Ten of TuSimple’s autonomous big rigs are set to be auctioned off later this month, just a few weeks after the self-driving trucking startup that went public in 2021 announced it was exiting the U.S. market.
The trucks, along with a slew of research and development equipment and office supplies, will be sold off in two online auctions.
A spokesperson for the auction company confirmed 10 trucks will “initially” be sold.
The company went public in 2021 and was swiftly scrutinized by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States over its Chinese shareholders.
In December, the company said it would exit the U.S. altogether and laid off more than 150 workers as a result.
Google today announced that it’ll stop charging Google Cloud customers a fee to migrate their data to another cloud provider or on-premise datacenter, effective immediately.
Customers using Google Cloud services including BigQuery, Cloud Bigtable, Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage, Datastore, Filestore, Spanner and Persistent Disk are eligible for free transfers out of Google Cloud — but must first apply for approval through a form.
Only once an approved customer’s data has been transferred out of Google Cloud and they’ve terminated their cloud written agreement will the data transfer fee will be waived (via a bill credit).
According to an IDC survey, 99% of cloud storage users have incurred egress fees averaging 6% of their cloud storage costs.
In 2018, Cloudflare launched the Bandwidth Alliance, a group of companies pledging to reduce or eliminate data egress fees.
USDC stablecoin issuer Circle files confidentially for an IPO Here we go againCircle Internet Financial (Circle) has confidentially filed for a proposed IPO, the company said on Thursday.
Circle is the issuer of the stablecoin USDC, which has the second-largest market capitalization on the market, worth about $25.25 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
The largest stablecoin, Tether, had a market cap of $94.65 billion, at the time of publication.
The number of shares and price range for the proposed IPO is yet to be determined, the company said.
Circle did not immediately respond to queries on how this IPO will be different from its previous SPAC efforts.
Oklahoma took a stand against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) last month.
The state’s governor, Kevin Stitt, signed an executive order defunding DEI efforts in public colleges and universities and banning it in other state agencies.
He said the move would take “politics out of education” and encourage “equal opportunity rather than promising equal outcomes.” Affirmative action itself has been banned in the state since 2012.
But public colleges aren’t the only ones being affected; this is part of a broader backlash to DEI that has become prevalent in many industries, from technology to academia to fashion.
Supporters of DEI say these initiatives help everyone get ahead, especially marginalized communities that have been historically disenfranchised.
In lieu of stateside political momentum to build more — and better — public toilets, enterprising developers and entrepreneurs have attempted to tackle the problem in a number of ways.
Beyond maps that track the locations of public restrooms, startups like Throne are deploying high-tech, self-cleaning and self-contained portable toilets that can be reserved through a mobile app.
A new venture launching at CES 2024, Flush, wants to do just that — renting out restrooms to customers across cafes, restaurants, hotels and other high-traffic areas.
USC computer science graduate Elle Szabo founded Flush after frustrating experiences trying to find public restrooms while on a diuretic medication.
Some might argue it’s incumbent on governments, not businesses, to build and service more public restrooms — and this writer doesn’t disagree.
Indian financial services startup MobiKwik seeks to raise about $84.2 million through issue of new shares in an initial public offering in the home market, it said in a draft prospectus filed with the local markets regulator Friday.
This is the second time MobiKwik has filed the paperwork for an IPO.
It does plan to raise about $16 million in a pre-IPO round, it said.
SBI Capital and DAM Capital are the lead book running managers for the IPO process, the prospectus said.
MobiKwik is the latest Indian startup that is looking to go public this year.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint alleging that SpaceX illegally fired eight employees who wrote and distributed an open letter with workplace concerns.
Circulated in June 2022, the open letter called out how SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk’s public behavior was harming the company’s reputation.
At the time, Business Insider alleged that SpaceX paid a $250,000 settlement to a flight attendant that Elon Musk sexually harassed.
As a result of its complaint, the NLRB regional director in Los Angeles will seek to arrive at a settlement with SpaceX.
If SpaceX doesn’t settle, the company will face a hearing before an administrative law judge in March.
E-commerce startup FirstCry is seeking to raise $218 million through issue of fresh shares in its initial public offering, the 13-year-old startup said in a draft prospectus filed with the market regulator Thursday, becoming the latest Indian startup to explore the public markets.
FirstCry earlier sought to raise as much as $700 million in its Mumbai IPO, but deterred the plan as the market conditions worsened.
Brainbees Solutions, the parent firm of online baby product marketplace FirstCry, said that some investors including SoftBank.
The startup is eyeing a valuation of about $4 billion, down from previous $6 billion ambitions, according to a person familiar with the matter.
FirstCry said it hadn’t set the price in its draft prospectus.
Despite a challenging economic period in 2022, this year’s investment into the space tech sector has continued to show signs of recovery.
Space tech has showcased a remarkable resilience amid macroeconomic uncertainty, bucking trends in the broader venture capital tech market.
Approximately $4.8 billion was invested into the space tech industry by the end of Q3, with growth-stage investment activity increasing.
These DoD contracts will stimulate a cascading effect throughout the broader space tech market.
This surge is expected to be catalyzed by strategic initiatives from respective governments, underscoring a global expansion and diversification of venture capital interest and commitment in the space tech sector.
Autonomous vehicle company May Mobility has launched its first driverless on-demand microtransit service on public roads in Sun City, Arizona in partnership with transit tech company Via.
May’s strategy of integrating its autonomous microtransit service into existing public transit, in partnership with cities, has also laid the groundwork for future, more challenging deployments.
More recently, May launched an on-demand service in Grand Rapids, Michigan in partnership with Via.
Beep operates autonomous shuttles for resident transportation in the Lake Nona community in Florida and for public transportation in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.
Riders can book the on-demand ride-hail service through May Mobility’s app, available in Google Play and the Apple App Store.
