Author: TechBrunch

Wonderschool, a startup that provides software and support to help individuals and local governments set up childcare businesses, has acquired EarlyDay, a marketplace for early childhood educators. TechCrunch has covered Wonderschool since its early stages, including both its seed round and Series A (led by Andreessen Horowitz). Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but in an interview with TechCrunch's Equity podcast, EarlyDay co-CEOs Emma Harris and Melissa Tran called the deal “opportunistic” and driven by funding needs. He said that it was not done. Wonder School CEO Chris Bennett declined to provide details on how the deal would work,…

Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, is launching a new program to help fund nonprofits developing technologies that leverage generative AI. The program, called “Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI,” is funded by a $20 million grant and will be funded by companies including Quill.org, a company that develops AI-powered tools for students to write feedback, and the World Bank. It will be launched with the participation of 21 non-profit organizations. Build generative AI apps to make development research more accessible. In addition to funding, nonprofits participating in the six-week accelerator program will receive technical training, workshops, mentors, and guidance from an “AI coach.”…

Kleiner Perkins investors Wen Hsieh and Haomiao Huang left the company in 2023 to form their own venture capital fund called Matter Venture Partners. The company was backed by Kleiner and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC. Shay is a long-time KPer, having been with KPer for 17 years. Mr. Huang had stayed there for four years. With a passion for what they call “hard technology,” Mr. Hsieh has been involved in the development of micro-LED display technology company LuxVue, which was acquired by Apple, Amprius, which makes high-energy density lithium-ion batteries, drone maker DJI, and 3D printing company It has invested in…

The AI ​​industry is increasingly moving towards generative AI models with longer context. However, models with large context windows tend to be computationally expensive. Or so Dagan, his lead for products at AI startup AI21 Labs, argues, that doesn't necessarily have to be the case, and his company has released a generative model to prove it. Context, or context window, refers to input data (such as text) that a model considers before producing output (additional text). Models with small context windows tend to forget even the most recent conversations, whereas models with large contexts avoid this pitfall and have the…

Google today announced that it will soon roll out on-device AI-powered features such as summary recording and smart replies to the Pixel 8. These features are based on the Gemini Nano, a smaller model Google released last year, and are ready to run right away. on your device. The company said Summerizer in Recorder and Smart Reply in Gboard will be released as developer previews in the next Pixel feature drop. The company announced these features when the Pixel 8 was launched in October last year. Previously, the Gemini Nano-powered feature was only available on Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy…

With TikTok potentially banned in the US, YouTube is touting how much its TikTok competitor YouTube Shorts is making for creators. The company announced Thursday that its short-form video platform now averages more than 70 billion views per day, and more than 25% of channels in YouTube's Partner Program monetize their videos through revenue share on Shorts. did. The news quickly follows TikTok's announcement earlier this month, in which the ByteDance-owned short video app said its revamped Creator Fund has increased its total revenue by more than 250% over the past six months. It is. TikTok's Fund, which was created…

Amazon on Thursday announced the release of a new app for its contactless palm recognition service, Amazon One. Customers will now be able to hold their palm over their device to make purchases at locations of their choice, including more than 500 Whole Foods Market stores and Amazon stores. 150 third-party locations. Instead of signing up for Amazon One in a brick-and-mortar store, users can now download the Amazon One app (available on iOS or Android devices) and take photos of their palms at home. When you create an online profile and add a payment method, your palm is added…

ChowNow, an online ordering platform and marketing services for local restaurants, has acquired Cuboh, a Y Combinator-backed point-of-sale (POS) platform that consolidates all orders from delivery apps in one place. . This is ChowNow's first acquisition and will strengthen the company's POS integration solutions, helping restaurants fulfill orders across multiple services. However, as part of the acquisition, ChowNow laid off approximately 30 employees, bringing the total number of employees to 300. Meanwhile, Cuboh's entire 30-person team, including marketing, sales, product, and engineering, is moving to ChowNow. “Unfortunately, as part of our restructuring to best position our company, we have made…

The clock is almost over! With 48 hours left, this is your last chance to secure an early bird discount for TechCrunch Early Stage 2024. Don't miss your chance to join industry leaders, experts, and fellow founders for a day packed with valuable insights and networking opportunities and practical advice to accelerate your startup journey. Here are some of our esteemed speakers. Alex Kayyal, Lightspeed Venture Partners Partner Rudina Seseri, Glasswing Ventures Co-Founder and Managing Partner Emily Knight, President The Engine Accelerator Jess Lee, Sequoia Partner James Currier, NFX General Partner Rebecca Lee Whiting, Founder and Fractional General Counsel Epigram…

While working at Uber and Palantir, respectively, Siadhal Magos and Shahriar Tajbakhsh noticed that the hiring process, especially the interview process, had become unwieldy for many companies' human resources departments. “While the interview was clearly the most important part of the hiring process, it was also the most opaque and unreliable part,” Magos told TechCrunch. “On top of this, taking notes and writing feedback is a lot of effort, which many interviewers and hiring managers try to avoid at all costs.” Magos and Tajbakhsh believed the hiring process was ripe for disruption, but they wanted to avoid over-abstracting the human…