Author: TechBrunch
Eight years ago, Brian Garrett and his partners felt a tectonic shift. At the time, Crosscut Ventures, of which Garrett was co-founder and managing partner, had been investing in early-stage startups in Los Angeles and Southern California for nearly a decade. Although it was primarily focused on software companies, it began to shift its focus to hardware as more promising founders became attracted to it. “At that point, SpaceX was very established,” he told TechCrunch. “In most cases, people started to become independent from SpaceX because they rang the bell and sent supplies.” [into space] And I'm back. ” But…
Busy calendar apps tend to create a lot of buzz and then disappear after a while. Sometimes the company is acquired, and sometimes the company pivots to another business. That's not the case with Fantastical, a popular calendar app for macOS, iOS, and other Apple platforms. Originally released as a Mac app in 2011, the team behind Fantastical has improved the app with each update. Over the past 13 years, Flexibits, which runs Fantastical, has also released calendar apps on other Apple platforms. See the following calendar events on your Apple Watch. If you need spatial computing to focus on…
President Joe Biden's administration is finalizing rules to curb Chinese investment in AI and other technology sectors, Reuters reported. The rule, first proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department in June and directed by an executive order signed by President Biden in August 2023, targets certain AI systems, quantum information systems, semiconductors and microelectronics. . Specifically, the rule pertains to technologies that are core to military and surveillance systems, such as code-breaking computer systems and next-generation fighter jets. Starting January 2, investors will be able to offer funding and other “intangibles” such as management support and access to investment and talent…
MoneyGram, the money transfer giant, has replaced its CEO less than a month after the company confirmed that hackers had stolen large amounts of customers' personal information and transaction records in a data breach. MoneyGram announced in a statement Monday that it has appointed Anthony Sufu as its chief executive officer, effective immediately. Sufu succeeds Alex Holmes, who joined MoneyGram in 2009 and served as chief financial officer and then chief operating officer, and was named CEO and chairman in 2016. Holmes will remain as an advisor to the company's board of directors, the company said in a statement. In…
The AI boom has led to a surge in demand for graphics processing units (GPUs). As many companies look to integrate AI technology into their systems, GPU infrastructure providers are helping businesses access the chips they need. In the latest development, San Jose-based GPU cloud infrastructure startup GMI Cloud has raised a Series A led by Headline Asia with participation from strategic investors including Thai energy company Banpu and Taiwan's Wistron. raised $82 million. An electronics company based in Banpu will provide power to GMI Cloud and Wistron will co-develop products with the startup. Alex Yeh, founder and CEO of…
The world of finance is always looking for signals, indicators that indicate opportunities to buy or sell in the market. Some may look for signals in expensive analyst reports, while others may find them in behind-the-scenes conversations with insiders. But investors sometimes need help finding these indicators that are hiding in plain sight. What Brightwave promises its AI agents will be able to spot are signals in public data. “There's a huge amount of unprocessed signals in the world right now,” Brightwave CEO Mike Conover (pictured above, right) told TechCrunch. “The core job of asset managers is to learn about…
Day 2 of TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 has arrived, and the energy from day 1 is still electrifying across San Francisco! We’re only partway through the 250+ speakers, 200+ sessions, and 350+ exhibiting startups at Disrupt. As expected, yesterday saw over 10,000 tech enthusiasts, startup founders, and investors filling Moscone West with energy — we’re not slowing down this momentum! Gear up for another action-packed day filled with immersive experiences. Dive in, make meaningful connections, and enjoy your time at the pulse of the tech world. The tech scene is at its finest! It’s still not too late to join this…
Salesforce on Tuesday announced the general availability of its AI agent development platform called Agentforce. The service is essentially a low-code or no-code way to deploy chatbots for your employees and customers. Salesforce says its new platform is already being used by companies such as OpenTable, Saks, and Wiley. “Agentforce doesn’t rely on human interaction to get the job done,” Salesforce wrote in a release associated with the news. “These agents can be triggered by changes in data, business rules, or pre-built automation.” Meanwhile, the company's site notes that the new service is a human-bot symbiosis. “Humans and agents work…
Best-selling author Margaret Atwood isn't worried about the unabated rise of generative AI. He told Reuters he was too old to worry about the impact on art. Her remarks follow a petition calling for an end to the unauthorized use of creative works to train AI models, which currently has more than 31,000 signatures. But Atwood's relaxed posture in Machine March isn't just due to age. This is supported by her critical assessment of the achievements of AI in specific artistic fields. “So far, AI is a shitty poet,” she told the news agency. “It's really bad. Like, worse than…
While it may not be a very sexy topic, facility management is at the heart of any business with a physical facility, and the larger the footprint, the more complex it becomes to manage. Portuguese startup Infraspeak has sought to address this issue with an all-in-one platform that provides facility managers and related service providers with insight and operational control into everything going on in a particular location. Founded in 2015, Infraspeak has raised around $20 million in funding and secured major clients including KFC, InterContinental and Primark. And to fuel its next phase of growth, the Porto-based startup announced…