Also: Ads are coming to WhatsApp soon
Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're talking about a major data breach at Zoomcar; ads on WhatsApp; and what 23andMe's future may hold. We also bring notes on how the U.S. Navy plans to work with startups; a startup making remittance easier for Indians; Taiwan making it harder for Huawei to build AI chips, and more. Let's dive in! | | | Image Credits: Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch | 1. Invest in cybersecurity, please: Indian car-sharing marketplace giant Zoomcar has been hacked, and about 8.4 million customers' information has been compromised. The company says customers' names, phone numbers, and car registration details were accessed, and that it's working with law enforcement. Read More 2. Enshittify everything: After years of letting people text and call each other for free, WhatsApp is finally looking to make money. Users will soon start seeing ads in the Status page of the app. I wonder how long it'll be before we're forced to deal with ads inside chats, too? Read More 3. Chapter 11 and me: Beleaguered DNA testing firm 23andMe could be bought out of bankruptcy by a nonprofit run by its co-founder and former CEO, Anne Wojcicki, for $305 million. The court still needs to approve the bid, and there's a big lawsuit opposing the sale of assets, which include the genetic data of millions of customers. Read More | | | Image Credits: David Pollack / Getty Images | 🧭 Uncle Sam wants Startups: Landing contracts with the government has always been difficult for startups, but the U.S. Navy's CTO Justin Fanelli told TechCrunch that the navy is "more open for business and partnerships than we've ever been before." Read More 💱 Cornering a market: Indians account for a large amount of foreign remittances, mostly because a dollar goes a long way in the country. Aspora wants to make it easier for Indians to send money home, and it's just raised $50 million to add more services to its remittance platform. Read More 🔍 Addressing the discovery issue: Apple is testing using AI to add tags to apps on its App Store – at least in the developer beta build of iOS 16. They're not live on the App Store yet, but these labels would highlight specific features and functionalities in apps. Read More ↔️ Taking sides: Taiwan, the chipmaking hub of the world, has placed export controls on Chinese companies Huawei and SMIC, Bloomberg reports, making it mandatory for local companies to obtain government approval before they can sell to these companies. Read More | | | 👔 People moves: Meta has appointed Arun Srinivas as the head of its India business, Reuters reports. Srinivas until now led the company's ads division in the country. Read More 🫠 From bad to worse: A survey by The Guardian has found that thousands of college students in the U.K. have been caught using AI tools like ChatGPT to cheat on tests and assignments in the past few years. At least that's driven traditional plagiarism down. Read More | | | 💅 Exactly what I need: If, like me, you've ever caught yourself staring at your wardrobe wondering how to style yourself, Alta is for you. This startup offers an AI personal stylist that will suggest different outfits and styles, all according to the budget, lifestyle, weather and calendar. Read More | | | Featured jobs from CrunchBoard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. TechCrunch Media LLC. 9720 Wilshire Boulevard, 6th floor, Beverly Hills, CA | | | | |
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