Wednesday, January 11, 2023

The deep problem with SPACs is the sponsors' and warrant holders' cuts, paid by the target company or the SPAC shareholders, leading to a bad deal for both (Matt Levine/Bloomberg)

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
The deep problem with SPACs is the sponsors' and warrant holders' cuts, paid by the target company or the SPAC shareholders, leading to a bad deal for both  —  SPAC SPAC SPAC  —  Simplifying a bit, the way a special purpose acquisition company works is that the sponsor of the SPAC raises …



Cologne-based DeepL, which offers instant translation-as-a-service to businesses and individuals, raised $100M-$125M led by IVP at a €1B valuation (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Cologne-based DeepL, which offers instant translation-as-a-service to businesses and individuals, raised $100M-$125M led by IVP at a €1B valuation  —  Artificial intelligence startups, and (thanks to GPT and Open AI) specifically those helping humans communicate with each other …



After Chinese researchers claimed to break RSA encryption using quantum computers, experts are skeptical and caution that any commercial benefits are years away (Richard Waters/Financial Times)

Richard Waters / Financial Times:
After Chinese researchers claimed to break RSA encryption using quantum computers, experts are skeptical and caution that any commercial benefits are years away  —  China claims to have made a major breakthrough but western experts say any commercial benefits are still years away



UK-based Hack the Box, which wants to encourage white hat hackers via gamified training, raised a $55M Series B led by Carlyle and reports having 1.7M users (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
UK-based Hack the Box, which wants to encourage white hat hackers via gamified training, raised a $55M Series B led by Carlyle and reports having 1.7M users  —  There's long existed a divide in the world of computer hacking between those who are taking a malicious approach to crack a system …



Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid western sanctions after its Ukraine invasion (Financial Times)

Financial Times : Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid weste...