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    Latest episodes from TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

    Tensormesh raises $4.5M to squeeze more inference out of AI server loads; also, Palantir enters $200M partnership with telco Lumen

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2025 6:35


    Tensormesh uses an expanded form of KV Caching to make inference loads as much as ten times more efficient. Plus, Palantir said on Thursday it had struck a partnership with Lumen Technologies that will see the telecommunications company using the data management company's AI software to build capabilities to support enterprise AI services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Redwood Materials raises another $350M to power up its energy storage business, also, Wonder raised $12M to bring AI content to Hollywood

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2025 6:43


    The round was led by Eclipse and saw participation from Nvidia's venture capital arm, NVentures. Also, Wonder will use the fresh funds to double its engineering team and accelerate its push into IP ownership and original content production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Why Cohere's ex-AI research lead is betting against the scaling race

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2025 5:41


    Cohere's former VP of AI research, Sara Hooker, is launching a new startup to build AI models that can adapt to their environment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Top OpenAI, Google Brain researchers set off a $300M VC frenzy for their startup Periodic Labs

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2025 8:21


    After endless Silicon Valley takes on how generative AI would radically change scientific discovery, the founders decided that the pieces were finally in place to make this a reality. Or at least to found a startup that attempted it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    a16z-backed Codi launches AI agent office manager

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2025 4:14


    Codi was founded in 2018, in a pre-pandemic world, with a mission to help companies find flexible office spaces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Scale AI alum raises $9M for AI serving critical industries in MENA

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2025 6:15


    Abu-Ghazaleh said his two-month-old company promises to cut inefficiencies in high-stakes sectors like aviation, logistics, and oil and gas through an AI-native operating system for decision-making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Oura launches redesigned app and 'Cumulative Stress' feature

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2025 4:32


    The redesigned Oura app introduces more personalization with three main tabs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    A new wave of social media apps provide hope in a doomscrolling world

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2025 8:00


    "The platforms that won were the ones that kept people scrolling the longest, not the ones that made them feel the most connected,”  Zehra Naqvi told TechCrunch. “Now there is an abundance of content but a scarcity of joy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Too burned out to travel? This new app fakes your summer vacation photos for you

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2025 5:01


    Product designer Laurent Del Rey, who recently joined Meta's Superintelligence Lab, launched a side project called Endless Summer, a photobooth app for iPhone that creates AI-generated vacation photos starring you in locations around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    How a headphone site operator built loyalty startup Lantern to solve his own problems; plus, Deel hits $17.3B valuation after raising $300M from big-name VCs

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2025 7:16


    After struggling to retain customers at his e-commerce site Headphones.com, founder Andrew Lissimore built his own loyalty solution — and it's now a startup called Lantern. The Shopify-native platform helps brands boost retention through customizable loyalty, referrals, and account management tools. Also, Deel says it's been profitable for three years and surpassed $1 billion in ARR, including having a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    General Intuition lands $134M seed to teach agents spatial reasoning using video game clips, also, Electric aircraft startup Beta Technologies seeks to raise $825M in IPO

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2025 7:37


    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. Also, electric aviation startup Beta Technologies has priced shares for its initial public offering between $27 and $33, in hopes of raising as much as $825 million, according to a regulatory document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If the company attracts investors at the top of that range it will debut with a valuation of about $7.2 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Liberate bags $50M at $300M valuation to bring AI deeper into insurance back offices; also, Eightfold raised $35M for an AI digital twin startup

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2025 10:43


    Liberate's AI agents automate tasks for P&C insurers, working across sales, service, and claims. Viven's seed funding was led by Khosla Ventures and Foundation Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Inaudible sound might be the next frontier in wildfire defense

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2025 5:40


    Sonic Fire Tech has developed a device that can extinguish flames using acoustic energy below the range of human hearing. The startup is building a demo capable of protecting a home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    FleetWorks raises $17M to match truckers with cargo faster

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2025 6:36


    Co-founded by a former Uber Freight product manager, and backed by Uber's lead seed investor, FleetWorks is quickly scooping up customers in the trucking world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Sheryl Sandberg-backed Flint wants to use AI to build and update websites, and Coco Robotics taps UCLA professor to lead new physical AI research lab

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2025 8:27


    Flint raised a $5 million seed round led by Accel, with participation from Sheryl Sandberg's fund, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, and prior investor Neo. Also, Coco Robotics is working toward automating its fleet of delivery robots using its millions of miles of collected data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    India's Airbound bags $8.65M to build rocket-like drones for one-cent deliveries

