TechCrunch Startup News

By TechCrunchNews Technology Tech News

TechCrunch Startup News episodes

October 06 Hot Girl Hotline is like ‘Dear Abby’ for the AI era; plus, after Factory’s public spat with Khosla, Menlo proudly invests
Founded by two sisters, Hot Girl Hotline uses AI to give young women personalized dating and relationship advice, with an emphasis on safety and avoiding emotional dependency.
Also, days after Vinod Khosla called Factory a struggling also-ran, Menlo has shown up with a check and a glowing blog post.

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8 min
October 05 Photon held a funeral for mobile apps; plus, Kevin Mandia’s new ‘agent swarm’ security startup
Photon helps developers build AI agents that work over iMessage, SMS/RCS, email, and other messaging platforms. It's a bet that consumers will increasingly use agents instead of downloading apps.
Also, Kevin Mandia, best known as the founder of Mandiant, has a new startup that is using agent swarms to test and protect enterprises.

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7 min
October 02 World’s first enhanced geothermal power plant completed in just 23 months; plus, turning idle car inventory into rental revenue
Fervo Energy completed its first power plant in less than two years. The next phases promise to connect to the grid even quicker.
Also, MyMonthlyCar is a platform that lets dealers rent out their idle used cars month to month (with an option to buy), and it's now one of the startups showing off at this year's TechCrunch Disrupt, running October 13 to 15 in San Francisco.

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7 min
October 01 Factory CEO just accused his VC board adviser of spying for Cognition
VC Chris Degnan and former board advisor to Factory AI has taken a job as chief revenue officer for Cognition.

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8 min
September 30 Ex-Tesla team raises $12.5M to put supply chains on autopilot; plus, EliseAI raises $350M, doubles valuation to $4B
Atomic's agentic supply chain software is now being used by companies like DoorDash and HelloFresh.
EliseAI raises $350M, doubles valuation in a year.

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7 min
September 29 AMD will acquire Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2 billion; Physical AI chip developer SiMa AI hits $1.45B valuation
The acquisition will see World Labs founder Fei-Fei Li join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist.
Also, SiMa.AI, the edge computing startup, raised a $150 million Series C led by Fidelity and Amplify.

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6 min
September 28 Ocean surveillance startup Quartermaster raises another $140M
The tech enables real-time awareness for what Quartermaster calls the “largest blind spot on Earth.”

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6 min
September 25 Nexterity wants to automate the hard, dangerous part of pipefitting; plus, Feather is building the ‘Android of robotics’ for developers
Nexterity's robot can tighten or loosen four bolts at a time, and it fits in a Pelican case.
Feather is betting on a customizable, $30,000 platform built for software developers.

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9 min
September 24 Modal Motors is trying to cut China out of electric motors entirely; plus, PitPro’s first tire-changing robot goes live in Canada
Modal Motors is working on small, light motors with no rare earth magnets that are suited for drones, fans, and robots.
Also, PitPro says its automated system can change four tires in under 15 minutes.

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8 min
September 23 a16z is challenging Silicon Valley’s love for drop-outs by launching a school; plus, AstroForge is putting AI in command of its next spacecraft
This academy for promising high school grads is somewhere between a trade-school, Y Combinator and Peter Thiel's Fellowship Program.
Autonomy-1 will have a small, transformer-based AI model taking charge of a space probe.

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9 min