Author: TechBrunch

At Tesla's robotaxi unveiling event last week, several Optimus humanoid robots mingled with guests, pouring drinks and cracking jokes. It's impressive technology, but the vocals and some gestures appear to be controlled remotely by humans, something Tesla hasn't disclosed. On today's episode of Equity, Rebecca Beran talks with TechCrunch's Hardware Editor Brian Heater about Tesla's Optimus Bot, the market opportunity for humanoid robots, and other companies leading the way in this industry. . Brian pointed out that what Tesla is sharing is essentially an advertisement for what the automaker's technology can do in the future, not what it can do…

Photonic computing startup Lightmatter has raised $400 million to blow away one of the bottlenecks of modern data centers. The company's optical interconnect layer enables hundreds of GPUs to work synchronously, streamlining the costly and complex task of training and running AI models. The growth of AI and its massive computing requirements are intensifying the data center industry, but it's not as simple as plugging in another 1,000 GPUs. As high-performance computing experts have known for years, it doesn't matter how fast each node of a supercomputer is if it's idle half the time waiting to receive data. there is…

The United States is facing a shortage of electricians, with job openings in the field expected to grow 11% annually over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the shortage won't go away anytime soon, as U.S. electrician candidates typically must log 8,000 hours of work before becoming licensed. In normal times, labor shortages can cause inconvenience while the labor market changes accordingly. But the United States is in the midst of a seismic shift in how people and businesses use electricity. Adding solar panels, replacing furnaces with heat pumps, adding electric vehicle chargers, etc.…

Fable has earned a reputation as the go-to startup for helping companies develop digital products that are more accessible to people with disabilities. After raising $25 million in new funding, the Toronto-based startup is now working to expand the community it supports and make its AI training data more inclusive. Fable was launched in 2020 as an easier way to reach out to accessibility experts and people with disabilities. This ensures that anyone building a product has the best advice to make it as accessible as possible. Since our A round two years later, we've built a more robust product…

Airbnb hosting is a complex business, from setting up listings and managing properties to understanding price trends, communicating with customers, and tracking revenue. The challenge is that the more properties a host manages, the harder it becomes to juggle everything. To solve this problem, as part of its winter release, Airbnb is introducing a co-host network feature that allows hosts to find top-rated local co-hosts to help manage their properties. The travel company has built a network of “rental hosts” like LinkedIn and Fiverr made up of highly rated local hosts. Airbnb currently accepts hosts with a rating of 4.8…

While lawmakers in most countries are still debating how to put guardrails around artificial intelligence, the European Union is ahead of the curve by passing a risk-based framework to regulate AI apps earlier this year. The law came into force in August, but the details of the pan-EU AI governance regime are still being worked out. For example, a code of practice is being developed. But the compliance countdown has already begun and is ticking as the law's gradual provisions begin to apply to makers of AI apps and models over the coming months and years. The next challenge is…

David Carandish is a busy man. His support automation company, Capacity, was planning a $5 million “bridge round” to help the company reach breakeven. But TVC Capital, Toloka.vc and the venture's other backers had grander plans in mind. So they put in another $21 million in Capacity's $26 million Series D. While all this was happening, Capacity acquired three companies: enterprise search company Lucy (which raised $5.6 million) and two startups focused on customer service automation, Linc and Envision. “Capacity is in an exciting period of transformation as we grow to help brands automate interactions with their customers and team…

From Switzerland's Founderful to Italian Founders Fund and Dutch Operator Fund, European VC startups claim to operate as “entrepreneurs supporting entrepreneurs.” It may be too early to call it a trend, but Swedish fund Node.vc has joined the group, raising €71 million to expand into startups in the Nordic and Baltic countries. “We hope this is the start of a trend,” Node.vc Managing Partner John Elvesjö told TechCrunch. “Europe lags far behind the US in terms of operating experience for VC investors…There is a lot of marketing about founder-led and operator experience, but if you scratch the surface, typically It's…

Storio is a French startup focused on providing smart energy storage to commercial and industrial customers. The startup, founded in 2023, raised a seed round of 5 million euros (about $5.5 million at current exchange rates) earlier this year and signed its first customer. Storio believes that solar panels have a bright future. But the company also wants all solar panels to include batteries to optimize production. Its target customers are other businesses that may not feel they have the time or expertise to participate in all these technical parts themselves. Instead of manufacturing or selling standalone batteries, Storio has…

Dane Stuckey, former CISO at analytics company Palantir, joins OpenAI as its newest CISO, alongside Matt Knight, OpenAI's head of security. Stuckey announced the move in a post on X Tuesday night. “Security is closely tied to OpenAI’s mission,” he said. “To protect the hundreds of millions of users of our products, ensure democratic institutions can fully benefit from these technologies, and advance the development of secure AGI for the world, we must Meeting the highest standards of security is important. I'm excited about this next chapter and can't wait to help realize a future where AI benefits us all.”…