Machine learning is everywhere these days, but it’s usually more or less invisible: it sits in the background, optimizing audio or picking out faces in images. But this new system is not only visible, but physical: it performs AI-type analysis not by crunching numbers, but by bending light. It’s weird and unique, but counter-intuitively, it’s…
Jeffrey Katzenberg’s new mobile video startup NewTV, which snagged Meg Whitman as CEO in January, has now closed on $1 billion in funding, according to a report out today in CNN. Investors in the round include Disney, 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros, Entertainment One and other media companies, with a combined $200 million investment, while institutional…
Here’s a timely reminder for all the European startup fans around the world. TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2018 takes place on November 29-30 — that’s just four short months away. But our super early-bird ticket pricing won’t last nearly that long. Right now, the pricing tiers start at €595 + VAT, but next week the prices go up.…
The trouble with microphones is that they don’t just hear — they have to listen. Powering the mic and its signal processor means using energy, and energy means a battery, and a battery means charging. This new microphone-like system hears more like the way our own ears do, requiring little or no power, and could…
A pair of Canadian students making a simple, inexpensive prosthetic arm have taken home the grand prize at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, a global startup competition the company holds yearly. SmartArm will receive $85,000, a mentoring session with CEO Satya Nadella, and some other Microsoft goodies. But they were far from the only worthy team from…
Quantum computing may be a long ways off, but early applications of it aren’t as far off as you might think, according to longtime researcher and ColdQuanta founder Dana Anderson. The startup creates a device that’s designed to make it easier to start operating quantum computing-like operations on near-term problems like signal processing or time…
Market research firm GlobalWebIndex, which provides consumer insight data for marketing purposes for customers including Google, Spotify, WPP, IPG and Omnicom Group, has closed a $40 million Series A round. The funding is its first VC raise, almost a decade after the business was founded. The investment comes from New York-based growth fund Stripes Group, along with a…
News is far and away the feature I use the most with Google Assistant. Every morning, I ask the Assistant “what’s in the news,” and it dutifully cycles through some pre-recorded news briefs from NPR, CNN and the like. It does the job, but it’s not much for specificity. Google, however, is introducing tools to…
David Cowan is a partner at Bessemer Venture PartnersBessemer Venture Partners, where he launched the firm’s investing practices in space tech, cyber security, cloud infrastructure and consumer tech. More posts by this contributor SpaceTech Is Venture Capital’s Final Frontier Security For Startups Tess Hatch is an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, where she invests in…
Apple came out swinging when it announced its latest MacBook Pro update earlier this month. In preparation for the launch, the company seeded souped up versions of the notebook with a diverse array of creative professionals, who happily discussed the ways in which the new specs have improved their workflows. The reviews have been largely…
