Cybersecurity continues to command a lot of attention from enterprises looking for better protection from malicious hackers, and VCs want in on the action. In the latest example, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Upwind — a specialist in assessing and securing cloud infrastructure — is closing in on a $100 million round at a […]

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There isn’t a shortage of AI-powered coding assistance startups. They include Augment, Codeium, Magic, and Poolside. However, Cursor has become one of the most popular. Its developer, Anysphere, has seen its revenue grow from $4 million annualized recurring revenue (ARR) in April to $4 million a month as of last month, according to a person […]

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Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here! This week probably wasn’t the best one to make any type of big announcement. But when it comes to startups, there are quite a few contrarians, leaving us […]

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The recent U.S. election might appear bad for climate tech, but the energy transition has enough financial momentum that experts aren’t expecting investment trends to change anytime soon.

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There’s a big opportunity for generative AI in the world of translation, and a startup called Panjaya is taking the concept to the next level: a hyperrealistic, GenAI-based dubbing tool for videos that recreates a person’s original voice speaking the new language, with the video and the speaker’s physical movements automatically modifying to match up […]

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Amazon is considering increasing its investment in OpenAI rival Anthropic. According to The Information, Amazon is in talks to invest multiple billions in Anthropic, its first financial pledge in the company since a $4 billion deal struck last year. The new investment is structured similar to the last one — but with a twist. Amazon […]

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Yelp, which made a name for itself giving restaurant recs, just bought an auto services website. In the company’s earnings report on Thursday, Yelp revealed that it agreed to buy RepairPal, a site for car repair estimates, for $80 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, subject […]

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Not every investor will be impressed by a founder’s massive prospective TAM, short for total addressable market.

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Back in February, when TechCrunch spoke to Raphael Akinsipe, he described his company SocialCrowd as a “Fitbit but for work.” As CEO and co-founder, he explained that the product allows companies to set goals for employees and then reward them when those expectations are met.  “For example, we had a restaurant incentivize their staff by […]

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Amber Hill spent 14 years as a medical researcher. She didn’t mind the work, but there was one thing she consistently hated: administrative tasks.  “I think most people do, especially in research,” she told TechCrunch. She would rather be analyzing data or building relationships with patients, she said. “But I was spending so much time […]

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The company has been toiling for seven years, developing a novel air conditioning technology and searching for a beachhead market.

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In 2014, Ivan Crewkov moved his family from Siberia to the U.S. as his startup, Cubic.AI, was preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign for its smart speaker. A week before the campaign was supposed to go live, Amazon launched its Echo smart speaker, rendering Cubic.AI essentially dead in the water. “It was a disaster,” Crewkov […]

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Estonia-based startup Modash has raised a $12 million Series A led by henQ, a Dutch VC firm that prides itself in “funding the odd ones.” And what’s odd about Modash, according to CEO Avery Schrader, is that its team “has a really strong opinion in a space that nobody really has much faith in anymore.” […]

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People are generally skeptical of customer service chatbots, and many outright despise them. In a recent Gartner survey, 64% of consumers said that they’d prefer companies didn’t use AI of any kind — including chatbots — in their customer service. Fifty-three percent went so far as to say they’d weigh switching to a rival if […]

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Actor and director Olivia Wilde, famous for her roles in “Tron: Legacy” and “Don’t Worry Darling,” quietly launched venture firm Proximity Ventures late last year, according to Bloomberg. She launched the early- and growth-stage investment fund with Neil Sirni, formerly of Roc Nation’s venture division Arrive; Jason Mack, formerly of Mack Ventures; and Santi White, […]

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Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is in talks to raise new funding at a valuation around $40 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. xAI hopes to raise several billion dollars in the round, adding to the $6 billion in Series B funding that the company raised in May. The rumored valuation would nearly double […]

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The focus of the new $100 million fund, Crosscut’s sixth, will include energy and power, space and underwater exploration, advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, and security and defense.

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