Author: TechBrunch

Tomorrow is the day everyone has been waiting for! TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 begins in Boston. We look forward to seeing you at the venue. We expect over 1,000 attendees to spend a full day covering all things early-stage startups. A quick reminder of what lies ahead as you prepare to immerse yourself in the world of startup success. Speaker highlights Edith Yeung, General Partner, Race Capital, Emily Knight, President, The Engine Accelerator James Currier, General Partner, NFX Jess Lee, Partner, Sequoia Rudina Seseri, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Glasswing Ventures Sara Choi, Partner , Wing Venture Capital Tom Blomfield, Group…

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided whether a close partnership and employment practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and three AI startups fall within the scope of the Merger Rules, and the implications that the arrangement could have. We have begun a preliminary investigation to see if there is. Competition in the UK market. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of Big Tech's approach to M&A in the world of AI, with critics arguing that so-called “quasi-mergers” have emerged as a trend of the times as a way to avoid regulatory oversight. are doing. At the same time, governance…

Automation continues to be a key theme for enterprises, especially with the rise of AI as a tool to help fix more mundane, resource-intensive and fragmented aspects of how security and other IT functions operate. It is emphasized. To capitalize on this trend, Dublin-founded Tines, one of the largest startups in the field, announced $50 million in funding. Although Tines started with its roots in security workflow automation, it has been adopted in other parts of the IT environment. Now, on the back of a 200% increase in revenue over the past 18 months, the company plans to use the…

Hinge has added a “Hidden Words” feature to its app, which filters out likes that include comments containing that phrase or word. It works much like a mute filter on social media apps. Hinge allows users to send messages when they like a profile. That message can contain any text. Rivals such as Bumble introduced a similar feature called “compliments” in 2022. Hinge, which is owned by Match Group, is using this new word-hiding feature to try to reduce online harassment through these messages. If a Like with a comment includes a word you've added to your muted list, your…

When Trace's future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith, and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in spring/summer 2015, the startup's profile was about the same. After years of secrecy, the augmented reality company captivated Silicon Valley's imagination with in-device footage and ended the year with $827 million in funding. The story of the intervening years has been one of highly-promising startups being heavily funded and struggling to find market fit. Mr. Tran stepped down as creative director in January 2020, and Mr. Couture and Mr. Smith retired in July 2020 and February 2021, respectively. Trace was founded in 2021, with Tran,…

Conversational AI platform Parloa has secured $66 million in Series B funding, a year after the German startup raised $21 million from a raft of European investors to fuel international growth. did. The company is particularly focused on the U.S. market, with Parloa opening a New York office last year. The company said the location helped it secure deals with “several Fortune 200 companies” in the region. In its latest installment, Parloa has secured Altimeter Capital, a US-based VC firm known for its previous investments in Uber, Airbnb, Snowflake, Twilio, HubSpot, and more, as a lead backer. AI and automation…

Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to support pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 venture companies by the end of the year, with its first three deals After the establishment of the agreement, the company has stepped up its fundraising activities. Revealing its plans to TechCrunch, Madica is aiming for up to 30 startups by the end of the three-year program, which began in the middle of last year, after launching in late 2022, and hinted that it will accelerate investment next year. The program's first investments announced today include Kola…

A French startup has raised a significant seed investment to “reimagine computing infrastructure” for developers who want to build and train AI applications more efficiently. The company, called FlexAI, has been operating in stealth since October 2023, but the Paris-based company officially launched on Wednesday with €28.5 million ($30 million) in funding, along with its first The company is announcing its product, an on-demand cloud service. For AI training. This is quite a change for a seed round and usually means substantial founder pedigree, which is the case here. Brijesh Tripathi, co-founder and CEO of FlexAI, previously his GPU giant…

Glance, which operates a lock screen platform for Android smartphones, is setting its sights on the US market. The Indian startup recently launched a pilot program in partnership with US companies Motorola and Verizon, and plans to fully launch in India later this year, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The Bangalore-headquartered startup is backed by investors including Google and Jio Platforms, and has already made significant inroads in India, Southeast Asia, and Japan, where it expanded last year. Glance's technology delivers a customized feed of news, local events, sports updates, media content, and interactive games directly to users'…

The Senate passed a bill included in a foreign aid package that would ban TikTok if owner ByteDance doesn't sell it within a year. The Senate passed the bill 79-18 on Tuesday after the House passed it overwhelmingly over the weekend. President Joe Biden must sign the bill into law and is expected to do so on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the White House. Notably, the House of Representatives passed a similar standalone bill in March that would ban TikTok or force a sale within a six-month period. However, the Senate never took up the bill. This…