Investments in generative AI startups — those that are creating AI-powered products to generate text, audio, video and more — aren’t slowing down. But they’re being consolidated into a shrinking number of early-stage ventures. In the first half of 2023, from January to July 16, 225 startups raised $12.3 billion from VCs, according to Crunchbase
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A powerful new video-generating AI model became widely available today — but there’s a catch: The model appears to be censoring topics deemed too politically sensitive by the government in its country of origin, China. The model, Kling, developed by Beijing-based company Kuaishou, launched in waitlisted access earlier in the year for users with a
We’re so excited to announce that we’ve added a dedicated AI Stage presented by Google Cloud to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. It joins Fintech, SaaS and Space as the other industry-focused stages — all under one big roof. We couldn’t possibly host TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 without a huge deep dive on all things artificial intelligence. So,
Thousands of stories have been written about former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick. If anyone knows a thing or two about losing control of your own narrative, it’s him. Now, Kaepernick is launching an AI storytelling platform, Lumi, to help creators tell and own their stories. If you said “Huh?” when reading
Farmers have got to do something about pests. But nobody really likes the idea of using more chemical pesticides. Thomas Laurent’s company, Micropep, thinks the answer might already be in the plants themselves. Micropep is exploring how naturally occurring compounds, known as micropeptides, might work as an entirely new class of pesticides. If the startup
Alongside a slew of announcements for Play—such as AI-powered app comparisons and a feature that bundles similar apps—Google has introduced new “Curated Spaces,” hubs dedicated to specific topics. Announced Wednesday, “Comics,” is designed to appeal to manga fans. Positioned at the top of the screen in between “For You” and “Top Charts,” the new hub
Ashish Nagar, an engineer by trade, was working at Amazon’s Alexa org on the conversational AI team when he realized that AI had the potential to greatly bolster productivity in contact centers. “Frontline workers, like customer service workers, are the biggest human capital in the world,” Nagar told TechCrunch. “So, my idea was to use
Platforms like TikTok and Spotify have experimented with events on their platforms. But rather than concentrating on concerts and large gatherings, event startup Posh is focusing on intimate gatherings of up to a few hundred people where you might know a friend, a friend of a friend, and a person you met at some party.
Content creators are busy people. Most spend more than 20 hours a week creating new content for their respective corners of the web. That doesn’t leave much time for audience engagement. But Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, thinks that AI could solve this problem. In an interview with internet personality Rowan Cheung, Zuckerberg laid out his
Cyabra, a Tel Aviv-based startup that helps public and private organizations detect and fight mis- and disinformation campaigns by finding fake accounts on social media, on Tuesday announced that it plans to merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Trailblazer Merger Corporation I and list on the NASDAQ. Founded in 2018, some of Cyabra’s investors
Digital banking startup Mercury is no longer serving customers in certain countries, including Ukraine, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Mercury made headlines earlier this year when it was caught up in federal scrutiny through one of its partners, Choice Bank, around the practice of allowing foreign companies to open accounts. The FDIC was “concerned” that
After hearing that a U.S. Navy submarine ran into an underwater mountain, Joe Wolfel was surprised to find out just how little both government and commercial organizations knew about the ocean floor. It stuck with him throughout his time in the Navy and years later he launched a company to try to fix it. Wolfel
Let’s start with the premise that many people take notes as they work with customers as part of their jobs. As they take notes, they may need to access a customer record in Salesforce or open a Jira ticket to get IT involved with a customer problem, but to do that, they must undertake the
Hustle culture is embedded into the Silicon Valley startup ethos, but the expectation to grind all the time can be detrimental to a founder’s mental health. We’re pleased to welcome Bonobos co-founder and former CEO Andy Dunn to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 for a fireside chat to discuss how founders can live up to the VC
Nathan Rosenberg, the founder of farm automation platform Farmblox, said if there is one thing to know about trying to sell technology to farmers, it’s that you can’t tell them what to do. “[Farmers] are multigenerational,” Rosenberg told TechCrunch. “It is not a profession, it’s more a community, a way of life, and you need
