Daniel Ek-backed defense tech Helsing to raise $1.2B at $18B valuation
Five-year old European military drone startup Helsing is close to raising another monster round.
How to invest when everything is moving too fast
TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC evening in Los Angeles late last week brought together two of the more straight-talking investors working in AI right now. They were as entertaining as they were illuminating.
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Bravo is creating unscripted microdramas for the Peacock app
As microdrama apps like ReelShort and DramaBox quietly rake in billions, Peacock announced on Monday that is launching two unscripted Bravo microdramas, which will stream in the Peacock app.
Digg tries again, this time as an AI news aggregator
Digg returns (again) as another place to read AI news.
‘Too early’ to talk IPO, Redwood Materials’ incoming CFO says
The battery recycling and energy storage company has hired former Tesla finance chief Deepak Ahuja, reuniting him with former Tesla CTO JB Straubel.
NYT’s Wordle to become a TV game show
The popular mobile puzzle game will become a TV game show next year.
TikTok launches an ad-free subscription plan in the UK
Users who sign up for the plan won’t see ads on TikTok, and their data won’t be used for advertising purposes.
There aren’t enough rockets for space data centers. Cowboy Space raised $275 million to build them.
Cowboy Space Corporation wants to put data centers in orbit. First, it has to build the rockets to get them there.
Discord launches Nitro Rewards, giving subscribers access to the base tier of Xbox Game Pass for no extra cost
Discord’s Nitro Rewards program will give Nitro subscribers access to Xbox Game Pass, and discounts from Logitech, SteelSeries, and other gaming brands.
Venmo’s biggest makeover in years comes at a very interesting time
The timing is notable. PayPal, which owns Venmo, is restructuring to spin Venmo off as a standalone business unit — a move widely seen as laying the groundwork for a potential sale. Stripe has reportedly expressed interest in buying PayPal outright.
Korea’s biggest manufacturers back Config, the TSMC of robot data
Samsung, Hyundai and LG just bet on the startup that wants to be robotics’ data backbone.