Paul Sawers

Paul Sawers is a senior writer based in London, focused largely on the world of UK And European startups. However, he also writes about other subjects that he’s passionate about, such as the business of open source software.

Prior to TechCrunch, Paul gained more than a decade’s experience covering consumer and enterprise technologies for VentureBeat and The Next Web.

The Latest from Paul Sawers

Opna wants to help companies hit ‘net zero’ by finding and funding carbon projects

The race to net zero has led thousands of businesses to commit to eliminating their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a commitment that falls short of what is needed to counter the growing climate em

Butternut Box wolfs down $354M for subscription canine cuisine

Butternut Box, a U.K.-based startup that prepares and ships healthy food and supplements for dogs, is raising £280 million ($354 million) in a round of funding from General Atlantic and L Catterton.

Microsoft unbundles Teams from Microsoft Office in Europe to appease regulators

Microsoft has announced that it will unbundle its Teams business collaboration software from its broader Office suite, following growing regulatory scrutiny and a complaint filed by rival Slack. The c

Amazon acquires Fig, a startup building autocomplete for the command line

Amazon has acquired Fig, a Y Combinator (YC) alum that has been setting out to turbo-charge the command line terminal. In a blog post published yesterday, CEO and co-founder Brendan Falk said that Ama

Allseated, a virtual venue tour and event planning platform, raises $20M

Allseated, a platform that helps event organizers plan and showcase venues virtually, has raised $20 million in a debt round of funding*. Founded in 2011, Allseated serves a collaborative space-visual

Open source developers urged to ditch Zoom over user data controversy

Software Freedom Conservancy, a not-for-profit that serves support and legal services for open source projects, has called on developers to ditch Zoom over recent changes it made to its terms and cond

Meet Marqo, an open source vector search engine for AI applications

Vector databases are the unsung heroes of the modern AI movement, storing unstructured data such as images, videos and text to enable people and systems to search uncategorized content. They are parti

Intel and Tower Semiconductor cancel $5.4B merger over regulatory hurdles

Intel has called time on its plan to acquire contract chipmaker Tower Semiconductor, citing its inability “to obtain in a timely manner the regulatory approvals required under the merger agreeme

Lindus Health, a UK clinical trials startup backed by Peter Thiel, raises $18M

Clinical trials are the cornerstone of modern medical research, serving the evidence required to prove (or disprove) the safety and efficacy of a new treatment. However, clinical trials are also cost

‘Water intelligence’ startup Wint nabs $35M to help companies find and stop leaks

Wint, a so-called “water intelligence” company that says it uses AI to detect and stop leaks, has raised $35 million in a Series C round of funding. Founded in Israel in 2011, Wint has dev

Spotify expands its AI-powered DJ feature globally

Spotify is expanding its AI-powered “DJ” to dozens of markets globally, six months after debuting the feature in North America. Available through the “music” feed section in th

Europe confirms in-depth probe for Adobe’s $20B Figma acquisition

The European Commission (EC) has confirmed that it’s opening an in-depth investigation into Adobe’s proposed $20 billion bid for digital design software rival Figma. The Commission said th

The anatomy of a patent litigation target

Intellectual property (IP) protection can be a vital part of a company’s journey from young upstart to billion-dollar behemoth, safeguarding all its technologists’ hard work while adding t

Patently messy: How a $6B deal may spur more IP lawsuits

A megabucks enterprise acquisition that closed six months ago could lead to thousands of patents landing on the open market. Last August, Canadian enterprise technology giant OpenText announced plans

OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic form body to oversee safe ‘frontier AI’ development

Four of the preeminent AI players are coming together to form a new industry body designed to ensure “safe and responsible development” of so-called “frontier AI” models. In re

Amazon lowers iRobot purchase price by 15% amid regulatory delays

Amazon is lowering its acquisition price for robotic vacuum-maker iRobot, after the duo have hit regulatory snags trying to get the deal over the line. The e-commerce giant announced plans to acquire

Thales enters app security market with $3.6B Imperva acquisition

French aerospace and defense group Thales is procuring cybersecurity company Imperva from Thoma Bravo in a deal worth $3.6 billion. The news comes four years after private equity giant Thoma Bravo acq

Spotify confirms price hike as premium plan rises to $10.99/month in the US

Spotify has announced that it’s raising its premium plan prices, confirming reports that first started to surface over the weekend. The music-streaming giant, which claims some 500 million users

UK provisionally approves Broadcom’s $69B VMware acquisition

The U.K.’s competition authority has said that it plans to greenlight Broadcom’s $69 billion bid for virtualization software giant VMware. The news comes exactly a week after the European Com

Threads, a Slack alternative completely unrelated to Instagram, sees downloads surge

Instagram’s Twitter clone Threads enjoyed a fairly fruitful first week in existence, sailing past 30 million users in the first 24 hours before passing 100 million signups within five days. And
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