Another spend management startup grabs funding

TechCrunch Newsletter [TechCrunch logo]( [The Daily Crunch logo]( By [Christine Hall]( Wednesday, December 13, 2023 In today’s top story, Romain writes about French startup Pivot, which provides spend management software. The company is only a few months into operations and has already raised $21.6 million. [Learn what the buzz is about](. Meanwhile, Google pushed some news today, the most read of which was by Frederic who reports that with AI Studio, Google launches an easy-to-use tool for developing apps and chatbots based on its Gemini model. [Read more](. But wait, there’s more: [Duet AI for Developers, Google’s GitHub Copilot competitor, is now generally available and will soon use the Gemini model](. [Google unveils MedLM, a family of healthcare-focused generative AI models](. [Google debuts Imagen 2 with text and logo generation](. [Google brings Gemini Pro to Vertex AI](. And please give it up for our new reporter, Sean O’Kane, who joins the transportation desk. Sean just started and already has a top story and a radio appearance under his belt, thanks to news that Tesla is going to start restricting Autopilot’s best feature following a recall. [Get the scoop](. [ image] Image Credits: Pivot More top reads Coin flip: Worldcoin has a lot going on. Most importantly, adding integrations with Minecraft, Reddit, Telegram, Shopify and Mercado Libre. [Read more](. Take a bite: Apple will [no longer give police]( users’ push notification data without a warrant. At the same time, [Apple introduces protection]( to prevent thieves from getting your passwords. And Apple adds iPhone 15 and additional M2 Macs to its [Self Service Repair program](. Out of stealth, into the AI: Hyperplane is a new startup that wants to bring AI to banks. [Here’s how](. A good read: Amazon launches its own book discovery service, “Your Books,” in an effort to compete with Goodreads. [It’s a real page-turner](. The exports have it: South African e-commerce startup TUNL gets some early funding to accelerate growth of its exports platform. [Read more](. Almost broken: For a minute there, it looked like outgoing X links were broken. [Everything seems to be okay now](. If you want to know what else is going on at X, head over to TechCrunch+ where Alex writes that what X needs now is for Snap to post a solid Q4. [Here’s why](. Cape time: Zuper closes on $32 million in Series B funding to continue developing its field service management platform for small business and enterprise customers. [Read more](. Mass market appeal: Copia Global, a Kenyan e-commerce startup, gets $20 million in new funding and a new board member as it pushes toward profitability. [Learn more](. This one brings me back: Like Kyle, I too remember the good old days of Circuit City. The electronics retailer is making a comeback, of sorts, and hopes to raise $25 million. [Get the scoop](. More Meta: Get ready Threads lovers, Meta plans to bring its [fact-checking program]( to Threads next year. Meanwhile, Meta started testing [Threads integration with ActivityPub](. So life like: Verve Motion raises $20 million to grow its exosuit business. [You get to be your own RoboCop](. Give new meaning to the friendly skies: Metafuels lands $8 million bet on greener skies ahead. [Read more](. Even more for your Wednesday: [Orkes forks Conductor as Netflix abandons the open source project](. [Xbox Cloud Gaming now available on Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro](. [Epic Games won its antitrust battle with Google. But what comes next?]( [OpenAI inks deal with Axel Springer on licensing news for model training](. [Here’s where founders screw up their pitch decks most often](. (TC+) [More top reads image] Image Credits: Worldcoin [Meet enterprise demands at the speed of 5G]( Sponsored by [T-Mobile for Business]( [As a business leader, are you looking for ways to improve speed to market and foster innovation to gain a competitive edge? Join us to explore the unique advantages America’s largest and fastest 5G network provides.]( [Watch Now]( On the pods This week, [Equity]( brought Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress, onto the show, along with Kishan Bagaria, the founder of [Texts.com](. Automattic bought all-in-one messaging app [Texts.com]( for $50 million back in October, and today, we’re digging into the transaction and what it means, and also the state of the written word online. [Listen here](. 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