Author: TechBrunch

TechCrunch has learned that senior research scientists at Deepmind, who worked on Robotics and AI, has left Google to create their own robotic startup called Generalist AI, and has already gained investment from Nvidia. Pete Florence was listed as Generalist AI co-founder and CEO at a panel at NVIDIA's GTC conference in San Jose yesterday. The panel was aimed at Nvidia's VC ARM and Nventures portfolio companies. Since Nvidia enjoyed surgent economic success in this new era of AI, Nventures has become a particularly active venture capital firm. “We're mostly stealth,” Florence told TechCrunch, explaining that the startup's mission is…

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said today that the service has over 1 billion active users. This number is up from the reported 950 million monthly active users last year. Durov also said the company registered a profit of $547 million last year. He announced the company's profitability in December, but at the time it offered nothing. The founder, who recently returned to Dubai after a clearance from France, took a jab on meta-owned rival WhatsApp, calling it a cheap imitation. “WhatsApp is posted before us. It's a copy of a cheap, watering telegram. For years, they tried desperately to copy…

According to a new report from the Financial Times, social media site X has returned to $44 billion. Elon Musk purchased the platform, previously known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022. However, a Bloomberg report states that X has valued about $32 billion from investors and raised nearly $1 billion from investors. Musk took part in his own pay raise, the report said. Despite two different ratings, it is clear that X took a sharp turnaround in terms of finances, given that X estimated its rating was under $10 billion last September. Although the platform's revenues have declined since…

Ribbit Capital, a venture company known for FinTech Investments, has raised $500 million for the new fund in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed Wednesday. The new capital is likely to be part of Ribbit Capital Y, part of the Palo Alto-based venture's latest flagship fund. In 2023, Ribbit Capital raised $800 million. The venture has invested in some of the world's largest fintech startups, including Nubank, Affirm and Robinhood. In addition to supporting North American startups, the company is investing in fintech across emerging markets including Indian markets, including Credit, Fi, Grow, Razorpay and…

“The enthusiasm for AI actually passes on to everything and effectively impacts every startup,” Angellist CEO Avlok Kohli said when asked if investors were excited about emerging startups other than AI. According to Kohli, AI startups account for almost 40% of startups on Angellist's platform. Today, in Equity, Mary Anne Azevedo catches up to Kohli and discusses how Angelist evolved that model. Working with large funds from SPVS, how AI is reshaping the startup landscape, and what should the founders do to thrive in today's markets? Driving into Angellist's expansion over the past six years, Kohli highlighted that the company…

Dataminr, a data analytics company that counts NATO and OpenAI among its customers, raised $85 million in a combination of convertible funding and credit. This is Dataminr's Chump change, closing the $475 million round in 2021, at a $4.1 billion valuation. In November 2023, Dataminr fired 20% of its staff who fought through economic headwinds and competed for “doubling” with AI. “The new capital will allow Dataminr to accelerate its growth trajectory. [and] CEO Ted Bailey will provide TechCrunch with discounts on IPO prices or subsequent funding to investors.[We’ll] We will also use this new fund to expand [our] Strengthen…

Google Search and its Play Store app marketplace are allegedly violated the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) in accordance with preliminary findings released on Wednesday by the EU Commission executive of BLOC's flagship market contestability law, which has been under investigation for several months. DMA applies to a small number of high-tech majors that include the alphabet (Google's parent). Google's business side has been under investigation by the EU since March 2024, shortly after the administration came into effect. A confirmed violation of DMA will likely attract sanctions of up to 10% of global annual revenue, which will lead…

Robots are part of the exciting new frontier of technology, but here is the challenge. The robot relies on arrays of sensors, external signals such as GPS and Wi-Fi, and customized software to navigate the environment. Additionally, robotics often include expensive, off-the-shelf hardware solutions, including built-in software and sensors designed for specific tasks, such as relative motion estimation. These products require complex integration and are limited to specific use cases. As a result, most robots today cannot move in different locations, and only a small percentage of autonomous driving systems use AI for navigation. However, Tera AI founder and CEO…

The Pennsylvania Education Association (PSEA), a labor union representing educators across the state, says hackers have stole sensitive personal information from more than half a million members. PSEA is the largest organization for Pennsylvania educators representing current and former teachers, counselors, healthcare workers and school social workers. In a filing Tuesday with the Maine Attorney General, PSEA said it had experienced a cyberattack in July 2024. Stolen data contains highly sensitive personal information, including member government-issued identification documents, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, medical information, financial information including card numbers, and related pins and expiration dates. PSEA said that the…

The European Union has sent preliminary instructions on how Apple expects iPhone manufacturers to comply with the interoperability clauses of the Floc's Digital Markets Act (DMA). According to the committee, device manufacturers and app developers should have access to nine iOS connectivity features previously restricted to Apple's exclusive use, including peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connectivity, NFC features, and device pairing. As a result, Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches, connected TVs or other non-apple devices should work better on your iPhone. Google can use this opportunity to get Airdrop to work on Android devices. Headphone makers can support SharePlay. This is a feature that only…