New numbers out of Crunchbase this week see robotics investments once again trending in a positive direction. The previous two years presented a steady drop in overall numbers, following a record 2021 driven by pandemic-fueled job loss. As we head into the second half of the year, 2024 is on-track to beat last year’s numbers. […]
Hebbia, a startup using generative AI to search large documents and return answers, has raised a nearly $100 million series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The round valued the company between $700 – $800 million although TechCrunch couldn’t verify whether that valuation is pre- or post-money. […]
Up to now, the humanoid robotics industry has been all promises and pilots. While important in the eventual deployment of new technology, these programs involve a small number of robots and often don’t graduate into anything more meaningful. On Thursday, however, Agility announced that it has entered into a formal deal following a successful pilot […]
These days, when you hear about students and generative AI, chances are that you’re getting a taste of the debate over the adoption of tools like ChatGPT. Are they a help? (Yay! Great for research! Fast!) Or are they a harm? (Boo! Misinfo! Cheating!). But some startups are taking the arrival of generative AI in […]
Riffing on what he sees ahead for the future of AI, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview published Thursday that he deeply believes that there will not be “just one AI.” Touting the value of open source to put AI tools into many people’s hands, Zuckerberg took a moment to disparage the efforts […]
AI bigshot Andrew Ng’s AI Fund, a startup incubator that backs small teams of experts looking to solve key problems using AI, plans to raise upwards of $120 million for its second tranche. A filing with the SEC shows that the AI Fund’s second fund, AI Venture Fund II, has so far amassed $69.75 million […]
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Am I the only one whose head is spinning from all of the transpo news this week? Reminder, it’s only Thursday morning. Let’s jump in! Oh wait, […]
The FCC wants to make it significantly easier for consumers to unlock their phones from their carriers, proposing that all devices must be unlockable just 60 days after purchase. How this will mesh with current plans and phone buying trends, however, is something the agency is hoping to learn before putting such a rule into […]
Amid a fraught environment for battery startups, Sila has raised $375 million to finish construction of a U.S. factory that will scale its next-generation battery technology for customers like Mercedes-Benz and Panasonic by the end of 2025. Sila, formerly known as Sila Nanotechnologies, is slated to finish construction of its Moses Lake, Washington plant in […]
On Wednesday, Evolve Bank and Trust, a financial institution that’s popular with fintech startups, announced that it had been victim of a cyberattack and data breach that could have affected its partner companies as well. The incident, according to the company’s statement, involved “the data and personal information of some Evolve retail bank customers and […]