Week in Review: Coinbase Gets Hacked, Google Faces Antitrust Scrutiny

Welcome back to Week in Review! We've got tons of news for you this week, including a hack at Coinbase; YC thinks Google is a 'monopolist'; layoffs at Microsoft; and much more. Have a great weekend!

Coinbase Hit with Data Breach

Uh-oh: Coinbase says that customers' personal information, including government-issued IDs, was stolen in a data breach. The hackers demanded $20 million from the company, CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post on X. Coinbase said it will not pay the hackers' ransom.

IPO Time for Chime

After filing confidentially in December, Chime filed for an IPO this week. There are a ton of blanks in the S-1, so we didn't get much information, like how many shares insiders plan to sell as part of the IPO. But we did learn one tidbit: Chime entered a deal with the Dallas Mavericks in 2018, which gained it the Chime logo on the team's jersey, among other marketing benefits.

InventWood Creates Superwood

This story has been popping off all week — InventWood created wood called "Superwood" that's as strong as steel. Ultimately, InventWood is planning to use wood chips to create structural beams of any dimension that won't need finishing.

Granola Raises $43M in Series B Funding

The most recent case: Granola, an AI note-taking app that's recently seen a boost in usage, even though it launched a year ago. And when there's usage, money follows. The company announced it has raised $43 million in a Series B funding round at a valuation of $250 million.

YC Calls Out Google as Monopolist

Choice words: "Google has chilled independent firms like YC from funding and accelerating innovative startups that could otherwise have challenged Google's dominance," YC wrote in an amicus brief it submitted in the U.S.'s antitrust case against the search giant. But YC isn't calling for a complete breakup of Google.

Accessibility Features Announced by Apple

Love to see it: Apple announced a bunch of accessibility features, including Accessibility Nutrition Labels that will inform users of accessibility features within apps and games in the App Store; a new magnifier for Macs; a new Braille experience; and more.

Layoffs at Microsoft

The company is reportedly laying off 3% of its workforce, or around 6,500 people, affecting all levels, locations, and teams. This follows a solid quarter for Microsoft, with $70.1 billion in revenue (up 13%) and net income profits of $25.8 billion (up 28%). In Washington, around 40% of the layoffs were programmers.

Uber to Introduce Fixed-Route Shuttles

Uber to introduce fixed-route shuttles in major US cities designed for commuters Thousands of people have embarked on a virtual road trip via Google Street View OpenAI launches Codex, an AI coding agent, in ChatGPT Programmers bore the brunt of Microsoft’s layoffs in its home state as AI writes up to 30% of its code

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Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292. Y Combinator startup Firecrawl is ready to pay $1M to hire three AI agents as employees

InventWood Mass-Produces Superwood

InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel