Top tech startup news for today, Tuesday, February 4, 2020: Apple, Google, Porsche, Leidos

Good morning! Below are the top tech startups news for today, Tuesday, February 4, 2020.

Makers of iPhone apps questioned in U.S. antitrust probe of Apple, report says.  The U.S. Justice Department has reached out to app developers as part of its investigation into Apple, one of the four big tech companies being probed for alleged anti-competitive behavior, according to a report from Reuters, citing one of the developers and another person familiar with the investigation. As part of the ongoing investigation, Suren Ramasubbu, The chief executive of developer Mobicip, said he was interviewed in November by a U.S. investigator who asked about the company’s interactions with Apple. The app, which has nearly a million users worldwide, allows parents to control what their children see on their iPhones. Ramasubbu said the Mobicip app was temporarily removed from the iPhone app store last year for a failure to meet requirements imposed by Apple.

Porsche Ventures and NeueCapital Partners invest in German software startup Nitrobox. Nitrobox, a German software startup and a provider of  a payment, billing and accounting digital platform, has closed a a financing round in the single-digit million euro range led by Porsche Ventures and Silicon Valley-based  “NeueCapital Partners” fund. The company intends to use the proceeds from the financing round to further expand its market position in Germany and to prepare for its entry to the US market. Founded in 2012, Nitrobox creates, automates and optimizes financial processes for Fortune 500 multinationals. The startup has developed a cloud platform which can be used for automatic monetization and billing of digital business models.

Google parent Alphabet lost its membership to the exclusive trillion-dollar club after revenue miss. Back in January, we wrote about the exclusive four-member trillion-dollar club. Unfortunately, Google parent Alphabet lost its membership this morning after revenue miss. The tech giant’s share fell by about 4 percent Tuesday after the search giant posted its first holiday-quarter revenue miss in five years. The company’s market capitalization fell to $991.66 billion, a little below the trillion-dollar level required to keep its membership. No words on if Google may have to pay some fines or fees to rejoin the club.

Leidos acquires L3Harris Technologies’ Security Detection and Automation businesses for $1 billion in cash. Leidos, a Reston, Virginia-based Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services provider, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire L3Harris Technologies’ Security Detection and Automation businesses, for $1 billion in cash. The Boards of Directors of both companies unanimously approved the transaction. In 2018 alone, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.19 billion. L3Harris’ Security Detection and Automation businesses provide airport and critical infrastructure screening products, automated tray return systems and other industrial automation products.

Google says it accidentally sent some users’ private videos to strangers. Google has informed some Google Photos users that their private videos may have been accidentally shared with strangers. Google apologized on Tuesday for accidentally sending some users’ private videos to strangers. The tech giant said it affected people who used Google Takeout between November 21 and November 25 may have received videos that were posted by strangers. “The underlying issue has been identified and resolved. We recommend you perform another export of your content and delete your prior at this time,” wrote Google in the email it sent to affected accounts. Google did not specify whether any other forms of media like GIFs or images were incorrectly shared. It’s also unclear if other Google products, all of which are linked to Takeout, were affected by this bug.

Copenhagen-based SaaS startup Dixa raises $36M to end bad customer service. Dixa, the SaaS startup that offers a customer service platform delivering more personal and data-driven customer experiences, has closed $36 million in Series B funding. Leading the round is Notion Capital, with participation from existing investors Project A Ventures and SEED Capital. Dixa was founded in Copenhagen in 2015 by four friends and is on a mission to empower brands to create great experiences for their customers and agents by giving them the ability to communicate in an easy and conversational way. Dubbed the “customer friendship” platform, Dixa empowers customer service teams to engage with customers, much like the way friends do.