Image Credits: Tetra Images (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Cybersecurity product managers usually measure conversion rates, detection accuracy and usage/engagement to gain customer insights, but these metrics “may not be what they seem,” writes Ross Haleliuk, an investor who’s also head of product at LimaCharlie.io.

“Context matters a lot, and the realities of different organizations, geographies, cultures and market segments heavily influence what can be measured and what actions can be taken based on these observations.”

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.

Happy Google Day! There’s been a wall of interesting news coming out of the search-and-everything-else-too giant at its I/O event. Christine summarized everything Google has announced at I/O thus far, so that’s a good place to start.

Also, it’s a rare treat when TechCrunch top boss Joey shares something on the site, breaking down how we’re disrupting TechCrunch Disrupt: 8 stages, 3 days, 1 city. While on the topic of Disrupt, here’s your chance to vote for the roundtables and breakouts you want at the event.

Much love, Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Big spenderConnie spoke with Sound Ventures’ Effie Epstein to get the scoop on which three lucky companies were the recipients of a large chunk of the venture capital firm’s new AI fund.
• Identified flying objectDarrell reports on Vast’s and SpaceX’s plan to put the first commercial space station into orbit in 2025. And check out Aria’s deep-dive into Vast in the Big Tech section.
• You’ve got the world in the PaLM of your hand: Google launched PaLM 2, its next-gen large language model. Frederic writes that “PaLM 2 will power Google’s updated Bard chat tool and function as the foundation model for most of the search engine giant’s new AI features. See what we have so far in Google I/O news in the Big Tech section.

Startups and VC

Autonomous delivery startup Nuro is in the midst of a restructuring that will result in layoffs and shift resources away from commercial operations and toward R&D, Kirsten reports. Nuro declined to share how many of its roughly 1,100 employees will be affected. Employees are expected to learn who will be laid off by the end of the week.

Natasha L reports that Clearview was fined yet again, this time in France, for failing to comply with privacy orders. Whether Clearview will ever pay any of these fines remains an open question, since the U.S.-based company has not been cooperating with EU regulators.

There’s another fistful for you as well:

• To their credit, that’s a smart moveMary Ann reports how Petal raises $35 million and spins off data unit “to bring credit scores into the 21st century.”
• Give her a raiseChristine reports that All Raise’s interim CEO is now full-time.
• Real money for skill-based gamesIngrid writes that Triumph raises $14 million for an SDK to add real-money tournaments into games.
• Drop-in payroll: “Our goal is to spice up software platforms,” says Salsa’s CEO as the company raises $10 million to roll out payroll features for software companies. Christine has more.
• Fusion power coming soon: Helion Energy will provide Microsoft with fusion power starting in 2028, by Haje.

3 key metrics for cybersecurity product managers

Cybersecurity product managers usually measure conversion rates, detection accuracy and usage/engagement to gain customer insights, but these metrics “may not be what they seem,” writes Ross Haleliuk, an investor who’s also head of product at LimaCharlie.io.

“Context matters a lot, and the realities of different organizations, geographies, cultures and market segments heavily influence what can be measured and what actions can be taken based on these observations.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

• Off the gasAlex concludes that, yeah, tech growth is slowing down.
• Trust, but verif-AIRon writes that Salesforce is betting that its own content can bring more trust to generative AI.
• A blossom of hopeDespite a rocky start, climate tech is in a good position to tackle the rest of 2023, reports Tim.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

It’s Google I/O day, and our team wrote at least 30 stories to deliver all the goods for you fine readers. You can catch the full download on the dedicated Google I/O 2023 event page, but here are some tidbits:

• Google’s ‘Sidekick’ offers contextual prompts to get better results from AI, by Darrell.
• Google introduces new features to help identify AI images in Search and elsewhere, by Sarah.
• Google launches a smarter Bard, by Frederic.
• Google partners with Adobe to bring art generation to Bard, by Kyle.
• Google ends Bard waitlist, making English version of chatbot widely available, by Ron.
• Google Photos to gain a new ‘Magic Editor’ feature powered by generative AI, by Sarah.
• Google Maps is getting a new ‘Immersive View for Routes’ feature, by Aisha.

Yes, we do have some non-Google news, too:

• From streaming entertainment to streaming the stranger on your front porch: Roku is getting into home monitoring as part of its smart home lineup. Lauren has more.
• Rocket Man: Move over, Elon, Jeff and Richard. Aria writes that Jed McCaleb’s private space station venture Vast might be more than just science fiction.
• Gone viral: China has its own DrakeGPT moment as AI singer Stefanie Sun goes viral, Rita writes.
• Rolling rolling rolling: Amazon Web Services is keeping the open source training going with fuzzing tool SnapChange and policy-based access control language Cedar. Paul has more.
• Parental guidance suggestedTaylor digs into some new health advisory guidelines from the American Psychological Association related to kids and social media use.

Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there’s something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $800 when you buy your pass now through May 15, and save 15% on top of that with promo code DC. Learn more.

Disrupt 2023

Daily Crunch: OpenAI, Anthropic and Stability AI receive half of Sound Ventures’ $240M AI fund by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/daily-crunch-openai-anthropic-and-stability-ai-receive-half-of-sound-ventures-240m-ai-fund/

In a significant move made by Disney, the company announced Wednesday that U.S. customers are getting a new app that combines Disney+ and Hulu content.

The company also announced that it is raising the price of the Disney+ ad-free tier later in the year.

During Disney’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Bob Iger revealed that the new streaming option will launch later this year. However, the company also plans to keep Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone platforms.

The news comes after Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2023. Hulu gained 200,000 subs.

“While we continue to offer Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our [direct-to-consumer] offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers while giving subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience,” Iger stated during the earnings call.

Many of us saw this announcement coming since former Disney CEO Bob Chapek hinted at the plans in September 2022.

“Right now, if you want to go from Hulu to ESPN+ to Disney+, you have to go out of one app to another app. In the future, we may have less friction,” Chapek told Variety in an interview last year.

This also appears to support the reports that Disney is planning to buy Comcast’s stake in Hulu by 2024. Currently, Comcast owns 33% and Disney owns 66%.

The integration follows other moves made by competitors, such as Paramount+ combining with Showtime, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery announcing its new streaming service, Max, which merges HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform.

Subscribers in select countries outside of the U.S. already have Hulu content bundled with Disney+.

When the streamer launched its ad-supported plan in December, the cost of its premium tier went up to $10.99/month, compared to $7.99. Disney+ will get yet another price hike for its ad-free subscription. Soon, subscribers will have to pay even more to get content with no ads.

“The pricing changes we’ve already implemented [have] proven successful, and we plan to set a higher price for our ad-free tier later this year to better reflect the value of our content offerings,” Iger added. “As we look to the future, we will continue optimizing our pricing model to reward loyalty and reduce churn to increase subscriber revenue for the premium ad-free tier and drive growth of subscribers…”

Disney+ and Hulu content to combine into one streaming app by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/disney-and-hulu-content-combine-into-one-app-later-this-year/

Early adopters had to manage complicated installations and live with cuts in random patterns, but manufacturers say they’ve worked out all the kinks. Our writer put a $2,899 new model from EcoFlow to the test in his own backyard.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/robot-lawn-mowers-are-finally-getting-good-but-are-they-worth-the-hefty-price-tag-3f89f283?mod=rss_Technology

Alongside its work to integrate more AI features into Search, Google today also announced it’s introducing a new “Perspectives” filter will be coming to the top of some of its Search results when the results “would benefit from others’ experiences,” Google says — like posts on discussion boards, Q&A sites and social media platforms, including those with video.

That means it will be easier to access things like Reddit links and YouTube or TikTok videos in search results, among other things, without having to append the name of the platform to your search query.

The company had previously announced a Perspectives feature would launch under Top Stories in the U.S. in English across desktop and mobile. Now it will be available to use across general search results, where relevant.

In addition, Google says when people use the Perspectives filter, they’ll be shown more details about the content creators, including their name, profile pic, and information about the popularity of their content.

These personal stories, discussions, and creator content, will also become available through a dedicated “Perspectives” section that will appear in some search results pages. Here, a “see more” link will be available, taking users to a full page of content that matches their results from these user-generated sources.

Related to this, Google says it’s developing an improved system for understanding and ranking personal content and that written from an expert’s point of view — an acknowledgment, of sorts, that Google’s original system for ranking webpages has decreasing relevance in an era where so much information is being published by individuals on social platforms and other places beyond the traditional website.

Google alluded to this last year, in fact, when an exec speaking at conference noted that Instagram and TikTok were eating into Gogole’s marketshare as younger people often now start some of their queries directly on those platforms, not on Google Search. In other words, Google didn’t have much choice but to adjust to this new paradigm, of how people want to find information if it wants to maintain its relevance in this coming years.

