersecurity expert and former NSA hacker, told TechCrunch that the risk is greater for businesses and intelligence targets following the AT&T breach. 

“Threat actors can use this data to create patterns of life,” said Williams. “Call data records provide a wealth of value for intelligence analysts.”

Williams also said that it’s possible hackers can combine this data with that of data breaches, because “previous AT&T incidents mapped customer phone numbers to other identifying information, simplifying weaponization of the newly compromised data.”

Call and text metadata is traditionally information that can be valuable for intelligence agencies. Some of the documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden more than a decade ago revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency was obtaining customer metadata from Verizon in bulk on an “ongoing, daily basis.” 

The U.S. government has long defended this practice as an essential tool to fight against terrorism, and for the last decade successive administrations have been reluctant to give up this capability. A former intelligence officer, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the press, told TechCrunch that there is “a reason telcos are so often targeted by foreign services,” citing efforts to identify potential intelligence sources and assets.

“In short, this data is a gold mine for understanding who talks to who, which can for instance be used for developing human sources,” said Williams.

AT&T says criminals stole phone records of ‘nearly all’ customers in new data breach

An AT&T store in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

If you’re an AT&T customer, your data has likely been stolen

by with No Comment Tech

An AT&T store in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

Image Credits: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg / Getty Images

This week, AT&T confirmed it will begin notifying around 110 million AT&T customers about a data breach that allowed cybercriminals to steal the phone records of “nearly all” of its customers. The stolen data contains phone numbers and AT&T records of calls and text messages during a six-month period in 2022, the company says. If you’re an AT&T customer, here’s what the breach could mean for you.

Samsung is getting into the wearables game. The company had its annual Galaxy Unpacked event this week, where it debuted new models of its Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold phones and its new generation of wireless earbuds. It also unveiled more details about its $399 wearable smart ring to compete with Oura.

Tesla is apparently not ready to reveal its “robotaxi” design next month as intended, according to Bloomberg, and is instead pushing the event to October. The company reportedly needs more time to build the prototypes. Following the report, Tesla shares fell more than 6%.

This is TechCrunch’s Week in Review — TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the week’s biggest news. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.

News

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker speaks during their inaugural "Product Vision Day" in Huntington Beach, California, on August 3, 2023. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Image Credits: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP / Getty Images

Fisker drops his salary to $1: Henrik Fisker and Geeta Gupta-Fisker are lowering their salaries to $1 to keep the failed EV startup’s bankruptcy case alive as lawyers work to complete a sale of its remaining inventory. Read more

Elon Musk doesn’t have to pay more Twitter severance: Musk defeated one of several lawsuits spawned out of firing more than 6,000 Twitter employees, as a federal judge ruled that X Corp. doesn’t owe the ex-employees any more severance. Read more

Humane execs form new startup: Former Humane execs have left the company to start Infactory, an AI-powered fact-checking search engine. The founders spoke to TechCrunch about their plans. Read more

How Apple Intelligence will change Siri: Siri is getting a slew of new features and updates thanks to the addition of Apple Intelligence and a partnership with OpenAI. Here’s a look at all the new features that will change how you use your iPhone. Read more

Here’s a cool robot: As part of a new project, Google’s DeepMind Robotics implemented Google Gemini 1.5 Pro to teach a robot to respond to commands and navigate around an office. Read more

OpenAI ditches observer seats: Months after Microsoft gained an observer seat on OpenAI’s board, the company is leaving the position of the non-voting seat. OpenAI says there won’t be any more observers on the board — likely ruling out reports of Apple gaining a seat. Read more

Ask Rufus: Amazon’s AI-powered shopping assistant Rufus is now live for all U.S. customers in the Amazon mobile app. Rufus will offer help with finding products, performing product comparisons, and getting recommendations on what to buy. Read more

FTC finds “dark patterns” in subscription services: Does it feel like it’s harder than it should be to cancel a subscription service? As part of a new study, the FTC found that subscription services use dark patterns that make it difficult for users to cancel. Read more

Whataburger to the rescue? In the wake of Hurricane Beryl, some Houstonians got creative with their attempts to track the power outages by using the Whataburger app to see which of the chain’s locations were open. Read more

Lucid Motors sets a new record: Lucid Motors delivered 2,394 EVs in the second quarter of 2024, a new record for the company and a positive sign amid its struggle to establish a foothold in the EV market. Read more

Your late-night Wikipedia deep dives just got better: Wikipedia has finally started implementing dark mode for its mobile website to ease your eyes while you go down a 3 a.m. rabbit hole about the Roman Empire. Here’s how to turn it on. Read more

Analysis

Spotify screen shown an 2 smartphones
Image Credits: Spotify

Spotify is a social network now: With Spotify’s recent launch of comments on podcasts, Sarah Perez explores how the music streamer is taking yet another step toward building a social networking experience. Combined with the app’s 2023 revamp, which added a TikTok-like discovery feed and the ability to post to stories, Spotify is shaping up to be a social network centered around all things audio, not just a music-streaming app. Read more

Can visual AI models really see? The latest round of language models are touted as able to understand images and audio as well as text. But a study by researchers at Auburn University and the University of Alberta tested the biggest multimodal models on a series of very simple visual tasks and found that they don’t see the way you might expect. In fact, as Devin Coldewey writes, visual AI models may not see at all. Read more

M&A activity heats up with Wiz, Graphcore, etc.

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Waves of sheets of paper that mimic fire

Image Credits: Getty Images

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. 

Most interesting startup stories from the week

Shortly after Google parent Alphabet reportedly abandoned its ambitions to purchase online marketing software company HubSpot, the tech giant decided to pursue another big acquisition. This time, Google is in advanced discussions to pay $23 billion for Wiz, a cloud security startup with astronomically fast revenue growth. Wiz, a mere four-year-old business, has already achieved $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), TechCrunch learned exclusively this week.

Google’s offer is more than Wiz’s last valuation of $12 billion, but will this rocket ship agree to sell itself now and forgo its IPO dreams? A person close to the company told us that there’s a 50% chance the deal won’t happen. 

SoftBank eyeing AI: The Japanese giant has purchased Graphcore, a U.K.-based AI chipmaker once considered to be an Nvidia rival, for an undisclosed amount. While Graphcore’s processors’ popularity is nowhere near Nvidia’s, SoftBank hopes that the chipmaker will play a big role in its pursuit of AI riches.

Another deal for Deel: Payroll provider Deel is on an M&A streak. After buying two other companies this year, this week it scooped up Hofy, a startup that delivers and manages equipment for remote office workers. We understand that Deel paid over $100 million for Hofy, which raised $30.2 million from VCs.

Head-shaking sale: In 2018, investors touted HeadSpin as “one of the fastest-scaling software companies” ever. By 2020, it was valued at $1.1 billion. Then the startup’s founder pleaded guilty to overstating HeadSpin’s revenue and went to prison for fraud. HeadSpin was recently bought by private equity firm PartnerOne for a mere $28 million, TechCrunched has learned, while most former employees received nothing for their options.

Most interesting fundraises this week

Looking for a job is hard, but it can be especially difficult for people with disabilities. That’s why disability activist Keely Cat-Wells created Making Space, a talent acquisition platform for disabled workers. But finding investors for her startups wasn’t easy.

One prospective investor even advised Cat-Wells to find a male, non-disabled co-founder. She ignored that suggestion and grabbed a $2 million pre-seed round from Utah-based VC Beta Boom.

Search for AI: Google helps humans search the internet. AI platforms need to search the internet, too, but at a much larger scale. Exa, which raised $17 million from Lightspeed, Nvidia and YC, does just that.

