Rivian spinoff Mind Robotics raises another $400 million
Mind Robotics, a Rivian spinoff company working to develop industrial robots that can further automate factory operations, has raised another $400 million just two months after raising $500 million. The funding round, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was led by Kleiner Perkins. Volkswagen’s venture arm and Salesforce, which is partnering with Rivian in […]
Who would trust Sam Altman? |Tech Crunch
In May 2023, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was sworn in and testified before Congress on regulating artificial intelligence. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana heard his thoughts on licensing advanced models and asked if Altman might be qualified to run a hypothetical AI regulator. “I love what I do now,” Altman said with a laugh. “You […]
Anthropic taps a new type of customer: small business owners
Anthropic is considering courting smaller companies. To that end, the company on Wednesday announced the launch of Claude for Small Business, a new suite of services designed for customers who are closer to their local hardware store or coffee shop than a Walmart or Starbucks. To date, many of the most intensive AI deployments have […]
Anduril raises $5 billion, doubles valuation to $61 billion
As the year began, Anduril again experienced a large influx of capital. A funding round that was rumored to be underway in March has officially closed. Anduril has raised a $5 billion Series H round at a valuation of $61 billion, led by returning investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, the company announced Wednesday. That’s […]
r/WallStreetBets hates the SEC’s proposal to weaken quarterly reporting
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission formally proposed relaxing quarterly reporting standards for publicly traded companies. So far, public comments submitted to financial regulators about the idea have been overwhelmingly negative. But the best objection was filed yesterday by the popular subreddit WallStreetBets. In an unsigned letter, a community of “approximately 18 million retail […]
US lawmakers demand answers from Instructor after Canvas data breach
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling on representatives of twice-hacked education software maker Instructure to testify about the company’s response to a cyberattack in which hackers stole the personal data of millions of students around the world. The House Homeland Security Committee, which has jurisdiction over government activities related to homeland security, […]
Poppy debuts proactive AI assistant to help organize your digital life
Smartphones can be distracting with a dizzying number of apps and a constant stream of notifications. A new app called Poppy aims to clean up the clutter by consolidating your calendar, email, messages, and other sources into one dashboard. The idea, according to the company’s website, is that “Poppy takes care of you, so you […]
Adaptation hits big goals with AutoScientist, an AI tool that helps models self-train
AI researchers have long anticipated the moment when AI systems will be able to self-improve better than humans. As investors pour money into a new generation of research-driven AI labs, more resources than ever are available to pursue your goals. Now, one of those neolabs has taken a big step toward making that a reality. […]
Medicare’s new payment model is built for AI, but most in the tech industry don’t know it
Neil Batrivala spent seven years building a healthcare company that serves a patient population that most in the tech industry have never heard of and that most in Silicon Valley ignore. But last month, that job put him at the center of something much bigger. His company, Pear Team, announced on April 30 that it […]
Former Tesla executive and Heron Power CEO Drew Baglino launches heat pump startup
Former Tesla executive Drew Baglino secretly founded a heat pump startup, TechCrunch has learned. This is the second company Baglino has founded in the two years since leaving Tesla. Sources have confirmed the existence of a startup called Sadi Thermal Machines, and TechCrunch reviewed the company’s filings in Delaware and California. Sadie was founded in […]