Nigerian fintech Zone raises $8.5M seed to scale its decentralized payment infrastructure

African financial institutions typically scale their solutions using a mix of local and foreign tech. Appzone is one of the standout local fintech software providers for banks and fintechs, providing better pricing and flexibility. For over a decade, the Nigeria-based Appzone has functioned as an enabler (at payment rails and core infrastructure) within banking and … Read more

LinkedIn is adding games, for some reason

According to a new TechCrunch report, LinkedIn is gearing up to venture into seemingly unfamiliar territory by introducing gaming features to its platform. The social networking platform has already established itself as the go-to platform for business networking (although Elon Musk wants to challenge that with X), but Microsoft has always kept its gaming expertise … Read more

SpaceX doc leaks, TikTok ban gains steam, and Grok to go open-source

Hey, folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter recapping noteworthy happenings in tech over the past few days. This week, TechCrunch viewed leaked documents out of SpaceX showing some questionable practices related to employee stock options. X CEO Elon Musk announced that he would open source Grok, X’s AI-powered chatbot meant to … Read more

Huawei may have used a very clever trick to make hard disks use less power — spin-on-demand disk drives may well compete with tape on performance, but at what cost?

At MWC 2024, Huawei’s Dr. Peter Zhou took the wraps off a number of new data storage products, including the company’s next-gen 10 Petabyte OceanStor Arctic magneto-electric storage solution. When we reported on it recently, details were incredibility light. We knew it would be a magneto-electric disk (MED) that probably spins, and the first generation … Read more

Gumroad no longer allows most NSFW art, leaving its adult creators panicked

Gumroad, an e-commerce company for creators, updated its rules to more strictly limit NSFW content, citing restrictions from payment processors like Stripe and PayPal. For creators who sell adult art, like explicit comic books or lewd cosplay photos, these sudden policy changes can be detrimental, resulting in an unforeseen loss of income. “I’m concerned on … Read more

Mercedes begins piloting Apptronik humanoid robots

Pilot season has officially begun for the world of humanoid robotics. Last year, Amazon began testing Agility’s Digit robots in select fulfillment centers, while this January, Figure announced a deal with BMW. Now Apptronik is getting in on the action, courtesy of a partnership with Mercedes-Benz. According to the Austin-based robotics startup, “as part of … Read more