Author: TechBrunch
Creatopy, a startup that uses AI to automate the creation of digital ads, has brought its new CEO, Tammy Nam. NAM was previously COO and CMO at photo editing startup PicsArt, and previously CEO of Video Streamer Viki. She told TechCrunch via email that she is looking for a US-based executive who knows how Creatopy scales early-stage startups, and that she understands marketing technology with European founders (the product was first developed in Romania). “Fortunately, I fit that bill,” she said. NAM is also participating in the Creatopy Board, but Dan Oros, the startup's former CEO, is in the advisory…
The world is bad at times, but if you can't stop staring closely at the deep by all consumption, the 6-inch screen of your smartphone, you'll feel even worse if you can't chase you through space and time. It untook you with a compact light build that is compact enough to slip into your pocket and take it anywhere, but for some reason, its siren call is so strong that we can't sleep on the nightstand without a phone. If we get through the fears around us, if you don't pick up your phone dozens of times a day, it…
Last year was a monumental year for the American and subsequent AI industry. According to counts at TechCrunch, there were 49 startups raising more than $100 million in 2024. Last year, three companies raised multiple “mega rounds,” while seven companies raised the rounds for over $1 billion. How will 2025 compare? It's still early in the year, but the number of American AI companies that raised more than $100 million is almost double digits, with already a single digit increase in rounds over $1 billion. Here are all the US AI companies that have raised over $100 million so far.…
Europe is conscious of the need to invest in defense, and so is European VCs. However, due to the painful history of the Soviet occupation, Lithuania did not wait to celebrate its third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and to commit between 5% and 6% of its GDP to a military spending and funding defense startup. Coinbest Capital, a sovereign VC fund in Lithuania, is a pioneer in that respect and is an outlier even when it does not require private use cases. “We were the first in the area [to be] “We are committed to providing a range…
Investor interest in AI coding assistants is exploding. Anysphere, developer of AI-powered coding assistant cursors, is in talks with venture capitalists to raise capital at a valuation of nearly $10 billion, Bloomberg reported. If a round occurs, it will take place roughly three months after Anysphere completed its previous $100 million donation at $2.5 billion, as first reported by TechCrunch. The new round is expected to be led by returning investors' thriving capital. Thrive Capital and Anysphere did not respond immediately to requests for comment. While Anysphere's previous round valued the company at 25 times the New York Times, it…
TechCrunch is on the ground at SXSW 2025, the annual technology, music, comedy and film conference launched in Austin on Friday in pursuit of this AI-centric era. Yes, we're one sentence and the AI is already in the entrance. And why? A quick scan of the large SXSW schedule shows that the AI is at Austin's center stage. It is worth noting that this year there appears to be a focus on how AI is applied to the real world. SXSW tends to reflect what the tech ecosystem of founders and supporters is working on. And it often coincides with…
According to a report by the New York Times, Discord has a chat app with over 200 million users each month that offers IPOs and early stage talks. According to NYT sources, discussions with Discord's investment bankers are still exploratory and could change plans. Discord understands there is a lot of interest in the plan, but has not commented on rumors or speculation, a spokesman told TechCrunch. This is not the first time I have thought about an IPO. The San Francisco-based startup thought it was independently public, leaving Microsoft's $10 billion purchase in 2021. Discord was valued at $14.7…
Twitter alternatives – New and oldest have discovered viewers who are willing to try out new social networks since Elon Musk took over the company in 2022. Mastodon, Blueski, Spill and T2 are some of the social media platforms people are among them. The same goes for Meta's threading platform. What is a thread? How do you create an account? The thread is Meta's text-based Twitter rival. Because it is tied to an Instagram account, you can create an account by logging in using your Instagram credentials. How is it different from Twitter? Currently, there are no paid classes or…
Meta's thread has begun testing a new feature that will allow people to add interest to their profiles on social networks. Instead of profiling topics like topics you might post with only ads to profile visitors, the new interest feature will direct users to active conversations about the topic. The company believes this will help users find discussions to join with their platform X rivals without knowing which people to follow on specific topics like technology or sports. This feature can also make threads more appealing for newcomers who want to quickly connect with others who discuss their favorite subjects.…
Just a few weeks after Google said it would review its diversity, equity and comprehensive program, the Startup Founders Fund webpage is packed with changes. Most notably, Google uses past tenses to describe all fund programs for underrated founders. According to the Internet Archives, this is a change made since December. The site also states that there are currently zero fund programs available. Google's Startup Founders Fund was launched in 2020 and provided currency grants, mentorship and product support with underrated founders, including women and people of African and Latinx descent. The site says it provides over $50 million in…