TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

Applied Computing has raised a $20M Series A to build a foundation AI model for the oil, gas and petrochemical industry. Also, travel agency Fora announced a $60 million Series D round led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures, valuing the company at $1 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While everyone in AI is chasing "superintelligence." Alexandre LeBrun, CEO of Yann LeCun's world model startup, AMI Labs, dismisses the word. Also, Syntetica, a French startup that has developed a novel approach to recycling nylon, has already obtained big-name partners and investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rime is handling over 100 million calls each month across multiple companies Also, Anthropic-backed Ode launches as AI labs bet that embedding forward-deployed engineers inside enterprises is the key to accelerating enterprise AI adoption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company is raising at least $75 million, led by Robot, with significant participation from USV and other prominent investors. Also, kid-friendly tech company Pinwheel announced the launch of a new landline phone designed to let children stay connected without the distractions of a smartphone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Phia, the shopping startup founded by Bill Gates' daughter, Phoebe, and her friend, Sophia Kianni, is under fire for a practice known as “cookie stuffing,” which helped the product receive commissions and credit for sales it did not actually generate, per a Bloomberg investigation. Also, Lyzr, a startup that builds AI agents for enterprises, used its own AI agent to raise a $100 million round — proof, evidently, that the product actually works. Plus, the new startup raised $300 million co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Khosla Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI chip maker SambaNova has raised at an $11 billion valuation months after Intel was rumored to be trying to buy it for about $1.6 billion. Plus, Benchmark-backed Ollama has amassed 176,000 stars, and nearly 17,000 forks on Github by helping developers easily run AI on their PCs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Build a new kind of rocket engine, and the world will beat a path to your door. Also, Blue Origin is raising $10 billion at a $130 billion pre-money valuation from Coatue Asset Management, Bezos himself and other big-name investors, the New York Times reported. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bidbus, which lets dealerships bid on used cars, has raised $15 million in a Series A round that was led by early-stage mobility fund Ibex Investors. Also, Savi just raised $7 million in seed funding, and is launching its app for iPhone and Android on Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Station F, the Paris-based startup hub founded by French billionaire Xavier Niel in 2017, is gearing up for a new edition of its selective acceleration F/ai program that will cement its role as a stepping stone for AI startups. Also, Even Realities, an ex-Apple team building camera-free smart glasses, raised $150M from Meituan and Tencent at a $1B valuation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As part of an ongoing legal dispute with three Hollywood studios, Midjourney is seeking to compel those studios to reveal how they use AI themselves. Also, Selby's VC firm Copper Sky Capital is currently raising a $300 million second fund, according to a regulatory filing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nvidia AI chip competitor Etched says it has already booked $1 billion under contract for the inference systems powered by its chip. Also, Neo is Bhavin Turakhia's fifth venture and his latest involving enterprise software. This time he's taking on Microsoft Office, Google Apps with AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The startup, which runs a popular free AI leaderboard, launched its commercial service just last September. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Corgi became embroiled in controversy when Papermark accused it of stealing its software. Corgi says it did not, raising new questions about vibe coding. Also, Omen AI raised a $31 million Series A to monitor chip coolant and stop bacterial outbreaks in data centers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aseon Labs, which came out of Y Combinator's 2026 spring cohort, has raised $10 million from Crane Venture Partners and others. Also, General Intuition has raised $320 million to scale AI trained on millions of hours of gameplay, betting action data can help AI develop something closer to human intuition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Jeff Bezos-backed startup finally revealed more pricing details for its debut EV, including a $29,950 starting price for the SUV variant, and boosted the base range to 205 miles. Plus, new details have emerged about Valor's latest fund, which last year announced it was raising an unspecified amount of capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fika Jobs announced on Tuesday a $4 million pre-seed round, which will be used to continue developing the platform, grow the team, and prepare for a wider launch later this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After 18 years of focusing on Europe, early-stage investor Seedcamp said that it has raised $320 million for its latest fund which will see it expanding its presence in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

French serial entrepreneur and open-source legend Jean-Baptiste Kempf has been building Kyber, an infrastructure layer to control remote devices in real time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

