Aquawise unveils AI-powered water quality technology at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Water quality is the most important thing that farms monitor to maintain the health of their livestock. There are existing methods to monitor water quality, such as sensors and water testing kits, but they are too expensive for many farmers in regions such as Southeast Asia. Aquawise wants to give aquaculture farmers in Southeast Asia […]
Instagram shows PG-13 content to teens by default, adds parental controls
To protect underage users from harmful content, Instagram is introducing new restrictions for teen accounts. By default, users under 18 will only see content that adheres to the PG-13 movie rating, avoiding themes such as extreme violence, sexual nudity, and graphic drug use. If you are under 18 years of age, you may not change […]
SpaceX ends action-packed Starship V2 era as program moves to V3
Farewell, V2: SpaceX sent Starship’s current configuration on its final test flight Monday night, a mission the company says accomplished all of its major goals and moved the program to the next stage. The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 6:23 p.m. local time. The super heavy booster, reused from the March […]
Smart ring maker Oura raises $900 million from Fidelity
Finnish health tech company Oura has raised $900 million in new funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from new investors ICONIQ and contributions from Whale Rock and Atreides. The company announced today that the latest funding values the company at “approximately $11 billion,” more than double the valuation it received in […]
Google to invest $15 billion in India’s AI infrastructure hub
Google is investing $15 billion to set up a 1 gigawatt data center and AI hub in India, even as the Indian government pushes to reduce dependence on US tech giants. Google announced Tuesday that it will build a data center in Visakhapatnam, a port city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The investment […]
India’s Airbound invests $8.65 million to develop rocket-shaped drone that delivers 1 cent deliveries
Indian drone startup Airbound has raised $8.65 million in seed funding led by Physical Intelligence co-founder Lachy Groom to begin piloting drone deliveries with private hospitals and aim for penny deliveries using ultra-light, blended wing-body aircraft. The seed round includes participation from Humba Ventures and Airbound’s existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as senior […]
Goldman Sachs acquires Industry Ventures for up to $965 million as alternative VC exits surge
Goldman Sachs has agreed to buy San Francisco-based Industry Ventures, a 25-year-old investment firm with $7 billion in assets, CNBC first reported on Monday. The agreement highlights the growing importance of secondary markets and buyouts as traditional venture exits remain sluggish. The investment bank will pay $665 million in cash and stock, with up to […]
Oura is gaining young women and losing gym rats, but that’s okay
Dorothy Kilroy has seen her company’s smart rings on some very famous fingers. Mark Zuckerberg also wears it. So is Jack Dorsey. Prince Harry too. But when Oura’s chief commercial officer sat down with this editor at the Elevate conference in Toronto last week, she surprised me by saying that the company’s fastest-growing user base […]
California becomes first state to regulate AI companion chatbots
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a landmark bill regulating AI companion chatbots, making the state the first state in the nation to require AI chatbot operators to implement safety protocols for their AI companions. This law, SB 243, aims to protect children and vulnerable users from harms associated with the use of AI […]
As enterprise AI competition heats up, Salesforce introduces Agentforce 360
Salesforce on Monday announced the latest version of its AI agent platform as it seeks to draw businesses to its AI software in an increasingly crowded market. The customer relationship manager giant announced a brand new platform called Agentforce 360 ahead of its annual Dreamforce customer conference starting October 14th. This new version of Agentforce […]