Author: TechBrunch
Defense technology funding reaches new high. Defense technology startups have raised nearly $3 billion through 2024, according to Crunchbase. This surpassed the previous record of $2.6 billion in 2022. This is an impressive feat, especially considering the declining number of transactions. There were 113 defense technology rounds in 2022, more than 85 rounds in 2024. The record is held by weapons maker Anduril, which raised $1.5 billion in Series F funding in August, and Saronic Technologies, an autonomous marine vehicle company founded by Anduril alumni who raised $175 million in Series B funding this year. , is gaining momentum with…
Meta is introducing new features to its messaging app, Messenger, including AI-powered noise suppression. Messenger offers HD video calling and audio separation, both of which can be enabled from the call settings menu. According to Meta, HD calling is now the default for calls over Wi-Fi and an option for calls over mobile. Image credit: Meta Messenger also now allows you to leave audio or video voice messages, similar to digital voicemail, when a contact is unavailable. If the other party doesn't answer the phone, try a new call.[メッセージを録音]You can send audio or video recordings with the tap of a…
Hello everyone, welcome to TechCrunch's regular AI newsletter. If you'd like to have this sent to your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. The AI war between the US and China is escalating, or at least the rhetoric surrounding it is escalating. On Tuesday, a U.S. Congressional committee proposed a “Manhattan Project-style” effort to fund the development of AI systems with human-level or superhuman intelligence. In its annual report, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) found that policymakers approved funding for “major AI, cloud, and data center companies” and that AI development is a “national priority.” It recommended…
H, a Parisian startup founded by Google alumni, made a splash last summer when it suddenly announced a $220 million seed round before releasing a single product. Three months later, there was still no product, but the splash was a devastating flood as three of the company's five co-founders left leaving behind “operational and business differences.” It started to look like. But the company kept swimming and today announced its first product, the Runner H. This is an “agent” AI aimed at businesses and developers across tasks such as quality assurance and process automation. It is built on top of…
As X competitor Bluesky hits 20 million users and takes off, Meta's own Twitter-like app, Instagram Threads, begins rolling out a new feature called Custom Feeds to its global audience. Ta. Custom Feeds is intended to allow Threads users to easily create feeds around specific topics or topics that include specific user profiles, in hopes of capitalizing on user demand for more personalization. I'm here. This gives Threads users easy access to the communities and conversations that matter most to them, and leverages Bluesky's unique set of personalization tools, including tools that allow users to build their own algorithms, feeds,…
The FBI yesterday announced that Joanna Smith-Griffin, the founder of AI startup AllHere Education, was involved in “securities fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft related to defrauding investors” for nearly $10 million. An indictment was released alleging deception. The FBI alleges that she misrepresented the company's revenue, customer base and cash to investors from at least November 2020 to June 2024. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the company is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If convicted, Smith-Griffin faces up to 20 years in prison for securities fraud, up to 20 years for wire fraud, and up to two years…
A Chinese research institute has announced what appears to be one of the first “inference” AI models to rival OpenAI's o1. On Wednesday, DeepSeek, an AI research firm funded by quantitative traders, released a preview of DeepSeek-R1. The company claims that DeepSeek-R1 is an inference model comparable to o1. Unlike most models, inferential models effectively check facts by spending more time considering questions and queries. This helps avoid some of the pitfalls that models usually stumble upon. Similar to o1, DeepSeek-R1 reasons through tasks, plans ahead, and performs a series of actions that help the model arrive at an answer.…
TV Time, a popular TV and movie tracking and recommendation app with more than 30 million registered users, has disappeared from Apple's App Store for several weeks, prompting questions about its future from the app's loyal fan base. a voice rose. 2.5 million users use the app every month to track what they're watching, comment on individual episodes, vote for their favorite characters, post images and GIFs, and share with other users Its disappearance is very important considering that we participate in social networks that allow us to connect with and connect with others. I couldn't help but notice. On…
Pony AI, a Chinese self-driving car startup aiming to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange, is currently aiming to raise about $260 million, according to a new regulatory filing. This is an increase from the previous target of approximately $224 million. To achieve this goal, Pony plans to sell up to 20 million American Depositary Shares. This is still lower than the much higher target of $425 million that Pony was aiming for earlier this year before the board approved lowering the minimum valuation from about $8 billion to $4 billion. low. Pony has struggled in early testing in the…
Late last week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said he was “proud to serve” the commission, a comment some took as a hint that he would soon resign. Mr. Gensler has faced severe criticism over his crackdown on virtual currencies, including recent lawsuits from 18 states, and is likely to be replaced by President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to oust Mr. Gensler. . On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump met with Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, to discuss possible personnel changes. On the same day, President Trump said he would…