The company says it’s also making improvements to how it ranks “review content” on Search by giving more weight to higher-quality sites that include original information. That could become increasingly necessary as well in the age of AI, where perhaps too much content won’t be original, but AI-created — and a search engine that knows the difference could be very useful.

Google ‘Perspectives’ integrates Reddit, YouTube, TikTok and more in search results by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/google-perspectives-integrates-reddit-youtube-tiktok-and-more-in-search-results/

Better Tomorrow Ventures’ Sheel Mohnot landed some of his biggest wins before he ever started a venture firm. The investor previously worked as a partner at 500, previously known as 500 Startups, where he raised and ran a dedicated fintech fund as well as helped build an accelerator.

There he met his eventual founding partner at BTV – Jake Gibson – and backed a cadre of fintech startups, including Chipper and Albert, each at $2.5 million valuations. Today, Chipper is valued at over $1 billion, and Albert has raised over $175 million.

And while the firm has certainly cashed in on that early track record – raising a $225 million second fund last year – the duo behind it thinks it’s time to launch a nod toward their roots. Better Tomorrow Ventures tells TechCrunch that it is launching a fintech accelerator, this time under its own roof, called The Mint.

The Mint will be a three-month accelerator, based out of San Francisco, that cuts $500,000 checks in exchange for 10% equity in between six to ten startups. The initial cohort, which starts this upcoming August, already accepted one company, and sent a second acceptance letter out today.

“It’s something we’ve done successfully before. Our returns were crazy, crazy good from that initial fintech cohort, so I think if we can get anywhere near that again, our LPs will be happy,” Mohnot said.

The accelerator offers some standard support: a speaker series that includes founders from Mercury, Flexport and NerdWallet, office hours with experts, wellness resources, hiring support and desk space. Unlike some Zoom accelerator programs, The Mint is long San Francisco: two team members are moving to the city to help with logistics, and Better Tomorrow is leasing a new office space, outside of its Mission HQ, dedicated to the accelerator.

Better Tomorrow seems to be stepping in where it believes Y Combinator is lacking. “YC is built for scale. The advice is a lot like one size fits all,” Mohnot said. “We felt like with fintech, there are so many things that are unique about building that it makes sense to have something distinct.”

Among some seed stage investors, YC’s new standard deal has been met with varying degrees of weariness. Last year, YC announced that it would still offer its original deal – a $125,000 check in exchange for 7/% equity – as well as a $375,000 check at an uncapped SAFE note with a most favored nation (MFN) clause. The latter has stirred up some controversy: an MFN means that YC will get to invest $375,000 at the same terms as the investor who has the best terms in the next round. Now, YC companies are less incentivized to raise a small amount of money from angels, and more incentivized to optimize for higher valuations after Demo Day, so dilution is limited when accepting that $375,000 check.

“We think the MFN clause [that YC currently offers] can do companies a disservice. Because they end up almost having to raise at a very high valuation…you’re seeing that bite them in the ass a little bit. Because as if they don’t hit the metrics, the next round is even more challenging,” Mohnot said. While BTV’s 10% ownership is higher than other VC-spun out programs – take NextView’s $200,000 in exchange for 8% stake for an example – it’s less than what BTV usually targets for first checks, which is between 15% to 20% ownership.

Mohnot says that BTV will continue investing outside of the accelerator, but the big focus for the rest of the year in terms of net new investments will be within the program.

“I think there’s a TechCrunch article right now about fintech” pessimism, Mohnot said. “We are still really excited about the future of fintech and we liked fintech before it was cool.. At a fundamental level, financial services are 20% of GDP, and they are inherently digital, so the numbers make sense.”

The Mint, started by Better Tomorrow Ventures, wants to be the accelerator fintech needs by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/the-mint-started-by-better-tomorrow-ventures-wants-to-be-the-accelerator-fintech-needs/

The software company still plans to offer promotions, bonuses and stock awards.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-wont-raise-salaries-for-full-time-employees-this-year-3112d6?mod=rss_Technology

As Disney approaches its third round of expected layoffs and deals with production delays due to the ongoing writers strike, the company delivered more bad news to investors. Its flagship streaming service, Disney+, lost four million subscribers in Q2 2023, bringing the total to 157.8 million subscribers, compared to 161.8 million subs in the previous quarter. Analysts expected subscriber growth of 163.17 million.

