Author: TechBrunch

Last spring, founders from all over the world began their treks to Techstars’ Stockholm accelerator program. Their backdrop was solemn: A bank run was in the process of crushing Silicon Valley Bank, and the entire startup industry was on edge. The bank’s parent company, SVB Financial, was a major investor in Techstars and, like much of the startup world, Techstars had a sizable deposit there, according to sources. No one knew at the time whether those deposits would be wiped out. A day before the bank completely collapsed, Techstars Stockholm Managing Director Alfredo Jollon posted an essay on LinkedIn saying…

A week after warning investors that layoffs would be needed to avoid impending bankruptcy, EV startup Fisker Corp. is trying to “protect cash,” according to an internal email seen by TechCrunch. They are also laying off employees. Founder and CEO Henrik Fisker said in an email to employees Monday morning that the company “continues to evaluate all viable options for the business, including the possibility of a transaction. “We are fully committed to identifying potential buyers and channels to inject capital into the business.” “That being said, you need to conserve cash to be able to take advantage of these…

Fortnite maker Epic Games will bring its popular battle royale game to iPad later this year, following the EU's decision to designate Apple's iPadOS as a separate digital “gatekeeper” under Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations. It was approved to be introduced. The company previously announced that Fortnite would return to iPhones in the EU as a result of the DMA, which forces Apple to compete with alternative app stores such as Epic's Game Store. in Post to X Epic Games praised the EU's decision on iPad on Monday, saying it will bring Fortnite to the EU's Epic Games Store “immediately”…

Meta's Threads social network recently passed the 150 million monthly user mark, and the company isn't slowing down its growth engine. To increase engagement, the social media giant is running a limited-time bonus program for Threads. Over the past few days, many accounts have posted about this program. The company confirmed to TechCrunch a limited-time invite-only program for creators that it began testing in March. Mehta said there will be “individual” bonus requirements for invited creators. For now, the program is limited to creators in the United States, but if successful, the company said it may expand the program to…

Is AI-powered IDE the future of software development? GitHub is proposing the idea. At its annual GitHub Universe conference in San Francisco on Monday, GitHub announced Copilot Workspace. It's a development environment that lets developers brainstorm, plan, build, test, and run code in natural language using what GitHub calls “Copilot-powered agents.” Jonathan Carter, head of GitHub Next, GitHub's software research and development team, pitches Workspace as a more general evolution of Copilot, GitHub's AI-powered coding assistant, to help developers understand their code. It builds on recently introduced features like Copilot Chat where you can ask questions. in natural language. “Through…

TechCrunch recently broke the news that Elon Musk's xAI has raised $6 billion at a pre-money valuation of $18 billion. The deal hasn't been finalized yet, so numbers could change. But Musk sounds like he's making an ambitious pitch to investors for his 10-month-old startup. The startup is a rival to OpenAI, of which Musk is also a co-founder, and is currently being sued for abandoning its initial promise to focus on the interests of humanity. profit. You may be wondering: Aren't there enough companies around Musk already? Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink, The Boring Company, and more. Perhaps…

No matter how fun and easy it looks on HGTV, flipping houses is not for the faint of heart. One startup wants to reduce the complexity of the process by offering another way to borrow money to finance such purchases. Founded in late 2020, Backflip provides services to real estate investors to secure short-term loans. Backflip's technology not only helps users raise funds, but also helps investors source, track, aggregate, and evaluate potential investments. Think of it as a combination of Zillow and Shopify. Backflip provides financing through its subsidiary Double Backflip, LLC. Interestingly, the company's processing team also includes…

This week we're starting with an AI focus. OpenAI's new deal with the Financial Times caught our attention. Granted, this is also a content licensing agreement, but there appears to be more to this partnership than just distributing content to one side and handing over money to the other. We also dug into TechCrunch's recent xAI news. Mr. Musk's AI company is not going to raise his $3 billion at a $15 billion valuation. No, it's currently asking $6 billion at an $18 billion valuation. That's a lot of capital. There was a lot more to talk about, including the…

True to its business concept, Turkish “instant delivery” giant Getil has risen rapidly. Currently, the quick commerce industry is in freefall and is plummeting just as fast. On Monday, the company, once worth nearly $12 billion, announced it would cease operations in the U.S., U.K. and Europe to focus solely on its home market of Turkey. The move marks the company's extraordinary bid to raise billions of dollars to grow organically and acquire a number of similarly aggressive but struggling competitors to establish itself as a market leader. This would bring a bitter end to an aggressive expansion strategy. The…

Ola has fired Chief Executive Officer Hemant Bakshi just four months after he was appointed to the post and will further cut about 180 jobs, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The Indian ride-hailing startup's move is aimed at “improving profitability,” company founder and chairman Bhavish Agarwal told employees in a Monday email seen by TechCrunch. The company is undergoing a “restructuring exercise” to prepare for its “next phase of growth,” Agarwal, pictured above, wrote in an email. The move comes after Ola suspended operations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand earlier this month. Bakshi, a former executive…