TechCrunch Industry News

Money laundering — the process of transferring assets around in order to disguise the illicit origin of the money behind them — has been a huge and growing business for years, used by terrorists to finance their work, criminals to wash their spoils, (some) fat cats to avoid taxes and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An institutional investor is suing Amazon and its board, including founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, over hefty launch contracts they awarded to Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

FBI takes down the notorious Qakbot botnet, largest U.S.-led financial and technical disruption; Law enforcement operation dismantles botnet infrastructure, confiscates millions in cryptocurrency; Operation Duck Hunt removes malware from infected devices globally

Google has removed a popular but controversial live video chat app Chamet from the Play Store. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speak, an English language learning platform backed by OpenAI’s startup investment fund, the OpenAI Startup Fund, today announced that it raised $16 million in a Series B-2 funding round led by angel investor Lachy Groom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, is now rolling out a feature for paid users to let them hide their likes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google is discontinuing its Pixel Pass subscription service, which allowed people to get a Pixel phone combined with premium services including YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, and YouTube Premium for a monthly fee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While working at his first startup, BrainGenie, a math and science skills practice website, Tim Zheng experienced firsthand the challenge of maintaining a small business — and expanding it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Intuition Robotics isn’t hurting for funding these days. The Israeli firm announced a $36 million Series B in the early days of the pandemic, and now it’s adding another $25 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this month HashiCorp announced that it was changing the open source license it uses for Terraform and its other developer tools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices