Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
The Latest
AI
TechCrunch Minute: Rabbit’s R1 vs Humane’s Ai Pin — which had the best launch?
9:00 am PDT • April 26, 2024
After a successful unveiling at CES, Rabbit is letting journalists try out the R1 — a small orange gadget with an AI-powered voice interface. This comes just weeks after the…
Act fast! Applications for our Call for Content close today, April 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT. If you’re a seasoned startup pro ready to lead a session at TechCrunch Disrupt…
Aside from the crucial omission of an Ask and Use of Funds slide, just about every slide in the deck felt almost very good — but then stumbled by overlooking…
The OpenAI Startup Fund, a venture fund related to — but technically separate from — OpenAI that invests in early-stage, typically AI-related companies across education, law and the sciences, has…
Apps
Google’s new ‘Speaking practice’ feature uses AI to help users improve their English skills
7:32 am PDT • April 26, 2024
Google is testing a new “Speaking practice” feature in Search that helps users improve their conversational English skills. The company told TechCrunch that the feature is available to English learners…
Media & Entertainment
Area man, Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson, buys The Onion
7:29 am PDT • April 26, 2024
Jeff Lawson, co-founder and recently departed CEO of Twilio, is the proud new owner of satirical online newspaper The Onion.
Apps
Despite complaints, Apple hasn’t yet removed an obviously fake app pretending to be RockAuto
7:25 am PDT • April 26, 2024
Apple’s App Store isn’t always as trustworthy as the company claims. The latest example comes from RockAuto, an auto parts dealer popular with home mechanics and other DIYers, which is…
Featured Podcast
Good news for Rubrik, bad news for TikTok and medium news for early-stage startups
Rubrik’s strong IPO pricing and warm reception by the public markets after its listing add more weight to the perspective that the public markets are not as closed to tech startups as some thought. If Rubrik’s result isn’t enough to break the logjam, well, maybe there’s something else going on. But there was a lot more that…
7:15 AM PDT • April 26, 2024
Enterprise
Thoma Bravo to take UK cybersecurity company Darktrace private in $5B deal
5:07 am PDT • April 26, 2024
Darktrace is set to go private in a deal that values the U.K.-based cybersecurity giant at around $5 billion.
Transportation
Tesla Autopilot investigation closed after feds find 13 fatal crashes related to misuse
4:21 am PDT • April 26, 2024
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed a long-standing investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system after reviewing hundreds of crashes involving its misuse, including 13 that were fatal and…
Where we’ll be next
Jun 11th
StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
May 21st
StrictlyVC – London
London
Ultra-fast fashion e-commerce giant Shein will be subject to an additional layer of governance rules targeted at very large online platforms (VLOPs) under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA),…
Venture
Global Founders Capital will deploy Rocket Internet’s cash instead of raising a new fund
2:16 am PDT • April 26, 2024
Global Founders Capital, the Berlin-based early-stage VC firm with close ties to the German startup factory Rocket Internet, is going to become the venture arm of Rocket Internet. The VC…
AI
xAI, Elon Musk’s OpenAI rival, is closing on $6B in funding and X, his social network, is already one of its shareholders
9:41 pm PDT • April 25, 2024
xAI, Elon Musk’s 10-month-old competitor to the AI phenom OpenAI, is raising $6 billion on a pre-money valuation of $18 billion, according to one trusted source close to the deal.…
Commerce
Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit eclipses core food business in value, says Goldman Sachs
5:53 pm PDT • April 25, 2024
Goldman Sachs said in a report late Thursday that Indian food delivery giant Zomato’s quick commerce arm Blinkit is now more valuable than its core food delivery business, as per…
Startups
The FTC’s ban on noncompete clauses could be good for startups. But it also might be struck down.
5:50 pm PDT • April 25, 2024
The Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to ban the use of most noncompete agreements on Tuesday. This ruling means companies can’t require employees who aren’t senior executives to wait a…
Venture
Norwest Venture Partners raises $3B for 17th vehicle, maintaining fund size despite market downturn
4:24 pm PDT • April 25, 2024
Norwest Venture Partners, a 65-year-old firm backed solely by Wells Fargo, has raised its 17th fund at $3 billion. That’s a noteworthy number, given that NVP last raised the same…
Space
Defense startup True Anomaly lays off around 25%, cancels summer internship
4:16 pm PDT • April 25, 2024
Space and defense startup True Anomaly has laid off around 25% of its workforce and cancelled its summer internship program, TechCrunch has learned.
Space
Boeing’s Starliner set to fly astronauts for the first time on May 6
3:06 pm PDT • April 25, 2024
This will mark Starliner’s second flight to the ISS: The first, an uncrewed mission called Orbital Flight Test-2, took place in May 2022.
Apps
Snap says total watch time on its TikTok competitor increased more than 125%
2:09 pm PDT • April 25, 2024
As part of its Q1 2024 earning release, Snap revealed that total watch time on its TikTok competitor, Spotlight, increased more than 125% year-over-year. Snapchat launched the TikTok-like feed in…
Google Cloud had a blockbuster quarter, driving parent company Alphabet’s revenues — and stock price — to impressive highs.
