Oct 28th
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
San Francisco, CA
The Latest
AI
Parrot, an AI-powered transcription platform that turns speech into text, raises $11M Series A
5:55 am PDT • June 20, 2023
Artificial intelligence touches many aspects of professional industries, including medicine, legal, business, information technology and more. AI-powered transcription service is one example that has become an integral part of those…
Media & Entertainment
Spotify will reportedly launch hi-fi audio through a costlier premium subscription
5:29 am PDT • June 20, 2023
A couple of years after its original announcement, Spotify will finally launch its hi-fi tier with lossless music streaming through a “Supremium” plan later this year, which might cost more…
Space
Peak XV Partners backs India’s Digantara to propel space situational awareness
3:30 am PDT • June 20, 2023
Digantara, an Indian space tech startup that is working on space situational awareness, has raised $10 million in a funding round led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India…
AI
Consumer group calls on EU to urgently investigate ‘the risks of generative AI’
1:08 am PDT • June 20, 2023
European regulators are at a crossroads over how AI will be regulated — and ultimately used commercially and noncommercially — in the region. Today the EU’s largest consumer group, the…
Oracle is formally launching its EU Sovereign Cloud for customers in the European Union (EU) today, nearly a year after first revealing plans for the initiative. So-called digital sovereignty has emerged…
Featured Article
Google Pixel Tablet review: It’s all about the dock
No need to sugarcoat it, the history of Android tablets is rough. There are some exceptions. Samsung, for one, has managed to carve out a decent market for itself in the space, courtesy of nice hardware and heavy Android customization. The Galaxy maker has secured a consistent No. 2 behind Apple — accounting for nearly…
12:01 am PDT • June 20, 2023
AI
Voice-generating platform ElevenLabs raises $19M, launches detection tool
12:01 am PDT • June 20, 2023
ElevenLabs, the viral AI-powered platform for creating synthetic voices, has raised a new round of cash. Today, the startup announced the closure of a $19 million Series A round co-led…
Meet Hyperline, a new product that handles pricing and billing for software-as-a-service companies. The company provides integrations so that you can quickly start billing. It then supports different scenarios, such…
Apps
WhatsApp introduces feature to automatically silence calls from unknown numbers
11:58 pm PDT • June 19, 2023
WhatsApp has introduced a new feature to automatically silence calls from unknown numbers. This comes after multiple customers in India, the chat app’s biggest market with more than 500 million…
Venture
Southeast Asia–focused Go-Ventures closes $240M second fund, rebrands as Argor Capital
11:50 pm PDT • June 19, 2023
Go-Ventures, backed by Indonesia’s GoTo, announced Tuesday it has raised a second fund at $240 million and rebranded as Argor Capital “to reinforce the investment firm’s independence and expanded capabilities to…
Where we’ll be next
Jun 11th
StrictlyVC – Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
May 21st
StrictlyVC – London
London
Meet Gladia, a French AI startup that wants to change how companies interact with audio data. The company develops an audio transcription application programming interface (API) that you can integrate…
Enterprise
Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang to pass the torch and focus on cloud
10:12 pm PDT • June 19, 2023
Hours after rumors started circling in China about Alibaba’s chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang possibly stepping down, the e-commerce behemoth confirmed midday on Tuesday that the executive will hand over…
Vimeo, the video hosting and sharing platform, is embracing AI in a major way. This week, the company announced a suite of AI-powered tools designed to help users create scripts,…
Transportation
TuSimple tests removing human driver from self-driving truck in China
6:44 pm PDT • June 19, 2023
Autonomous trucking company TuSimple last week successfully completed a series of fully autonomous semi-truck runs on public roads in China without a human present in the vehicle and without human…
Startups
Philippines startup Shoppable Business smooths bumps in the business procurement process
3:00 pm PDT • June 19, 2023
Shoppable Business wants to make it easier for businesses in the Philippines to source and procure branded products and other inventory, with an emphasis on making sure products are authentic.…
Transportation
Polestar and Xingji Meizu join forces to create tailored OS for Chinese EVs
2:10 pm PDT • June 19, 2023
Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar has formed a joint venture with Xingji Meizu, a mobile phone and consumer electronics company, to build an operating system for Polestar cars sold in…
Transportation
Parallel Domain’s API lets customers use generative AI to build synthetic datasets
8:00 am PDT • June 19, 2023
Parallel Domain is putting the ability to generate synthetic datasets into the hands of its customers. The San Francisco-based startup has launched a new API called Data Lab that stands…
Social
Reddit communities adopt alternative forms of protest, as the company threatens action on moderators
7:12 am PDT • June 19, 2023
Multiple subreddits are adopting alternative methods of protesting, such as publishing only one kind of post, changing the topic in focus, and days when the community turns private. A lot…
Venture
What happens to the smaller VC firms in a more conservative market?
7:00 am PDT • June 19, 2023
For those with funds that are focused on backing diverse founders who are already working with less capital, the drawback is often the difference between another round or closing shop.
Byju’s is cutting 500 to 1,000 more jobs at the firm, this time eliminating several non-sales roles as well, as the Indian edtech giant pushes to improve its finances, according…
