TechCrunch Startup News
3,807 episodes — Page 7 of 77
Photo-sharing app Locket is banking on a new celebrity-focused feature to fuel its growth plus Tavily raises $25M to connect AI agents to the web
Celebrity Lockets is a new feature where celebrities can engage with their most loyal followers on their home screens. Also, Tavity, the one-year-old startup raised a Series A led by Insight Partners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
For the first time, OpenAI models are available on AWS and ElevenLabs launched an AI music generator
This is a juicy competitive move for both companies after AWS faced an onslaught of criticism over its progress with AI. In other news, the AI audio-generation unicorn ElevenLabs announced the launch of a new model that allows users to generate music that's cleared for commercial use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clay confirms it closed $100M round at $3.1B valuation and Substack rival Ghost connects to the open social web with its latest public release
-The AI sales automation startup raised fresh funds, led by CapitalG, just months after its last round. -While the ActivityPub integration is a main selling point for Ghost 6, this major release includes a number of other changes and new additions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenMind wants to be the Android operating system of humanoid robots
OpenMind is building humanoid robot operating software designed for robots that interact with people and other robots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Germ brings end-to-end encrypted messages to Bluesky
Germ's new app lets users send end-to-end encrypted messages on Bluesky. TechCrunch speaks with the Germ founders to hear why they came up with the idea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jeh Aerospace nets $11M to scale the commercial aircraft supply chain in India
Indian startup Jeh Aerospace has secured $11 million in a new funding round to help ease global supply chain bottlenecks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthropic cut off OpenAI’s access to its Claude models, also PlayerZero raised $15M and Figma’s stock soared in its IPO
Anthropic has revoked OpenAI’s access to its Claude family of AI models, according to a report in Wired. Sources told Wired that OpenAI was connecting Claude to internal tools that allowed the company to compare Claude’s performance to its own models in categories like coding, writing, and safety. Also, as Silicon Valley races toward a future where AI agents do most of the software programming, a new problem is created: finding the AI-generated bugs before they are put into production. Even OpenAI is dealing with such issues, a former employee has described; Figma began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday after a long delay. It soared so quickly that trading was halted for a short time due to market volatility. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Handwave lends a hand to retailers with its European alternative to Amazon’s palm payments
Latvian startup Handwave aims to compete with Amazon palm payments by offering an independent alternative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Female-founded semiconductor AI startup SixSense raises $8.5M
SixSense offers an AI-powered platform that helps chip makers prevent defects. It landed backing led by Peak XV’s Surge (formerly Sequoia India & SEA). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AIR lands $23M to bring its eVTOLs to the US
Israel-based eVTOL startup AIR has raised $23 million to scale production of both its piloted and uncrewed cargo aircraft, and enter the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How 2 UC Berkeley dropouts raised $28 million for their AI marketing automation startup
A marketing automation startup called Conversation has a founding story that sounds like it could have been an episode of the HBO show “Silicon Valley.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fed up with brands that use corn syrup and skim milk, this mother developed her own ‘clean’ baby formula
Nara Organics is a new organic, whole milk baby formula brand that's free from palm oil, soy, corn syrup, maltodextrin, and GMOs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This founder left Silicon Valley to challenge U.S. defense supremacy from Athens, and investors are paying attention
Delian Alliance Industries recently raised $14 million in funding to continue building its defense products, which include surveillance towers, and concealed sea drones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Index Ventures’ Jahanvi Sardana shares the truth about TAM and what founders should focus on instead
Index Ventures partner Jahanvi Sardana has a reminder for all those founders worried about finding TAM for their product or service: many startups have emerged from markets that, at the time, were essentially nonexistent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This industrial AI startup is winning over customers by saying it won’t get acquired
In red-hot acquisition market, this CVector founders answer this key question in its first conversation with prospective customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How a Y Combinator food delivery app used TikTok to soar in the App Store ... and Chime backer Lauren Kolodny bets on AI
The internet trend is simple: A friend or family member looks into the camera and tells viewers, in a slightly aggressive tone, that they are about to witness a presentation and that they had better be nice. Also, Acrew Capital's Lauren Kolodny led a $20 million Series A in Alix, a startup that uses AI to automate estate processing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Preston Thorpe is a software engineer at a San Fransisco startup. He’s also serving his eleventh year in prison.
A senior software engineer for Turso, Thorpe is part of an experimental program in the Maine state prison system that allows incarcerated people to work remote jobs from custody. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mission Barns is betting that animal-free pork fat will make artificial meat delicious ... and more
It’s the first such product to reach the market, and it could unlock a host of fattened-up meat alternatives. Also, iRocket is aiming to hit the public markets but the SPAC vehicle has hardly any cash left. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SoftBank-backed LegalOn lands $50M to streamline legal workflow with AI
LegalOn Technologies, a Tokyo- and San Francisco-headquartered legal tech startup that has built an AI contract review software for legal teams, has raised $50 million in Series E funding led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, along with existing investor World Innovation Lab (WiL), and new investors Mori Hamada & Matsumoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nevoya raises $9.3M as its EV truck fleet reaches cost parity with diesel
All-electric truck fleet startup Nevoya has landed a fresh round of capital and plans to expand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Robot guard dogs help Asylon raise a $26M Series B ... plus Eight months in, Swedish unicorn Lovable crosses the $100M ARR milestone
DroneDogs can be sent to places unsafe for humans or real dogs and can do tasks like dangerous chemical detection. In other news, less than a week after becoming Europe’s latest unicorn, Swedish vibe coding startup Lovable has now crossed the $100 million annual recurring revenue mark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Three things veteran planetary health investors look for in a startup
RA Capital Planetary Health closed a $120 million fund. Here's the rubric two investors use to determine where to place their fund's money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This startup thinks email could be the key to usable AI agents
Startup Mixus has built an AI agent platform that not only keeps humans in the workflow, but also allows those humans to interact with agents directly from their email or Slack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Cursor snaps up enterprise startup Koala in challenge to GitHub Copilot
Cursor-maker Anysphere is snapping up top talent from AI enterprise startups in an effort to compete with Microsoft's GitHub Copilot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The perfect pitch: This NEA partner says every founder should answer these 5 questions
Tiffany Luck, a partner at NEA, outlined what she looks for in a pitch, during a presentation at TechCrunch’s All Stage event in Boston. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After raising over $3M, popular VC-backed beauty brand Ami Colé is shuttering
Diarrha N'Diaye-Mbaye, one of the first among the small number of Black women to raise more than $1 million in venture capital, announced on Thursday the closure of her award-winning beauty startup Ami Colé. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Confident Security, ‘the Signal for AI,’ comes out of stealth with $4.2M
San Francisco-based startup Confident Security wants to be “the Signal for AI." The company just came out of stealth with $4.2 million and a tool that wraps around AI models to guarantee data stays private. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rex Salisbury’s Cambrian Ventures raises new fund, bucking fintech slowdown
Spurred by the performance of its first fund, Cambrian Ventures' $20 million second fund will continue the firm's thesis of focusing on fintech startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lovable becomes a unicorn with $200M Series A just 8 months after launch
Only eight months after its launch, Sweden's Lovable has raised a $200 million Series A round led by Accel at a $1.8 billion valuation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Auriga Space raises $6M to shoot rockets off an electromagnetic launch track
Auriga Space wants to reimagine launch by using electromagnetic forces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AV startup Pronto.ai acquires off-road autonomous vehicle rival SafeAI
Pronto.ai CEO Anthony Levandowski said the move is meant to help bolster his company's ranks with like-minded talent and complimentary technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rainmaker partners with Atmo to squeeze more rain from clouds
Atmo will use its deep learning models to help Rainmaker identify clouds that have potential for seeding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rwazi raises $12M Series A to help companies with consumer insights and intelligence
Rwazi has raised a $12 million Series A led by Bonfire Ventures to help companies with market intelligence and consumer insights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Firefly Space files for an IPO
Firefly Space has filed for a initial public offering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A cloud seeding startup did not cause the Texas floods
Despite conspiracy theories, there's no way that cloud seeding operations days before the storm could have influenced the floods, scientists say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
RealSense spins out of Intel to scale its stereoscopic imaging technology
RealSense is building vision tech that helps machines like robots and drones navigate and respond to a 3D world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Helios wants to be the AI operating system for public policy professionals
Helios, a startup aiming to build an AI-powered operating system for policy professionals, has raised $4 million in seed funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Goldman Sachs is testing viral AI agent Devin as a ‘new employee’ ... and more
Devin won’t replace humans developers at the bank. It will be supervised by them. Also, Sarah Smith launches $16M fund, says AI can ‘unlock’ so much for solo GPs like herself. Smith launched her eponymous fund in 2022 and is a solo GP. She said she’s “stunned” by what AI can unlock for firms like hers, solo and next-generation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Knox lands $6.5M to compete with Palantir in the federal compliance market
While highly sought after, federal software contracts frequently come with a hidden cost: Achieving government SaaS security compliance, known as FedRAMP, can take years and require substantial resources. Achieving this certification typically takes up to three years and costs more than $3 million, covering everything from security operations engineer salaries to security audits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rivian spinoff Also raises another $200M to build e-bikes and more
The micromobility startup that spun out of Rivian this year, was raised $200 million from Greenoaks Capital. Also, French AI startup Mistral is in talks to raise up to $1 billion in equity from investors including Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund, reports Bloomberg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
European VC breaks taboo by investing in pure defense tech from Ukraine’s war zones
With a fundraising target of €25 million, Darkstar’s goal is to help startups bring battle-tested products to military customers both in Ukraine and throughout Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
LangChain is about to become a unicorn, sources say
AI infrastructure startup LangChain is raising a new round at about $1 billion valuation led by IVP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why this LA-based VC firm was an early investor in Slate Auto
Slate Auto, which came out of stealth mode earlier this year with a surprising – and surprisingly affordable – customizable electric truck, has raised $700 million to date. But long before the EV startup broke cover, it quietly raised a Series A round of more than $100 million in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
UAE proptech Huspy raises $59M to scale in Europe
If you walked into a Dubai bank to apply for a mortgage in 2020, chances are you’d spend months buried in paperwork or face a huge price discrepancy when it came to listings. Such experiences led Jad Antoun to start Huspy, a startup streamlining how people in the UAE buy homes digitally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stripe’s first employee, the founder of fintech Increase, sort of bought a bank
Competitors to Darragh Buckley's Increase are so nervous about his ambitions to "own" a bank, someone has been trying to stop him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lovable on track to raise $150M at $2B valuation
Lovable released its vibe coder in late November. Within six month, the startup hit $50 million in ARR, CEO Anton Osika said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Former SpaceX manager alleges harassment, retaliation, and security violations in lawsuit
SpaceX is facing another lawsuit alleging discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lucid sales inch forward as EV maker pushes to ramp Gravity production
Lucid sold 3,309 vehicles in the second quarter, a new record for the EV maker. Still, the company must ramp up production of its Gravity SUV to meet its 2025 target. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Israeli quantum startup Qedma just raised $26 million, with IBM joining in
Qedma specializes in error mitigation software. Its main piece of software, QESEM, standing for Quantum Error Suppression and Error Mitigation, analyzes noise patterns to suppress some classes of errors while the algorithm is running and mitigate others in post-processing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Genesis AI launches with $105M seed funding from Eclipse, Khosla to build AI models for robots
Genesis AI, which aims to build a foundational model for powering all kinds of robots, has emerged from stealth with $105M in seed funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices