Apps

Reddit must pay a ransom or release stolen data. The BlackCat ransomware gang, also known as ALPHV, posted on its dark web leak site that it stole 80 gigabytes of compressed Reddit data in February. Reddit spokesperson Gina Antonini declined TechCrunch’s questions but confirmed that BlackCat’s claims relate to a …

While the U.K. and U.S. try to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision over concerns it will kill competition in games distribution, modding and analytics appear to be thriving. Wargraphs, a one-man startup that makes Porofessor, a League of Legends companion app that helps players track and improve their stats, is …

After a large protest against Reddit’s API changes ends on June 14, over 300 subreddits, including r/aww, r/music, r/videos, and r/futurology, will go dark indefinitely. This blackout prevents access to these communities. After The Verge reported that Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said “Like all blowups on Reddit, this one will …

Andreessen Horowitz, a $35 billion US VC firm, will open its first international office in London, led by general partner Sriram Krishnan. The office will promote crypto, blockchain, and web3 startups. a16z invested $7.6 billion in crypto startups worldwide. “London is a major financial hub, a major tech hub, and …

The website went down as thousands of Reddit communities protested the company’s controversial new policy that will kill third-party apps. Reddit told that a planned protest against its new policy caused the outage. Reddit.com started having issues at 10:25 AM EDT, according to users. Reddit’s Status page initially showed “all …

Reddit’s controversial API pricing change that’s driving third-party apps out of business has taken a strange turn. In an AMA today, Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman, aka u/spez, doubled down on accusations against the developer of the popular third-party app Apollo, which the company had previously accused of operating …

Apollo, a popular third-party Reddit app, will close on June 30, 2023, due to Reddit’s new API pricing plans, which would cost Apollo $20 million per year to operate. This is unsustainable for an indie developer. Christian Selig, the app’s creator, was one of the first to point out that …

Lens Protocol, a web3 product that creates a decentralized social networking ecosystem, raised $15 million, its team told TechCrunch exclusively. Aave, a web3 technology company, is building a protocol that lets users lend and borrow crypto tokens. (Aave raised $49 million.) Aave CEO Stani Kulechov said the protocol aims to …

“Colombia’s largest coffee producer” Green Coffee Company raised $25 million in Series C equity funding. Coffee is worth $493 billion worldwide. Smaller coffee companies have emerged alongside legacy brands. I recently reported on Chamberlain Coffee raising venture capital, joining Fellow, Blank Street, and many celebrity coffee brands. Compound Foods and …

Meta is testing a broadcast-based messaging feature called Channels on WhatsApp, similar to a recent Instagram update, to give its 2 billion users more conversational options. The company also hopes to make money from this feature. WhatsApp will add an Updates tab for Channels messages. On Instagram, Meta announces channels …