Tootfinder

Numeral, which provides AI-powered sales tax compliance software, raised a $35M Series B led by Mayfield at a $350M valuation, six months after an $18M Series A (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/18/numeral-raises-35m-to-automate-sal…

Numeral raises $35M to automate sales tax with AI | TechCrunch
The two-year-old sales tax startup Numeral is now valued at $350 million.

Indeed it does.
Just tested it. Not entirely accurate, but it does hide some stuff.
https://mstdn.social/@TechCrunch/114875173097890841

TechCrunch (@TechCrunch@mstdn.social)
Attached: 1 image DuckDuckGo now lets you hide AI-generated images in search results https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/18/duckduckgo-now-lets-you-hide-ai-generated-images-in-search-results/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Google updates its Search app's Discover page to let users follow specific publishers and creators; it plans to add YouTube Shorts and X and Instagram posts (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/google-revamps-discover-pag…

Google revamps Discover page to show content from creators | TechCrunch
Google will now let you follow publishers and creators directly through its Search app's Discover page.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/18/ice-unit-signs-new-3-million-contract-for-phone-hacking-tech/
ICE unit signs new $3M contract for phone-hacking tech

ICE unit signs new $3M contract for phone-hacking tech | TechCrunch
Homeland Security Investigations, the law enforcement arm of ICE, adds phone-unlocking tech made by Magnet Forensics to its arsenal of technology used to power the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown.

🦠 Terra Oleo’s oil-producing microbes could replace destructive palm oil plantations
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/terra-oleos-tiny-oil-producing-microbes-might-replace-sprawling-palm-oil-plantations/

Exclusive: Terra Oleo’s oil-producing microbes could replace destructive palm oil plantations | TechCrunch
Terra Oleo had operated in stealth for years, developing yeast strains capable of producing high-value oils that don't need refining. It has raised $3.1 million.

»DuckDuckGo now lets you hide AI-generated images in search results:
Privacy-focused browser DuckDuckGo is rolling out a new setting that lets users filter out AI images in search results. The company says it’s launching the feature in response to feedback from users who said AI images can get in the way of finding what they’re looking for.«
I don't prefer this as my main search engine but if this could not trigger ain anti-AI hype?
🔎

DuckDuckGo now lets you hide AI-generated images in search results | TechCrunch
DuckDuckGo's new search feature comes as the internet is being flooded with AI-generated slop.

Google updates its Search app's Discover page to let users follow specific publishers and creators; it plans to add YouTube Shorts and X and Instagram posts (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/google-revamps-discover-pag…

Google revamps Discover page to show content from creators | TechCrunch
Google will now let you follow publishers and creators directly through its Search app's Discover page.

"Apple commits $500M to US-based rare-earth recycling firm MP Materials"
#Apple #Technology #Recycling

Apple commits $500M to U.S.-based rare earth recycling firm MP Materials | TechCrunch
The factory will develop a series of neodymium magnet manufacturing lines specifically designed for Apple products.

OpenAI says it paused Sora's ability to generate videos resembling MLK Jr. at the request of his estate, after some users created "disrespectful depictions" (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/openai-pause…

OpenAI pauses Sora video generations of Martin Luther King Jr. | TechCrunch
OpenAI is pausing AI video generations of Martin Luther King at the request of the late civil rights activists' estate.

VC firm Insight Partners says thousands of staff and limited partners had personal data stolen in a ransomware attack
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/vc-giant-insight-partners-notifies-staff-and-limited-partners-after-data-b…

VC firm Insight Partners says thousands of staff and limited partners had personal data stolen in a ransomware attack | TechCrunch
The venture capital giant, behind cyber giants Wiz and Databricks, notified current and former employees, as well as the firm's limited partners, that their data was stolen in a January cyberattack.

Die Zugriffe auf #Wikipedia sind im Jahresvergleich um 8 % gesunken.
Ursachen sind laut #WikimediaFoundation unter anderem #KI-Suchfunktionen und die Verlagerung der Informationssuche au…

Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video | TechCrunch
Looks like Wikipedia isn't immune to broader online trends.

OpenAI says it paused Sora's ability to generate videos resembling MLK Jr. at the request of his estate, after some users created "disrespectful depictions" (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/openai-pause…

OpenAI pauses Sora video generations of Martin Luther King Jr. | TechCrunch
OpenAI is pausing AI video generations of Martin Luther King at the request of the late civil rights activists' estate.

So - Google has introduced (what the claim at the moment) will be an open protocol for AI agents to make purchases on behalf of individuals named AP2.
Putting aside current issues with AI in general such as hallucinations, I think that I may have hit a breaking point with acronyms.
AP2 API B2B SDK CVE

• A threat actor using A…

Google launches new protocol for agent-driven purchases | TechCrunch
Called the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the system is meant to be interoperable between AI platforms, payment systems and vendors.

😲 US sanctions fraud network used by North Korean ‘remote IT workers’ to seek jobs and steal money
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/27/us-sanctions-fraud-network-used-by-north-korea-to-seek-jobs-and-steal-money/

US sanctions fraud network used by North Korean 'remote IT workers' to seek jobs and steal money | TechCrunch
Treasury officials say the North Korea government used the fraud network to generate money for the regime's nuclear weapons program.

Atlassian acquires developer productivity platform DX for $1B in cash and restricted stock; DX has 350 enterprise customers and raised less than $5M (Rebecca Szkutak/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/18/atlassian-acquires-dx-a-devel…

Atlassian acquires DX, a developer productivity platform, for $1B | TechCrunch
Atlassian is making its largest acquisition yet by buying DX so it can offer a developer productivity tool.

Kayak launches a ChatGPT-powered chatbot on its desktop and mobile website that lets users ask travel questions and compare flights, hotels, and car rentals (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/kayak-launches-an-ai-m…

Kayak launches an 'AI Mode' for travel questions, search, and bookings | TechCrunch
Kayak is bringing AI directly to its main platform with a new “AI Mode” that lets travelers research, plan, and book trips through a built-in chatbot.

Deloitte announced plans to roll out Anthropic’s chatbot Claude to its nearly 500,000 global employees on Monday. So maybe you don't want to use GenAI, but your consultant or accountant will....
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/06/delo

Deloitte goes all in on AI — despite having to issue a hefty refund for use of AI | TechCrunch
Deloitte is rolling out Claude to its nearly 500,000 employees after issuing a refund for a report that contained AI hallucinations.

Meta announces the Oakley Meta Vanguard, with a 12MP wide-angle camera, Garmin and Strava integrations, and immersive audio, launching on October 21 for $499 (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/meta-unveils-its-ne…

Meta unveils its new Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses for athletes | TechCrunch
The new smart glasses are geared toward runners, cyclists, and other athletes.

Kayak: in principle, an application that may be well-served by "old" rules-based AI. Its function is supposed to be deterministic, needing more data ingestion & analysis than humans can tolerate.
But if they're calling it "AI" today, I'm sure it's a LLM/neural net gadget which will hallucinate flights & fares. Because we're playing out the theory that the #XRisk

Meta rolls out Hyperscape Capture in early access, letting developers and creators use Quest 3 devices to scan a room and turn it into a VR space in minutes (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/meta-launches-hyper…

Meta launches Hyperscape, technology to turn real-world spaces into VR | TechCrunch
Meta launches Hyperscape into beta, allowing users to turn real world spaces into digital spaces for VR.

Indian startup Kuku, which offers audio content and vertical dramas, raised an $85M Series C led by Granite at a $500M valuation and has 10M paid subscribers (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/15/indias-kuku-snags-85m-as-mobil…

India's Kuku snags $85M as mobile content wars intensify | TechCrunch
Kuku plans to expand beyond India with a U.S. launch slated for next year.

Now THIS is something that might actually cause me to consider getting AirPods! (Given the international travel I do.)
From: @…
https://mstdn.social/@TechCrunch/11517

TechCrunch (@TechCrunch@mstdn.social)
Attached: 1 image Get a look at the real-time translation the new AirPods Pro 3 bring to your ears, which you can prompt through a gesture. Powered by Apple Intelligence, it uses noise cancellation to reduce the volume of the speaker to elevate the provided translation to the user. It came as one of several updates to the […] https://techcrunch.com/video/watch-apples-airpod-pro-3-live-translation-feature-in-action/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Google says India has emerged as the No. 1 country for Nano Banana model usage, making Gemini the top free app on both the App Store and Google Play in India (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/india-leads-the…

India leads the way on Google's Nano Banana with a local creative twist | TechCrunch
Indian users turning Google’s Nano Banana into a viral trend engine, from retro AI portraits to figurine-style selfies.

WhatsApp updates its Business API terms to ban general-purpose chatbots starting January 15, 2026, affecting WhatsApp assistants of OpenAI, Perplexity, others (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/18/whatssapp-…

WhatssApp changes its terms to bar general purpose chatbots from its platform | TechCrunch
WhatsApp is banning general purpose chatbots from using its Business API

A new question for your pub quiz:
Which AI company did Nvidia not invest in?
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/12/nvidias-ai-empire-a-look-at-its-top-startup-investments/

Nvidia's AI empire: A look at its top startup investments | TechCrunch
Over the last two years, Nvidia has used its ballooning fortunes to invest in over 100 AI startups. Here are the giant semiconductor's largest investments.

Sources: Cursor maker Anysphere acquired Koala, an AI-powered CRM startup that raised a $15M Series A five months ago; Koala plans to shut down in September (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/18/cursor-snaps-up-…

Cursor snaps up enterprise startup Koala in challenge to GitHub Copilot | TechCrunch
Cursor-maker Anysphere is snapping up top talent from AI enterprise startups in an effort to compete with Microsoft's GitHub Copilot.

A security researcher said
flaws in a carmaker’s online dealership portal
exposed the private information
and vehicle data of its customers,
and could have allowed hackers to remotely break into any of its customers’ vehicles.
Eaton Zveare, who works as a security researcher at software delivery company Harness,
told TechCrunch the flaw he discovered
allowed the creation of an admin account
that granted “unfettered access” to the unnamed carma…

Security flaws in a carmaker's web portal let one hacker remotely unlock cars from anywhere | TechCrunch
Security researcher Eaton Zveare told TechCrunch that the flaws he discovered in the carmaker's centralized dealer portal exposed vast access to customer and vehicle data. With this access, Zveare said he could remotely take over a customer's account and unlock their cars, and more.

YouTube unveils new generative AI tools for Shorts, including a custom version of Veo 3 called Veo 3 Fast, which includes sound, and an Edit with AI feature (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/16/youtube-announces-new-gener…

YouTube announces new generative AI tools for Shorts creators | TechCrunch
YouTube is bringing a custom version of Google's text-to-video generative AI model, Veo 3, to Shorts, along with a new remixing tool, an "Edit with AI" feature, and more.

Claude Code users, many on the $200-a-month Max plan, are unexpectedly facing restrictive usage limits; Anthropic says it's "working to resolve these issues" (Russell Brandom/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/17/anth

Anthropic tightens usage limits for Claude Code – without telling users | TechCrunch
Claude Code users have been hit with unexpectedly restrictive usage limits. The problems, many of which have been aired on Claude Code’s GitHub page, seem to be concentrated among heavy users of the service, many of whom are on the $200-a-month Max plan. 

Filing: Insight Partners says a ransomware attack on its systems between October 2024 and January 2025 affected 12,600 people, including limited partners (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/vc-giant…

VC firm Insight Partners says thousands of staff and limited partners had personal data stolen in a ransomware attack | TechCrunch
The venture capital giant, behind cyber giants Wiz and Databricks, notified current and former employees, as well as the firm's limited partners, that their data was stolen in a January cyberattack.

TikTok is updating its Community Guidelines, adding new rules for Live creators, including a requirement that commercial content must be disclosed (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/15/tiktoks-new-guideli…

TikTok's new guidelines add subtle changes for LIVE creators, AI content, and more | TechCrunch
TikTok is preparing an update to its Community Guidelines, which dictate the rules for participating on the social video platform as well as what standards the company uses to determine the videos that make it onto its For You feed.

YouTube announces AI tools for podcasters, including one that turns video podcasts into clips and another that creates video for audio-only podcasts (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/16/youtube-to-use-ai-t…

YouTube to use AI to help podcasters promote themselves with clips and Shorts | TechCrunch
YouTube teases new AI-powered tools for turning podcasts into video clips, even if they're audio-only.

YouTube unveils new ways for creators to earn with brand deals and the Shopping program, including letting them swap out brand sponsorships in longform videos (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/16/yout

YouTube unveils new ways for creators to earn with brand deals, YouTube Shopping program | TechCrunch
YouTube is going to allow creators to swap out brand sponsorships in long-form videos.

Interesting, a lab that wants to build opensource (!) attracts a lot of funding 🤔
Reflection AI raises $2B to be America's open frontier AI lab, challenging DeepSeek | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/reflection-…

Reflection AI raises $2B to be America's open frontier AI lab, challenging DeepSeek | TechCrunch
Reflection, once focused on autonomous coding agents, has raised $2B at an $8B valuation to expand into both an opensource alternative to closed frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, and a Western equivalent to Chinese AI firms like DeepSeek.

YouTube unveils new livestreaming features, including letting creators transition between public and members-only streams, and ads that run next to the stream (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/16/yout

YouTube Live gets a major update, introduces dual-format streaming, minigames, and more | TechCrunch
YouTube announced new features for livestreaming, such as letting creators play mini-games, AI-powered highlights, and more.

Indian startup Kuku, which offers audio content and vertical dramas, raised an $85M Series C led by Granite at a $500M valuation and has 10M paid subscribers (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/15/indias-kuku-snags-85m-as-mobil…

India's Kuku snags $85M as mobile content wars intensify | TechCrunch
Kuku plans to expand beyond India with a U.S. launch slated for next year.

Amazon's Ring partners with Flock to let law enforcement agencies that work with Flock request footage from Ring doorbell users (Amanda Silberling/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/amazons-ring-to-partn…

Amazon's Ring to partner with Flock, a network of AI cameras used by ICE, feds, and police | TechCrunch
Agencies that use Flock can request that Ring doorbell users share footage to help with "evidence collection and investigative work."

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/11/u-s-government-seized-1-million-from-russian-ransomware-gang/

US government seized $1M from Russian ransomware gang | TechCrunch
A global law enforcement coalition targeted the infrastructure of the group behind the Royal and BlackSuit ransomware strains, allegedly responsible for extorting victims out of $370 million since 2022.

AI code review startup CodeRabbit raised a $60M Series B led by Scale Venture Partners, valuing the company at $550M, and says it makes $15M in ARR (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/16/coderabbit-raises-6…

CodeRabbit raises $60M, valuing the 2-year-old AI code review startup at $550M  | TechCrunch
The round, which brought the two-year-old startup’s total funding to $88 million, was led by Scale Venture Partners.

Liberate, which builds AI agents to automate insurance operations, raised a $50M Series B led by Battery Ventures at a $300M post-money valuation (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/15/liberate-bags-5…

Liberate bags $50M at $300M valuation to bring AI deeper into insurance back offices | TechCrunch
Liberate’s AI agents automate tasks for P&C insurers, working across sales, service, and claims.

TikTok is updating its Community Guidelines, adding new rules for Live creators, including a requirement that commercial content must be disclosed (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/15/tiktoks-new-guideli…

TikTok's new guidelines add subtle changes for LIVE creators, AI content, and more | TechCrunch
TikTok is preparing an update to its Community Guidelines, which dictate the rules for participating on the social video platform as well as what standards the company uses to determine the videos that make it onto its For You feed.

Spotify adds new features for free users globally, allowing them to search for and play any song they want; the company reported 433M ad-supported MAUs in Q2 (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/15/spotify-will-now-let-free-users-pic…

Spotify will now let free users pick and play tracks | TechCrunch
On Monday, the company announced that free users globally will now be able to search and play any song they want or play a song shared by a friend or an artist they follow on social media.

Pinterest adds new tools to let users limit how much AI-generated content they see in their feed in certain categories, including beauty, art, and home decor (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/pinterest-ad…

Pinterest adds controls to let you limit the amount of 'AI slop' in your feed | TechCrunch
Pinterest is rolling out new controls that let users limit how much AI-generated content appears in their feeds. The company is also making its AI content labels more visible.

Nothing raised a $200M Series C led by Tiger Global at a $1.3B valuation, taking the total funding to $450M , and says it had $1B in total sales in early 2025 (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/15/nothing-cl…

Nothing closes $200M Series C led by Tiger Global, plans AI-first device launch | TechCrunch
Carl Pei's Nothing is raising $200 million in a Series C round from Tiger Global at a $1.3 billion valuation.

General Intuition, which trains AI agents in spatial reasoning using Medal.tv game clips, raised a $133.7M seed led by Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/gene

General Intuition lands $134M seed to teach agents spatial reasoning using video game clips | TechCrunch
Late last year, OpenAI reportedly tried to buy Medal and its vast trove of video game data for $500M. Today, the company spun out a frontier research lab that's using that data to build AI agents that understand how they move through space and time, a concept called spatial-temporal reasoning.

YouTube unveils new livestreaming features, including letting creators transition between public and members-only streams, and ads that run next to the stream (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/16/yout

YouTube Live gets a major update, introduces dual-format streaming, minigames, and more | TechCrunch
YouTube announced new features for livestreaming, such as letting creators play mini-games, AI-powered highlights, and more.

Spotify partners with Netflix to distribute a selection of video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer on Netflix starting in early 2026 in the US (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/14/spotifys-video-podcasts-are-coming-t…

Spotify partners with Netflix for video podcast distribution deal | TechCrunch
Spotify is partnering with Netflix to bring select video podcasts to the streaming platform starting in early 2026. The deal will feature curated shows from Spotify Studios and The Ringer, expanding later to include more genres. The move reflects Spotify’s growing focus on video as a key driver for engagement and ad revenue, with video podcast consumption now growing 20 times faster than audio-only content.

Bluesky revises its policies and Community Guidelines to comply with new regulations, including the EU DSA, UK Online Safety Act, and US Take It Down Act (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/14/bluesky-rolls-out-mass…

Bluesky rolls out massive revamp to policies and Community Guidelines | TechCrunch
Some of the changes represent an effort by Bluesky to purposefully shape its community and the behavior of its users, nudging them to be nicer and more respectful of others.

Spotify adds new features for free users globally, allowing them to search for and play any song they want; the company reported 433M ad-supported MAUs in Q2 (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/15/spotify-will-now-let-free-users-pic…

Spotify will now let free users pick and play tracks | TechCrunch
On Monday, the company announced that free users globally will now be able to search and play any song they want or play a song shared by a friend or an artist they follow on social media.

OpenAI debuts GPT‑5-Codex, a version of GPT‑5 optimized for agentic coding in Codex and says it spends its "thinking" time more dynamically than previous models (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/15/openai-upgrades-codex-wi…

OpenAI upgrades Codex with a new version of GPT-5 | TechCrunch
OpenAI's AI coding agent, Codex, can now spend anywhere from a few seconds to several hours on a task, thanks to a new, customized version of GPT-5.

Anthropic releases Claude Haiku 4.5, claiming it offers similar levels of coding performance to Sonnet 4 at "one-third the cost and more than twice the speed" (Russell Brandom/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/15/anthropic-launc…

Anthropic launches new version of scaled-down 'Haiku' model | TechCrunch
Anthropic has released Claude Haiku 4.5, the newest version of its smallest model, billed as offering similar performance to Sonnet 4 "at one-third the cost and more than twice the speed."

LA-based MarqVision, which uses AI to monitor marketplaces for counterfeits, raised a $48M Series B led by Peak XV Partners, bringing its total funding to ~$90M (Kate Park/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/15/harvard-law-to-ai-marqvisi…

Harvard Law to AI: MarqVision lands $48M to combat brand abuse | TechCrunch
This LA-based startup raised $48M to tackle brand abuse

Robinhood has filed an application with the SEC to launch a new publicly traded fund called "Robinhood Ventures Fund I" that will hold shares of startups (Julie Bort/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/15/robinhood-pl…

Robinhood plans to launch a startups fund open to all retail investors  | TechCrunch
The “Robinhood Ventures Fund I” is intended to allow any retail investor to make money on startups, but the details are scant.

Appfigures: ChatGPT's app for iOS and Android hit $2B in global consumer spending, including $1.35B so far in 2025, up 673% YoY; Grok made ~$25.6M this year (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/15/chatgpts-mobile-a…

ChatGPT's mobile app has generated $2B to date, earns $2.91 per install | TechCrunch
ChatGPT is topping its rivals on mobile with $2B in global consumer spending to date.

X plans to show new info about accounts, including their creation date and which country they are based in, "starting next week" on select X employees' profiles (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/15/x-pl

X plans to show more information about user profiles to help improve trust | TechCrunch
X is working on new transparency features to help users identify who they’re interacting with, such as account creation date, location, username change history, and how each account uses the service.

Viven, which builds AI "digital twins" that grant employees access to crucial information when coworkers are unavailable, emerges from stealth with a $35M seed (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/15/e…

Eightfold co-founders raise $35M for Viven, an AI digital twin startup for querying unavailable coworkers | TechCrunch
Viven's seed funding was led by Khosla Ventures and Foundation Capital.

Mastodon plans to launch quote posts starting next week with safety features allowing users to control how they get quoted, to avoid "dunking" (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/12/mastodon-rolls-out-quote-p…

Mastodon rolls out quote posts with protections to prevent 'dunking' | TechCrunch
Decentralized X alternative Mastodon adds support for quote posts, but with additional controls.

Rapper Wyclef Jean, now chief creative officer for OpenWav, extols the startup's tools that let musicians sell tickets, connect directly with fans, and more (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/11/the-music-industry-…

The music industry is broken: OpenWav's new app aims to change that | TechCrunch
OpenWav is building a direct-to-fan platform for music artists that lets them keep more of the profits.

Oura raised $900M led by Fidelity at an "approximately" $11B valuation, up from $5.2B after raising $200M in December 2024, and has sold 5.5M smart rings total (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/14/smart-ring-maker-oura-raises-…

Smart ring maker Oura raises $900M from Fidelity | TechCrunch
Oura is raising new funding of $900 million as its valuation reaches nearly $11 billion

Google plans to invest $15B over five years in India to set up a 1GW data center and AI hub in the southern Andhra Pradesh state; Google has 14K staff in India (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/14/google-to-invest-15b-in-indian-…

Google to invest $15B in Indian AI infrastructure hub | TechCrunch
Google's investment in India will roll out over the next five years, through 2030.

Spotify partners with Netflix to distribute a selection of video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer on Netflix starting in early 2026 in the US (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/14/spotifys-video-podcasts-are-coming-t…

Spotify partners with Netflix for video podcast distribution deal | TechCrunch
Spotify is partnering with Netflix to bring select video podcasts to the streaming platform starting in early 2026. The deal will feature curated shows from Spotify Studios and The Ringer, expanding later to include more genres. The move reflects Spotify’s growing focus on video as a key driver for engagement and ad revenue, with video podcast consumption now growing 20 times faster than audio-only content.

India-based ride-hailing app Rapido starts testing its food delivery service Ownly in Bengaluru, marking its first serious move to challenge Swiggy and Zomato (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/13/indias-rapido-beg…

India's Rapido begins testing food delivery to take on Swiggy, Zomato | TechCrunch
Rapido's beta food delivery service has popped up in three key localities in Bengaluru before a broader rollout.

Bluesky revises its policies and Community Guidelines to comply with new regulations, including EU's DSA, the UK Online Safety Act, and the US Take It Down Act (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/14/bluesky-roll…

Bluesky rolls out massive revamp to policies and Community Guidelines | TechCrunch
Some of the changes represent an effort by Bluesky to purposefully shape its community and the behavior of its users, nudging them to be nicer and more respectful of others.

Google launches Flight Deals, an AI tool within Google Flights to let users find fares using natural language queries, in beta in the US, Canada, and India (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/14/google-push…

Google pushes AI into flight deals as antitrust scrutiny, competition heat up | TechCrunch
Google has launched Flight Deals as its AI tool within Google Flights to help travelers find cheaper fares.

Cohere hires Joelle Pineau, who previously led Meta's FAIR lab, as chief AI officer, to oversee AI strategy across Cohere's research, product, and policy teams (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/14/cohe

Cohere hires long-time Meta research head Joelle Pineau as its chief AI officer | TechCrunch
Cohere has hired Joelle Pineau, Meta's former VP of AI research who previously oversaw the tech giant's fundamental AI research (FAIR) lab. In her newly created Chief AI Officer role, Pineau will oversee AI strategy across Cohere's research, product and policy teams.

xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, who led its engineering teams, says he is leaving the company to launch a venture firm that supports AI research and startups (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/13/co-founder-of-elon-musks-xai-departs-t…

Co-founder of Elon Musk's xAI departs the company | TechCrunch
Igor Babuschkin is leaving xAI less than three years after he co-founded the startup with Elon Musk, following a series of scandals at company.

OpenAI introduces "Auto", "Fast", and "Thinking" settings for GPT-5 in ChatGPT's model picker, with "Auto" similar to the GPT-5 model router announced earlier (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/chat

ChatGPT's model picker is back, and it's complicated | TechCrunch
GPT-5 was supposed to get rid of all the complicated AI models to choose from in ChatGPT, but that's not how it's panned out.

Mira Murati's TML launches a research blog called Connectionism, and shares its work on resolving nondeterminism and achieving reproducible results from LLMs (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/thinking-machines-lab…

Thinking Machines Lab wants to make AI models more consistent | TechCrunch
In a blog post shared Wednesday, Mira Murati's startup offered a rare glimpse into some of work its doing to improve AI models.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signs SB 243, which mandates safety protocols for AI chatbot companions, the first state law to regulate such AI chatbots (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/13/california-becomes-firs…

California becomes first state to regulate AI companion chatbots | TechCrunch
SB 243 is designed to protect children and vulnerable users from harms associated with use of AI companion chatbots.

Hike, which was valued at $1.4B in 2016 and has since pivoted from a messaging app to a real-money gaming app, shuts down following India's ban on such apps (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/13/hike-once-…

Hike, once a unicorn, shuts down as India cracks down on real-money gaming | TechCrunch
Hike, which started as a WhatsApp rival before pivoting to real-money gaming, is now sunsetting after India's sweeping ban.

Shares of transit software company Via closed at $49.51 in their NYSE debut, above the $46 IPO price, giving Via a market cap of ~$3.9B, after raising $492.9M (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/12/via-s…

Via shrugs off tepid open to end first day of trading slightly above IPO price | TechCrunch
Transit tech software startup Via had its IPO debut on Friday, starting at below offering price before rising to close at nearly $50.

Mumbai-based online pharmacy Truemeds, which offers generic alternatives to branded drugs, raised $85M led by Accel at a $400M valuation, up from $110M in 2023 (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/10/trueme…

Why investors just bet $85M on this Indian company's generic drug strategy | TechCrunch
Truemeds has taken a different route from other Indian online pharmacies — and it has helped the startup double its revenue.

India's RBI grants Paytm "in-principle" approval to operate as a payment services provider for online merchants, after China's Ant Group sold its entire stake (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/indi

Indian fintech Paytm wins a major regulatory battle days after key investor exit | TechCrunch
Paytm has received approval from India’s central bank to resume onboarding new online merchants and offer its digital payment services.

Appfigures: AI companion apps are on track to generate $120M in revenue in 2025, and in H1 there were 60M downloads of this kind of app, up 88% YoY (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/ai-companion-apps-on-track-to-pull-in-120m-in-…

AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025 | TechCrunch
The number of AI companion apps has grown more than 60% since 2024.

