Google releases new open LLM, Rivian lays off staff, Signal publishes usernames

Image credits: Arthur Widak/Null Photography/Getty Images

Welcome everyone to Week in Review (WiR). This is TechCrunch’s regular newsletter covering notable happenings in the technology industry.

This week, Google announced two new open large-scale language models, Gemma 2B and Gemma 7B, in its continued push for generative AI dominance. The company describes LLM as “inspired by Gemini,” his flagship family of GenAI models, each of which is available for commercial and research use.

Also, beleaguered database company MariaDB revealed it could be taken private in a $37 million deal. This non-binding offer comes 14 months after MariaDB went public via his SPAC, Paul wrote.

Many other things happened. In this edition of His WiR, we’ll summarize everything, but before we do so, we’d like to remind you to sign up to receive her WiR newsletter in your inbox every Saturday.

news

tragedy: Earlier this week, Marco Troper, the 19-year-old son of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, was found dead at the University of California, Berkeley, from an apparent drug overdose.

Cake sales: The future of bankrupt electric motorcycle startup Cake remains uncertain, but the majority of the company’s U.S. inventory will go to a man in Florida, Sean reported.

Change health care hits: Change Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare technology companies in the United States, acknowledged that it recently suffered a cyberattack on its systems.

Riban’s dismissal: Rivian is laying off 10% of its salaried workforce to cut costs as the electric vehicle market becomes increasingly tough, further increasing pressure on future more affordable EV ‘R2’ .

Acquisition of Dunzo: Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has held talks in recent weeks about a potential acquisition of Reliance Retail-backed hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo, Manish reported.

More privacy: Signal now lets you keep your phone number private with the introduction of usernames.

YouTube wins: YouTube dominates TV streaming in the U.S., according to a new report from Nielsen.

Evaluation cut: Byju’s says its recently launched $200 million rights issue is fully subscribed, but amid a rift between the edtech group and some of its major shareholders, the startup’s founders Manish wrote that he urged some major investors to participate.

funding

Profitable grooming: France-based Planity has raised $48 million to expand its software-as-a-service offering for hair salons.

Bricklaying robot: Dutch startup Monumental has won a $25 million tranche for a robotic cart and arm that helps lay bricks for construction.

analysis

Segments under threat: Alex and Ron look at why customer data company Segment could be put up for sale by parent company Twilio. Activist pressure has a lot to do with this.

podcast

upon capitalIn , the crew talked about Reddit’s upcoming IPO and the impressive funding of edtech startups Loora, Bioptimus, and Dili.

found Together with Shan-Lyn Ma, co-founder and CEO of Zola, we dive into the vast web of the wedding industry. Ms Ma said why she wanted to start the business after trying to buy a present for her friend and realizing that her marriage registration was still in the past.

and Chain reaction I wore Steve Kaczynski is co-author of the book “The Everything Token” and co-host of web3’s morning show “Coffee with Captain.”

bonus round

New AI chip venture: SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking $100 billion to form a new venture to compete with Nvidia and others in the AI ​​chip space.

OnePlus is back on your watch. OnePlus’ upcoming Watch 2, the company’s first smartwatch in years, promises an impressive 100 hours of battery life “in full smart mode.”