Tootfinder

Dutch nanoimprint lithography startup Morphotonics raised €40M from 3M Ventures, EIC Fund, and others, and plans to expand into data center optical components (TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/21/morphotonics-raises-e40m-as-it-tk-tk-tk-t/

Morphotonics raises €40M to expand its display tech into data centers | TechCrunch
Deeptech company Morphotonics raises €40M from investors including 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, and Invest-NL.

Sources: US Department of Energy is investigating whether Chinese lidar sensors might pose a security risk if they become widely used on vehicles in the US (Sean O'Kane/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/21/us-government-…

Exclusive: US government lab is probing Chinese-made lidar for security vulnerabilities | TechCrunch
The security review is being performed by the Idaho National Laboratory, and the research is being funded by a company -- or a group of companies -- in the electric and autonomous vehicle industries.

X relaunches its Android app after a year-long rewrite from scratch; Nikita Bier calls it "one of the largest engineering projects" in the company's history (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/20/x-relaunches-a-re…

X relaunches a rebuilt Android app after year-long effort | TechCrunch
X says the rebuilt version of its Android app is now available globally.

Walmart, which has long resisted contactless Tap to Pay payments, says it will soon start rolling out the tech, which supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/21/walmart-to-finally-start-ac…

Walmart to finally start accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay | TechCrunch
Are pigs flying? Walmart has finally caved on its refusal to support Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Meta rolls out Pocket, an experimental vibe-coding app that lets users create and share small games, in the US, after launching it in Brazil last month (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/20/meta-brings-pock…

Meta brings Pocket, an app that lets you vibe-code and share games, to US users | TechCrunch
Meta is bringing Pocket, its experimental AI-powered app for creating and sharing interactive games, to users across the U.S. after quietly testing it in Brazil.

Gritt, which is developing an AI system that helps build infrastructure like solar panels, emerges from stealth with a $26M Series A and $34M in total funding (Tim Fernholz/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/grit

Gritt exits stealth with $34 million for robots to build solar plants—then, everything else | TechCrunch
Gritt is coming out of stealth with $34 million and plan to automate the hardest tasks on construction sites.

Nevada approves permits letting Tesla deploy up to 5,000 robotaxis in the Las Vegas area over the next year, while Waymo and Uber are each allowed up to 1,000 (Kirsten Korosec/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/20/tesl

Tesla, Uber, and Waymo all get the OK to operate thousands of robotaxis in Nevada | TechCrunch
Together, these permits would allow up to 8,000 robotaxis to be deployed over the next 12 months.

Space data center startup Starcloud raised a $250M extension, at a $2.3B valuation, to its March $170M Series A; source: Nvidia invested $25M (Tim Fernholz/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/21/starcloud-raises-200-mil…

Starcloud raises $250 million for orbital data centers as launch options dry up | TechCrunch
There's about to be a big fight to secure access to space.

Glow, a cybersecurity startup that uses AI agents to monitor software and developer tools, emerges from stealth with a $180M Series A at a $1.2B valuation (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/22/glow

Glow emerges from stealth at $1.2B valuation to challenge endpoint security in the AI era | TechCrunch
Glow is targeting a new class of endpoint risks created by the rapid adoption of AI agents and developer tools inside enterprises.

Natural, which aims to help companies let their AI agents make autonomous payments, raised a $30M Series A led by Forerunner, bringing its total raised to $40M (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/20/natural-rai…

Natural raises $30M to reinvent payments for AI agents — and take on Stripe | TechCrunch
The one-year-old startup aims to reinvent financial architecture for autonomous AI transactions.