Consecutive rounds: Back-to-back raises all but disappeared for non-AI startups post-2021 boom. But could Coast, which describes itself as “a financial services platform for the future of transportation,” bring the trend back? It just raised a $40 million Series B from ICONIQ Growth just four months after announcing a $25 million venture round.

AI talent: After six years of operating as a bootstrapped business, Tribe AI raised $3.2 million to help companies hire contractors who can implement AI strategies.  

Most interesting VC and fund news this week

While new fund news was sparse this week, VCs certainly stayed in the limelight.

a16z co-founders for Trump: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz recorded a nearly two-hour podcast in which they explained why they are switching political parties. The pair admitted that they are single-issue voters and that the issue centers on the interest of startups (and potentially their own pocketbooks). In short, they say the Biden administration wants to overregulate AI, won’t provide clarity on crypto and is proposing a tax on unrealized capital gains that they can’t stomach. They think Trump will be more favorable for startups.   

VC at RNC: David Sacks, a Craft Ventures founder and an All-In podcast co-host, gave a speech at the Republican National Convention. Sacks may be a well-known figure in Silicon Valley, but his name recognition among average Republicans remains low, wrote TechCrunch reporter Margaux MacColl, who was at the RNC. “The applause was tepid throughout his speech.”

Menlo plus Anthropic fund: Menlo Ventures was one of the biggest investors in Anthropic’s Series D. This week the VC firm teamed up with the the LLM maker on a $100 million fund for backing pre-seed, seed and Series A AI startups.

Last but not least

AI fundraising is on a tear, but did you know that this year the number of AI companies that raised $100 million rounds or higher already stands at 28? We expect this list to keep growing in the coming months.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Glean, Adverb, Amplitude speakers

Execs from Glean, Amplitude & Adverb join Disrupt 2024

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TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Glean, Adverb, Amplitude speakers

You’ve got the product — now how do you find customers? And once you find those customers, how do you keep them coming back for more? At TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, taking place October 28-30 in San Francisco, we’re bringing Spenser Skates, April Underwood and Tamar Yehoshua to the Builders Stage to discuss how startups can find true, lasting product-market fit.

Whether a startup is building AI-powered robots or a fresh social media app, founders need to know what audience they’re building for. Our panelists know firsthand how to find product-market fit since they’ve tackled these challenges themselves as founders, advisers and executives at some of the biggest tech companies in the world.

Spenser Skates is the CEO and co-founder of Amplitude, a publicly traded software company that helps companies grow their audience with data analytics.

April Underwood is the co-founder of Adverb Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm backing pre-seed to Series A founders. Before launching Adverb, Underwood was CPO at Slack and Director of Product at Twitter. She also serves on the board of public companies like Zillow and Eventbrite, advising executives on product strategy.

Tamar Yehoshua is the President of Product and Technology at Glean, an enterprise AI startup, and a venture partner at IVP. She has been a VP at Google, working on privacy and search, and a CPO at Slack, guiding the company through going public and getting acquired by Salesforce.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 will take place in San Francisco from October 28-30. Buy your pass today.

Evolve hack fallout continues, fintech M&A heats up and Plaid talks enterprise push

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Encryption your data. Digital Lock. Hacker attack and data breach. Big data with encrypted computer code. Safe your data. Cyber internet security and privacy concept. Database storage 3d illustration

Image Credits: JuSun / Getty Images

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at the Evolve Bank hack, three notable acquisitions, Plaid’s enterprise customer growth and more.

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. PT, subscribe here.

The big story

On June 26, Evolve Bank & Trust, a financial institution that’s popular with fintech startups, announced that it had been victim of a cyberattack and data breach that could have affected its partner companies as well. The incident, according to the company, involved “the data and personal information of some Evolve retail bank customers and financial technology partners’ customers” such as Affirm, Mercury, Bilt, Alloy and Stripe. On June 29, fintech company Wise announced that some of its customers’ personal data may have been stolen in the data breach.

