tech:

taffy

Ikea acquires TaskRabbit

Swedish furniture giant Ikea has signed a conditional agreement to acquire San Francisco, CA-based on-demand services platform companyTaskRabbit for an undisclosed sum. The two companies had earlier worked on a pilot project in November 2016 in London to enable furniture-assembly services by Taskers to Ikea customers.

TaskRabbit connects consumers with ‘taskers’ to handle everyday needs such as furniture assembly, moving and packing, handyman work, and home improvements. The company’s service platform is available in 40 cities around the United States and in London.

“We will be able to learn from TaskRabbit’s digital expertise, while also providing Ikeacustomers additional ways to access flexible and affordable service solutions to meet the needs of today’s customer,” said Jesper Brodin, president and CEO of Ikea, talking on the transaction.

Ikea owns and operates 357 IKEA stores in 29 countries. The store’s online presence represents an e-commerce business with over two billion visits every year, according to the company.

[Image courtesy: TaskRabbit]

Just in

Oso Semiconductor raises $5.2M

Oso Semiconductor has raised $5.2 million in seed funding. The round was led by Engine Ventures.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Gov for U.S. government agencies — CNBC

It’s called ChatGPT Gov and was built specifically for U.S. government use; writes Hayden Field. 

DeepSeek’s popular AI app is explicitly sending US data to China — Wired

Users have already reported several examples of DeepSeek censoring content that is critical of China or its policies, writes Matt Burgess and Lily Hay Newman. 

DeepSeek hit with large-scale cyberattack, says it’s limiting registrations — CNBC

DeepSeek on Monday said it would temporarily limit user registrations “due to large-scale malicious attacks” on its services; writes Hayden Field.