The main reason behind the decline was Disney+ Hotstar, which shed 8% of its subscriber base, going from 57.5 million subs in Q1 2023 to 52.9 million. Many viewers in India are upset with the company’s decision to not retain streaming rights for the Indian Premier Cricket League.

Last quarter, Disney+ reported its first subscriber loss since its inception in 2019. The streamer saw a drop in 2.4 million subscribers in Q1.

CEO Bob Iger also revealed during the last earnings call that Disney is set to undergo major restructuring, including job cuts that will affect 7,000 employees. So far, the company has had two waves of layoffs, with one more on the way.

Iger previously announced Disney’s plans to save $5.5 billion in costs, including $3 billion in content spending. Disney also noted that it wants to prioritize the Marvel and Star Wars franchises over other titles.

However, the company recently paused productions for Marvel’s “Blade” and Star Wars series “Andor” as a result of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which kicked off last week after the group failed to reach a satisfactory agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Rightly so, the writers are demanding higher compensation and fairer streaming residuals. In the streaming age, jobs are less consistent for writers since shows typically have fewer seasons than shows on cable.

If less content were to release on Disney+ because of the strike, more viewers would likely consider canceling their subscriptions.

Despite the shortcomings, the company touted its improved financial performance for its streaming business. Losses decreased to $659 million for the quarter compared to $1.1 billion in the quarter prior. Revenue was also up in the division, rising to $5.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Hulu added 200,000 subscribers to bring the new total to 43.7 million subs, up from 43.5 million in the previous quarter. ESPN+ also saw a jump in subscribers, getting a total of 25.3 million thanks to an increase of 400,000 subs.

Disney+ loses subscribers for second quarter in a row, drops 4M subs by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/disney-q2-2023-results/

TechCrunch Disrupt is a global event, and the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort reflects the rich geographic genius the world has to offer. Although we’ve never had a startup from Antarctica, that’s probably just a matter of time. Right now, however, we’re looking at the countries that make up APAC and Oceania.

APAC and Oceania: Join the Startup Battlefield 200

Time is running out, so we urge all startups residing in the Far East, Middle East, Southeast or down under to apply for the Startup Battlefield 200 at Disrupt 2023. The application window closes on May 15 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

SB 200 is the startup world’s preeminent competition, and it has a global reach. The inaugural cohort, which debuted last year at Disrupt 2022, included 14 startups from seven APAC/Oceania nations, including Australia, India, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

Two startups from the region were chosen as SB 20 finalists. The founders of BetterData (Singapore) and Digest.ai (United Arab Emirates) pitched to the entire Disrupt audience, including top-tier investors from around the world, for a shot at $100,000 in the Startup Battlefield competition.

Benefits for the Startup Battlefield 200 at TC Disrupt 2023

SB 200 membership has its privileges, the first of which is the highly coveted TechCrunch seal of approval. Then there’s intense (and invaluable) investor and media interest. The SB 200 founders also receive a plethora of free perks, benefits and opportunities.

Access to Disrupt: This includes four additional passes and VIP access to all the presentations, breakouts and roundtables.

Exclusive workshops and masterclasses: SB 200 founders will enjoy workshops in the weeks leading up to Disrupt. They also receive special pitch training from TechCrunch staff and one free year of TechCrunch+ membership.

Flash pitch at Disrupt: That special training will come in handy when you step onto the Showcase Stage and pitch in front of investors and TechCrunch editors. Receive invaluable feedback and — who knows? — you might even catch an investor’s interest.

Exhibition space on the show floor: The SB 200 will be the only early-stage startups allowed to exhibit at Disrupt.

Saving the best for last: All SB 200 founders have a shot at competing for $100,000 in the Startup Battlefield pitch competition. TechCrunch editors will select 20 startups from the SB 200 to be Startup Battlefield Finalists. Founders from those 20 companies will be featured on TechCrunch, receive private pitch coaching and then pitch live onstage in front of the entire Disrupt audience. The ultimate winner takes home the $100,000 equity-free prize and all the glory.

APAC and Oceania, show us your game-changing startups! If you want to launch to the world on a global stage, apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 by May 15 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. We want to see you this September in San Francisco!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

APAC startups: Apply to Startup Battlefield 200 by Lauren Simonds originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/apac-oceania-apply-startup-battlefield-200-disrupt-2023/

At its I/O developer conference today, Google announced a new way for developers to build Wear OS watch faces, along with overall updates to the Android Wear platform, including Wear OS 4.

With this update, developers now get access to a new declarative format to design and build their watch faces, using the Jetpack Watch Face library, when they build watch faces for Wear OS 4 watches. Since the new format is based on this library, developers will automatically benefit from any updates to it, including future performance and battery improvements.

Since the new format is basically just an XML file, there is now no executable code involved in building these new watch faces. Hence, no code will be embedded in the watch face APK.

Using the new library, developers will still be able to create the same types of watch faces as before, be those the standard analog and digital watch faces with or without complications or more customizable ones. The watch face editor is now also part of Wear OS, so developers who want to build these customizable watch faces will no longer have to build their own editor for them.

Samsung has already integrated this new format as part of its Watch Face Studio.

Android Wear/Wear OS didn’t have the most promising start when it first launched in 2014. For the longest time, it was overshadowed by Apple’s Watch OS (even though that launched almost a full year later) and it felt like it was most lingering at the periphery of the Android ecosystem. During this time, it was slowly propelled forward by the stubborn manufacturer ecosystem around it and only really got a shot in the arm when Samsung made the switch from its own Tizen operating system a couple of years ago. With Google’s Pixel Watch now on the market, there is an even stronger incentive for Google to innovate in this space.

Building Wear OS watch faces just got easier by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/building-wear-os-watch-faces-just-got-easier/

The District of Columbia Attorney General today announced an agreement with SoLo Funds, a fintech company that enables peer-to-peer lending, to settle a lawsuit that alleged SoLo Funds engaged in predatory lending practices.

The practices alleged include Los Angeles-based SoLo Funds not telling customers “the true cost of the loans on its platform” and that it “facilitated loans with over 500% APR on average — far exceeding the District’s 24% usury cap,” according to the Office of the Attorney General’s written release.

In addition, the OAG claims company was “advertising affordable and flexible loans with no interest and no fees,” but then was requiring borrowers “to pay a percentage of the loan as a ‘tip’ to the lenders,” and “soliciting borrowers to pay a percentage of the loan to the company as a ‘donation.’” The OAG’s office is also alleging that “SoLo attracted lenders to its platform by advertising that they could ‘make a quick return on [their] extra cash,’ but “in reality, for a high percentage of the loans offered by SoLo, the borrowers either failed to repay the loans on time or at all — which SoLo also failed to disclose.”

“Our office will not tolerate fintech lenders resorting to new, deceptive practices that adversely impact vulnerable residents who are frequently ineligible for traditional loans,” said Attorney General Brian Schwalb in a written statement. “SoLo sought to disguise exorbitant interest charges by deceptively calling them ‘tips’ and ‘donations.’ This settlement makes clear that we will take decisive legal action against predatory lending models in the District and nationwide, regardless of whether the predatory lender is a brick-and-mortar store, or operates entirely online.”

SoLo Funds has agreed to make certain changes to its practices relating to tips and donations and provide “honest disclosures” to both borrowers and lenders. The settlement also includes paying $30,000 to reimburse District of Columbia borrowers for the tips and donations paid to get their loans and a payment to the District.

The Office of the Attorney General also said it is “the first state-level enforcement agency to reach a settlement with SoLo regarding its use of tips and donations to evade usury restrictions.”

In May 2022, the state of Connecticut gave SoLo Funds a temporary cease-and-desist order alleging similar violation of its state rules regarding tips and donations as well as “for failure to disclose the tips and for not having lending and collections licenses in the state.”

Meanwhile, the District of Columbia settlement follows an agreement with the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation announced this week that SoLo Funds will be able to resume operations in the State of California.

“SoLo has created a community finance model that is groundbreaking and innovative – as demonstrated by our recent inclusion on the 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50 list,” said Rodney Williams, co-founder and president of SoLo via email. “As a result, we cannot easily be categorized into traditional frameworks. Our recent settlements in DC and CA are the culmination of discussions with each jurisdiction’s department, and we appreciate their receptiveness to innovative ideas around a more inclusive financial system. SoLo is now focused on the future, and we are excited to resume operations in the District of Columbia and the state of California.”

In February, TechCrunch reported that SoLo Funds had acquired over 1 million registered users and over 1.3 million downloads making it “the largest and first Black-owned personal finance platform” to do so, Williams said at the time.

Since 2020, SoLo Funds has processed over 800,000 loans, according to the company. It also raised over $13 million in venture-backed capital from firms, including Serena Ventures and ACME Capital.

SoLo Funds settles lawsuit over predatory lending accusations in District of Columbia by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/solo-funds-lawsuit-predatory-lending-accusations/