Also last week, Thread Bank — a popular partner to BaaS startups such as Unit — got hit with enforcement action from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Analysis of the week

This past week was an active one for fintech M&A. Just seven months after announcing a $6 million seed funding round, data intelligence startup Hyperplane announced it had been acquired by Brazil’s Nubank. The company’s main focus is to allow banks to train their own models to power tools across their risk, collections and marketing departments. Meanwhile, Chime also announced plans to acquire Salt Labs “for as much as $173 million.” TechCrunch covered Salt Labs’ $10 million raise in March of 2023 here. And Robinhood is adding more AI features for investors with its acquisition of AI-powered research platform Pluto Capital.

Dollars and cents

Payabli, which builds the infrastructure that allows companies — specifically software companies — to embed and facilitate payments through APIs, raised $20 million in a Series A funding.

Another company in the space is Rainforest, which also raised $20 million in its own Series A funding round, less than one year after its seed financing. Rainforest embeds payment processing into other software platforms. 

Belgium’s Chift, which lets SaaS companies integrate with dozens of financial tools with a unified API, raised a $2.5 million seed round.

Armed with $8 million in seed funding, Egyptian banking-as-a-service startup Connect Money is out to tap its popularity to explore emerging business opportunities out of African markets.

As a foreigner, navigating health insurance systems can often be difficult. German startup Feather thinks it has a solution and raised €6 million to help some of the 40-plus million expats working and living in Europe.

What else we’re writing

Plaid’s expansion into being a multi-product company has led to it starting to see real traction beyond traditional fintech customers. President Jen Taylor told me exclusively just how many enterprise customers the company has now, detailing how growth in that segment is starting to outpace the rest of its business. 

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has quietly started rolling out its own payments app, dubbed Super.money, as it broadens its fintech ambitions more than a year and half after separating from PhonePe. The Walmart-owned firm’s new app, now live in beta on Play Store, allows users to make mobile payments via UPI, an interoperable network that is the most popular way Indians transact online.

High-interest headlines

Citi sees AI displacing more bank jobs than any other sector

Goldman Sachs deploys its first generative AI tool across the firm

Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures lays off fintech team in pivot towards AI

Pay for new stuff by trading in your old stuff right at checkout

Prudence, Profits, and Growth (global fintech report co-authored by BCG and QED Investors)

Only up from Here: 2024’s State of Fintech and the Hero’s Journey (from Bain Capital Ventures partner Matt Harris)

Want to reach out with a tip? Email me at [email protected] or send me a message on Signal at 408.204.3036. You can also send a note to the whole TechCrunch crew at [email protected]. For more secure communications, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and links to encrypted messaging apps.

What the AT&T phone records data breach means for you

by with No Comment Tech

An AT&T store in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

Image Credits: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg / Getty Images

On Friday, AT&T said cybercriminals stole the phone records of “nearly all” of its customers, a data breach that will force the company to notify around 110 million people. 

AT&T said the stolen data included records like which phone numbers a certain customer called and texted, the total count of calls and texts, and call durations for a six-month period between May 1, 2022 and October 31, 2022. AT&T said the stolen data does not include any content of calls or texts, nor their time or date. 

For some of the affected customers, the cybercriminals were also able to steal cell site identification numbers linked to phone calls and text messages, according to AT&T. This means that — potentially — someone could use this information to figure out the approximate location of a customer. 

“This can reveal where someone lives, works, spends their free time, who they communicate with in secret including affairs, any crime-based communication or typical private/sensitive conversations that require secrecy,” said Rachel Tobac, a social engineering expert and founder of cybersecurity firm SocialProof Security. “This is a big deal for anyone affected.” 

AT&T blamed the incident on a recent breach at cloud service provider Snowflake, which has affected dozens of companies, including Ticketmaster, Santander Bank and LendingTree subsidiary QuoteWizard. At this point, it’s unclear exactly who was behind the Snowflake breach. Mandiant, the cybersecurity firm hired by Snowflake to investigate, said a financially motivated cybercriminal group they identify as UNC5537 was responsible.

