Author: TechBrunch
Pilot season has officially begun in the world of humanoid robotics. Last year, Amazon began testing Agility's Digit robots at some fulfillment centers, and in January, Figure announced a deal with BMW. Apptronik is currently working on that effort, courtesy of a partnership with Mercedes-Benz. According to the Austin-based robotics startup, “As part of the agreement, Uptronik and Mercedes-Benz will work together to identify areas of application for advanced robotics in Mercedes-Benz manufacturing.” As is customary for this type of transaction, specific numbers were not disclosed. Generally, the number of actual systems included in the pilot is fairly small, which…
Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADIA is in talks to back Pocket FM with a major new funding round as the Indian audio storytelling platform expands deeper into the US, two people familiar with the matter said. a source told TechCrunch. Talks on the new round have been going on for more than a month and follow Pocket FM's recent securing of about $100 million in another funding round from Lightspeed Venture Partners, the people said, adding further details. The person requested anonymity because it has not yet been published. TechCrunch reported last year that Lightspeed Venture Partners was working…
Apple has added another AI startup to its list of acquisitions, along with Canada-based DarwinAI, which specializes in vision-based technology that improves efficiency by observing components during manufacturing, Bloomberg reports. Apple and DarwinAI did not announce the deal, but several members of the startup's team joined Apple's machine learning team in January, according to their LinkedIn profiles. DarwinAI has raised over $15 million in various rounds from investors including BDC Capital's Deep Tech Venture Fund, Honeywell Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and Inovia Capital. BDC Capital confirms on its website that it has received an exit from DarwinAI, while Obvious Venture has…
San Jose, California-based cloud security company Zscaler has acquired cybersecurity startup Avalor for a reported $310 million in cash and stock, 26 months after its founding. In a press release announcing the news, Zscaler Founder and CEO Jay Chaudhry said the partnership will expand Zscaler's platform to enable efficient reporting of security incidents, Security mitigation, asset discovery, data classification, security policy generation, and other capabilities will be expanded. “AI is only as good as the underlying data, and many solutions lack the additional context and knowledge from data sources across the enterprise to truly leverage security-specific AI models.” Dolly said…
The sun is peeking out from behind the clouds and the birds are chirping. This can only mean one thing. That means developer season is upon us. While the rest of us are out in the world touching the proverbial and literal grass, developers around the world are flocking to conference halls to find out what's coming next year for AI and OSes. Next week starts with his NVIDIA's GTC, and the next few months will include Microsoft Build, Apple's WWDC, and of course Google I/O. The latter will be held at its usual venue, May 14th and 15th, at…
Under Armor's new ad featuring boxer Anthony Joshua is under fire from Instagram creators after its director claims it is the “first AI-powered sports commercial,” but industry critics are is a cash grab from the AI hype cycle that some claim is blatantly reusing other people's work without credit. Director Wes Walker posted the spot on Instagram earlier this week, along with several variations and riffs, saying: “Under Armor asked us to build a film using only existing assets, the 3D model of Anthony Joshua, and without any athlete access. We combined CGI, 2D VFX, motion graphics, 35mm film, and…
Two months ago, media giant Fox Corp. partnered with Polygon Labs, the team behind the Ethereum-focused Layer 2 blockchain, to tackle deepfake distrust. Fox and Polygon launched Verify, a protocol aimed at protecting IP while allowing consumers to verify the authenticity of content. And since then, government regulatory boards, publishers and others have seen it as a viable solution to “today's problems,” Fox CTO Melody Hildebrandt said on TechCrunch's Chain Reaction podcast. Told. Hildebrandt said he is bullish that more news organizations, media companies and others will integrate AI technology as it becomes mainstream. This could be beneficial for both…
Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. Get a roundup of TechCrunch's biggest and most important cryptocurrency articles delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12pm PT. Subscribe here. Hello. Welcome to the TechCrunch Crypto Newsletter. I hope you all “choose rich” this week. This may be the latest slogan adopted by the crypto community, thanks to Nifty Portal co-founder and CEO Nick O'Neill in a parody video on Friday. This is perhaps a more empowering message, as opposed to the long-standing cryptocurrency tagline that tells people to “enjoy being poor.” Will this help bring more people into…
If your robotics startup is looking to raise funding, there's almost a 100% chance that potential investors will ask you two questions: 1) How do you incorporate generative AI? 2) Have you ever considered building a humanoid robot? The first one is easy to answer. If you run a robotics company in 2024, you've almost certainly experimented with incorporating generative AI into your workflows. The second one is one of the questions we get from investors that we have to really think about and say, “Okay, so what? “You know, humanoids have potential, but they're not really suited for this…
The biotech sector has embraced the microbiome in recent years, a green field market powered by cheap genome sequencing and venture dollars, promising bespoke treatments for everything from gut troubles to skin problems. But a report in Science alleges that these companies lack scientific rigor and meaningful regulation, offering little more than guesswork on a complex and understudied area of human health. The startups in question offer a nuanced response to this criticism that emphasizes their efforts to achieve legitimacy in an area they admit has the potential for snake oil. The microbiome is a general term for the unique…