Welcome back to Daily Crunch. As the countdown to the New Year continues, TechCrunch’s intrepid reporters aren’t resting.

Sean writes about Xiaomi’s first EV, the SU7, which he calls a “smartphone on wheels.” Slated to roll out in China next year, it’s another entry in an increasingly crowded market for EVs — and another attempt in this software-obsessed world to match the tech that people find in phones to what goes on inside their car. Read the full report.

Elsewhere, Manish writes about Indian journalists’ iPhones infected with Pegasus spyware. India has never confirmed nor denied using Pegasus, but nonprofit advocacy group Amnesty International reported Thursday that it found NSO Group’s invasive spyware on the iPhones of prominent reporters in India, lending more credibility to Apple’s warnings from late October. Read more.

The TechCrunch Top 3

To cap off the year, the TechCrunch crew wrote a roundup of the “convicts of Silicon Valley” — the tech titans that fought the law and lost. From deepfaked phone calls with bankers on the line to mountains of lies that grew out of control, these once-VC darlings couldn’t escape fines and, in some cases, jail time. Read on here. 

In other criminal dealings, Zack wrote up a list of the top cybercriminals of 2023. The year saw round after round of high-profile busts, arrests, sanctions and prison time, with highlights including a Russian accused of ransomware burning his passport, notorious malware gangs rearing their ugly heads and one country’s hackers targeting an unsuspecting phone maker. Click through for more. In lighter news, Brian has a preview of what to expect from CES 2024 — the biggest consumer electronics show of the year. He notes that the nature of the show changed post-pandemic, with more large companies pulling out and opting for virtual events. But this presented an opportunity for startups looking to stand out from the crowd. Read more.

More top reads

Australia ripe for VC: The country has punched above its weight on a global scale for years. Rebecca explores its ability to attract the funding and talent, and become inclusive enough, to play at the top. Read the feature. 

Australian VCs sponsor diversity: Rebecca, writing for TechCrunch+, spotlights F5 Collective, an Australian VC firm and advocacy group that’s backed by a U.S. family fund. F5 Collective sponsored a California bill that mandates VCs report the diversity of founders they’re backing, including their race, disability status, gender and LGBTQ+ status. Learn more.

Terran Orbital closes in: Satellite upstart Terran Orbital may be close to receiving a major payment from its biggest customer, CEO Marc Bell announced internally at a company-wide meeting. Rivada Space Networks is in the final stages of closing funding to help fund a mega-constellation to be built by Terran at a cost of $2.4 billion, revenues that currently make up the vast majority of Terran’s backlog. Read more.

Comparing driver assist: Tim writes about how the driver assist systems from Tesla, BMW, Ford, GM and Mercedes compare. Read on to find out who reigns supreme.

Superpedestrian fallout: Rebecca has the story on how the demise of Superpedestrian, the VC-backed e-scooter startup, is emblematic of problems within the shared micromobility industry — and what it might mean in the broader context. Learn more.

SoftBank-backed FirstCry raises: FirstCry, India’s biggest e-commerce platform for mother and baby products, is aiming to secure $218 million through the sale of new shares in its initial public offering, almost a third of the $700 million it had originally targeted, Manish reports. Read more.

Sticking to diversity commitments: Dom, writing for TechCrunch+, checked up on some in the VC space that made commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Read what she learned.

India blocks crypto exchanges: Financial Intelligence Unit, an Indian government agency that scrutinizes financial transactions, said Thursday that nine global crypto exchanges — including Binance, Kraken, Kucoin and Mexc — are operating “illegally” in the country without complying with local anti-money laundering acts and asked the IT Ministry to block their websites. Read more.

Five more stories you should read:

More than 40 investors share their top predictions for 2024

From graphic design to visual workflows, Canva’s new AI core is changing its business

Giga ML wants to help companies deploy LLMs offline

Three steps to take your company out of the one-product mold

Australia’s climate tech industry is booming, but it could bust without funds

On the pods

On a throwback episode of Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn interviewed Deana Burke and Natasha Hoskins, the co-founders of Boys Club. Boys Club is a social decentralized autonomous organization for the “crypto curious,” originally designed to get women and non-binary people into the web3 world. It now aims to be an open space for anyone looking to get into the sector. Listen here.

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