Paul Sawers

Senior Reporter, TechCrunch

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.

Pitches on: paul.sawers [at] techcrunch.com

Paul Sawers

Latest from Paul Sawers

The company also said it has received regulatory clearance to start Phase 2 clinical trials for a new drug in the U.S. later this year.

Healx, an AI-enabled drug discovery platform for rare diseases, raises $47M

The European Commission (EC) has given the go-ahead to HPE’s planned megabucks acquisition of Juniper Networks.

EU greenlights HPE’s $14B Juniper Networks acquisition

The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has revealed an early-stage probe into Google’s ties with Anthropic, after the Alphabet subsidiary invested in its U.S. AI rival over several rounds. While it’s not…

UK antitrust body probes Google’s ties with AI rival Anthropic

Lakera, a Swiss startup that’s building technology to protect generative AI applications from malicious prompts and other threats, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by European…

Lakera, which protects enterprises from LLM vulnerabilities, raises $20M

The Overture Maps Foundation is today releasing data sets for 2.3B building “footprints” globally, 54M notable places of interest, a visual overlay of “boundaries,” and land and water features such…

Backed by Microsoft, AWS and Meta, the Overture Maps Foundation launches its first open map datasets

An English school has been reprimanded by U.K. regulators after it used facial recognition technology without getting opt-in consent from students.

UK school reprimanded for unlawful use of facial-recognition technology

Nine months on, and Jigsaw is now formally handing Altitude over to Tech Against Terrorism, which will continue its development and maintenance.

Google’s Jigsaw open sources Altitude to help online platforms weed out extremist content

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From Yandex’s ashes comes Nebius, a ‘startup’ with plans to be a European AI compute leader

Subject to shareholder approval, Yandex N.V. is adopting the name of one of its few remaining assets, an AI cloud platform called Nebius AI which it birthed last year.

From Yandex’s ashes comes Nebius, a ‘startup’ with plans to be a European AI compute leader

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Strava’s next chapter: New CEO talks AI, inclusivity, and why ‘dark mode’ took so long

TechCrunch sat down with Strava’s new CEO in London for a wide-ranging interview, delving into what the company is prioritizing, and what we can expect in the future as the company embarks on its “next chapter.”

Strava’s next chapter: New CEO talks AI, inclusivity, and why ‘dark mode’ took so long

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Proton launches ‘privacy-first’ AI writing assistant for email that runs on-device

Proton has launched a new AI-enabled writing assistant that helps users compose emails based on simple prompts.

Proton launches ‘privacy-first’ AI writing assistant for email that runs on-device

U.K. authorities have until early September to decide whether the hiring is tantamount to a merger.

Microsoft faces UK antitrust probe after hiring Inflection AI founders and employees

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Toddle wants to ‘change how we build software’ with a collaborative visual web app builder

Danish startup Toddle has launched a no-code web app builder that’s designed as a full-featured alternative to Javascript frameworks.

Toddle wants to ‘change how we build software’ with a collaborative visual web app builder

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SoftBank acquires UK AI chipmaker Graphcore

While the figure of $500 million has been bandied around in various reports for months, in a press briefing early Thursday morning, Graphcore co-founder and CEO Nigel Toon remained coy on the details.

SoftBank acquires UK AI chipmaker Graphcore

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Intel Capital backs AI construction startup that could boost Intel’s own manufacturing prospects 

Intel could be giving its burgeoning foundry ambitions a much-needed shot in the arm, as the chip giant’s venture capital arm today revealed that it’s making a “strategic” investment in an Israel- and U.K.-based AI construction startup. Intel Capital is leading a $15 million investment into Buildots, a company that…

Intel Capital backs AI construction startup that could boost Intel’s own manufacturing prospects 

The core issue relates to a 2019 licensing change whereby Microsoft made it more expensive to run Microsoft’s enterprise software on rival cloud services.

Microsoft settles with European cloud trade body over antitrust complaints

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SAP, and Oracle, and IBM, oh my! ‘Cloud and AI’ drive legacy software firms to record valuations

There’s something of a trend around legacy software firms and their soaring valuations: Companies founded in dinosaur times are on a tear, evidenced this week with SAP‘s shares topping $200 for the first time. Founded in 1972, SAP’s valuation currently sits at an all-time high of $234 billion. The Germany-based…

SAP, and Oracle, and IBM, oh my! ‘Cloud and AI’ drive legacy software firms to record valuations

You can barely go an hour these days without reading about generative AI. While we are still in the embryonic phase of what some have dubbed the “steam engine” of…

Data lakehouse Onehouse nabs $35M to capitalize on GenAI revolution

Activity tracking platform and community Strava is shutting down Fatmap, the Europe-based 3D mapping platform it had acquired last January.

Strava to shutter 3D mapping platform Fatmap 20 months after acquisition

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What does ‘open source AI’ mean, anyway?

The Open Source Initiative is trying to address the debate stirring around the notion of “open-source AI.”

What does ‘open source AI’ mean, anyway?

Website building platform Squarespace is selling Tock, its restaurant reservation service, to American Express in a deal worth $400 million — the exact figure that Squarespace paid for the service…

Squarespace sells restaurant reservation system Tock to American Express for $400M

Amazon is bringing its generative AI listing smarts to more sellers, revealing today that those in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. can now access tools designed to improve…

Amazon extends generative AI-powered product listings to Europe

Wordsmith, a fledgling Scottish legal tech startup, has somehow managed to attract the backing of two well-known venture capital firms. The startup targets in-house legal teams and law firms with…

‘Lawyer-in-the-loop’ startup Wordsmith wants to bring AI paralegals to all employees

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has initiated a formal “phase 1” investigation into Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) planned acquisition of Juniper Networks. The CMA said it’s in the…

UK probes HPE’s planned $14B Juniper Networks acquisition

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Privacy app maker Proton transitions to nonprofit foundation structure

The newly setup Proton Foundation will serve as the main shareholder to the existing corporate entity that is Proton AG, which will continue as a for-profit company under the auspices of the Foundation.

Privacy app maker Proton transitions to nonprofit foundation structure

Meta has confirmed that it will pause plans to start training its AI systems using data from its users in the European Union and U.K. The move follows pushback from…

Meta pauses plans to train AI using European users’ data, bowing to regulatory pressure

Gorilla, a Belgian company that serves the energy sector with real-time data and analytics for pricing and forecasting, has raised €23 million ($25 million) in a Series B round led…

Gorilla, a Belgian startup that helps energy providers crunch big data, raises $25M

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Let there be Light! Danish startup exits stealth with $13M seed funding to bring AI to general ledgers

It’s not the sexiest of subject matters, but someone needs to talk about it: The CFO tech stack — software used by the chief financial officers of the world — is ripe for disruption. That’s according to Jonathan Sanders, CEO and co-founder of fledgling Danish startup Light, which exits stealth…

Let there be Light! Danish startup exits stealth with $13M seed funding to bring AI to general ledgers

LinkedIn has confirmed it will no longer allow advertisers to target users based on data gleaned from their participation in LinkedIn Groups. The move comes more than three months after…

LinkedIn to limit targeted ads in EU after complaint over sensitive data use

Education software provider PowerSchool is being taken private by investment firm Bain Capital in a $5.6 billion deal.

Bain to take K-12 education software provider PowerSchool private in $5.6B deal

Stock-trading app Robinhood is diving deeper into the cryptocurrency realm with the acquisition of crypto exchange Bitstamp.

Robinhood acquires global crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200M