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…

Jakarta-based cloud kitchen startup Legit Group gets Series A to take over the rest of Indonesia

April 11, 2023

Legit Group, a cloud kitchen brand operator based in Jakarta, has its eyes on the rest of Indonesia after raising a $13.7 million Series A. The round was led by MDI Ventures, the venture capital arm of PT Telcom Indonesia Tbk, the largest telecom conglomerate in Indonesia. It included participation from Sinar Mas Digital Ventures […]

Jakarta-based cloud kitchen startup Legit Group gets Series A to take over the rest of Indonesia by Catherine Shu originally published on TechCrunch

Eclipse eclipses previous fundraises with a whopping $1.23 billion across two new funds

April 11, 2023

The market may be be tightening, but not for Eclipse Ventures, a Palo Alto-based venture firm that just raised $1.2 billion across two new funds. One fund, with $720 million in capital commitments will be invested in early-stage outfits, as well as companies that Eclipse itself incubates. The remaining $510 million will be funneled into […]

Eclipse eclipses previous fundraises with a whopping $1.23 billion across two new funds by Connie Loizos originally published on TechCrunch

Lightspeed fuels Indian workspace interiors platform OfficeBanao with 6M funding

April 10, 2023

OfficeBanao, an Indian startup offering a workspace interiors platform to businesses in the country, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed. In India’s competitive workspace interior market, traditional providers have long dominated the landscape, often requiring substantial investment of time and resources for clients to achieve their desired results. Furthermore, many of […]

Lightspeed fuels Indian workspace interiors platform OfficeBanao with 6M funding by Jagmeet Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Researchers populated a tiny virtual town with AI (and it was very wholesome)

April 10, 2023

What would happen if you filled a virtual town with AIs and set them loose? As it turns out, they brush their teeth and are very nice to one another! But this unexciting outcome is good news for the researchers who did it, since they wanted to produce “believable simulacra of human behavior” and got […]

Researchers populated a tiny virtual town with AI (and it was very wholesome) by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

‘Drink to dust’: Startup says just smash its clay alternative to plastic cups

April 10, 2023

Disposable plastic and paper cups are an environmental mess. GaeaStar, a startup based in Berlin and San Francisco, thinks it can do better with just clay, water, salt and sand. After piloting disposable clay cups and bowls in Germany, GaeaStar says it is gearing up to introduce its products to the U.S. via a trial […]

‘Drink to dust’: Startup says just smash its clay alternative to plastic cups by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch