Microsoft has a long and tangled history with OpenAI, having invested a reported $13 billion in the ChatGPT maker as part of a long term partnership. As part of the deal, Microsoft runs OpenAI’s models across its enterprise and consumer products, and is OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider. However, the tech …...Read More

Knowde, an online marketplace for chemicals and polymers, just closed on a Series C round, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The San Jose-based startup raised $60 million in a round that values it lower than the $500 million valuation it garnered in its most recent round, according to multiple sources familiar …...Read More

Self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation is looking to raise hundreds of millions in additional capital as it races towards a driverless commercial launch by the end of 2024. Aurora, which went public in 2021 through a special purpose acquisition merger, is pursuing a driver-as-a-service model, wherein carriers purchase trucks with …...Read More

X (formerly Twitter) can no longer be accessed in the Mac App Store, suggesting that it has been officially delisted. Searches for both “Twitter” and “X” on Apple’s platform no longer surface the app. The URL no longer works, either. Instead, it displays a pop-up message indicating that it is …...Read More

Google Thursday said that it is introducing new Gemini-powered features for Chrome’s desktop version, including Lens for desktop, tab compare for shopping assistance, and natural language integration for search history. Years after introducing and evolving Google Lens on mobile, the feature is finally coming to desktop. Rolling out to users …...Read More

When Xiaoyin Qu was growing up in China, she was obsessed with learning how to build paper airplanes that could do flips in the air. Her parents, though, didn’t have the aerodynamic expertise to support her newfound passion, and her teachers were too overwhelmed to give her dedicated attention. “That’s …...Read More

Boeing has lost another $125 million on its Starliner astronaut capsule program due to delays in its first crewed flight test, which was supposed to last just eight days — and has now been on orbit for almost two months. The aerospace giant has lost $1.6 billion on Starliner, including …...Read More

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! Summer road trip season is upon us, so when Google announced some updates to Google Maps, we got excited. Surely this would …...Read More

Google is hosting a version of its Cloud Next conference in Tokyo this week, and it’s putting the focus squarely on tweaking its databases for AI workloads (because at this point in 2024, AI is the only thing these major tech companies want to talk about). These include updates to …...Read More

Rad Power Bikes, the Seattle-based e-bike startup that has raised more than $300 million from investors, went through another round of layoffs in July, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. This is the company’s fifth round since April 2021, when it cut back 100 staffers. Rad’s latest layoffs follow a culling a …...Read More