Author: TechBrunch
Every day, employees around the world spend countless hours performing tedious, repetitive tasks, such as converting documents to PDFs, uploading them to Drive, and then importing them into a database and emailing them to their team. UiPath was a pioneer in this kind of “robotic” process, but has pivoted to an AI-driven mode of operation, even as a number of startups (Signavio, Servicetrace, etc.) are catching up. Now, after closing a new round of funding, startup Bardeen is launching a service to automate these tasks for businesses. Bardeen's platform uses a natural language interface to automate repetitive knowledge tasks. The…
Natural language AI assistants tend to be fluent in English and can speak other languages reasonably well, which can be confusing for millions of people who switch seamlessly between the two languages instantly. But a new AI helper called Silvia has no trouble understanding a mix of Spanish and English, and more language combinations to come. The app isn't some kind of funded startup; it was created last month by Mansidak Singh, who is a founding product engineer at re:collect AI by day. “I met an Argentinian girl at a bar last month, and she told me that her iPhone…
Defense technology startup Anduril has completed what is likely one of the largest funding rounds this year, a $1.5 billion deal that values the company at $14 billion. Anduril has ambitions of becoming the next great American defense contractor, joining a group of companies that has shrunk to just five big names: Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and General Dynamics. These companies make billions of dollars in revenue from business with the Pentagon, giving them near-total control over defense production. But the defense startup founded by Palmer Luckey is poised to become a formidable rival to those longtime leaders,…
A British space startup has revealed plans to launch its first satellite as part of SpaceX's ride-along program, which the company claims will usher in a “new era of space research” in which astronomy data will be collected, packaged and sold “as a service.” Like previous missions, SpaceX's Transporter 15 program next year will use a Falcon 9 rocket to ferry third-party payloads into space, including one from London-based Blue Skies Space, which has revealed it will carry its first Moab satellites on an October 2025 launch. The satellite is designed to complement data provided by existing astronomy efforts such…
YouTube is testing an integration with Google Gemini to help creators brainstorm video ideas, titles and thumbnails. The Google-owned company announced the launch of the new Gemini brainstorming feature in a video posted to its Creator Insider channel. A YouTube spokesperson told TechCrunch that the feature is being offered to select creators as part of a small, limited experiment, and that YouTube will consider creator feedback before deciding whether to roll it out more broadly. The new tool could give YouTube an edge over other social media video platforms that creators frequent because it offers features not available on competing…
Investor dreams last year of a robust 2024 IPO pipeline are fading, if not disappearing entirely, as we move into the second half of the year. This year, four venture-backed tech IPOs in March and April — Reddit, Astera Labs, Ibotta and Rubrik — looked like they might finally generate the momentum investors were hoping for in 2023. But secondary investors and IPO lawyers recently told TechCrunch that despite the success of these four deals, the IPO market won't fully reopen until 2025 or later, given macro conditions such as the looming presidential election and rising interest rates. This year…
Techstars plans to lay off 17% of its workforce and exit its $80 million JPMorgan-backed Advancing Cities program once it's fully funded at the end of the year, according to information obtained by TechCrunch. The Advancing Cities program, launched in 2022, has launched accelerator programs across the country in cities such as Oakland, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C., with the aim of supporting more diverse founders. JPMorgan sponsored the program until December, but as TechCrunch previously reported, the bank's relationship with Techstars quickly soured. The bank was supposed to commit to continuing the program last summer so Techstars could…
Google is continuing its consumer hardware momentum in August. On Tuesday, the company unveiled the long-awaited new Nest Thermostat and the Google TV Streamer, which replaces its 11-year-old Chromecast line. Next Tuesday, at Made by Google 2024, the software giant will refresh its Pixel line with a slew of new smartphones. Previous Made by Google events have been held on the East Coast in October, and this one will be held at the company's Mountain View headquarters, starting at 10am PST/1pm ET on August 13. As always, the easiest way to watch is via Google's own livestream, which coincidentally is…
Just three months after Maven's public launch, former OpenAI researcher Kenneth Stanley is stepping down as co-founder of the social media platform designed to facilitate serendipitous interactions. Stanley wrote in a post on Maven and X that despite the enthusiastic response to the platform's launch, Maven “has not been able to achieve the growth curve that investors would like to see to justify increased investment, and there is likely still a missing component to such growth.” To extend Maven's lifespan, Stanley and co-founder Blas Moros have decided to pursue other opportunities. Jimmy Secreton, Maven's chief technology officer, told TechCrunch that…
ChatGPT's app revenue soared after OpenAI released its new GPT-4o “omni” model in May. The mobile version of OpenAI's chatbot saw its biggest monthly revenue yet after the model's release. The app earned $28 million in net revenue from the App Store and Google Play in July, according to data from app intelligence firm Appfigures. Net revenue represents what OpenAI has left after paying Apple and Google in-app purchase fees, and the company found that Apple's App Store now accounts for 83% of its app revenue, a figure that's up 20% since June. Before app store fees, ChatGPT's apps generated…