Author: TechBrunch
Apple is finally releasing some of the Apple Intelligence features it announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. However, the rollout is currently limited to the developer beta of iOS 18.1, so if you don't want to deal with buggy software in the early stages, you might want to wait for the public beta Apple Intelligence feature release or the stable release later this year. If you're using the Developer Beta, you can only use Apple Intelligence features if your language is set to US English and your region is set to the U.S. This does not affect your…
Hey everyone, welcome to TechCrunch's regular AI newsletter. In the AI space this week, Gartner released a report suggesting that roughly one-third of generative AI projects within enterprises will be abandoned after the proof-of-concept phase by the end of 2025. The reasons for this are varied, including poor data quality, inadequate risk management and rising infrastructure costs. However, according to the report, one of the biggest barriers to generative AI adoption is a lack of clarity about business value. Gartner estimates that deploying generative AI across an organization comes at a steep cost of $5 million to $20 million. A…
More than 100 venture capitalists, including Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla and Mark Cuban, have pledged to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential election. Mobilized under the group VCsForKamala, the VCs are also raising money for Harris' campaign, though organizers say the effort is not intended to align with any particular political party. According to the group's website, signing the petition represents a commitment to “strong and trusted institutions.” “We believe that strong, credible institutions are a feature, not a flaw, and without them our industry – and every other industry – will collapse,” reads a…
Startups are raising big amounts of funding to provide a fun, non-alcoholic drink option for bars and other social settings. Earlier this year, canned water maker Liquid Death said it had raised $67 million in new funding at a valuation of $1.4 billion, and Athletic Brewing Company, which calls itself the largest non-alcoholic beer brewery in the U.S., said it had raised $50 million. While technology isn't necessarily a differentiator for either company, they could be considered disruptive startups as they are trying to create a new beverage category beyond just cola or craft beer. There's also a sparkling water…
Match Group announced on Tuesday that it will discontinue its dating app live-streaming service and cut 6% of its workforce. The news was announced during the dating app giant's second-quarter earnings report. The move will see Match shift its focus to other services, including generative AI. The decision to end live streaming directly affects dating apps Plenty of Fish (POF) and BLK, which launched free live streaming features “Live!” in 2020. These features were an attempt to encourage users to go on virtual dates during COVID-19 lockdowns. Users could also purchase “live credits” to send streamers on virtual dates, similar…
German robotics maker Neura released a video this week of its humanoid robot, 4NE-1, performing a variety of tasks, including ironing and moving boxes. The promotional video comes as Nvidia unveils a slew of new tools for humanoids at the SIGGRAPH conference in Colorado. Neura is one of 13 companies given early access to Nvidia's humanoid development and deployment tools. The list also includes 1X, Boston Dynamics, ByteDance Research, Field AI, Figure, Fourier, Galbot, LimX Dynamics, Mentee, RobotEra and Skild AI. Some of the biggest names in the emerging form factor space include 1X, Figure, and Boston Dynamics. Neura has…
Bending Spoons, the Italian company that owns apps such as Evernote and Meetup, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired file-transfer service WeTransfer. The companies did not disclose terms of the acquisition or the valuation. WeTransfer CEO Alexander Vasilev said the platform's development over the past decade has resulted in 600,000 subscribers and 80 million monthly active users. “Nurturing the creative community and amplifying their voices has been key to our success, and some of Bending Spoons' most successful products are tools that power creativity, so we are confident this milestone will help us accelerate our growth and create even…
The collapse of banking-as-a-service (BaaS) fintech company Synapse will have serious, long-term negative effects “on fintech in general, and consumer-facing services in particular,” one observer said. In its wake, other startups in the space are working hard to prove that not all BaaS is created equal. As fintech partners, Itai Damti, CEO and co-founder at Unit, Mitchell Lee, chief risk and compliance officer at Synctera, and Sheetal Parikh, general counsel and chief compliance officer at Treasury Prime, are working overtime to ensure their companies are operating in a compliant manner. The three will take to the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt…
According to data from Crunchbase, global startup funding increased 16% in Q2 due to an increase in mega-rounds, and the increase was unsurprisingly driven by the AI sector: funding into AI companies accounted for 30% of total investments, doubling quarter-over-quarter to $24 billion. On today's TechCrunch Equity podcast, Mary Ann talks numbers with Gené Teare, Senior Data Editor for Crunchbase and Crunchbase News. Teare is a leading analyst of the global venture capital market and played a key role at Crunchbase since its inception and remains one of the company's longest-tenured staffers. “I was really surprised that AI revenue doubled…
AI agents are all the rage right now, and early-stage startup Tezi is working on developing an AI agent to help HR teams find the best candidates for job openings. According to the startup, the bot will comb through resumes to find people who fit the hiring criteria, find interview times on recruiters' calendars, and email candidates. Today, the company announced it has raised $9 million in seed funding to support its path to mass commercialization. For now, the company is rolling out an alpha product to a small number of design clients this week, but that's the company's vision,…