Author: TechBrunch

Rabbit co-founder and CEO Jesse Lyu isn't afraid of death…at least not of his company. He told TechCrunch that while the company is a startup whose fate can be dictated by the whims of multibillion-dollar rivals, that's no reason to give up and go home. Appearing on stage at StrictlyVC LA, Lyu explained his rather philosophical approach to the threat of Google, Microsoft or Apple coming to crush them. (Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.) Rabbit's r1, the pocket AI assistant that garnered a lot of attention after its debut at CES, is certainly an original proposition. Half the…

The tech-wide reckoning that began in 2022 and ran throughout into 2023 has continued into this year. And while 2024’s losses are not at that scale, they’re still significant, driven by big names like Pixar, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and TikTok. It remains to be seen if this year’s layoff trends follow last year’s, in which layoffs slowed down in the summer, before cuts began ramping up yet again toward the winter. Momentum for a tech sector rebound remains slow to build, outside of bright spots within artificial intelligence and adjacent companies, resulting in tech companies continuing to cut back on…

venture capital funding It has never been a solid company for women or black and brown founders. Alongside Crunchbase, we have been tracking funding levels to pinpoint moments of progress and setbacks for marginalized entrepreneurs. For example, Black founders had a strong year in 2021 with record funding amounts, but as the market cools and many DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) measures roll back. has decreased significantly. Women, on the other hand, have received stable funding over the past few years, hovering around 2%. But funding for mixed-gender teams has been steadily increasing, suggesting that female founders believe they can…

The TechCrunch team is in Barcelona this week to bring you all the action going on at Mobile World Congress 2024. You already know what we’re expecting, so sit back, relax and stay tuned throughout the week as we bring you the products, announcements and startup news from MWC that you need to know. So far, we’ve seen some big announcements from companies, including new Android features from Google, Lenovo’s new laptop concept and rollable phone concept and Xiaomi’s robotic dog. As MWC progresses, here’s how you can follow along with our team’s coverage. Friday, March 1 Ultraleap is bringing…

Welcome to Startups Weekly — Every week, we bring you must-sees from the world of startups. sign up here Delivered to your inbox every Friday. I don't code much anymore, but I've been hacking small-scale Arduino murders (obviously the plural of Arduino is “murder”, just like crows). My boyfriend's C skills are totally on the decline, but ChatGPT is an amazingly useful tool for coding and debugging. It's very refreshing to be able to throw a bunch of code along with the error messages that the compiler throws, just for the robot to tell you (1) what you shouldn't be…

Venture capital stars shone at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles this week. Upfront Summit is an invitation-only VC conference founded by Mark Suster and known for going all-out. For example, I had something like this: Coco robot serving drinks and lots of pink. AI has become a hot topic Celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Cameron Diaz, Katy Perry and Novak Djokovic also graced the stage. But one thing that may have been a little different this year is that it was a tough year for venture capital and startups seeking venture capital. Some media also criticized it. Keith Rabois,…

Meta-owned social network Threads announced today that it will make its API widely available to developers by June. Engineer Jesse Chen posted that the company has been building the API for the past few months. Currently, this API allows users to authenticate, publish threads, and retrieve posted content through these tools. “Over the past few months, we've been building the Threads API to help creators, developers, and brands manage a large Threads presence and easily share fresh, new ideas with their community from their favorite third-party applications. “I did,” he said. Chen added that the company is working with a…

The Prisoner's Dilemma is a classic thought experiment that explores how people can work together for mutual benefit, or how one can undermine the other for less reward. Can you guess what the outcome will look like for venture capital? A group of Boston investors wishes things were different. This week, a group of five venture capitalists and the president of a real estate consultancy launched Venx (or ven^x), a collaborative group focused on deep tech investing. The five investors – Anzu Partners, Hitachi Ventures, Myriad Venture Partners and SkyRiver Ventures – come from four different companies and still make…

Epic Games, Spotify, Proton, 37 signals Other developers have already criticized Apple's choice to adapt its rules to meet the requirements of the EU's new Digital Markets Act (DMA), calling it, among other things, “extortion” and “malicious behavior”. “Yes,” he said, expressing displeasure as he said there was no such thing as compliance. thing. These companies have now formally voiced their grievances in a letter to the European Commission, jointly claiming that Apple is making a mockery of the new law and urging the European Commission to “quickly and It calls for “timely and decisive action.” Protect your developers. Apple's…

A 2021 study found that 78% of fruit production, 54% of vegetable production, and 32% of grain production would be lost if farmers did not use pesticides. At the same time, pesticide application methods are not ideal. The only way to ensure that you are applying enough insecticide is to apply in large quantities. That's bad for farmers' wallets and bad for the environment. AgZen, a company born out of more than a decade of engineering research at MIT, also offers a new solution that uses AI to ensure plants get the right amount of spray, making real-time adjustments to…