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2025 6:35


    An Indian drone startup called Airbound raised nearly $9 million in seed funding as it begins a drone-delivery pilot with a private hospital and works toward one-cent delivery using its ultra-light, blended-wing-body aircraft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Kalshi hits $5B valuation days after rival Polymarket gets $2B NYSE backing at $8B; also,

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2025 3:57


    Kalshi, a prediction market that allows people to bet on future events, announced that it raised over three hundred million dollars at a 5 billion dollar valuation. The company's value has increased two and a half times since its last fundraise just three months ago, when it was valued at two billion dollars. Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has lost one of its co-founders to Meta. The Wall Street Journal reports that AI researcher Andrew Tulloch announced his departure to employees in a message on Friday. A Thinking Machine Labs spokesperson confirmed Tulloch's departure to the WSJ, saying he “has decided to pursue a different path for personal reasons.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Reflection AI raises $2B to be America's open frontier AI lab, challenging DeepSeek

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2025 6:48


    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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Novoloop's upcycled plastic takes a step closer to production; and Knapsack picks up $10M to help bridge the gap between design and engineering teams

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2025 7:52


    Novoloop has signed a deal with a contract manufacturer to produce its Lifecycled TPU material. Also, Knapsack creates a unified workspace that integrates design and coding tools to ensure design and engineering teams are on the same page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Base Power raises $1B to deploy home batteries everywhere

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2025 3:24


    Base Power's Series C will help the company expand beyond Texas, its beachhead market, and build batteries in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Trump's DOE proposes cutting billions in grants for GM, Ford, and lots of startups

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2025 5:01


    Trump's Department of Energy wants to cancel billions more in awards that were granted by the Biden administration, and startups are in the crosshairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    One startup's paper-thin stainless steel could change how bridges are built

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2025 5:21


    By coating regular rebar with a thin layer of stainless steel, Allium Engineering could reduce the amount of concrete needed to build a bridge while also prolonging its life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Alternative app store AltStore raises $6M, connects with the fediverse; also, ÄIO invented a method to make edible fat from ag waste like sawdust

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2025 9:14


    The third-party app store known as AltStore, one of the first companies to offer an alternative app marketplace in the European Union, is preparing to connect its platform with the open social web known as the fediverse. Also, ÄIO has developed a process to turn agricultural waste like sawdust into fats for the food and cosmetic industries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    A 19-year-old nabs backing from Google execs for his AI memory startup, Supermemory

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2025 5:52


    19-year-old Dhravya Shah, who is originally from Mumbai, has built a memory layer for AI applications with Google's AI chief's backing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Heidi Health raises $65M Series B; also, Sugar Free Capital raises $32M inaugural fund

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2025 7:58


    Heidi Health raised a $65 million Series B led by Steven Cohen's Point72. Also, Sugar Free Capital raises $32M inaugural fund to invest in MIT early-staged founders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Event startup Partiful wasn't stripping GPS locations from user-uploaded photos; plus, If you're not an AI startup, good luck raising money from VCs

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2025 7:41


    Social event planning app Partiful, which calls itself “Facebook events for hot people,” has firmly replaced Facebook as the go-to platform for sending party invitations. But what Partiful also has in common with Facebook is that it's collecting a tsunami of user data, and Partiful could have done better at keeping that data secure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    A new search engine raises $1.1M to let obsessive fans dive down internet rabbit holes; also, New deep tech fund Wave Function Ventures raises $15 million

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2025 11:00


    Zehra Naqvi grew up as an obsessive fan girl in the 2010s and recently started Lore, a search platform for people to research and discover internet obsessions. The company has already raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding. It is set to emerge from stealth on October 6th. Also, when Jamie Gull graduated from Stanford University in 2007 with a master's degree in aeronautics, there was one place he wanted to go next: the desert. The Mojave desert, to be specific. A company called Scaled Composites had spent years developing experimental aircraft out on that arid land, and Gull wanted in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    How startups could be affected by a prolonged government shutdown, plus Oneleet raises $33M to shake up the world of security compliance

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2025 10:54


    The U.S. government shutdown could stifle deal flow, freeze visa processing for workers, and cause other problems for startups and the broader tech sector, especially if it lasts longer than a week, according to experts who spoke to TechCrunch. Also, Bryan Onel's father was a locksmith. As for Onel, he described himself as the digital equivalent. Ethical hacking was Onel's hobby growing up. He studied AI at university and then turned that hacking hobby into a profession. Onel told TechCrunch, “I spent a decade performing penetration tests for over 150 companies across all sectors.” He added that he kept easily breaking into companies that had passed their security checks.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Kevin Hart's VC firm led $35M Series B for weight-loss app Simple, also, Electroflow promises to make LFP material for 40% less than Chinese producers

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2025 9:52


    Simple is an AI-powered health coaching app that helps people lose weight. Electroflow drew inspiration from batteries themselves to develop a new way of producing LFP material for EVs. The process could undercut today's lowest price sources in China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Composite gets backing from NFDG for its cross-browser agent tool

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2025 5:06


    The startup was started earlier this year by Yang Fan Yun and Charlie Deane. Yun is a former product manager at Uber, while Deane founded a company selling server proxies. When he was at Uber, he realized that a lot of people around him were doing grunt work in their browsers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Former OpenAI and DeepMind researchers raise whopping $300M seed to automate science, plus, Whoop opens blood-testing service to what it says is a 350,000-person waitlist

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2025 5:18


    Periodic Labs was founded by Ekin Dogus Cubuk and Liam Fedus. Cubuk led the materials and chemistry team at Google Brain and DeepMind, where one of his projects was, for instance, an AI tool called GNoME. Researchers say that tool discovered over 2 million new crystals in 2023, materials that could one day be used to power new generations of technology.  Whoop Advanced Labs offers health-screening blood tests from Quest Diagnostics that cover a variety of markers, from calcium to white blood cells. The platform integrates those results with the band's continuous monitoring of activity, sleep, respiratory rate, and blood pressure to offer more personalized wellness advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    CommanderAI building Salesforce for the waste management industry, also, a year after filing to IPO, still-private Cerebras Systems raises $1.1B

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2025 8:25


    CommanderAI launched in early 2024 as a customer relationship manager and sales prospecting platform built for waste management — and other industrial services like dumpster rentals and industrial recyclers – to fill that gap.   Also, Silicon Valley-based Cerebras announced it raised a $1.1 billion Series G round on Tuesday that valued the AI hardware company at $8.1 billion. The round was co-led by Fidelity and Atreides Management with participation from Tiger Global, Valor Equity Partners, and 1789 Capital, among others.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Vibe-coding startup Anything nabs a $100M valuation after hitting $2M ARR in its first two weeks; also, AI recruiter Alex raises $17M to automate initial job interviews

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2025 8:42


    It's no secret that vibe coding — using AI-powered coding tools to build apps and websites via natural language prompts — is exploding in popularity. In July, Swedish vibe coding startup Lovable hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue just eight months after launch, plans to close the year at $250 million ARR and thinks it will hit $1 billion ARR within the next 12 months. Meanwhile, Replit said earlier this month that its ARR soared from $2.8 million to $150 million in less than a year. Also, job seekers in all fields can expect to soon be doing a lot more initial screening interviews. While that may sound like positive news, it doesn't mean that there will suddenly be more open positions. Instead, recruiters, often bogged down with determining which applicants are qualified for the next round, will outsource the routine screening tasks — like checking backgrounds, salary needs, and availability — to (you guessed it) AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    The startup behind open source tool Polars raises $21M from Accel; plus, ComplexChaos thinks AI can help people find common ground

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2025 8:11


    Polars, the Amsterdam-based company behind the popular open source project of the same name, has raised about $21 million in a Series A round led by Accel, with participation from Bain Capital Partners and angel investors. But while raising this kind of money is the dream of many developers, its creator Ritchie Vink didn't set out to do so. Also, making democracy work isn't easy, as recent events have made clear. Some critics would argue that technology is making it worse. But one startup is hoping that AI could help bridge some differences instead of widen them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Paid, the AI agent ‘results-based billing' startup, raised huge $21M seed; former Microsoft execs launch AI agents to end Excel-led finance

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2025 8:38


    Paid just closed an oversubscribed $21.6 million seed round led by Lightspeed. With the €10 million pre-seed round it raised in March, London-based Paid has already raised $33.3 million and hasn't even hit its Series A yet. A source familiar with the deal says the startup's valuation is over $100 million. Also, despite millions spent on financial software, many finance teams still rely on Excel to close their books and reconcile numbers while preparing them for audit. Two former Microsoft executives view it as a problem — and they have started Maximor to replace spreadsheets with AI agents for the grunt work finance teams perform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Steph Curry's VC firm just backed an AI startup that wants to fix food supply chains, also Doorstep raises $8M seed to help find missing food deliveries

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2025 9:27


    A Y Combinator startup called Burnt thinks AI agents — software that can automatically handle tasks typically done by humans — can succeed where traditional enterprise software hasn't in the trillion-dollar U.S. food market. Doorstep integrates into existing delivery apps and then, using phone sensors, tracks when a driver has entered a building, gone up an elevator, and made it to the desired doorstep.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Starpath bets on mass-produced, space-rated solar

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2025 4:57


    Starpath's new space-rated solar panel business kicked off sales in the U.S. on Thursday with an eyebrow-raising pitch. The company says its solar panels, called “Starlight,” are priced around 10 times cheaper than typical industry pricing of $72.50 per watt, roughly a 90% cost reduction versus the status quo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Nothing to spin off its affordable CMF brand; plus Y Combinator's ‘Early Decision' is for students who want to graduate first, build later

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2025 6:49


    Hardware startup Nothing said Thursday that it plans to make its affordable device brand, CMF, into an independent subsidiary with India serving as its headquarters for manufacturing and R&D. The company first launched CMF in 2023 with a pair of earbuds and a smartwatch. Since then, it has introduced smartphones under the brand as well. Also, the accelerator has introduced a new application track called Early Decision, designed for students who want to start companies but don't want to drop out. The program allows them to apply while still in school, get accepted and funded immediately, and defer their participation in YC until after they graduate. For example, a student applying in fall 2025 could graduate next spring, then participate in YC's Summer 2026 batch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Cohere hits $7B valuation a month after its last raise, partners with AMD; plus, Waymo is getting into the corporate travel business

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2025 5:58


    On Wednesday, Enterprise AI model-maker Cohere said it raised an additional $100 million in an extension to a round announced in August, bumping its valuation to $7 billion. The company said at the time that the  August round was an oversubscribed $500 million round at a $6.8 billion valuation. Also, Waymo's ever-expanding robotaxi aspirations have spread to the corporate world. The Alphabet-owned self-driving vehicle unit has launched “Waymo for Business,” a new service designed for companies to set up accounts so their employees can access robotaxis in cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Telo raises $20 million to build tiny electric trucks for cities; also, Sila opens U.S. factory to make silicon anodes for energy dense EV batteries

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2025 10:40


    The US loves trucks. So is the key to making them love electric trucks… a very small one? That's the bet that California-based startup Telo has been making since its inception in 2022. The company has designed a bite-sized truck called the MT1 with an admittedly not-so-small starting price of around $41,000. Also, Sila, the battery materials startup, started operations Tuesday at its facility in Moses Lake, Washington, a milestone that could pave the way for longer range, faster charging EVs. The factory, which will initially be capable of making enough battery materials for 20,000 to 50,000 EVs, is the first large-scale silicon anode factory in the West, and future expansion could fulfill demand for as many as 2.5 million vehicles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Tim Chen has quietly become of one the most sought-after solo investors; and AI company Superpanel raises $5.3M seed to automate legal intake

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2025 8:51


    Tim Chen, solo VC at his firm Essence VC, said he just closed his fourth fund, a fresh $41 million, without even trying. Limited partner investors were so eager to invest, they preempted it, he told TechCrunch. He didn't even have time to generate a pitch deck.  Also, For Julien Emery, the problem has always been personal.  He's the CEO and co-founder of Superpanel, a platform that helps law firms seamlessly onboard new clients.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Bluesky says it's getting more aggressive about moderation and enforcement, also, Oura ring maker raising $875M Series E

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2025 6:31


     In a new blog post, the company said it received comments from more than 14,000 community members and that it “especially heard from community members who shared concerns about how the guidelines could impact creative expression and traditionally marginalized voices.” The company  said, “after considering this feedback, and in a return to our experimental roots, we are going to bring a greater focus to encouraging constructive dialogue and enforcing our rules against harassment and toxic content. For starters, we are going to increase our enforcement efforts.” Also, Oura Health Oy, the maker of the Oura health and fitness ring, is raising $875 million in a new Series E financing round valuing it around $10.9 billion, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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