Author: TechBrunch
The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized startups have also seen a fair amount of cuts, and in some cases, have shut down operations altogether. By tracking these layoffs, we’re able to understand the impact on innovation across companies large and small. We’re also able to see the potential impact of businesses…
When Harry Jones, Tom Reeses, and Alex Battle set out to found Motorway, a startup that connects car owners with dealers looking to buy and resell their cars, in 2017, it was the founding team's first It wasn't a startup rodeo. It wasn't even the second time. Motorway was actually the founding team's fifth startup, Motorway CPO Jones said on a recent episode of TechCrunch's Found podcast. He added that the co-founders met in 2002 when they were all young, and Reese and Jones worked at the same startup and were able to grow alongside each other. Despite their experience…
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said Tuesday that users who connect their accounts to the Fediverse, also known as the open social web, will be able to see who follows them from other Fediverse servers such as Mastodon and PixelFed. It has been announced that you can now check whether your posts are liked. The company said users will also have up to 15 minutes to change or edit posts on the social network. Tap on a post's activity or follower list to see a complete list of followers and likes from other fediverse servers. You must click on the “Fediverse…
Durk Kingma, one of OpenAI's lesser-known co-founders, today announced that he will be joining Anthropic. In a series of posts about X, Kingma revealed that he would mostly work remotely from the Netherlands (where he is based), but did not say which human organization he would join or lead. Reached for comment, an Anthropic spokesperson pointed to Kingma's post. I work (primarily) from the Netherlands, but plan to visit the San Francisco Bay Area as often as possible.— Daruk Kingma (@dpkingma) October 1, 2024 “Anthropic’s approach to AI development resonates strongly with my own beliefs,” Kingma wrote. “[L]I look forward…
It's been a rocky week for OpenAI, with executive departures and major funding developments, but the company has bounced back and is encouraging developers to build tools using its AI models at DevDay 2024. I'm trying to convince you. The company announced several new tools on Tuesday, including a public beta of its “Realtime API” for building apps with low-latency, AI-generated voice responses. It's not quite as advanced as ChatGPT's advanced voice mode, but it's close. OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil said in a press briefing ahead of the event that the recent departures of Chief Technology Officer Mira…
Image inspiration and shopping site Pinterest is the latest tech company to roll out generative AI products to advertisers, following similar moves by Google and Amazon. At Pinterest Presents, an advertiser event held on Tuesday, the company announced new features for its Pinterest Performance+ suite, which includes both automation and AI. The latter will allow advertisers to turn white, blank or flat backgrounds into lifestyle images. Pinterest says the new feature, which is rolling out on Tuesday, will help advertisers who want to enhance their product Pins (ads) on Pinterest to get more clicks. Using generative AI to transform product…
Sometimes a demo is all you need to understand a product. The same goes for runwear. When you visit the Runware website, type the prompt and press Enter to generate the image, you will be amazed at how quickly Runware generates the image. It takes less than a second. Runware is a newcomer to the startup world of AI inference, or generative AI. The company builds its own servers and optimizes the software layers on those servers to eliminate bottlenecks and improve the inference speed of image generation models. The startup has already secured $3 million in funding from Andreessen…
Fusion startups have struggled to raise funding of late, but young startup Acceleron Fusion has joined the pack, raising $15 million of its targeted $23.7 million round, according to an SEC filing. That's what it means. The fusion sector has recently received a lot of interest from investors, who are no doubt encouraged by the groundbreaking experiment at the National Ignition Facility two years ago, in which a controlled fusion reaction is about to begin. It has been proven that more power can be generated than is needed. The first companies to build power plants capable of producing electricity that…
Get ready for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, our signature event for startups at all stages, taking place October 28th-30th at Moscone West in San Francisco. This year, we expect massive participation, with more than 10,000 leaders from startups, venture capital, and the broader technology community. As part of the program, we're excited to announce the full Disrupt Stage agenda, with some of the biggest names in technology that have dominated the news cycle this year and will continue to dominate. Hear from the CEOs of General Motors, Databricks, and Wiz. Investors include Vinod Khosla, Ashton Kutcher, Tony Fadel, Erin Foster and…
Last year, Sound Ventures, a nine-year-old Beverly Hills, Calif.-based venture led by general partners Ashton Kutcher, Guy O'Seary and Effie Epstein, launched a new Announced $65 million AI fund. Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face. In fact, the plan was to invest in just six companies. This is a potentially lucrative bet, albeit a risk to the team's vision for the future, as the biggest winners in the AI space will be You will be selected. Must be small and large. Sound has since raised even more money for the same fund. And judging by some of the deals…