Welcome to Week in Review, folks, TechCrunch’s regular recap of the week in tech. GPT-4, OpenAI’s text- and image-understanding AI, might’ve dominated the headlines over the past few days. But fresh drama around Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse emerged as well. We cover all that and more in this edition, so grab a coffee and settle…
Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced take on this week’s startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and Equity co-host Natasha Mascarenhas. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. Maybe it’s the fact that “Succession” is back next week, or maybe it’s the fact that Silicon Valley just experienced its first banking crisis, but…
The Biden administration has recently ramped up pressure on TikTok over national security concerns stemming from its ties to China, and apparently the Justice Department and the FBI are also applying pressure of their own. Forbes first reported that the agencies are actively investigating ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. The investigation was reportedly initiated after some…
The Biden administration has recently ramped up pressure on TikTok over national security concerns stemming from its ties to China, and apparently the Justice Department and the FBI are also applying pressure of their own. Forbes first reported that the agencies are actively investigating ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. The investigation was reportedly initiated after some…
When Porsche partnered with venture studio UP.Labs, the mission was to create six startups over three years all designed to solve the German automaker’s biggest problems and be compelling enough as a standalone business it that can attract other customers. On Porsche’s list: software that helps manage and automate the performance of EVs. Pull Systems,…
Green Li-ion says its battery recycling machines are the “size of a small house,” so it’s no wonder the Singapore-based startup needed to top up on funds. It’d only raised about $15 million ahead of its latest cash infusion. This week, Green Li-ion announced a $20.5 million “pre-Series B” round led by climate-tech investor TRIREC.…
Nonprofit FORGE is bringing ‘nearshoring’ to US startups There’s a persistent theory in hardware that manufacturing overseas is the cheaper/better/more efficient option. You manufacture there, assemble somewhere else, and finally approve and get to market in the United States. But it turns out that it’s possible to manufacture closer to home. With supply chains in…
ChatGPT Plus, the subscription service to access OpenAI’s text-generating AI, is now available in India. ChatGPT Plus features GPT-4, the refined AI model that OpenAI launched earlier this week. The paid tier provides customers with early access to new features including GPT-4. Introduced in the U.S. in February after being in an early preview for…
The Biden administration is escalating its pressure campaign against TikTok, threatening a U.S. ban against the world’s most popular app if the company doesn’t split with its Chinese ownership. The current administration’s public concerns around the hit app have ratcheted up considerably in recent days. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the U.S.…
Ember has been a fascinating company to watch. The Los Angeles-based startup entered the scene with a self-heating mug, only to leverage its temperature tech learnings to enter the cold chain space, where it has developed containers for medical supply shipping. I suppose you could say that the firm has returned to its roots with…
