Author: TechBrunch
No company has taken advantage of the AI revolution more dramatically than Nvidia. Revenue, profitability and cash reserves have skyrocketed since the introduction of ChatGPT over two years ago, and are many competitive generation AI services launched since. And the stock price rose sharply. During that period, the world's leading high-performance GPU manufacturers have used balloon fate to significantly increase their investments in all kinds of startups, particularly AI startups. The chip giant increased its venture capital activities in 2024, taking part in 49 funding rounds for AI companies, a sharp increase from 34 in 2023. This is a dramatic…
In a world filled with “vibe coding,” Cal AI teen founder Zach Yadegari stands in a sarcasm, old-fashioned contrast. Ironically, Yadegari and his co-founder Henry Langmack are both only 18 years old and have recently graduated from high school. But their stories are, so far, classics. Released in May, Cal AI generated over 5 million downloads in eight months, Yadegari said. Better yet, he tells TechCrunch that its customer retention rate is above 30% and the app generated more than $2 million in revenue last month. TechCrunch was unable to verify his downloads and revenue claims, but Cal AI has…
In this week's episode of StrictlyVC Download Podcast, veteran VC Aileen Lee was direct about the recent boom and key consequences of the bust cycle. They also lost the champion who once supported them. Lee is debating how limited partners are reluctant to criticise strong fund managers and fears they will be locked out of their investments in those companies once again. But she imagined they would say whether they could speak freely: “Everyone wants to join the X-brand name fund, so they never criticize [for fear of repercussions] . . They probably talk about us behind our backs [laughs]..…
After bringing together people from around the world for 23 years, Skype, a popular video calling service, is closed. Parent company Microsoft has confirmed that the official sunset for the service is May 5, 2025. Skype users can choose to migrate all their contacts and chat with their Microsoft teams, or download Skype data and migrate to another video call service. To help Switch users, we have created a guide on how to migrate to a team and how to download Skype data. Additionally, we have curated a list of apps calling alternative videos that can replace Skype. How to…
After Employer.com acquired the accounting startup bench that went bankrupt with firefighting sales late last year, CEO Jesse Tinsley has pledged to honor past customer payments on LinkedIn and others. “We respect all prepaid bench services despite not being able to earn directly from it,” Tinsley said in an interview with founder and investor Julian Weiser. However, some bench customers say they are being charged to get books and tax returns they paid previously. The lawsuit filed Tuesday by bench customer Qorum alleges that the bench will have to pay to obtain its 2023 tax return, despite already paying for…
Swedish Fintech Klarna took the next step with the highly anticipated US IPO when it published its F-1 prospectus on Friday. We are now sifting through the documents. Klarna hopes to raise at least $1 billion at the IPO last week at a $15 billion valuation. The public documents have yet to disclose the number of shares or price ranges to be sold, so it is not clear whether the IPO meets funding aspirations. It usually takes a month, sometimes longer, after the prospectus document is published to bite. However, this IPO has been anticipated for years, so perhaps the…
Google will replace its Android phone Google Assistant with Gemini later this year, the company announced Friday. In a blog post, Google said it will upgrade more users from Google Assistant to Gemini “over the next few months.” Later this year, assistants will be available to most mobile devices and app stores. “In addition, we will upgrade tablets, cars and devices that connect to mobile phones such as headphones and watches to Gemini,” the company added. “We bring new experiences with Gemini to our home devices, such as speakers, displays, and televisions.” Google said it will share details with users…
Former AT&T engineer Mark Klein has become a whistleblower who exposed mass surveillance by the US government, but died at the age of 79. Klein was released in 2006 and revealed that the NSA is using the secret room at San Francisco's AT&T hub to use the internet backbone. Behind the doors of the now-now-famous Room 641A, optical splitting eavesdropped on the same copy of raw internet traffic and returned to the NSA. Klein's disclosure used powers granted by Congress in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to confirm that the US government has access to internet…
When the GPS got malfunctioning and missed the exit on the highway, we all went through that moment of frustration. The Tern AI team, building a low-cost GPS alternative, says it's because current technology is limited by its reliance on satellite positioning. Tern AI says it found a way to find the vehicle's location using only map information and existing sensor data from the vehicle. The company's pitch: It's a cheap system that doesn't require any additional expensive sensors. At SXSW, Austin-based startups have demonstrated that they can “derive positions from Nothing” exclusively for TechCrunch. “There's no triangulation, satellites, wi-fi,…
China appears to believe its AI startup Deepseek could become a prominent technological success story for the country. According to the information, the company is currently operating under new government-influenced restrictions after suddenly gaining fame in January with the release of R1, a public “inference” model of the open “inference” model. According to the information, some of the company's employees are freely blocked from traveling abroad, and the Chinese government is currently playing a role in screening potential investors. Deepseek implements travel restrictions by keeping the passports of certain staff members, the parent company, HighFlyer, a quantitative hedge fund. The…