World models are the next big thing in AI beyond LLMs and, with this round, Odyssey has cemented itself as one of the startups to watch. Also, General Intuition is in talks to raise around $300 million at a roughly $2 billion valuation from backers including Jeff Bezos. The startup trains AI agents on spatial-temporal reasoning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Critical Energy is turning rocket engines into geothermal power plants, and it wants to build 300 GW per year by 2045. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instead of heating metals, Foundation Alloy beats them into submission. The startup has raised $22 million to scale up production of its alloys. Also, the company Probably wants to prevent hallucinations and factual errors from reaching users, and achieve accuracy on par with deterministic systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new round values the physical AI startup that aims to automate heavy engineering and drug design at $41 billion. Also, unlike humanoid robots designed around a fixed form — think Boston Dynamics — Theker's machines are built to be reconfigured. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SpaceX alumni Andrew Redd is betting the ocean has vast amounts of untapped geothermal energy. Also, the funding round was led by Norwest, with participation from S Capital VC, Cerca Partners, and Oceans Ventures. Snowflake Ventures also participated as a strategic investor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI coding agent startup Niteshift has raised a $7 million seed round from a who's who of angels. It's betting companies will want power over, not lock-in, with model makers. Also, backed by Alexis Ohanian's 776 and Kindred Ventures, Zest uses transaction data and AI to generate restaurant recommendations based on users' real dining habits and the places they frequent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The startup is one of many entering the RV space, but it's banking on a hybrid power system that can go far beyond campsites. Also, with SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI all eyeing massive public debuts, the tech industry may soon have a new class of corporate overlords — and a new acronym to match. Say goodbye to FAANG and hello to MANGOS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fusion startup Helion is racing to complete a power plant for Microsoft by 2028. A fresh infusion of cash should help with that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The California startup released the fourth-generation of its home assistance robot, Stretch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Board, the startup building what it calls "together tech" designed to bring people into the same room, has closed a Series A led by Union Square Ventures. Also, a new AI compliance service sits between AI models and end users to flag and replace any messages that might present a compliance problem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pacific Fusion's sub-scale prototype delivered enormous amounts of power in a flash, setting the company up for its demonstration power plant. Also, engineering physical systems still depends on human talent, according to Impulse Space president Eric Romo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A group of 20 Snap alumni has come together to launch a fund called Ghost Angels to back the next generation of social media. Also, in a wild ride for 22-year-old founder and CEO Ethan Thornton, Mach Industries has raised another $300 million. It already has five autonomous vehicles in development and completed a major acquisition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

South Korean chip startup Xcena is betting that AI's real bottleneck is not compute, but memory. Also, the enterprise AI search startup tripled its annual revenue even as tech giants entered the category. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Insurance tech Corgi announced today an $106 million Series B1 raise, valuing the company at $2.6 billion, just three weeks after announcing a $160 million Series B. Also, Anthropic has closed a $65 billion Series H round at a $965 billion post-money valuation, marking what could be the AI startup's final private fundraise before a highly anticipated IPO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SOND, a startup led by Bose's former head of sleep products, emerged from stealth with $7M in funding for its AI-powered sleep earbuds. Also, WeRoad, the Milan-based group travel startup, has raised a $58 million Series C round led by Airbnb as it prepares for its first major expansion outside Europe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stord offers a network of physical warehouses and inventory management software for e-commerce. It bills itself as a sort of anti-Amazon, giving brands "the speed to compete" while still owning their customer relationships. Also, OpenRouter has raised a $113 million Series B led by CapitalG. Its 5x growth in usage over six months indicates the multi-AI-model future is here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maka Kids is building a streaming app for children ages zero to six featuring content designed for healthy development. The startup has now raised $3 million in seed funding to scale its platform. Also, Peec, which helps brands track their presence in AI searches, offers proof of a key trend among European startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This young startup is taking on a fragrance industry that hasn't changed in a almost half century Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Biotech company Imperagen announced on Thursday a £5 million ($6.7 million) seed round led by PXN Ventures, with participation from IQ Capital and Northern Gritstone. Also, beauty and wellness booking marketplace Fresha says it has raised $80 million investment from KKR's Next Generation Technology Growth fund, KKR's growth equity arm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Arlington, Virginia-based startup has raised $42 million to equip ships with sensors that blow the current AIS tech out of the water. Also, NanoCo, the company behind OpenClaw alternative NanoClaw, has raised a $12 million seed after a viral launch, the founders tell TechCrunch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Interactive social media site Status announced Tuesday $17 million in combined seed and Series A funding, with investors including General Catalyst, YC, LightShed Ventures, and Abstract. Also, Stilta announced Tuesday a $10 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors in the round include YC and operators from companies like OpenAI, Legora, and Lovable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A lens the size of a thumbnail — and the South Korean startup that makes it could become the optical backbone of the AI glasses era. Also, AI-powered marketing platform Nectar Social announced Thursday that it raised a $30 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures and its Anthology Fund, which was created alongside Anthropic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hardware company Atech raised $800,000 in pre-seed funding, including from a16z's scout fund, Sequoia Scout Fund, and Nordic Makers. Plus, Meridian Ventures, the venture firm founded by Devon Gethers and Karlton Haney, announced on Friday the raise of a $35 million second fund to back pre-seed and seed-stage companies founded by those who have deferred MBAs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crosby is building Synthetic, a fully autonomous AI bookkeeping service for other startups. Also, a year ago, it looked like this day would never happen for Cerebras. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices