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

Proton Drive encrypted cloud storage service arrives on Mac

Swiss privacy-focused company Proton has launched its end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) cloud storage service for Mac users, four months after it landed on Windows. Founded some nine years ago, Proton was

How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement

It has been a whirlwind four days for OpenAI, the generative AI poster child behind the smash hit ChatGPT. Seemingly out of nowhere, the OpenAI board ousted CEO and co-founder Sam Altman and demoted p

With Functional Source License, Sentry wants to grant developers freedom ‘without harmful free-riding’

Yet another software license is vying for the attentions of SaaS companies seeking to align themselves with the open source realm, without compromising their commercial endeavors. Sentry, an app perfo

Open source Notion alternative AppFlowy gets big-name backers and lands on the cloud

A new startup is targeting the lucrative workplace productivity space with an open source approach to project and knowledge management — and it has received backing from a who’s who of inv

Strava launches Flyover, an aerial 3D video recap of all your GPS activities

Strava is introducing a new feature called Flyover, which allows users to replay their activities via a 3D video map. Flyover is powered by Fatmap, a 3D mapping platform that Strava acquired earlier t

EU business crowdfunding is now bound by bloc-wide regulations

All business crowdfunding platforms wishing to operate within the European Union (EU) must now comply with a new EU-wide regulatory framework that brings a uniform set of rules to the bloc. Crowdfundi

GitHub teases Copilot enterprise plan that lets companies customize for their codebase

GitHub today announced plans for an enterprise subscription tier that will allow companies to fine-tune its Copilot pair-programmer based on their internal codebase. The news constituted part of a num

Google-led App Defense Alliance joins Linux Foundation, with Meta and Microsoft joining too

The App Defense Alliance (ADA), an initiative set up by Google back in 2019 to combat malicious Android apps infiltrating the Play app store, has joined the Joint Development Foundation (JDF), a Linux

Meta taps Hugging Face for startup accelerator to spur adoption of open source AI models

Facebook parent Meta is teaming up with Hugging Face and European cloud infrastructure company Scaleway to launch a new AI-focused startup program at the Station F startup megacampus in Paris. The und

Decentralized communication protocol Matrix shifts to less-permissive AGPL open source license

Element, the company and core developer behind the decentralized communication protocol known as Matrix, has announced a notable license change that will make the open source project just that little

Daytona wants to be an enterprise-grade GitHub Codespaces

A new company is setting out to “fill the enterprise void” left by GitHub Codespaces,” with a platform that enables companies to bring all their development environment endeavors in-

Meta and Amazon settle UK antitrust probes over use of third-party data to benefit marketplaces

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today announced that it has accepted proposals from Facebook’s parent Meta and Amazon to limit how they use data gathered from their resp

Charm offensive: Google’s Gradient backs this startup to bring more pizzazz to the command line

A young startup is setting out to transform the command line interface (CLI) into something a little more fitting for the modern age — something a little more glamorous. Charm is a four-year-old

New Facebook Stories API helps creators share directly from third-party desktop or web apps

Meta is introducing a new API that makes it easier to create and share a Facebook Story directly from a third-party desktop or web app. The social networking ad titan first introduced Stories to the m

Meta’s Yann LeCun joins 70 others in calling for more openness in AI development

On the same day the U.K. gathered some of the world’s corporate and political leaders into the same room at Bletchley Park for the AI Safety Summit, more than 70 signatories put their name to a

President Biden issues executive order to set standards for AI safety and security

U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order (EO) that seeks to establish “new standards” for AI safety and security, including requirements for companies developing foundation A

AWS announces ‘sovereign cloud’ to support data residency in Europe

Amazon is joining the list of Big Tech companies to introduce a dedicated independent cloud for Europe, with news that it’s working on the “AWS European Sovereign Cloud” for governme

From zero to Employment Hero

In a startup world where down rounds prevail and much beyond low-million Series A raises are practically (but not totally) unheard of, those rare megabuck funding rounds stand out just that little bit

ChatGPT officially gets web search as DALL-E 3 integration arrives in beta

OpenAI has formally launched its internet-browsing feature to ChatGPT, some three weeks after re-introducing the feature in beta after several months in hiatus. ChatGPT, the generative AI chatbot that

London’s not calling for Par Equity, as VC firm targets £100M at UK startups in the north

Any conversation centered on the U.K. tech scene often has a strong center of gravity around the south of the country — to many, “the U.K.” and “London” may as well be th
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