India’s federal government has removed the controversial “angel tax” for all classes of investors, delivering a major victory to the country’s startup ecosystem that had lobbied for years against the measure. “To bolster the India startup ecosystem, to boost entrepreneurial spirit and support innovation, I propose abolishing angel tax for all classes of investors,” Finance
Choosing between New York City’s nearly 25,000 restaurants can be overwhelming. The pressure is especially high when you’re trying to impress a first date (or investor) or entertain family from out of town. A new app launched over the weekend to address precisely that. The Scene, an iOS-only “pocket concierge service,” uses machine learning to
Brian Kim, the founder of South Korean internet giant Kakao, was arrested Tuesday on allegations of stock price manipulation related to the company’s takeover of K-pop agency SM Entertainment in 2023. The Seoul Southern District Court said on Tuesday that it had issued a warrant for Kim’s arrest after a hearing on Monday due to
Eric Zhu started building Aviato, an analytical platform for private market data, in a very typical place for an entrepreneur: the bathroom in his Carmel, Indiana, high school. Now the 17-year-old’s startup is emerging from stealth with $2.3 million in venture funding. Aviato tracks funding rounds and headcount, similar to competitors like Crunchbase and PitchBook, as
Monarch Tractor was in a tricky spot late last year as the autonomous electric tractor startup juggled growth and an uncertain fundraising environment. Now, with $133 million in new funds, CEO Praveen Penmetsa tells TechCrunch that the startup is plowing ahead into greener pastures. The $133 million Series C funding round was co-led by agri-food
Cohere, a generative AI startup co-founded by ex-Google researchers, has raised $500 million in new cash from investors including Cisco, AMD and Fujitsu. Bloomberg says that the round, which also had participation from Canadian pension investment manager PSP Investments and Canada’s export credit agency EDC, values Toronto-based Cohere at $5.5 billion. That’s more than double
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in San Francisco is fast approaching, and we’re seeking highly motivated volunteers to support our events team. If you dream of becoming a startup founder, marketer, or event coordinator, this experience offers an invaluable glimpse into the inner workings of a top-tier tech startup conference. Volunteer tasks Volunteers will assist in plenty
A little more than a year after launching the ROG Ally, Asus is releasing a refined version of its portable device, the ROG Ally X. This Windows-based machine starts shipping on July 22 for $800. I’ve been playing with the portable console for a few days, and there’s already a lot to like — especially
Google’s next big hardware event is set for August 13 at 10 a.m. PT. That’s roughly a two-month head start for the Made By Google event, which has traditionally occurred mid-fall. It also, notably, will find the company announcing its latest flagship, the Pixel 9, ahead of the iPhone 16. Apple’s latest is set for
When is a startup not a startup? When it’s a public company with 1,300 employees and $2.5 billion in capital. If that failed to conjure so much as a smile, that’s because it’s not a joke — it’s very much the reality for Nebius, a fledgling AI infrastructure business that has emerged from the ashes
There comes a time in every startup’s life when the leaders and stakeholders have to seriously start thinking about the endgame: What to do when you’ve raised $150 million in VC cash over 15 years en route to building a 100 million-plus community? And how do you go about executing that next step to ensure
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for $23 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. TechCrunch’s sources heard similar and added that deal discussions could last into next week. If this deal does end up getting done, it would be Alphabet’s largest acquisition yet. It
It was an eventful week for the Silicon Valley moguls who have vowed to support Donald Trump in his bid to return to the presidency. Given the collision course of tech and Trump, when Leda Health founder Madison Campbell asked me if I’d care to buy an extra ticket to the Republican National Convention from
The onshoring of battery manufacturing for EVs started as a trickle during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then it turned into a tsunami. In 2019, just two battery factories were operating in the United States with another two under construction. Today there are about 34 battery factories either planned, under construction or operational in the country. U.S.
Windows users around the globe woke up on Friday morning to “blue screens of death” thanks to a faulty software update from CrowdStrike. The bug caused outages around the world, bringing airlines, boats, hospitals, and banks to a grinding halt. But some see opportunity in the rubble. The global outage is a perfect reminder how
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