The Quiet Crisis Many Entrepreneurs Face But Rarely Talk About
Entrepreneurship rewards independence and resilience; but over time, it can quietly isolate even the most successful founders.
TechCrunch is heading to Tokyo — and bringing the Startup Battlefield with it
SusHi Tech 2026 is zeroing in on four technology domains reshaping society: AI, Robotics, Resilience, and Entertainment. Expect live demos of humanoid robots, sessions on autonomous driving’s software revolution, deep dives into cyber defense and climate tech, and candid conversations about how AI is rewriting the global music and anime industries.
Hauler Hero collects $16M for its AI waste management software
Hauler Hero has seen its customer base, revenue, and head count double since the company raised its seed round in 2024.
India orders social media platforms to take down deepfakes faster
India’s new rules take effect February 20, tightening deepfake oversight and shrinking takedown windows to as little as two hours.
Former GitHub CEO raises record $60M dev tool seed round at $300M valuation
Thomas Dohmke’s new startup offers an AI system to allow developers to better manage all the code AI agents produce.
Are Your Leadership Retreats Secretly Boring? Take These Simple Steps to Make Yours More Engaging
Too many leadership retreats miss the mark. Here’s how to design an offsite that truly engages leaders, sparks transformation and drives real business results.
Spotify hits a record 751M monthly users thanks to Wrapped, new free features
Spotify credited a successful Wrapped campaign and new features in its free tier for its rapid user growth
Primary Ventures raises healthy $625M Fund V to focus on seed investing
Primary Ventures has closed a $625 million fund focused on seed investing nationwide. It’s a sizeable accomplishment for a seed-stage VC firm.
Proptech startup Smart Bricks raises $5 million pre-seed led by a16z
Smart Bricks is an AI-powered proptech that helps investors find high-quality real estate investments
AI video startup Runway raises $315M at $5.3B valuation, eyes more capable world models
Startup Runway has raised a $315 million round at a $5.3 billion valuation, funds it will use to expand beyond AI video generation and into world models.
The Download: Making AI Work, and why the Moltbook hype is similar to Pokémon
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. A first look at Making AI Work, MIT Technology Review’s new AI newsletter Are you interested in learning more about the ways in which AI is actually being used? We’ve launched a new…