Mastodon plans to launch quote posts starting next week with safety features allowing users to control how they get quoted, to avoid "dunking" (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/12/mastodon-rolls-out-quote-p…

Mastodon rolls out quote posts with protections to prevent 'dunking' | TechCrunch
Decentralized X alternative Mastodon adds support for quote posts, but with additional controls.

Anthropic updates Claude Sonnet 4 to support a 1M token context window, letting it process prompts up to 750K words or 75K lines of code, up 5x on its old limit (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/anthropics-claude-ai-model-…

Anthropic's Claude AI model can now handle longer prompts | TechCrunch
Anthropic's popular coding model just became a little more enticing for developers with a million token context window.

Micro1, a Scale AI competitor that lets AI companies find contractors for data labeling and training, raised a $35M Series A led by O1A at a $500M valuation (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/12/micro1-a-competitor-to-sc…

Micro1, a competitor to Scale AI, raises funds at $500M valuation | TechCrunch
A three-year-old startup providing data for AI labs is trying to fill the gap in the market left by Scale AI.

California SB 243, which would mandate safety protocols for AI companion chatbots, has passed the State Assembly and Senate and now heads to Gov. Newsom's desk (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/11/a-ca

A California bill that would regulate AI companion chatbots is close to becoming law | TechCrunch
SB 243 passed the California Senate on Thursday and heads to Gov. Newsom's desk. If SB 243 is enacted, California would become the first state to require operators to implement safety protocols for AI companions and hold companies legally accountable if their chatbots fail to meet those standards.

Match is settling with the FTC for $14M and a number of changes like making it easy to cancel subs, after the FTC sued in 2019 over false advertising and more (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/matc

Match to pay $14M to the FTC due to false advertising and other deceptive practices | TechCrunch
Match Group agrees to pay the FTC $14 million after it was sued for deceiving users into buying subscriptions.

Google adds a Chrome feature that automatically disables browser notifications from websites users haven't interacted with recently, on Android and desktop (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/10/google-chrome-silences-those-pesky-no…

Google Chrome silences those pesky notifications | TechCrunch
The company tacitly admits that browser notifications, as designed, might have been a bad idea, saying that its own data shows users receive a high volume of notifications but rarely interact with them.

Google plans to shut down Tables, a work-tracking tool and competitor to Airtable, in December and directs users to migrate to Google Sheets or AppSheet (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/11/google-is-shutting-down-tables-its-airtable…

Google is shutting down Tables, its Airtable rival | TechCrunch
Google Tables, a work-tracking tool and competitor to the popular spreadsheet-database hybrid Airtable, is shutting down. The app will not be supported after December 16, 2025.

NPCI, which runs India's UPI, partners with OpenAI and digital payment company Razorpay on a pilot to let consumers shop and pay directly through ChatGPT (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/india-pil…

India pilots AI chatbot-led e-commerce with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude in the mix | TechCrunch
India has launched a pilot to let users shop and pay directly through AI chatbots, starting with ChatGPT.

Nvidia debuts new Omniverse SDKs and Cosmos world foundation models for robotics devs, including Cosmos Reason, a 7B-parameter reasoning vision language model (Rebecca Szkutak/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/11/nvid

Nvidia unveils new Cosmos world models, infra for robotics and physical uses | TechCrunch
Nvidia on Monday unveiled a set of new world AI models, libraries, and other infrastructure for robotics developers, most notable of which is Cosmos Reason, a 7-billion-parameter "reasoning" vision language model for physical AI applications and robots.

Reddit launches free tools for publishers within Reddit Pro to track article performance and get suggestions on which communities to share their stories in (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/reddit-launches-tools-for-pu…

Reddit launches tools for publisher to track and share stories | TechCrunch
Reddit is introducing new Publisher tools under Reddit Pro.

Google says Cl0p hackers who exploited vulnerabilities in Oracle's E-Business Suite have stolen data from "dozens" of organizations since at least July 10 (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/dozens-of-o…

‘Dozens’ of organizations had data stolen in Oracle-linked hacks | TechCrunch
The mass-hacks targeting Oracle E-Business customers is the latest hacking campaign by Clop, an extortion group known for abusing security flaws in enterprise products to steal large amounts of sensitive data.

Prezent, which offers an AI-powered presentation builder to enterprises, raised $30M at a $400M valuation, bringing its total raised to $74M (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/10/prezent-raises…

Prezent raises $30 million to acquire AI services firms -- starting with founder's other company | TechCrunch
Months after raising $20 million, enterprise-focused AI presentation startup Prezent is raising $30 million for acquisitions.

The Players' Tribune owner Minute Media acquires VideoVerse, whose AI tools let broadcasters extract highlights from sports footage, sources say for $200M-$250M (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/09/blac

BlackRock-backed Minute Media acquires Indian AI startup that extracts sports highlights | TechCrunch
Minute Media's main reason behind the acquisition is to use VideoVerse's tech and its own publisher network to better distribute content across various sports properties and generate ad revenue out of distributed content.

YouTube rolls out multi-language audio after a two-year pilot, saying creators saw 25% of watch time coming from views in their video's non-primary language (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/yout

YouTube’s multi-language audio feature for dubbing videos rolls out to all creators | TechCrunch
YouTube's multi-language audio feature is rolling out to millions of creators, helping them reach a wider global audience.

Bluesky says it will comply with age-verification laws in South Dakota and Wyoming because they strike the "right balance", after exiting Mississippi (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/blue

Bluesky will comply with age-verification laws in South Dakota and Wyoming after exiting Mississippi | TechCrunch
Bluesky says the age-verification laws strike "the right balance," so it won't have to exit the states as it did in Mississippi.

Ramp says it has hit $1B in annualized revenue, after saying it had hit $700M in March; it was valued at $22.5B in July (Julie Bort/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/09/ramp-says-it-has-hit-1b-in-annualized-revenue/

Ramp says it has hit $1B in annualized revenue | TechCrunch
Ramp answered any lingering question as to why investors valued the company at $22.5 billion just 45 days after they valued it at $16 billion.

Evan Spiegel says Snap is restructuring around small squads of 10 to 15 people to compete better; Snapchat now brings in $700M in ARR from 15M paying users (Connie Loizos/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/08/snap-breaks-into-startup-squads-…

Snap breaks into 'startup squads' as ad revenue stalls | TechCrunch
CEO Evan Spiegel just announced the company is restructuring around small "startup squads" of 10 to 15 people to regain agility against larger competitors.

Tigris, which is building a network of localized data storage centers that it claims can meet the compute needs of AI workloads, raised a $25M Series A (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/this-distributed-data-stor…

This distributed data storage startup wants to take on Big Cloud | TechCrunch
Tigris has raised $25 million to expand its growing network of localized data storage centers — the storage layer for decentralized computing infrastructure.

Helsinki-based ReOrbit, which builds satellites and a software platform to help countries fully control their satellite systems, raised a €45M Series A (Anna Heim/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/08/reorbit-lands-record-funding-…

ReOrbit lands record funding to take on Musk's Starlink from Europe | TechCrunch
Finnish startup ReOrbit, has raised a record €45 million Series A for the country to offer "sovereign" satellites.

OpenAI expands its ~$5 ChatGPT Go plan to 16 new Asian countries, including Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, after launching it in August (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/openais-affordable-ch…

OpenAI's affordable ChatGPT Go plan expands to 16 new countries in Asia | TechCrunch
OpenAI is expanding its $5 per month ChatGPT Go plan to 16 more countries.

SoundCloud evolves into a more social platform with the introduction of new community-oriented features, including playlists based on friends' likes (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/soundclou…

SoundCloud gets more social by adding a way to see the songs your friends like | TechCrunch
SoundCloud is evolving into a more social platform with new features like playlists based on the likes of friends or favorite artists you follow.

Anthropic becomes the first major AI company to back SB 53, a California bill that requires large AI companies to disclose safety testing protocols (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/08/anthropic-endorses-californias-ai-safety-bill…

Anthropic endorses California's AI safety bill, SB 53 | TechCrunch
As Anthropic endorses SB 53, much of Silicon Valley and the federal government are pushing back on AI safety efforts.

Signal announces a backup feature that includes 100MB of storage for texts and the last 45 days' worth of media for free, or 100GB of storage for $1.99/month (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/08/signal-introduces-free-an…

Signal introduces free and paid backup plans for your chats | TechCrunch
Signal introduces backups with both free and paid plans.

Google is testing an AI-powered Google Finance website in the US, letting users ask questions, access advanced charting tools, view a live news feed, and more (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/08/google-tests-revam…

Google tests revamped Google Finance with AI upgrades, live news feed | TechCrunch
Users will now be able to research their financial questions with AI, access advanced charting tools, and get real-time data and news.

Motion, which sells an integrated suite of AI agents for SMB, raised a $38M Series C led by Scale Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $75M (Julie Bort/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/08/y-combina…

Y Combinator-backed Motion raises fresh $38M to build the Microsoft Office of AI agents  | TechCrunch
In his early 20s, Harry Qi left a million-dollar-per-year hedge fund job to join Y Combinator. His SMB AI agent startup is now growing fast.

The Browser Company launches a $20-per-month Dia Pro subscription plan, providing unlimited access to the web browser's AI-powered chat and skills features (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/the-b…

The Browser Company launches a $20 monthly subscription for its AI-powered browser | TechCrunch
The Browser Company has its first paid plan in form of $20 per month Dia Pro.