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Spore.Bio raises $23M to apply machine learning to microbiology testing
Recalls in the food and beverage industry due to contamination incidents can have catastrophic effects. Not only do companies have to pay fines and damages, but the impacts on the brand’s reputation...
View the articleAI-coding startup Codeium in talks to raise at an almost $3B valuation, sources say
Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup, is raising a new round of funding at a $2.85 billion valuation, including fresh capital, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal. The round is bein...
View the article‘For You’ feeds are not for creators, Patreon says
Patreon has continued on its crusade against algorithmic feeds with its latest State of Create report, a look at trends in the creator economy based on internal data, and it’s an effort creators can...
View the articleSaronic raises $600M to mass-produce autonomous warships
Austin-based defense startup Saronic has raised a $600 million Series C to build an autonomous ship factory called “Port Alpha,” it announced. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal...
View the articleStudy of TikTok, X ‘For You’ feeds in Germany finds far-right political bias ahead of federal elections
Recommendation algorithms operated by social media giants TikTok and X have shown evidence of substantial far-right political bias in Germany ahead of a federal election that takes place Sunday, accor...
View the articleAfter raising $1 billion, fintech Varo closes another $29 million, replaces founder CEO
Fintech Varo has been hoping to raise a $55 million Series G round but has, so far, closed on $29 million to date, according to a recent SEC filing. Varo declined to comment on this new round but the ...
View the articleXbox Pushes Ahead With Muse, a New Generative AI Model. Devs Say ‘Nobody Will Want This’
One developer responds to the release of Muse: “We are implicitly empowering a class of people who own these tools and don’t give a fuck about how they reshape our lives.”
View the articleUber ditches commissions in favor of daily fees for rickshaw drivers in India
Uber has introduced daily fees for auto rickshaw drivers in India to move away from its typical commission-based model. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
View the articleMark Zuckerberg’s charity U-turns, ends DEI efforts
Mark Zuckerberg’s charity has eliminated its DEI programs and efforts just weeks after assuring staff it would continue supporting DEI efforts, The Guardian reports. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative...
View the articleBrand-new women’s focused Swizzle Ventures skyrockets past its fundraising target
Swizzle Ventures has closed its Fund I at $6.6 million, bypassing its initial $3 million target, Jessica Kamada, the firm’s founder, told TechCrunch. Back in December, TechCrunch reported that the...
View the articleSpanish spyware startup Mollitiam Industries shuts down
The little-known surveillance vendor filed for bankruptcy in January, after years of peddling spyware to countries like Colombia. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
View the articleIVF insurance startup Future Family promises a baby or your money back
For decades, couples going through in vitro fertilization have had to spend tens of thousands of dollars on the procedures with no guarantee of success. It’s not only an emotionally draining process...
View the articleThis USAID Program Made Food Aid More Efficient for Decades. DOGE Gutted It Anyways
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network is one of USAID’s most data-driven programs, but its work has been stalled by the Trump administration.
View the articleThis Week in AI: Maybe we should ignore AI benchmarks for now
Welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter! We’re going on hiatus for a bit, but you can find all our AI coverage, including my columns, our daily analysis, and breaking news stories, at TechCr...
View the articleKarman+ digs up $20M to build an asteroid-mining autonomous spacecraft
Investors on the lookout for startups working at the frontiers of technology are casting their nets ever further into unchartered territory, sometimes literally as well as figuratively. In one of the ...
View the articleGoogle’s ‘Career Dreamer’ uses AI to help you explore job possibilities
Google is launching a new experiment that uses AI to help people explore more career possibilities. The company announced in a blog post on Wednesday that a new “Career Dreamer” tool can find patt...
View the articleGoogle pulls Gemini from main search app on iOS
Google is pulling its AI assistant Gemini from the main Google app for iOS devices. The move is meant to encourage users to download the standalone Gemini app instead, which would allow Google to more...
View the articleSeth Forsgren, Co-Founder and CEO of Riffusion – Interview Series
Seth Forsgren, Co-Founder and CEO of Riffusion, leads the development of an AI-powered music generation tool that creates audio tracks from text prompts. Riffusion allows users to experiment with diff...
View the articleAI is the Perfect Teaching Assistant for Any Educator
Schools, universities, and other educational institutions around the world are facing a crisis. There simply aren't enough teachers to meet the educational needs of a growing student population. UNESC...
View the articleElectronX is building a stock market for electricity trading
ElectronX has raised $10 million to build an exchange for electricity derivatives trading. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
View the articleLLMs Are Not Reasoning—They’re Just Really Good at Planning
Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s o3, Google’s Gemini 2.0, and DeepSeek’s R1 have shown remarkable progress in tackling complex problems, generating human-like text, and even writing co...
View the articleSanas taps AI to change call center workers’ accents in real time
The demand for voice and speech recognition technologies is massive — and growing. An analysis by market research firm Markets and Markets found that the sector could be worth over $28.1 billion by ...
View the articleGoogle brings a ‘Circle to Search’-like feature to iPhone users
Google on Wednesday is rolling out a new update that lets users search what’s on their screen via a simple gesture when browsing within the Google Chrome or Google Search app on iOS. The feature is ...
View the articleFrom Generative AI to Reliable AI: High Stakes in Manufacturing
The AI hype cycle exploded in 2023 with the debut of generative AI and subsequent funding injections. With it came a sense of blind AI optimism, where organizations championed the technology without a...
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