AniML, the French startup behind a new 3D capture app called Doly, wants to create the PhotoRoom of product videos, sort of. If you’re selling sneakers on an online marketplace or need to create Instagram ads for your direct-to-consumer wares, Doly helps you generate 3D models with your phone and …...Read More
Doly lets you generate 3D product videos from your iPhone
Elon Musk's xAI raises $6B from Valor, a16z, and Sequoia
Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has raised $6 billion in a new funding round, it said today, in one of the largest deals in the red-hot nascent space, as he shores up capital to aggressively compete with rivals including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, …...Read More
Indian EV startup Zypp Electric secures ENEOS backing to fund expansion to Southeast Asia
Indian startup Zypp Electric plans to use fresh investment from Japanese oil and energy conglomerate ENEOS to take its EV rental service into Southeast Asia early next year, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The company aims to be in 15 markets over the next two years. Of those 15 markets, Zypp …...Read More
A venture capital firm looks back on changing norms, from board seats to backing rival startups
Last month, one of the Bay Area’s better-known early-stage venture capital firms, Uncork Capital, marked its 20th anniversary with a party in a renovated church in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, where 420 guests showed up to help the firm to celebrate, trade tips, and share war stories. There’s no question …...Read More
Families of Uvalde shooting victims sue Activision and Meta
The families of victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas are suing Activision and Meta, as well as gun manufacturer Daniel Defense. The families bringing the lawsuits are represented by attorney Josh Koskoff, who previously won a settlement from Remington for the families of Sandy Hook …...Read More
Y Combinator’s Garry Tan supports some AI regulation but warns against AI monopolies
Garry Tan, president and CEO of Y Combinator, told a crowd at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. this week that “regulation is likely necessary” for artificial intelligence. Tan spoke with Teresa Carlson, a General Catalyst board member as part of a one-on-one interview where he discussed everything from how …...Read More
How Maven’s AI-run ‘serendipity network’ can make social media interesting again
Everything in society can feel geared toward optimization – whether that’s standardized testing or artificial intelligence algorithms. We’re taught to know what outcome you want to achieve, and find the path towards getting there. Kenneth Stanley, a former OpenAI researcher and co-founder of a new social media platform called Maven, …...Read More
Women in AI: Miriam Vogel stresses the need for responsible AI
To give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved — and overdue — time in the spotlight, TechCrunch has been publishing a series of interviews focused on remarkable women who’ve contributed to the AI revolution. We’re publishing these pieces throughout the year as the AI boom continues, highlighting key work …...Read More
What are Google’s AI Overviews good for?
Google has been taking heat for some of the inaccurate, funny, and downright weird answers that it’s been providing via AI Overviews in search. AI Overviews are the AI-generated search results that Google started rolling out more broadly earlier this month, with mixed results — apparently, a user looking for …...Read More
The ups and downs of investing in Europe, with VCs Saul Klein and Raluca Ragab
When it comes to the world of venture-backed startups, some issues are universal, and some are very dependent on where the startups and its backers are located. It’s something we talked about this week in London, when TechCrunch took its StrictlyVC series of more intimate, more investor-focused events on the …...Read More
