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This is the best thing that's happened this year… That's right, we're back with all the must-see companies from the current group of Y Combinator startups. Not surprisingly, AI was the top theme, with 86 out of 247 companies calling themselves AI startups, but given that 187 mentioned AI in their pitches, it's in bubble territory. is reaching. We've rounded up some of his favorites, including the 18 most interesting and his TechCrunch staff favorites.
In the meantime, I wrote an in-depth interview with the founder of Ember, a hot mug company, and how (among other things) he split the company in half so he could attract MedTech and life science investors. I talked about what I did.
This week's most interesting startup stories
Image credit: PM Images (opens in new window) / Getty Images
There's nothing new about startups losing money, but this week Devin summarized why President Trump's “Truth Social” is different in several key ways. In short, the whole thing plays out like a bad reality show, with the plot revolving around a big money leak, and the suspense being whether the money will run out before viewers change the channel. ing. The finances of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which debuted on the Nasdaq as $DJT thanks to a merger with the financial world's hopeless darling SPAC, are unveiled, earning $58 million on revenue of just $4 million. The dollar loss was revealed. This isn't the typical Silicon Valley story of “burn cash now, reap the benefits later.” It's more of a “burn the cash now and be done with it” kind of story. Unlike startups that disrupt industries and grow with the life support of VCs, TMTG's lifeline is fraying, there is no explosive user growth, there is no VC sugar daddy, and it is likely to repel advertisers. They are in the enviable position of juggling a business model while being publicly accountable. It's made of antimatter. As the stock price slumps, the reality begins to dawn that TMTG's story may be less about digital media exploration and more about how it loses friends and alienates advertisers, while its credits continue to decline. It plays into what may be the most expensive episode of “The Apprentice.” ever produced.
IPOs are gaining momentum…maybe?: Having gobbled up venture capital like an old hat, cybersecurity darling Rubrik has decided it's time to brave the public markets and file for an IPO. . With a history of shedding millions of dollars, Rubrik's story is one of modest revenue growth, eye-watering losses, and a pivot to a subscription model that has brought software-as-a-service to the tech world. It's as groundbreaking as deciding to sell. Accel reconsiders India: Accel, the venture capital firm that collects India's unicorns like an anachronism, is having a bit of an existential crisis with its Atoms accelerator program, and in the eyes of its founders it will ultimately He realizes that all of his VC money is gone. They start to look the same. It's just a pile of cash with strings attached. Is crypto back? If the crypto venture landscape in 2023 is a pot of ice-cold water, the first quarter of 2024 will start bubbling just before the water boils. The time is right, said Tom Schmidt, partner at Dragonfly Capital. An overview of his VC investment space in cryptocurrencies by his Jacquelyn on TechCrunch.
Disruption in the world of auto startups
Tesla's Cybertruck still exists. That's the best our friendly correspondent can say about this monster of design.Image credit: Darrell Etherington/Getty
Inclement weather continues to be a theme for promoters and change-makers in the startup world: transportation.
Canoo's 2023 earnings report reads like a tragicomedy. Star of the show? CEO Tony Aquila's private jet has doubled the company's annual revenue. Canoo just delivered 22 vehicles and in just one year he collected $890,000, at the same time he shelled out $1.7 million to make the Aquila jet-set in style. In the fast-paced world of electric vehicles, perhaps nothing speaks to “financial responsibility” more than a private jet tab clouding sales while the company cleanses the bones of failed competitors.
Meanwhile, back in Fisker's land, the company temporarily misplaced customer payments in a frantic effort to rebuild its business model. This hide-and-seek financial game highlights the company's rather casual approach to tracking transactions, diverting critical resources from sales to detectives and, in some cases, handing over vehicles on an honor system. Fisker's attempts to catch up on paperwork not only soured its relationship with PwC during the preparation of its annual report, but also left it in the dark about its actual earnings as it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. . So, if you've ever had the bad experience of losing your car keys, you can at least take comfort in knowing that you didn't lose an SUV's worth of stuffed dollar bills, or you'll find that your car door is locked. Let's investigate why it won't open. The one you manufactured won't open.
Self-driving…into the abyss: Ghost Autonomy, a startup that once dreamed of making highways safer with self-driving software, is losing ground in the auto industry despite a roughly $220 million séance with investors. was turned into a ghost and the business was shut down. Interesting read from Rivian: Rivian's latest report card reads more like a cry for help than a victory lap. EV underdogs started 2024 by building fewer cars and delivering even fewer. With each EV sold last quarter costing him as much as a luxury sedan, Rivian's path to profitability looks…interesting. Tesla in decline: Tesla's latest delivery results are OK, but the company blames its first year-over-year sales decline in three years on everything from arsonists seeking revenge on German factories to Houthi rebels He blames everything leading up to the mayhem. As if moving to a new Model 3 wasn't enough of a speed-up, Tesla is running production of the Cybertruck and a mysterious low-cost EV in parallel, all while trying to invent an innovative manufacturing process on the fly. Masu.
This week's most interesting fundraisers
Kidsy's catalog attracted investor interest.Image credit: Kissy
Kidsy is the latest brainchild to emerge from startup nurseries. The company is essentially the TJ Maxx of baby products, overstocking items that were once destined for landfills at discounted prices and offering gently used items to help save the economics of raising a family. They are swooping in to save their parents from the black hole. Founded by a former business journalist and software engineer, Kidsy managed to attract investors to an “oversubscribed” pre-seed funding round faster than a toddler can throw a tantrum, and quickly became a circular economy superpower for baby products. I became a hero.
It's a really persistent startup. His payments giant Stripe swooned over his four-person startup named Spaglue (previously he was known as SuperGrain) in a classic takeover romance tale. Supaglue somehow caught Stripe's attention. Perhaps through the technological equivalent of an aphrodisiac mixed with mutual acquaintances and chance encounters. Google donates $20 million to nonprofits: Google.org is pledging $20 million to nonprofits to act as fairy godmother to AI dreams. Twenty-one lucky nonprofits, along with an AI coach and his Google employee henchmen, will be the guinea pigs for his six-month tech bootleg camp, all at once in the name of making the world a better place. executes automated tasks one by one. Bla bla bla something something car: From its humble beginnings as an online hitchhiking platform to becoming a unicorn with millions of dollars and a penchant for buses, BlaBlaCar has been quite successful. Now, armed with a $108 million line of credit and a newfound sense of profitability, he's going on a buying spree in small and medium-sized businesses.
Other must-see TechCrunch articles…
Every week, we have a few stories that just don't fit into the categories above, but we'd like to share with you. It would be a shame if you missed it, so I'd like to introduce you to a bag containing random goods.
No account required: In a move that screams “data is the new gold,” OpenAI is allowing anyone to chat with ChatGPT without an account. This ensures that even questions about grandma's knitting patterns will help train her AI. A “more restrictive content policy” as clear as mud. Just a slapstick: Once the beauty of the IPO ball, Bumble now faces the modern dating dilemma of being ghosted by TikTok users looking for a love story. New CEO Lydiaan Jones is on a mission to rekindle the fire by rethinking women's first behavior beliefs and playing with AI, while trying to make dating fun again without significantly changing the swipe right culture. We are working on this. Well, that's a good impression to me. OpenAI is essentially saying, “Hold your beer,” as it dives headlong into the ethical quagmire of voice cloning with its new speech engine. The company claims it's all about responsible innovation, while also opening up Pandora's box to see how it can be used and abused. I can't think of a single drawback. … B nixes AI: Beyoncé's “Cowboy Carter” was released just a few days ago. But midway through the press release for “Cowboy Carter,” the singer made an unexpected statement about the growing presence of AI in music.
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