July 4, 2025

The Download: India’s AI independence, and predicting future epidemics

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Inside India’s scramble for AI independence Despite its status as a global tech hub, India lags far behind the likes of the US and China when it comes to homegrown AI. That gap…

Technology

Micron to invest $3.6B in Japan for next-gen memory chips

May 18, 2023

Micron Technology said it will invest up to 500 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in Japan for the next few years with support from the Japanese government to up its game in next-generation memory chips.  The move indicates that the Japanese government is ambitiously pushing ahead with its semiconductor space resurgence and bringing chip technology into the […]

Micron to invest $3.6B in Japan for next-gen memory chips by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Future space food could be made from astronaut breath

May 18, 2023
The future of space food could be as simple—and weird—as a protein shake made with astronaut breath or a burger made from fungus. For decades, astronauts have relied mostly on pre-packaged food, or the occasional grown lettuce, during their forays off our planet. With missions beyond Earth orbit in sight, a NASA-led competition is hoping…

Climate risk startup Mitiga gets $14.4M to help businesses face an uncertain future

May 18, 2023

One pretty obvious aspect of the climate emergency which may have flown under your radar is that human-driven global heating is disrupting traditional approaches to risk modelling around natural disasters since probabilistic models based on stuff that happened in the past start to come unstuck atop so much unprecedented change. Step forward Mitiga Solutions, a […]

Climate risk startup Mitiga gets $14.4M to help businesses face an uncertain future by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Pale Blue Dot backs Amini, an African climate tech startup solving environmental data scarcity

May 18, 2023

Amini, a Nairobi-based climate tech startup focused on solving Africa’s environmental data gap through artificial intelligence and satellite technology, has raised $2 million in a pre-seed funding round. Pale Blue Dot, the European climate-focused venture capital firm that announced a $100 million fund last week, led the oversubscribed round. At the same time, Superorganism, RaliCap, […]

Pale Blue Dot backs Amini, an African climate tech startup solving environmental data scarcity by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch

Elon Musk used to say he put $100M in OpenAI, but now it’s $50M: Here are the receipts

May 17, 2023

It’s no secret that Elon Musk has been deeply frustrated with OpenAI since stepping down from its board in February 2018, culminating in an open letter calling for the organization to pause work on more powerful systems. “It does seem weird that something can be a nonprofit, open source, and somehow transform itself into a […]

Elon Musk used to say he put $100M in OpenAI, but now it’s $50M: Here are the receipts by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom early impressions – a feast fit for a short king

May 17, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has only been out in the wild for a few days at this point, marking a mere sliver of the time players will spend exploring Hyrule’s fresh secrets over the course of the coming months and years, if Breath of the Wild is any indication. For anyone […]

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom early impressions – a feast fit for a short king by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch

Your first look at Alliance DAO’s latest cohort of web3 startups

May 17, 2023

The crypto industry continues to face myriad headwinds, but there’s no shortage of startups and founders diving into the space. Alliance DAO, a web3 accelerator and builder community, had its most recent cohort, also known as ALL10, present their ideas on Wednesday during a demo day, exclusively covered by TechCrunch. Check out the previous Alliance […]

Your first look at Alliance DAO’s latest cohort of web3 startups by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

Pew: 60% of U.S. Twitter users have ‘taken a break’ from the platform in the past year

May 17, 2023

A new study by Pew Research Center paints a picture of a pause in Twitter usage by U.S. adults, but the data doesn’t necessarily point the finger at Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform as the source of the blame. Instead, Pew’s survey of U.S. adults, which was conducted over a week in […]

Pew: 60% of U.S. Twitter users have ‘taken a break’ from the platform in the past year by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch