April 3, 2025

Amazon Kindle’s new feature uses AI to generate recaps for books in a series

Amazon is introducing a new “Recaps” feature for Kindle users to help them recall plot points and character arcs before picking up the latest book in a series. While the company’s press release for the new feature doesn’t mention AI, Amazon confirmed to TechCrunch that recaps are AI-generated. “We use technology, including GenAI and Amazon […]

Truecaller now has over 450M monthly active users

April 3, 2025
Caller ID app Truecaller said on Thursday that it crossed the 450 million user mark earlier this week. The company said that it added 50 million users in the past 10 months and 15.5 million users since the beginning of 2025. India is the company’s biggest user base, so it wasn’t surprising to see Truecaller […]

Fintech Plaid raises $575M at a $6.1B valuation, says it will not go public in 2025

April 3, 2025
Plaid, which connects bank accounts to financial applications, has sold about $575 million worth of common stock at a $6.1 billion post-money valuation, the fintech company confirmed to TechCrunch. The valuation is about less than half of the $13.4 billion that San Francisco-based Plaid was valued at when it raised a $425 million Series D […]

We should talk more about air-conditioning

April 3, 2025
Things are starting to warm up here in the New York City area, and it’s got me thinking once again about something that people aren’t talking about enough: energy demand for air conditioners.  I get it: Data centers are the shiny new thing to worry about. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t be thinking about…

Rivals are rising to challenge the dominance of SpaceX

April 3, 2025
SpaceX is a space launch juggernaut. In just two decades, the company has managed to edge out former aerospace heavyweights Boeing, Lockheed, and Northrop Grumman to gain near-monopoly status over rocket launches in the US; it accounted for 87% of the country’s orbital launches in 2024, according to an analysis by SpaceNews. Since the mid-2010s,…

Y Combinator neobank Djamo raises $17M with 1M users across Francophone Africa

April 3, 2025
Djamo is one of several digital banking startups targeting Africa’s underbanked. But unlike many that focus on large markets like Nigeria, Egypt, or South Africa, Djamo has carved out a niche in Francophone West Africa, specifically Ivory Coast and more recently Senegal, where it now serves over one million customers. The Y Combinator-backed fintech just […]

Space solar startup Aetherflux raises $50M to launch first space demo in 2026

April 2, 2025
Aetherflux, the space solar startup founded by billionaire co-founder of Robinhood Baiju Bhatt, has raised a $50 million in a Series A round as it works to launch its first low Earth orbit demonstration in 2026.  The San Carlos, California-based startup, which came out of stealth last October, aims to eventually launch a constellation of […]

Stablecoin issuer Circle takes another stab at a public listing

April 2, 2025
Circle, the issuer of USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, filed to go public on Tuesday. The company, which makes money from interest earned on its reserve assets, reported that its 2024 revenue and reserve income was $1.68 billion, up from $1.45 billion the year prior. Circle’s 2024 net income was $156 million, […]