Author: TechBrunch
We are excited to work with some of the most influential players in the startup ecosystem to create an exceptional experience at TC Early Stage 2024. Our purpose is to provide new and aspiring founders with the necessary tools, insights, and connections essential to building successful startups. . We are particularly pleased to announce the involvement of leading venture capital firm SOSV. SOSV will host breakout sessions during the event, providing valuable resources and strategies for founders looking to scale their businesses. In addition to SOSV's breakout, check out HomeHQ.ai's session to provide insight into leveraging custom AI assistants and…
Last night, for an evening hosted by StrictlyVC, this editor sat down with Trae Stephens, a former government intelligence analyst turned early Palantir employee turned investor at Founders Fund, where Stephens has cofounded two companies. One of these is Anduril, the buzzy defense tech company that is now valued at $8.4 billion by its investors. The other is Sol, which makes a single-purpose, $350 headset that weighs about the same as a pair of sunglasses and that is focused squarely on reading, a bit like a wearable Kindle. (Having put on the pair that Stephens brought to the event, I…
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…