How AI sales startup Landbase nabbed Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures to lead its $30M Series A
A concept Landbase’s CEO calls “digital trust” led nearly 130 VCs to pursue the “vibe GTM” startup.
Powering next-gen services with AI in regulated industries
Businesses in highly-regulated industries like financial services, insurance, pharmaceuticals, and health care are increasingly turning to AI-powered tools to streamline complex and sensitive tasks. Conversational AI-driven interfaces are helping hospitals to track the location and delivery of a patient’s time-sensitive cancer drugs. Generative AI chatbots are helping insurance customers answer questions and solve problems. And agentic…
The Download: AI agents’ autonomy, and sodium-based batteries
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. Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys? In recent months, a new class of agents has arrived on the scene: ones built using large language models. Any action that can be…
Researchers confirm two journalists were hacked with Paragon spyware
The confirmation of two hacked victims further deepens an ongoing spyware scandal that, for now, appears largely focused on the Italian government.
Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft — and people are paying anyway
A new analysis done by ride-hailing aggregator Obi shows Waymos cost more especially on shorter trips. They also have longer wait times.
Meta sues AI ‘nudify’ app Crush AI for advertising on its platforms
Meta has sued the maker of a popular AI “nudify” app, Crush AI, that reportedly ran thousands of ads across its platforms.
Are we ready to hand AI agents the keys?
On May 6, 2010, at 2:32 p.m. Eastern time, nearly a trillion dollars evaporated from the US stock market within 20 minutes—at the time, the fastest decline in history. Then, almost as suddenly, the market rebounded. After months of investigation, regulators attributed much of the responsibility for this “flash crash” to high-frequency trading algorithms, which…
These new batteries are finding a niche
Lithium-ion batteries have some emerging competition: Sodium-based alternatives are starting to make inroads. Sodium is more abundant on Earth than lithium, and batteries that use the material could be cheaper in the future. Building a new battery chemistry is difficult, mostly because lithium is so entrenched. But, as I’ve noted before, this new technology has…
Multiverse Computing raises $215M for tech that could radically slim AI costs
Spanish startup Multiverse Computing announced that it raised an enormous Series B round on the strength of a technology it calls “CompactifAI.”
Twenty years strong: a love letter to TechCrunch
Here’s to the perspective that twenty years gives you, and to twenty more years of asking hard questions, helping readers see around corners, and working with people who make even the roughest days worth it.
The Next Chapter of Basketball? Why This New League Is Betting Big on 1v1 Hoops
The Next Chapter is a premier 1v1 league turning streetball culture into a marketable, competitive sport. With unique players and pay-per-view events, the league aims to become a billion-dollar basketball business.