TechCrunch Startup News

Quantum computing remains something of a holy grail in the world of technology: it promises a huge leap in computing power, but only if someone can figure out how to square away the fault rates that prevent any scaling of the tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kodiak Robotics has officially handed off two autonomous trucks to customer Atlas Energy Solutions, marking the startup’s first commercial launch. Atlas, a provider of proppant (i.e., sand) and oilfield logistics, received its first Kodiak-equipped trucks in December and began driverless operations in an off-road environment in West Texas’s remote Permian Basin shortly after. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you’ve been following the AI industry, Mistral should be a familiar name by now. The French AI startup with a $6 billion valuation is arguably the biggest AI company working on foundation models in Europe. Alan, on the other hand, isn’t as well known. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Many nonprofits are stuck with outdated, expensive, and limited tech that hinders their ability to fund their mission or cause. While most consider adopting tech to be a priority, they’re faced with a number of blockers, including siloed data and issues with integration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Growing up with an OB-GYN father, Rachel Blank assumed that most women received excellent gynecological care. She regularly witnessed her dad’s patients thanking him for delivering their child when they would bump into him around town. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The $1 billion acquisition of rent-to-own startup Divvy Homes, which was announced Wednesday, is expected to leave some shareholders without a payout, according to sources familiar with the deal. The terms — and Divvy’s journey from buzzy startup to acquisition target — reflects the rollercoaster ride the proptech industry has endured over the past decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stockholm startup Neko Health has made a big bet on consumers wanting to learn about their state of health and how to prevent things going wrong. Now, investors are making a big bet on Neko. The startup has raised a fresh $260 million in funding, a Series B that values Neko at $1.8 billion post-money Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When George Avetisov was the founder and CEO of cybersecurity startup HYPR, he spent a lot of time in the trenches with the company’s sales team. He quickly realized that regardless of how good his sales team was, they were consistently pulling in other departments to answer customer questions or fill out technical questionnaires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

London startup Vertice has made a name for itself over the years in the very crowded world of expense management with a focus on applying AI to optimize a single area where businesses, collectively, are currently sinking hundreds of billions of dollars in IT budgets that are exceeding $5 trillion annually. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A U.S. federal safety regulator has “upgraded” its investigation into Ford’s hands-free advanced driver assistance system known as BlueCruise — a required step before a recall can be issued. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation launched a probe into Ford BlueCruise last April after the agency confirmed the system was active. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An arena. A hype tunnel, the kind through which NBA players typically streak. A competitor dressed in a jersey patterned with a six-pack abs. In a new piece, the New York Times takes readers to an event that organizers call the Microsoft Excel World Championship, a 40-minute, Las Vegas-based competition featuring 12 contestants; Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says that the company plans to release a “two-way” voice mode for its chatbot, Claude, as well as a memory feature that lets Claude remember more about users and past conversations; IMDb founder steps down as CEO after 35 years Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The process of getting screened for cervical cancer is quite intimidating. It’s the once-a-year, sometimes life-changing treatment that involves the bright lights of a doctor’s office and an uncomfortable insertion that always seems to last too long. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban is ready to fund a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky’s AT Protocol, he shared in a TikTok video posted on Wednesday. In anticipation of the coming U.S. TikTok ban, which will go through on Sunday unless paused by the Supreme Court, users have been fleeing to other video platforms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the last few weeks, PayPal-owned Honey, which claims to find you the best coupon codes for a deal, has been at the center of controversy. Allegedly, the tool sneakily earned affiliate money by changing attributes of product links creators posted on their videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chinese firms continue to release AI models that rival the capabilities of systems developed by OpenAI and other U.S.-based AI companies. This week, MiniMax, an Alibaba- and Tencent-backed startup that has raised around $850 million in venture capital and is valued at more than $2.5 billion, debuted three new models: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

French startup Hyperline wants to build the next-generation Chargebee. Over the past two years, the startup has built a new billing platform that can be used for recurring subscriptions, one-off purchases, usage-based billing and more. Hyperline raised an initial €4 million funding round from Index Ventures back in 2023 ($4.1 million at today’s exchange rate). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nvidia has been doubling down on the opportunity to build robotics and other industrial AI applications, with the launch of its Omniverse platform, and most recently Mega, an Omniverse Blueprint framework to create digital twins to operate these applications. It’s also investing in digital twin startups to get the effort off the ground. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s not an easy time to raise money for an electric vehicle startup, especially given how many have failed or are close to failing. But Los Angeles-based Harbinger has pulled it off by taking a hyper-focused approach to electrifying commercial trucking E-commerce giant eBay has announced plans to acquire Caramel, a startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final steps of the transaction — including verification, financing, paperwork, ownership transfer, insurance, and more. Founded out of Los Angeles in 2021, Caramel formally launched last year with some $19 million in funding behind it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nelly wants to become the biggest fintech startup in the healthcare industry. The Berlin-based startup is already working with more than 1,200 medical practices in a handful of European countries. But there are thousands more that could benefit from an upgrade for their administrative workflows. Float Financial, an expense management and corporate card startup focused on the Canadian market, has raised $48.5 million in a Series B funding round. The Toronto-based fintech likens itself to U.S.-based fintech giants Brex and Ramp but says it is different in that its sole focus is on Canadian SMBs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In an announcement Tuesday, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing division, said it plans to invest $5 billion in Mexico over the next 15 years as a part of a “long-term commitment” in the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alex Dewez, a partner at 20VC, just released its highly anticipated State of the French tech ecosystem report. This is a nice followup to Atomico’s State of European Tech report, with a more granular view on French startups in particular. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world of fashion is moving at a faster pace each year. Most retailers introduce new styles each season, and fast-fashion companies like Shein, H&M and Zara update their collections continuously. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Decentralized social network organization Mastodon said Monday that it is planning to create a new non-profit organization in Europe and hand over ownership of entities responsible for key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components. This means one person won’t have control over the entire project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Developers Max Brodeur-Urbas and Rahul Behal think that AI has the potential to automate lots of business-relevant tasks, but that many of the AI-powered automation tools on the market today are unreliable and costly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gaming startups, specifically those building casual mobile games, are very hot in Turkey right now, and today another one is announcing a sizable round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Businesses dependent on the physical supply chain — the network of facilities and transportation systems used to move materials from one location to another — chain face a number of challenges, from staff shortages to increasing customer expectations. The pressures aren’t easing up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A startup hoping to provide a credible alternative to Amazon has picked up funding to double down on the gap in the market. PrettyDamnQuick (PDQ) provides tech to retailers to let them customize and test different shipping and checkout flows, and now it has picked up a deal of its own: a $25 million Series A to expand its business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Xocean, an Irish marine robotics startup that provides ocean data to the energy and hydrography industries using uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), has raised €115 million ($119 million) as it looks to expand coverage to additional sectors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The startup’s founder, Nik Shevchenko, started marketing this device on Kickstarter as “Friend,” but changed the device’s name after another San Francisco hardware maker launched his own Friend device and bought the domain name for $1.8 million. Shevchenko, a Thiel fellow with a history of eye-grabbing stunts, is taking a slightly different approach with Omi. Instead of seeing the device as a smartphone replacement or an AI companion, he wants Omi to be a complementary device to your phone that boosts your productivity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Valeria Kogan started her PhD program in bioinformatics, the scientific field that uses computation and software to analyze biological data, in 2017, she imagined her career would always be within the fields of mathematics, medicine, or biology. But after the first AI boom in the late 2010s, she got an intriguing opportunity in a sector she hadn’t considered: agriculture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“These are the kind of jobs that we shouldn't need people to do anymore," founder Leo Ma said about dangerous factory jobs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Social network and X competitor Bluesky’s massive growth slowed in December in the U.S., after having surged from 9+ million in September to north of 20 million users in November. The slowdown is based on an analysis of web traffic and mobile app daily active users by analytics firm Similarweb, which found that Bluesky grew less than 10% month-over-month in December 2024, compared with 189% growth in November. Daily active users of the Bluesky mobile app in the U.S. also grew 12% in December, compared with 284% growth in November, the firm says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week at CES 2025, the company is showcasing a prototype version of its forthcoming SolidddVision glasses. The Brooklyn-based startup is specifically targeting people with macular degeneration. The degenerative eye disease affects roughly 13% of U.S. residents aged 40 and up, according to figures from the CDC; Elvie, a female-founded hardware startup, has unveiled a new app-controlled smart bouncer that gently transforms into a bassinet — while the baby is still in it. With the new Elvie Rise, announced at CES 2025 on Monday, parents and caregivers don’t have to move their baby between soothing, sleep, and play products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hydrogen startups are widely seen as a promising way to eliminate fossil fuels from heavy industry and long-haul transportation. But they have been stuck in limbo for the last couple years, waiting for official guidance from the U.S. Treasury on lucrative tax credits. That was until last Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Electra has raised $76.3 million to clean up the dirty ironmaking industry, TechCrunch has learned. The startup has developed a novel method of using electricity to coax pure iron out of low-grade ores, opening the door to cleaner steel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As 2025 dawns, it’s a good time to look at the trends that are likely to define the coming 12 months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

French food delivery startup Epicery will cease operations Tuesday, after one last holiday season hurrah for its clients and the local food businesses that were using the platform during its nine years in business in exchange for a 25% commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A business built around increasingly customized ready-to-eat meals has netted Middle Eastern startup Calo a sizeable funding injection as it looks to expand both what it can offer its time-strapped customers and where it delivers its growing range of just-heat-to-eat dishes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI holds huge promise for healthcare, but not just on the medical side; many startups are convinced machine learning-based systems can do a lot of good on adjacent tasks such as appointment scheduling and confirmations. Brazilian startup Carecode is among these AI believers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If there was one phrase that captured the vibe and theme of 2024 — at least in the transportation sector — it was business whiplash. Legacy automakers changed direction on their all-EVs-or-bust strategy, startups pivoted, and some Silicon Valley VCs and executives adjusted their views to a changing political landscape Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you really probe venture capitalists about investing in AI startups, they’ll tell you that businesses are experimenting wildly but are very slow to add AI solutions into their ongoing business processes. But there are some exceptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the first day of Y Combinator the founders of PearAI got “cancelled." They used the hate to launch a new product, raise $1 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI creates a dilemma for companies: Don’t implement it yet, and you might miss out on productivity gains and other potential benefits; but do it wrong, and you might expose your business and clients to unmitigated risks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once, not long ago, booking a table at a hot new restaurant didn’t entail a midnight dash to Resy. Truly, we didn’t know how good we had it then. Hours-long lines out the door are now the norm, not the exception, in major cities from New York to Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After nearly four years of working in sales at tradesperson software company ServiceTitan, Mark Hoadley (pictured above) was looking for a change and to potentially start something of his own in a similar industry. Hoadley’s brother-in-law, and now co-founder, Ben Sikma, was working on M&A in the waste management space at the time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the last decade, the Sustainable Ocean Alliance has graduated from dorm room activism to a thousands-strong global network of experts, investors, and “ecopreneurs” — all of whom believe the best way to save the ailing oceans is to embrace innovation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drop by any given loading dock and a buzz of forklifts — loaded up with goods — can be spotted maneuvering in and out of truck trailers. This logistical dance can take up to an hour to fill a trailer, leaving truck drivers in idle limbo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grammarly is acquiring productivity startup Coda, the company announced on Tuesday. As part of the deal, Coda’s CEO and co-founder Shishir Mehrotra will become the new CEO of Grammarly. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The massive lasers will be installed in the startup’s future facility, which it is building in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cybersecurity practitioners take a community-driven approach to solving problems. Security researchers share the vulnerabilities they find with the broader cybersecurity community, which allows companies to patch up their security holes before something catastrophic happens. Prequel is looking to bring that same approach to software. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices