TechCrunch Industry News
Episodes
Earth AI’s algorithms found critical minerals in places everyone else ignored
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The startup uses AI to quickly search for minerals over wide areas, identifying promising potential deposits for exploration. Learn more about your ad...
a16z and Benchmark-backed 11x has been claiming customers it doesn’t have
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, AI-powered sales automation startup 11x appeared to be on an explosive growth trajectory. However, nearly two dozen sources – including i...
Bill Gates-backed Commonwealth Fusion Systems hits key reactor construction milestone
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Commonwealth Fusion Systems marked a major milestone Tuesday morning, announcing the installation of a key component of its Sparc demonstration reacto...
How BYD plans to make EV charging as fast as filling a gas tank
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What we found mostly supports the auto makers claims, with a few caveats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
23andMe faces an uncertain future — so does your genetic data
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As 23andMe's bankruptcy looms, privacy experts warn customers to delete their DNA data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...
Russian zero-day seller is offering up to $4 million for Telegram exploits
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two sources in the zero-day industry say Operation Zero's prices for exploits against the popular messaging app Telegram will depend on different fact...
Microsoft is exploring a way to credit contributors to AI training data
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Microsoft is launching a research project to estimate the influence of specific training examples on the text, images, and other types of media that g...
How a $6M bet on Wiz turned into a massive 200x return for one early backer
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wiz’s $32 billion all-cash acquisition by Google parent Alphabet promises a colossal payday for the cybersecurity startup’s early-stage investors....
X users treating Grok like a fact-checker spark concerns over misinformation
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some users on X are turning to Grok for fact-checking, raising concerns among fact-checkers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.co...
Academics accuse AI startups of co-opting peer review for publicity
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a controversy brewing over “AI-generated” studies submitted to this year’s ICLR, a long-running academic conference focused on AI. At ...
Researchers name several countries as potential Paragon spyware customers
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Citizen Lab said it believes several governments may be customers of spyware maker Paragon Solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit pod...
Waymo’s milestone SFO mapping permit comes with strings attached
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Waymo has been given permission to map roadways at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) via a temporary permit — the first step in the Alph...
This app limits your screen time by making you literally touch grass
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever spent way too long scrolling through endless feeds about nothing, you may have been advised to touch grass. It’s a tongue-in-cheek ...
Bluesky users debate plans around user data and AI training
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Social network Bluesky recently published a proposal on GitHub outlining new options it could give users to indicate whether they want their posts and...
Meta takes aim at ex-employee’s memoir ‘Careless People’
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Meta won a legal victory this week against Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former employee who recently published a memoir of her time at the company titled “...
US urges UK spy court to hold Apple ‘backdoor’ secret hearing in public; SoftBank buys old Sharp plant for OpenAI collab in Japan
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
U.S. bipartisan lawmakers say the U.K. order gagging Apple from disclosing the demand is unconstitutional. Also, SoftBank is marching ahead on its amb...
Could deeptech serve as Europe’s path to autonomy from the US?
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amidst geopolitical tensions and volatile markets, the question of Europe’s ability to weather the storms ahead, especially as President Trump seems...
Anti-aging zealot Bryan Johnson wants to start ‘foodome sequencing’
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the same way that genome sequencing determines the genetic makeup of an organism, Bryan Johnson — the investor and founder behind the Don’t Die...
UiPath is looking for a path to growth in agentic AI with its Peak.ai acquisition
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A rush of agentic AI solutions is hitting the enterprise market, and now one of the bigger players in automation has scooped up a startup in the space...
North Korean government hackers snuck spyware on Android app store
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cybersecurity firm Lookout found several samples of a North Korean spyware it calls KoSpy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...
Wolf Games, backed by ‘Law & Order’ creator, uses AI to create murder mystery games
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elliot Wolf, the executive producer and son of “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf, is entering a new venture aimed at engaging true crime fans. He,...
Zolve, a neobank for global citizens moving to the US, raises $51M and secures $200M debt
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Zolve, a neobanking startup targeting global citizens seeking credit, has raised $251 million in a new round to expand into Canada and launch loans. L...
Reshape Energy is using an acquisition playbook to drive energy upgrades for commercial real estate
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Reshape Energy is betting on a more integrated approach to accelerate the decarbonization of the built environment. Founded in Munich, Germany back in...
ServiceNow to buy Moveworks for $2.85B to grow its AI portfolio
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ServiceNow said on Monday that it has agreed to acquire Moveworks, which develops enterprise-focused automation and AI tools. ServiceNow will pay $2.8...
Following takedown operation, Garantex invites customers to ‘face-to-face’ Moscow meeting
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Russian crypto exchange Garantex has yet to directly address the international law enforcement operation that resulted in the seizure of its domains, ...
Google removes ‘underrepresented’ language from its grant website
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Just weeks after Google said it would review its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, the Google for Startups Founders Fund webpage is peppered...
Scale AI is being investigated by the US Department of Labor
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Scale AI is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor for compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
Social health expert warns of leaning too heavily on AI for social connections
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the rise of AI companions who serve as online friends or romantic interests, experts are questioning how the technology affects our real-world so...
DuckDuckGo leans further into GenAI as its AI chat interface exits beta
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Private search engine DuckDuckGo is leaning further into the generative AI opportunity. The non-tracking search engine has been dabbling with expandin...
Russian crypto exchange Garantex seized by law enforcement operation
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An international coalition of law enforcement agencies seized the official website of Garantex, which has previously been sanctioned by the U.S. and E...
Anthropic quietly removes Biden-era AI policy commitments from its website
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anthropic has quietly removed from its website several voluntary commitments the company made in conjunction with the Biden Administration in 2023 to ...
Ryan Breslow is back as CEO of fintech Bolt, after years of controversy
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan Breslow is once again the CEO of Bolt, the fintech company told TechCrunch on Wednesday. Bolt shared a communication that recently went out to in...
Funding to women-founded startups declined 12% in 2024, but that wasn’t far behind the broader market
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Venture investment to startups founded by women in Europe declined 12% in 2024, but it was in line with the 11% decrease in venture investment overal...
On a quest to revive the woolly mammoth, Colossal Biosciences has created a woolly mouse
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colossal Biosciences, known for its outlandish goal to resurrect the woolly mammoth by 2028, is claiming steady progress. It’s evidence: Genetically...
HackerPulse wants to help enterprises spot engineering bottlenecks
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
HackerPulse builds dashboards of information pulled from engineering tools to show how and where engineers spend their time. Learn more about your ad ...
Mark Cuban offers to fund government tech unit that was cut in the middle of the night
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban waded into the latest government tech shake-up on Saturday, posting an unexpected offer of support for newly laid-off ...
Microsoft hangs up on Skype: service to shut down May 5, 2025
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After kickstarting the market for making calls over the internet 23 years ago, Skype is closing down. Microsoft, which acquired the messaging and call...
Mozilla responds to backlash over new terms, saying it’s not using people’s data for AI
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mozilla has responded to user backlash over the Firefox web browser’s new Terms of Use, which critics have called out for using overly broad languag...
Taktile helps fintechs build automated decision-making workflows
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The automated logic behind many financial decisions — for example, decisions that determine whether a client is approved for a credit line — is ha...
Lonestar and Phison’s data center infrastructure is headed to the moon
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Inception, a new Palo Alto-based company started by Stanford computer science professor Stefano Ermon, claims to have developed a novel AI model based...
Regie.ai injects sales enablement with AI, but keeps humans in the loop
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no sure-fire approach to sales enablement, the process of providing a sales team with the resources it needs to close deals. Some teams are ...
Framework’s first desktop PC is optimized for gaming and local AI inference
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Framework, the company that is better known for its modular, repairable laptops, just released its first desktop computer. It’s a small desktop PC t...
Google launches a free AI coding assistant with very high usage caps
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Tuesday, Google introduced a new, free consumer version of its AI code completion and assistance tool, Gemini Code Assist, and which the company ca...
Adobe launches a Photoshop iPhone app
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Adobe announced on Tuesday it’s bringing its popular design and editing software Photoshop to mobile, starting with iOS. The company plans to launch...
Apple commits $500B to US manufacturing, including a new AI server facility in Houston
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. government is leaning hard on tech companies to make more commitments to building their businesses in the country, and Big Tech is falling in...
Palantir CEO’s new book says Silicon Valley has ‘lost its way’
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Palantir co-founder and CEO Alexander Karp opens his new book with a provocative declaration: “Silicon Valley has lost its way.” Over the past dec...
Rivian inches closer to profitability but warns ‘changes to government policies’ could hurt
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rivian’s cost–cutting measures have gotten it a lot closer to profitability, but the company is warning that 2025 could still be a challenging yea...
Google pulls Gemini from main search app on iOS
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Google is pulling its AI assistant Gemini from the main Google app for iOS devices. The move is meant to encourage users to download the standalone Ge...
Mark Zuckerberg’s makeover didn’t make people like him, study shows
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A study by the Pew Research Center found that Americans’ views of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg skew more negative than positive. While Zuckerberg h...
Study of TikTok, X ‘For You’ feeds in Germany finds Far Right political bias ahead of federal elections
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recommendation algorithms operated by social media giants TikTok and X have shown evidence of substantial Far Right political bias in Germany ahead of...
A former Etsy product manager built an AI-powered app for new parents
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Career product manager Amanda DeLuca has launched a parenting management app, Riley, born out of her own experience with parental anxiety and feedback...
Superhuman introduces AI-powered categorization to reduce spammy emails in your inbox
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It has been more than two years since ChatGPT burst on the scene. Shortly after that, it seemed like almost every email app integrated AI-powered emai...
Hackers planted a Steam game with malware to steal gamers’ passwords
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers found that PirateFI was never designed to be a real game, but a vehicle to infect gamers with malware and steal their passwords with an in...
Amazon kills ‘Inspire,’ its TikTok-style feed for discovering products
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon is shutting down “Inspire,” its TikTok-like, short-form video and photo feed that was previously available in its mobile app. The feed allo...
Polymath aims to make learning math as enjoyable as Roblox with its educational sandbox game
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft continue to grow in popularity among young children, and with platforms like YouTube consuming hours of ...
What the US’ first major AI copyright ruling might mean for IP law
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Copyright claims against AI companies just got a potential boost. A U.S. federal judge last week handed down a summary judgment in a case brought by t...
ICON, a pioneer in 3D home printing, raises $56M led by Norwest, Tiger Global
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ICON, which builds homes using 3D printing, has closed on $56 million in Series C funding co-led by Norwest Venture Partners and Tiger Global, the com...
Airbnb CEO says it’s still too early for AI trip planning
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Airbnb is planning to first introduce AI to its customer support system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Founded by DeepMind alumnus, Latent Labs launches with $50M to make biology programmable
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A new startup founded by a former Google DeepMind scientist is exiting stealth with $50 million in funding. Latent Labs is building AI foundation mode...
CyberArk snaps up Zilla Security for up to $175M
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Information security company CyberArk has acquired identity access and governance platform Zilla Security in a deal worth up to $175 million. Founded ...
ChatGPT may not be as power-hungry as once assumed
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot platform, may not be as power-hungry as once assumed. But its appetite largely depends on how ChatGPT is being used, and t...
Lanch bags $27M for a social media-skewed take on fast food
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
E-commerce startups built around food continue to gobble up funding as investors look for sticky consumer concepts that can scale without breaking the...
Workday launches a platform for enterprises to manage all of their AI agents in one place
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
HR giant Workday is launching a new way for enterprises to keep track of all of their AI agents in one place. It’s also launching a few more AI agen...
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls the AI Action Summit a ‘missed opportunity’
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a statement on Tuesday, Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI startup Anthropic, called the AI Action Summit in Paris this week a “missed opportunity,” a...
Critics warn UK’s secret Apple iCloud backdoor order is a global emergency
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Security experts say the ‘draconian’ order would have global ramifications that make this a privacy ‘emergency for us all’ Learn more about yo...
Lyft to launch Mobileye-powered robotaxis ‘as soon as 2026,’ starting with Dallas
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ride-hail giant Lyft plans to bring fully autonomous robotaxis, powered by Mobileye, to its app “as soon as 2026” in Dallas, with more markets to ...
Self Inspection raises $3M for its AI-powered vehicle inspections
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A number of startups are racing to make vehicle inspections faster, easier, and cheaper. Self Inspection, a startup based in San Diego, thinks it has ...
Bpifrance will invest $10B in the French AI ecosystem by 2029
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
France’s public investment bank announced that it plans to invest as much as €10 billion (around $10.3 billion at current exchange rates) in the a...
Could this startup’s compact nuclear reactors revolutionize cancer detection?
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As cancer rates in the West, and globally, tack upwards due to lifestyle and environmental pollution, so does the need for the nuclear isotopes used i...
Shein gets more questions from EU about DSA compliance
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After consumer protection scrutiny dialed up on fast-fashion giant Shein in the European Union on Wednesday, the bloc’s executive announced Thursday...
Modern Synthesis is making compostable materials that last a lifetime
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Modern Synthesis’s fibers can be manipulated in ways that simple plant fibers cannot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...
CodeSignal wants you to practice soft skills with its AI-powered guide
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Both startups and big tech companies have aggressively used AI to help developers write code or learn programming better. People have used chatbots to...
Two space startups have merged to create the next generation of telescopes
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On a clear spring evening in Michigan, the stars aligned — just not in the way Upfront Ventures partner Nick Kim expected. He’d just led a $9.5 mi...
Opera launches a mindfulness-focused browser with break reminders and soundscapes
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Norway-based browser maker Opera on Tuesday launched a new browser called “Opera Air,” which focuses on mental well-being and mindfulness with fea...
Hero’s all-in-one, AI productivity app takes on Google’s Calendar and others
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
People often use multiple apps for notes, schedule management, and to-dos. But why not combine them all in one app? That’s the ethos behind Hero, an...
AI systems with ‘unacceptable risk’ are now banned in the EU
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As of Sunday in the European Union, the bloc’s regulators can ban the use of AI systems they deem to pose “unacceptable risk” or harm. February ...
Apple CEO says DeepSeek shows ‘innovation that drives efficiency’
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apple CEO Tim Cook said DeepSeek’s AI models represent “innovation that drives efficiency” on an earnings call on Thursday while fielding questi...
WhatsApp says it disrupted a hacking campaign targeting journalists with spyware
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Meta-owned company said the campaign was linked to Israeli spyware maker Paragon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho...
SoftBank in talks to invest as much as $25B in OpenA
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI as part of a broader partnership that could see the Japanese conglomerate spend more than $...
Little Umbrella’s next Jackbox-style game pits you and your friends against an AI game show host
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Web-based party games are making a comeback, now with the infusion of generative AI. Among the startups joining the trend, the current forecast looks ...
Clutch grabs $20M to build out its non-human security ID platform
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to the world of cybersecurity, identity is often thought of as a “perimeter” around an organization. So many breaches begin through ...
Meteomatics eyes U.S. expansion for its enterprise-focused weather forecasting tools
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Martin Fengler knows a lot about the weather. Fengler got his Ph.D. in mathematics, focused on numerical weather prediction, before working for Meteom...
Hugging Face makes it easier for devs to run AI models on third-party clouds
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
AI dev platform Hugging Face has partnered with third-party cloud vendors including SambaNova to launch Inference Providers, a feature designed to mak...
Spotify says it paid $10 billion to music industry last year
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Audio streaming company Spotify said Tuesday that it paid $10 billion to the music industry last year. The company added that it has given nearly $60 ...
Lydian Labs can make aviation fuel wherever there’s CO2 and electricity
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Replacing inexpensive fossil fuels is a tall hurdle, but Lydian thinks it has cracked the problem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...
DeepSeek gets Silicon Valley talking
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since Chinese AI company DeepSeek released an open version of its reasoning model R1 at the beginning of this week, many in the tech industry have bee...
LG Electronics takes majority stake in Bear Robotics, reportedly valuing startup at $600M
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LG Electronics is betting on robotics as its next big growth driver. The South Korean electronics company said on Friday that it has agreed to acquire...
Flip, the TikTok Shop rival, launches a creator fund that grants up to $100M of equity
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Flip is a social commerce app that lets shoppers become creators. They can share honest reviews and earn cash based on engagement on the platform. Lea...
Streaming service Plex gets more social with public profiles and reviews
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Streaming service Plex has long since grown beyond its original focus of being a home for personal media to offer a more comprehensive solution for di...
UK probes Apple and Google over ‘mobile ecosystem’ market power
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching so-called “strategic market status” (SMS) investigations into the mobile ecosyst...
Lindus Health raises $55M to ‘fix the broken clinical trial industry’
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A four-year-old London startup backed by Peter Thiel has raised a $55 million Series B round as it sets about “fixing the broken clinical trial indu...
Truecaller brings real-time caller ID to iPhone users
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Truecaller for iOS has been updated with live caller ID support for its premium iPhone users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c...
Karmen secures $9.4 million for its revenue-based financing products
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
French startup Karmen has secured a small funding round so that it can improve its instant financing products. The company offers short-term loans to ...
Friend delays shipments of its AI companion pendant
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friend, a startup creating a $99, AI-powered necklace designed to be treated as a digital companion, has delayed its first batch of shipments until Q3...
AI isn’t very good at history, new paper finds
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Top LLMs performed poorly on a high-level history test, a new paper has found. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Pentagon says AI is speeding up its ‘kill chain’
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leading AI developers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, are threading a delicate needle to sell software to the United States military: make the Pentagon...
Nord Security founders launch Nexos.ai to help enterprises take AI projects from pilot to production
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A new AI orchestration startup from the founders of Lithuanian unicorn Nord Security is setting out to help enterprises put their AI projects into pro...
Climate tech matured in 2024 as investors favored bigger rounds, later stages
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Climate tech may have had a down year in 2024, but new data also shows a maturing sector with larger deal sizes. Venture investment in the climate tec...
Google strikes world’s largest biochar carbon removal deal with Indian startup Varaha
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Google has agreed to purchase 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits from Indian startup Varaha. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...
Clop ransomware gang names dozens of victims hit by Cleo mass-hack, but several firms dispute breaches
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Russia-linked ransomware group is threatening to leak data stolen from almost 60 Cleo Software customers if ransoms aren't paid Learn more about y...