Author: TechBrunch

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech (formerly The Interchange)! This week, we look at how the closure of Africa's hottest fintech startup, Mint, benefited Copilot, and why venture capital is doubling down on one particular expense management startup. Get TechCrunch's roundup of the biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Sunday at 7:30 a.m. PT. Subscribe here. big story Although venture funding in Africa (like the rest of the world) has been declining in recent years, last week was a good week for the region's fintech ecosystem. TC reporter Tage Kene-Okafor explains how Uber led a $100 million…

Americans spent more than $144.8 billion on fishing and hunting in 2022 alone, according to a study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Guided hunting and fishing tours are an important part of the industry, but remain largely offline. Reservations are made by phone and payment is made by check or cash. Mallard Bay is trying to change that. The Houston-based startup is a marketplace where hunting and fishing consumers can discover and book guided tours online, much like booking a hotel. Mallard Bay is also a vertical SaaS platform for clothing stores themselves to bring their back-office online…

On March 11, a carbonated startup announced it had raised $67 million at a $1.4 billion valuation and reported 2023 sales of $263 million. Did you think this startup was canned water company Liquid Death? Liquid Death has now raised more than $267 million in venture funding, despite being in a category that many investors aren't interested in. The beverage industry is capital-intensive, making it a tough industry for VCs. You need a knack for choosing companies that sell well in retail stores and other direct-to-consumer channels. You can attract repeat customers instead of one-time customers. Michael Jones, managing director…

Every week seems to bring with it a new AI model, and the technology has unfortunately outpaced anyone’s ability to evaluate it comprehensively. Here’s why it’s pretty much impossible to review something like ChatGPT or Gemini, why it’s important to try anyway, and our (constantly evolving) approach to doing so. The tl;dr: These systems are too general and are updated too frequently for evaluation frameworks to stay relevant, and synthetic benchmarks provide only an abstract view of certain well-defined capabilities. Companies like Google and OpenAI are counting on this because it means consumers have no source of truth other than…

Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaq has stepped down from his top role and the unicorn startup's board of directors, the high-profile company announced Friday night, the second major shake-up this week. It has become a popular AI startup. Stability AI, which is backed by investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Coatue Management, does not have an immediate permanent replacement for the CEO role, but has appointed COO Shan Shan Wong and CTO Christian Laforte as interim co-founders. He was appointed CEO, the magazine said. Blog post. Stability AI said Mostak is leaving to pursue decentralized AI. In a…

With the Vision Pro finally available, many consumers are interested in Apple's AR/VR headset and the apps that come with it. Some are from familiar companies like Disney+, Max, TikTok, Zoom, and Reddit, but there are also many independent developers who have launched apps optimized for visionOS. From spatial puzzle games to apps that let you view your interior design projects in 3D, here are some VisionOS apps from small developers that you can try out once your headset arrives. We will add more to this list as they are released. game soul spire Image credit: Soul Assembly Soul Spire…

With the Vision Pro finally available, many consumers are interested in Apple's AR/VR headset and the apps that come with it. Some are from familiar companies like Disney+, Max, TikTok, Zoom, and Reddit, but there are also many independent developers who have launched apps optimized for visionOS. From spatial puzzle games to apps that let you view your interior design projects in 3D, here are some VisionOS apps from small developers that you can try out once your headset arrives. We will add more to this list as they are released. game soul spire Image credit: Soul Assembly Soul Spire…

In an era where data is king and its volume and complexity are exploding, Protecto aims to solve the age-old dilemma businesses face between ensuring data privacy and harnessing the power of AI. That's what I'm aiming for. As the adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT proliferates, it becomes easier to find, manipulate, and play tricks on wayward data. Protecto's APIs are designed to protect sensitive data throughout the AI ​​lifecycle while maintaining its usefulness. The company announced it has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Together Fund with contributions from Better Capital, FortyTwo VC,…

US regulators have accused Apple of operating like a monopoly, and the implications of the case go far beyond iOS and the iPhone itself. Apple's antitrust scrutiny is at its peak. The U.S. Department of Justice announced a lawsuit Thursday accusing the company of acting like a monopoly, locking in iPhone customers and restricting competitors from developing hardware and software. The case comes on the heels of significant antitrust litigation against Apple outside the United States, and while it is a wide-ranging and complex case, we will discuss the details of the Justice Department's case, the industry's response, and the…

Welcome to Startups Weekly — a weekly roundup of must-sees from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Friday. Hello, startup geeks! I spent most of this week in San Jose wandering around his world of AI startups and tech giants at GTC. There are tons of fun stories from that, so stay tuned for all of them. In the meantime… take a look at the exciting good happenings in TechCrunch startup coverage from the past week! This week's most interesting startup stories Let’s talk about the microbiome… Image credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg…