TechCrunch Startup News

VCs are known to move in herds, which is why Eric Slesinger stands out a bit. While most American investors chase AI startups or U.S.-based defense tech startups, the former CIA officer is hunting for defense tech deals in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DeepSeek has gone viral. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek broke into the mainstream consciousness this week after its chatbot app rose to the top of the Apple App Store charts (and Google Play, as well). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

U.S. authorities indicted three Russians and one Kazakhstan national for hacking and selling access to a botnet made of vulnerable internet-connected devices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It took seven years of hard work for Kareem Amin, co-founder and CEO of sales automation startup Clay, to see the company’s product finally take off in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Social media startup Fizz is suing grocery delivery giant Instacart and party planning app Partiful for trademark infringement, the company announced on Thursday. Earlier this week, Instacart launched a new drinks and snack delivery app for parties called Fizz and announced that Partiful had integrated Fizz directly into its platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Breathe has developed a suite of tools that it says helps automakers and others get the most out of their batteries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As “vibe coding” gains in popularity and tech companies push devs in their employ to embrace generative AI tools, a platform that scans for vulnerabilities in AI-generated code has raised a fresh round of funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Agree.com says its AI-powered e-signature platform is different from competitors because it includes invoicing and payment processing. That’s why the company might have a shot at tackling the industry goliath, Docusign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Individuals may work closely with AI agents as they become increasingly prevalent in the workplace. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, the market for AI agents is expected to grow at a 45% compound annual growth rate over the next five years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s an unspoken pressure nowadays to share all your special moments online, whether it be birthdays, graduations, or engagements. However, not everyone has the skills to take high-quality pictures, and often, people find themselves too distracted to snap the perfect shot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While many tech companies are mandating that their employees return to their offices, and putting an emphasis on building in-person teams, they are also turning in droves to Latin America to find developer talent — especially for post-training AI models. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ara Partners recently raised an $800 million infrastructure fund focused on reducing carbon emissions in industrial sectors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tools for Humanity, the startup behind the World human verification project that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman co-founded, plans to unveil Wednesday a mobile device designed to help people determine the difference between a human and an AI agent. Also, the dating app Raw claims it uses end-to-end encryption, but spilled its users' dating preferences and granular location data to the open web. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kintsugi, a Silicon Valley-based startup that helps companies offload and automate their sales tax compliance, has raised $18 million in new funding led by global indirect tax technology solution provider Vertex. The startup plans to enable more small and medium businesses to use its AI-enabled capabilities for tax calculations and filings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tools for Humanity, the startup behind the World human verification project that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman co-founded, plans to unveil Wednesday a mobile device designed to help people determine the difference between a human and an AI agent. The company, which is debuting the device during its its “At Last” event in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Supio, a startup that uses AI to automate data collection and analysis for legal teams, has raised $60 million in a funding round led by Sapphire Ventures with participation from Mayfield and Thomson Reuters Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI cheating startup Cluely went viral last week with bold claims that its hidden in-browser window is “undetectable” and can be used to “cheat on everything” from job interviews to exams. But some startups are claiming they can catch Cluely’s users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Veterans of the European startup scene, who’ve launched multiple consumer apps in the past, are partly coming out of stealth Tuesday with a new app. On the face of it, Grouphug will simply generate memes from the archive of a group WhatsApp chat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When it comes to creating images of the earth from above, satellites, drones and planes are the air and spacecraft that tend to come to mind. But a startup called Near Space Labs is taking a very different approach to high-resolution photos from up high. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The startup's enzymes modify a cow’s microbiome using enzymes, slashing methane while boosting the nutrients available to the cow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Silicon Valley, where the same high-wattage names tend to dominate the headlines, Ali Partovi has long wielded outsized influence despite limited name recognition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

RepAir recently raised a $15 million extension to its Series A. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new American electric vehicle startup called Slate Auto has made its debut, and it’s about as anti-Tesla as it gets. It’s affordable, deeply customizable, and very analog. It has manual windows and it doesn’t come with a main infotainment screen. Heck, it isn’t even painted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cloud monitoring and security platform Datadog on Wednesday announced that it has acquired Metaplane, an AI-powered data observability startup, for an undisclosed amount. In a press release, Datadog said that the deal “accelerates” its expansion into data observability, building on the launch of related products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As an AI engineer at Meta, Boris Valkov helped build PyTorch, one of the world’s largest machine learning libraries. During his time there, Valkov realized that artificial intelligence “was about to unlock capabilities…in the application layer in the software stack.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Geopolitical pressures are accelerating a demand in many countries and regions to reshore — that is, to redevelop critical industry infrastructure, and to bring back businesses, which had moved or outsourced some or all of their industrial operations to cheaper countries further away. But that is easier said than done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI-generated code is no doubt changing how software is built, but it’s also introducing new security challenges. More than 50% of organizations encounter security issues with AI-produced code sometimes or frequently, according to a late 2023 survey by developer security platform Synk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new venture firm aims to prove that the most successful startup ideas don’t have to be born or scaled in Silicon Valley. Fluent Ventures, a global early-stage fund, is backing founders replicating proven business models from Western markets in fintech, digital health, and commerce across emerging markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2020, when open source database Supabase was founded, its New Zealand-based CEO, Paul Copplestone, couldn’t have imagined it would be sitting in the sweet spot for 2025’s biggest trend: vibe coding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chatbots and other kinds of AI agents — and the companies that build them — may feel like a dime a dozen these days. But the truth is that, for both businesses and consumers, some may be infinitely more useful (and perhaps less dystopian) than others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A startup called Superpower is publicly launching what it calls the world’s first super-app that is designed to help people better understand and take care of their health. For $499, the startup offers biannual lab testing that analyzes over 100 blood biomarkers across 21 categories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every now and then, a Silicon Valley startup launches with such an “absurdly” described mission that it’s difficult to discern if the startup is for real or just satire. Such is the case with Mechanize, a startup whose founder – and the non-profit AI research organization he founded called Epoch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI’s recently launched o3 and o4-mini AI models are state-of-the-art in many respects. However, the new models still hallucinate, or make things up — in fact, they hallucinate more than several of OpenAI’s older models. Hallucinations have proven to be one of the biggest and most difficult problems to solve in AI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Deck, a startup that claims to be building “the Plaid for the rest of the internet,” has raised $12 million in a Series A funding round — about nine months after closing its seed financing, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. The new raise, led by Infinity Ventures, brings Montreal-based Deck’s total raised Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Capsule is upgrading its AI-powered video editing assistant for marketing, sales, and media teams following the close of a $12 million round of Series A funding, the company announced on Wednesday. The upgraded editor will include new features like AI suggestions and support for real-time collaboration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla famously struggled to scale up production of the Model 3 sedan in 2018 — so much so that CEO Elon Musk said his company was weeks away from collapsing. That near-death experience helped spawn a whole new company called Atomic that’s built around using AI to streamline supply chains. Co-founded by former Tesla employees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In an update to its Preparedness Framework, the internal framework OpenAI uses to decide whether AI models are safe and what safeguards, if any, are needed during development and release, OpenAI said that it may “adjust” its requirements if a rival AI lab releases a “high-risk” system without comparable safeguards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

U.K. startup Marshmallow has blown up over the years by using innovations in data science to build car insurance policies for immigrants and other consumers who have been overlooked or priced out of traditional insurance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hexium has emerged from stealth with $8 million in seed funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thirteen years ago, Forerunner Ventures began helping to usher in a new era of consumer startups, including Warby Parker, Bonobos, and Glossier. None has gone through a traditional IPO process. Warby Parker was taken public through a special purpose acquisition vehicle. Bonobos was acquired by Walmart. Glossier is still privately held. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A handful of engineers who worked at Lucid Motors and on Apple’s electric car project have launched a new startup that puts a fresh spin on electric hub motors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Rogers says Quilt is picking up where his old startup, Nest, left off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The business of moving goods in the United States is dominated by trucks, which handles about two-thirds of the 20.2 billion tons of freight that’s transported annually. Parallel Systems founder and CEO Matt Soule wants to change that by putting a modern autonomous and electric twist on the centuries-old railroad system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s taking months for new grads to land employment, with many settling for roles that don’t align with their goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After months of hearty marketing efforts and large-scale technology demos across the U.S., Nuro has secured $106 million in fresh funding to help scale its autonomous driving technology and advance commercial partnerships. The Series E round brings Nuro’s total funding raised to $2.2 billion and its valuation to $6 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tessell, a startup developing a multi-cloud database-as-a-service, has raised $60 million in a new funding round led by WestBridge Capital ahead of its plans to expand its market presence and launch an AI-powered conversational database management service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Legal tech has come a long way, but the bulk of an intellectual property or patent lawyer’s work today is still done with spreadsheets, word processors and PDFs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dark kitchens– also referred to as ghost kitchens, cloud kitchens, or virtual kitchens– often receive criticism for their food quality. Sizl, a cook-to-order delivery service based in Chicago, seeks to change this perception by delivering meals made with fresh ingredients in around 30 minutes flat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The startup has commissioned a demonstration unit of its organic flow battery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie wants to bring his city back to its glory days. And he’s convinced tech leaders — who often pitch utopian ideals of their own — can help him deliver. “I’m a mayor that is picking up the phone and calling CEOs,” said Lurie during TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event on Thursday night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices