Startups

Eric Schmidt-backed Augment, a GitHub Copilot rival, launches out of stealth with $252M

Augment, a startup developing an AI-powered platform similar to GitHub's Copilot, has launched out of stealth valued at nearly $1 billion.

Radical thinks the time has come for solar-powered, high-altitude autonomous aircraft

Though many eyes are on space as orbit develops into a thriving business ecosystem, Radical is keeping things a little closer to the ground — but not too close. Its high-altitude, solar-powered airc

Why code-testing startup Nova AI uses open source LLMs more than OpenAI

Enterprises still don't trust OpenAI, while open source AI models are cheaper and more than sufficient for targeted specific tasks, Nova AI founder says.

Dripos raises $11M Series A to replace Square, Toast and 8 other pieces of software

Dripos brings together point-of-sale, mobile payments, employee management and payroll, loyalty and marketing automation and administrative functions like accounting and banking.

TechCrunch Minute: Perplexity AI could be worth up to $3B. Here’s why

Perplexity AI‘s latest, large fundraising event could be quickly superseded by another, even larger chunk of capital, TechCrunch reports. Yes, the $62.7 million that the startup raised at just o

Seed-stage firm Eniac Ventures raises $220M across two funds

Eniac has raised $60 million for Select 1, the firm’s vehicle for follow-on later-stage investments, and $160 million for Eniac VI.

Stainless is helping OpenAI, Anthropic and others build SDKs for their APIs

Stainless, a startup building a platform to generate SDKs from APIs, has raised a seed round of funding from Sequoia.

Fintech gaming startup Sanlo’s webshop tool could help developers avoid costly app store fees

Sanlo, a fintech startup that helps gaming companies manage finances, announced Wednesday the closed beta launch of its webshop tool, giving select game developers and studios a plug-and-play solution

Anon is building an automated authentication layer for the GenAI age

As the notion of the AI agent begins to take hold, and more tasks will be completed without a human involved, it is going to require a new kind of authentication to make sure only agents with the prop

The TikTok ban clears key hurdle while Perplexity AI continues to shake up search

Well, if you are a big TikTok fan and live in the United States, I have some bad news for you: A bill that would force a sale of TikTok or ban it in the United States passed the Senate. And the presid

Nvidia acquires AI workload management startup Run:ai for $700M, sources say

Nvidia is acquiring Run:ai, a Tel Aviv-based company that makes it easier for developers and operations teams to manage and optimize their AI hardware infrastructure. Terms of the deal aren’t be

Diddo’s new funding will bring its shoppable TV API to streaming platforms

The company has developed an API that uses proprietary computer vision AI technology to identify products in TV shows and movies.

Tomorrow, TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 takes over Boston

Tomorrow is the day we’ve all been waiting for! TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 kicks off in Boston, and we can’t wait to see you there! We’re expecting 1,000+ attendees for a full day o

Former Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences

When Trace’s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in spring/summer of 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy, the augmented reali

Parloa, a conversational AI platform for customer service, raises $66M

Conversational AI platform Parloa has nabbed $66 million in a Series B round, a year after it raised $21 million from a swathe of European investors to propel its international growth. The German comp

Madica, a program by Flourish Ventures, steps up pre-seed investing in Africa

Madica, an investment program launched by U.S.-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding

French startup FlexAI exits stealth with $30M to ease access to AI compute

With the current iteration of its product going through its paces with a handful of beta customers, FlexAI will launch its first commercial product later this year.

TechCrunch Minute: How HeadSpin’s founder fraudster almost got away with lying to investors

News that the former founder of HeadSpin is headed to prison for fraud was further evidence that the last boom in the paired worlds of startup and venture capital led to more than just a little bit of

Bringing down skyscrapers’ sky-high carbon footprint with Joselyn Lai from Bedrock

Jocelyn Lai appeared on TechCrunch’s Found to discuss her company and its hopes of driving down the cost of a proven technology to address the climate crisis.

Perplexity is raising $250M+ at a $2.5B-$3B valuation for its AI search platform, sources say

Perplexity, the AI search engine startup, is a hot property at the moment. TechCrunch has learned that the company is currently raising at least $250 million more at a valuation of between $2.5 billio
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