| Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Tech! Here are today's top stories: - Cruise is expanding its robotaxi program to Nashville, Tennessee.
- Facebook has over 3 billion monthly users.
- Chipmaker AMD to invest $400M in India.
Arbër
p/Arber | |
| 1 | | Cruise is expanding its robotaxi program to Nashville, Tennessee. After operating for several years in San Francisco, over the past year, the company has started offering its services in five other cities ― Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Miami. More: - Founded in 2013, Cruise is a subsidiary of General Motors that specializes in self-driving technology.
- The company introduced its Level 4-5 autonomous vehicles, which have self-driving capabilities that require little to no human intervention, in San Francisco in 2020.
- Cruise also started a testing program with Honda in Japan the following year.
- The company has a three-step roll-out strategy: it first offers test cars with a human safety operator, then introduces the ride-hailing service without an operator for company employees, and then makes the service available to the general public.
- The company may soon expand to Atlanta, as it has posted jobs for security area managers in the city.
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| 2 | | What happened: Facebook now has over 3 billion monthly active users, a 3% increase from a year ago, according to the company's earnings report for the second quarter. Meta said Facebook reached 2.064 billion daily users in the second quarter, up from 2.037 in the previous quarter. Details: The milestone confirms Facebook's status as the world's most popular social media platform. The Reels short-form video-sharing platform, Facebook's competitor to TikTok, is believed to have been one of the main reasons behind this growth. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Reels videos get over 200 billion plays per day. Why it matters: This growth comes approximately 18 months after Facebook reported its first-ever drop in the number of new users joining the platform, prompting fears of a sustained decline amid increased competition from social media apps such as TikTok. 
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| 3 | | Chip manufacturing company AMD plans to build a $400M design center in India. The 500,000-square-foot facility will be built in the tech hub of Bengaluru this year. More: - The company has nine other facilities in India, including some in Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram, and Hyderabad.
- The announcement was made at the 2023 SemiConIndia conference, which was attended by representatives from other semiconductor companies such as Micron, Cadence, and Applied Materials.
Zoom Out: - India aims to become a semiconductor powerhouse to compete with the U.S., South Korea, and Taiwan.
- The government recently approved a $10B investment plan to boost the semiconductor industry that includes financial support for up to 50% of the costs of building a new manufacturing project.
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| 4 | | The Russian hacker group BlueBravo is targeting European governments with a new phishing campaign. The threat actor is believed to have ties with Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service. More: - The hacker group specializes in cyber espionage campaigns that target European governments, diplomatic organizations, and private companies.
- BlueBravo uses phishing as a threat vector, choosing to deploy through regular tools such as Dropbox, Firebase, Google Drive, Notion, and Trello.
- After victims click infected files, a payload is dropped.
- The payload includes a custom-made malware named GraphicProton that evolves into multiple stages.
Zoom Out: - The group, also known as Cozy Bear, the Dukes, Nobelium, and Yttrium, is believed to have been behind the 2020 SolarWinds attack.
- This hacking campaign targeted several organizations, including the U.S. Treasury, NATO, the European Parliament, and Microsoft.
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| 5 | | Crowdstrike is set to acquire cybersecurity company Bionic AI for up to $300M, according to a report from TechCrunch. Bionic AI is based in Israel and California. More: - Founded by former members of an Israeli army intelligence unit, the company specializes in providing advanced cloud security services.
- Bionic AI's clients include Chipotle, Freddie Mac, and Transamerica.
- Microsoft recently considered acquiring Bionic AI, an unnamed source told TechCrunch.
- Since its inception in 2019, Bionic AI has raised over $82M.
- Crowdstrike, which also specializes in cybersecurity, is based in Austin, Texas.
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| 6 | | Vertex Holdings has raised a $900M anchor fund for its global VC network. The company invests through its offices in the U.S., India, Israel, and China. More: - Since its inception in 1988, the company has invested in over 300 portfolio companies, including Waze, Grab, CyberArk, and Mobike.
- The firm currently manages over $6B worth of assets.
- Vertex Holdings is a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, the global investment arm of Singapore's government.
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- Tech companies are seeing their share prices drop as the cost of developing AI capabilities is worrying some investors.
- California-based fintech company Upgrade has acquired buy-now-pay-later service provider Uplift for $100M.
- Luxxotica, the parent company of Oakley and Ray-Ban, has acquired Nuance, an Israel-based startup that develops technology for people with hearing loss.
- VinFast, an EV manufacturer based in Vietnam, is set to begin the construction of a factory in North Carolina.
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INSIDE TECH LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Writer | | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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