Startups

Roku launches a standalone app for Howdy, its $2.99 streaming service

With this new app, Roku says subscribers can access Howdy's library of content on the go.

Meta launches two new Ray-Ban glasses designed for prescription wearers

Meta says these glasses are the most comfortable ones it has ever designed, as they're made for all-day comfort.

Exclusive: Runway launches $10M fund, Builders program to support early stage AI startups

Runway is launching a $10 million fund and startup program to back companies building with its AI video models, as it pushes toward interactive, real-time video intelligence applications.

The company behind ClassPass and Mindbody just got a lot bigger with a $7.5B merger

The merger is a sign that the fitness industry is continuing to move toward consolidation to compete at a larger scale. Recent moves include MyFitnessPal acquiring Cal AI, an AI calorie counting app, and Strava buying two apps: cycling app The Breakaway and running app Runna.

Waymo starts robotaxi services at San Antonio International Airport

It's the fourth airport Waymo is serving, adding to Phoenix Sky Harbor, San Francisco, and San Jose International airports.

Speechifys Windows app uses local models for transcription and dictation

Speechify just launched a native Windows app that employs locally stored models to enable dictation and transcription across apps.

Google is now letting users in the US change their Gmail address

Users will be able to change their username only once every 12 months. Plus, they won't be able to delete their new email address for that period of time.

Airbnb is introducing a private car pick-up service

Airbnb is partnering with transportation company Welcome Pickups to let users book a private car service during their trip.

The Silicon Valley congressional race is getting ugly

The primary isnt until early June, but the CA-17 race between five-term incumbent Ro Khanna and tech founder Ethan Agarwal is already getting nasty. Agarwal entered the race in March, backed by a roster of prominent tech billionaires largely in response to Khannas public support for a proposed California ballot measure that would impose a []

Allbirds is selling for $39 million. It raised nearly 10 times that amount in its IPO.

The collapse of the brand, which was originally venture-backed and that went public in 2021, has been well-documented.

15% of Americans say theyd be willing to work for an AI boss, according to new poll

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 15% of Americans say they'd be willing to have a job where their direct supervisor was an AI program that assigned tasks and set schedules.

Popular AI gateway startup LiteLLM ditches controversial startup Delve

LiteLLM had obtained two security compliance certifications via Delve and fell victim to some horrific credential-stealing malware last week.

Former Coatue partner raiseshuge $65M seedforenterpriseAI agentstartup

A few thingsturned investors' heads and drew them to participate in such a big roundout of the gate.

As more Americans adopt AI tools, fewer say they can trust the results

AI adoption is rising in the U.S., but trust remains low, with most Americans concerned about transparency, regulation, and the technologys broader societal impact, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

Apple will hide your email address from apps and websites, but not cops

Demands for Apple customer records by federal agents in recent months underscore the privacy limitations of email.

Uber is buying Berlin startup Blacklane to bolster its Elite offering

It's a notable exit for Blacklane, which has raised more than $100 million from backers like Mercedes-Benz and Sixt.

ScaleOps raises $130M to improve computing efficiency amid AI demand

ScaleOps just raised $130M to tackle GPU shortages and soaring AI cloud costs by automating infrastructure in real time.

AI chip startup Rebellions raises $400 million at $2.3B valuation in pre-IPO round

The startup, which is planning to go public later this year, designs chips specifically for AI inference, another challenger to Nvidia's dominance.

Mistral AI raises $830M in debt to set up a data center near Paris

Mistral aims to start operating the data center by the second quarter of 2026.

Qodo raises $70M for code verification as AI coding scales

As AI floods software development with code, Qodo is betting the real challenge is making sure it actually works.

Starcloud raises $170 million Series Ato build data centers in space

Starcloud becomes the fastest Y Combinator startup to reach unicorn status, just 17 months after demo day.

Why OpenAI really shut down Sora

OpenAI's decision last week to shut down Sora, its AI video-generation tool, just six months after releasing it to the public raised immediate suspicions. The app had invited users to upload their own faces so was this some kind of elaborate data grab?

YouTube CEO says the best YouTubers will never leave their home

CEO Neal Mohan insisted that he isnt worried about Netflix luring away YouTube's most popular creators.

Project Hail Mary becomes Amazon MGMs biggest box office hit

Amazons bet on Project Hail Mary has paid off handsomely.

TechCrunch Mobility: When a robotaxi has to call 911

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.

SXSW rebounds as a top networking, ideas festival for founders and VCs

SXSW made some changes this year, but some founders loved it all the same.

Bluesky leans into AI with Attie, an app for building custom feeds

Blueskys new app Attie uses AI to help people build custom feeds the open social networking protocol atproto.

Mark Zuckerberg texted Elon Musk to offer help with DOGE

While the relationship was once thorny enough that Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cagefight, things seem to have warmed up by the early days of the second Trump administration.

Stanford study outlines dangers of asking AI chatbots for personal advice

While theres been plenty of debate about AI sycophancy, a new study by Stanford computer scientists attempts to measure how harmful that tendency might be.

Elon Musks last co-founder reportedly leaves xAI

All but two of Musk's 11 xAI co-founders departed before this week.

Anthropics Claude popularity with paying consumers is skyrocketing

Estimates for total Claude consumer users are all over the map (we've seen figures ranging from 18 million to 30 million). Anthropic hasn't disclosed this data, but a spokesperson did tell TechCrunch that Claude paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year.

What will power the grid in 2035? The race is wide open

Fusion, fission, and even natural gas are appeared tied in the race to deliver new power to the grid in the early 2030s.

Lets take a look at the retro tech making a comeback

Boomboxes, instant cameras, and even landlines are making a comeback. Here are the coolest retro-inspired devices available.

From Moon hotels to cattle herding: 8 startups investors chased at YC Demo Day

We polled nearly a dozen VCs to find out which W26 startups are the sought after in the batch.

Whoop has LeBron now it wants your mom

Whoop founder Will Ahmed has spent 14 years building a health wearable beloved by elite athletes, and is now racing Oura and the FDA, and the limits of consumer medicine to turn it into something that could one day save your life.