The type of data stolen in AT&T’s data breach is typically referred to as metadata because it doesn’t include the contents of calls or texts, but only information about those calls and texts. That, however, doesn’t mean there are no risks for the victims of this breach.

Tobac said that this type of data makes it easier for cybercriminals to impersonate people you trust, making it easier for them to craft more believable social engineering or phishing attacks against AT&T customers. 

Contact Us

Do you have more information about this AT&T incident? Or about the Snowflake breach? From a non-work device, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram, Keybase and Wire @lorenzofb, or email. You also can contact TechCrunch via SecureDrop.

“The attackers know exactly who you’re likely to pick up a call from, who you’re likely to text back, how long you communicate with that person, and even potentially where you were located during that conversation due to the metadata that was stolen,” said Tobac.

Runa Sandvik, the founder of Granitt, a firm that helps journalists and activists be more secure, said that “even if you don’t do anything ‘important’ or ‘sensitive,’ who you talk to; when; and how often is still personal to you and should remain private to you as well.”

“I think everyone should be very angry about this and demand better from the telcos, it’s not enough to say ‘oh by the way your data was taken, we are sorry and are taking this very seriously’,” Sandvik told TechCrunch.

Sandvik said it’s more concerning for higher-risk individuals affected by the breach. “Some may consider changing their numbers and using a different provider, but it just really depends on the circumstances.” Higher-risk individuals can also include those who have a reason to shield their identity, such as survivors of domestic abuse. 

Sandvik also said that using encrypted chat apps — like Signal, which doesn’t hold the type of metadata AT&T just lost; and WhatsApp — could be better for security because these companies have a better track record of protecting user data. 

Jake Williams, a cybersecurity expert and former NSA hacker, told TechCrunch that the risk is greater for businesses and intelligence targets following the AT&T breach. 

“Threat actors can use this data to create patterns of life,” said Williams. “Call data records provide a wealth of value for intelligence analysts.”

Williams also said that it’s possible hackers can combine this data with that of data breaches, because “previous AT&T incidents mapped customer phone numbers to other identifying information, simplifying weaponization of the newly compromised data.”

Call and text metadata is traditionally information that can be valuable for intelligence agencies. Some of the documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden more than a decade ago revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency was obtaining customer metadata from Verizon in bulk on an “ongoing, daily basis.” 

The U.S. government has long defended this practice as an essential tool to fight against terrorism, and for the last decade successive administrations have been reluctant to give up this capability. A former intelligence officer, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the press, told TechCrunch that there is “a reason telcos are so often targeted by foreign services,” citing efforts to identify potential intelligence sources and assets.

“In short, this data is a gold mine for understanding who talks to who, which can for instance be used for developing human sources,” said Williams.

AT&T says criminals stole phone records of ‘nearly all’ customers in new data breach

An AT&T store in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

If you’re an AT&T customer, your data has likely been stolen

by with No Comment Tech

An AT&T store in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.

Image Credits: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg / Getty Images

This week, AT&T confirmed it will begin notifying around 110 million AT&T customers about a data breach that allowed cybercriminals to steal the phone records of “nearly all” of its customers. The stolen data contains phone numbers and AT&T records of calls and text messages during a six-month period in 2022, the company says. If you’re an AT&T customer, here’s what the breach could mean for you.

Samsung is getting into the wearables game. The company had its annual Galaxy Unpacked event this week, where it debuted new models of its Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold phones and its new generation of wireless earbuds. It also unveiled more details about its $399 wearable smart ring to compete with Oura.

Tesla is apparently not ready to reveal its “robotaxi” design next month as intended, according to Bloomberg, and is instead pushing the event to October. The company reportedly needs more time to build the prototypes. Following the report, Tesla shares fell more than 6%.

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News

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Image Credits: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP / Getty Images

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Analysis

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Image Credits: Spotify

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