Startups

TechCrunch Mobility: A robotaxi ultimatum

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.

Reed Jobs would rather talk about curing cancer than his last name

When we last sat down with Jobs at TechCrunch Disrupt nearly three years ago, his firm Yosemite was brand new and biotech was still reeling from its post-pandemic crash. Now, the venture outfit has a team of 17; a cluster of blockbuster drugs are all losing patent protection in roughly the same window, creating all kinds of new opportunities; and AI has gone from a curiosity to, in Jobs's words, a huge part of what Yosemite does. I didn't expect Yosemite to be moving this fast, he said.

This slushie machine was a lifesaver during NYCs heat wave

Last weekends brutal NYC heat wave had me craving a frozen drink almost every afternoon. Normally, that would mean sweating through a walk to 7-Eleven for a slurpee. This time, though, I stayed home and put the new Ninja Slushi Twist to the test. Ninjas latest slushie machine builds on the popularity of the original []

Smart glasses without a camera? Even Realities bets productivity beats recording everyone

The glasses are targeted at people who might be constantly in meetings, giving presentations, and traveling to countries where different languages are spoken.

OpenAI bets on families as ChatGPT goes deeper into households

ChatGPT is hiring a dedicated product manager to build experiences for families, caregivers, and older adults, according to a job posting.

US cybersecurity agency CISA had to build its incident playbook during the incident, agency reveals

Independent cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs reported in May that a security researcher with cyber firm GitGuardian alerted him to reams of exposed passwords stored in a publicly accessible GitHub repository, which an employee of a CISA contractor had uploaded.

Meta removes controversial AI feature on Instagram after backlash

Meta told Dylan Byers, of Puck News, that it had nixed the feature after backlash from its user base.

Filing: College app Fizz accuses VC of sharing confidential startup information with rival Sidechat

Fizz has expanded its lawsuit against rival Sidechat, alleging that a Maveron VC shared its confidential information obtained during a fundraising meeting with the competing startup.

SK Hynix raises $26.5B in the biggest foreign IPO in US history, is urged to build new US fabs

The AI chip boom just produced its biggest Wall Street moment yet. Now SK Hynix and Samsung are being asked to build U.S. factories.

A new app, HyperTexting, turns the open web into a scrollable social media-like feed

HyperTexting's new app aims to make the open web feel more like social media by turning websites, blogs, newsletters, and podcasts into a scrollable feed, while also making it easier to post to your own website.

China is catching up to Elon Musks reusable rockets

China's state-owned space company recovered its first orbital rocket booster after launch.

EU threatens Meta with fines over addictive features on Facebook and Instagram

The tech giant is in breach of the Digital Services Act by focusing on features like infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and the highly personalized recommendation algorithms, the European Commission said.

Florida ransomware negotiator convicted for helping ransomware gang extort US companies

A third ransomware negotiator has been jailed for helping a notorious ransomware group to extort American victim companies into paying the hackers.

After Apple, Indias smartphone manufacturing boom enters new phase with Vivo JV

Vivo's joint venture could become a template for Chinese smartphone makers in India.

Dont want to invest in Elon Musk? Two new ETFs explicitly exclude him

The new exchanged-traded funds exclude companies that are founded, controlled, or led by Elon Musk. That means no SpaceX or Tesla.

Fidji Simo steps down from OpenAIs no. 2 role

OpenAI's No. 2 executive, Fidji Simo, is stepping down from her full-time role after her medical leave proved longer than expected a leadership vacuum that comes at a tricky time as the company eyes a possible IPO and races to catch Anthropic in the enterprise market.

OpenAI launches its new family of models with GPT-5.6

OpenAI's latest family of models promise improvements across a range of areas, including cybersecurity.

An AI agent startup just let its agent run its $100 million fundraise

Lyzr, a startup that builds AI agents for enterprises, used its own AI agent to raise a $100 million round proof, evidently, that the product actually works.

OpenAI is shutting down Atlas, but its AI browser ambitions are still growing

OpenAI is sunsetting its AI-powered browser after less than a year. But it's moving some agentic browsing features to its desktop app and a Chrome extension.

Elon Musk praises Mythos/Fable, promises not to cut off Anthropic

Should Anthropic trust Elon Musk to host its models? With about $40 billion in revenue at stake, Musk insists that the company can.

Can AI answer the $3 trillion question?

The AI ROI debate has returned and the numbers are even bigger, as are, perhaps, the consequences.

Meta enters the crowded AI coding battle with Muse Spark 1.1

Meta's pitch to users is Spark's ability to handle large agentic workloads, fix bugs, and help with large code migrations the kind of automation that enterprises are increasingly turning to AI companies to provide.

New York Times says OpenAI hid evidence in ChatGPT copyright trial

News publishers say OpenAI hid tools and datasets that could identify copyrighted journalism in ChatGPT outputs, escalating their lawsuit with a new motion for sanctions.

Slate Auto teams up with Crayola to color its EV truck

Slate has an answer for owners who have always want to drive a truck with bright crayon colors.

FanDuel sent a video from star athlete Bryce Harper to a customer with a gambling problem

The video call highlights the murky relationship between professional athletes and gambling apps.

Mercor is in talks for a $20B valuation

A new $20 billion valuation would be a giant step up from the $10 billion valuation it reached in October.

Google will now disclose which ads are made with AI

While Google prohibits misleading and deceptive ads, an ad can still leverage AI to create some type of synthetic or digitally altered content. Until now, that's something Google only required election ads to disclose.

AvenuesAI Subsidiary Rediff Pre-Files DRHP

AvenuesAIs (formerly Infibeam Ventures) subsidiary Rediff has filed its IPO papers via the confidential route with SEBI. Rediff.com India Limited,

Xovian Aerospace Raises $2 Mn To Launch RF Satellite

Spacetech startup Xovian Aerospace has secured $2 Mn (about 18.7 Cr) in a fresh funding round led by ace investor

SIP Investing Guide: Young Professionals Aged 21-35 Earning 20K-75K Monthly

AMFI-registered mutual fund distributor's SIP guide: 21-35 yr olds 20K-75K. SEBI-compliant education on categories, allocation, step-up strategy. The post SIP Investing Guide: Young Professionals Aged 21-35 Earning 20K-75K Monthly appeared first on Startup Success Stories India - News & Updates for Indian Entrepreneurs .