Cashfree Payments Appoints Piyush Anchliya As New CFO

Fintech soonicorn Cashfree Payments has appointed Piyush Anchliya as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Anchliya will lead the startups

Chinese OEMs Under Indias , Downround At CRED & More

Chinese OEMs On Indias Radar In what appears to be a redux of 2020, when the Indian government banned a

RLWRLD raises $14.8M to build a foundational model for robotics

As robotics has advanced, industry has steadily adopted more robots to automate away many kinds of grunt work. More than 540,000 new industrial robots were installed worldwide in 2023, taking the number of total industrial robots active to above 4 million, per IFR. Industrial robots typically excel at repetitive tasks, but they find it challenging []

Debates over AI benchmarking have reached Pokmon

Not even Pokmon is safe from AI benchmarking controversy. Last week, a post on X went viral, claiming that Googles latest Gemini model surpassed Anthropics flagship Claude model in the original Pokmon video game trilogy. Reportedly, Gemini had reached Lavendar Town in a developers Twitch stream; Claude was stuck at Mount Moon as of late []

Limes scooter and ebike batteries will be recycled by Redwood Materials

Shared micromobility company Lime has reached an agreement to send batteries used in its scooters and e-bikes to Redwood Materials, which will extract and recycle critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. The agreement announced Monday makes Redwood Materials the exclusive battery recycling partner for Limes shared scooters and e-bikes located in cities []

Rippling is trying to serve Deels CEO, but bailiffs cant find him

HR tech startup Rippling is trying to serve Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz with papers as part of a blockbuster lawsuit against its competitor. Theres just one problem: French bailiffs hired by Rippling cant seem to find Bouaziz, Irish newspaper Business Post reports. Rippling sued Deel earlier this year in Ireland alleging the company paid one []

Meet Neptune, a TikTok alternative where creators can hide likes and follower counts

Neptune is one of the newest short-form video apps on the block seeking to compete with major players like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. The app, currently in beta, has attracted attention from hundreds of thousands of users, with 970 testers participating and 400,000 people on the waitlist, per the company. Neptune announced Monday []

Hertz says customers personal data and drivers licenses stolen in data breach

The car rental giant attributed the breach to Cleo, whose customers had data stolen by a ransomware gang in 2024.

OpenAI plans to phase out GPT-4.5, its largest-ever AI model, from its API

OpenAI said on Monday that it would soon wind down the availability of GPT-4.5, its largest-ever AI model, via its API. GPT-4.5 was released only in late February. Developers will have access to GPT-4.5 via OpenAIs API until July 14, after which theyll have to transition to another model in OpenAIs catalog, the company says. []

OpenAIs new GPT-4.1 AI models focus on coding

OpenAI on Monday launched a new family of models called GPT-4.1. Yes, 4.1 as if the companys nomenclature wasnt confusing enough already. Theres GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and GPT-4.1 nano, all of which OpenAI says excel at coding and instruction following. Available through OpenAIs API but not ChatGPT, the multimodal models have a 1-million-token context []

Googles newest AI model is designed to help study dolphin speech

Googles AI research lab, Google DeepMind, says that it has created an AI model that can help decipher dolphin vocalizations, supporting research efforts to better understand how dolphins communicate. The model, called DolphinGemma, was trained using data from the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP), a nonprofit that studies Atlantic spotted dolphins and their behaviors. Built on []

Google Classroom gives teachers an AI feature for quiz questions

Google Classroom introduced a new AI-powered feature designed to help teachers generate questions. Launched on Monday, this tool lets educators create a list of questions based on specific text input. Using this text-dependent question generation tool, which utilizes Gemini, teachers can either upload files from Google Drive or manually enter text for the AI to []

Blue Origins all-female crew, including Katy Perry, successfully launched

Jeff Bezos space company, Blue Origin, successfully launched its New Shepard rocket at around 9:30 a.m. ET on Monday, as it seeks to challenge Elon Musks SpaceX in the space tourism industry. What stands out most about this mission is that it featured the first all-female space crew since 1963, when Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova []

Meta to start training its AI models on public content in the EU

Meta announced on Monday that its going to train its AI models on public content, such as posts and comments on Facebook and Instagram, in the EU after previously pausing its plans to do so in response to regulatory pressure due to to data privacy concerns. The company will start training its AI on users []

Deeptech Innovation Not Just Responsibility Of Startups: Sanjeev Bikhchandani

Days after commerce minister Piyush Goyal triggered a debate over the state of deeptech innovations in India, Info Edge founder

Autonomous trucking startup Kodiak Robotics to go public via SPAC

Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics plans to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Ares Acquisition Corporation II. The transaction values Kodiak, which has raised around $243 million to date, at about $2.5 billion pre-money. New and existing Kodiak institutional investors, like Soros Fund Management, ARK Investments, and Ares, have funded or []

Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerbergs voices

The crosswalk buttons, which include audio alerts, were hacked over the weekend.

Nvidia says it plans to manufacture some AI chips in the US

Nvidia said on Monday that it has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test AI chips in Arizona and Texas as part of an effort to move a portion of its production to the U.S. The chipmaker said the production of its Blackwell chips has started at TSMCs []

Conifer locks down $20M seed round for its drop-in electric hub motor

A handful of engineers who worked at Lucid Motors and on Apples electric car project have launched a new startup that puts a fresh spin on electric hub motors. The new startup, called Conifer, has developed its motor to be free of rare earth elements by using more abundant ferrite magnets, which the company says []

Intel to sell controlling stake in Altera chip business to Silver Lake

Intel on Monday said it has agreed to sell 51% of its Altera semiconductor business to Silver Lake, a private equity firm. The deal, which values Altera at $8.75 billion, will make the division operationally independent, Intel said in a press release. The chipmaker will retain a 49% stake in Altera, which will be led []

Centre Asks Jio, Airtel, Vi For Chinese Equipment Details

The ongoing trade tensions between the US and China have put Indian telecom companies in the crosshairs. The Department of

Swiggy Expands Its 15-Minute Food Delivery To Noida, Gurugram

Banking on the growing demand for fast food and beverage deliveries, foodtech platform Swiggy has now launched its quick food

Foxconn Eyeing 300 Acres In UP For First Plant In North India: Report

Apple Indias contract manufacturer Foxconn is reportedly planning to build a new facility in Uttar Pradeshs Greater Noida, as part

Karnataka Govt Planning Differential Fee On Apps To Fund Gig Workers

The Karnataka government is reportedly planning to introduce a differential fee on app-based aggregators to fund welfare programs for gig

Bill Gates-backed Arnergy to expand solar access in Nigeria with $18M as demand surges

Demand for solar energy in power-starved Nigeria has soared in the last decade thanks to worsening grid reliability and rising fuel costs. Thats drawn investor interest to Arnergy, a cleantech startup meeting that need. The company just raised a $15 million Series B extension (on top of a $3 million B1 round last year), bringing []

UK founders grow frustrated over dearth of funding: the problem is getting worse

According to Dealroom data cited by the Financial Times, British start-ups raised just 16.2 billion last year, far less than the more than 65 billion raised by their counterparts in Silicon Valley during the same period. In fact, the U.S. appears to be pulling further ahead each year. In 2024, 57% of global venture capital []

Access to future AI models in OpenAIs API may require a verified ID

OpenAI may soon require organizations to complete an ID verification process in order to access certain future AI models, according to a support page published to the companys website last week. The verification process, called Verified Organization, is a new way for developers to unlock access to the most advanced models and capabilities on the []

Tech tariff exemptions are only temporary, according to Trumps commerce secretary

The tech industry may not be safe from new tariffs, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The Trump administration announced Friday evening that consumer electronics such as laptops and smartphones would be exempt from the tariffs it unveiled earlier this month. (While Trump delayed many of those tariffs this week, he left a 10% []

Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk would like to delete all IP law

Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter (now X) and Square (now Block), sparked a weekends worth of debate around intellectual property, patents, and copyright, with a characteristically terse post declaring, delete all IP law. Xs current owner Elon Musk quickly replied, I agree. Its not clear what exactly brought these comments on, but they come at []

Jim Zemlin on taking a portfolio approach to Linux Foundation projects

The Linux Foundation has become something of a misnomer through the years. It has extended far beyond its roots as the steward of the Linux kernel, emerging as a sprawling umbrella outfit for a thousand open source projects spanning cloud infrastructure, security, digital wallets, enterprise search, fintech, maps, and more. Last month, the OpenInfra Foundation []

Urban Company Lines Up For IPO Race

At the start of the year, we knew that the IPO momentum was going to be super strong among Indian

Apples Mythic Quest is ending with an updated Season 4 finale

Mythic Quest, the Apple TV+ workplace comedy about the making of a popular online roleplaying game, is ending after four seasons. A new version of the shows fourth season finale first aired on March 26, and now the de facto series finale will premiere on Apple TV+ next week, with a new ending. []

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskevers Safe Superintelligence reportedly valued at $32B

Safe Superintelligence (SSI), the AI startup led by OpenAIs co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, has raised an additional $2 billion in funding at a $32 billion valuation, according to the Financial Times. The startup had already raised $1 billion, and there were reports that an additional $1 billion round was in the works. []

Cofertilitys radical model for women: Freeze your eggs for free by donating half of them

In recent years, focus on career and delayed marriage age is driving some women to consider preserving their fertility through egg freezing. But the steep cost of the procedure, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000 per attempt, means many women cant afford it during their most fertile years: 20s and early 30s. Cofertility, a startup founded []

Trump exempts smartphones, laptops, and semiconductors from new tariffs

The Trump administration is carving out big tariff exemptions for the tech industry. While President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would delay many of the market-shaking tariffs that hed announced the previous week, he kept a universal baseline 10% tariff in place, while also increasing tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% (on top of []

Week in Review: Jeff Bezos secret EV startup

Welcome back to Week in Review! Weve got tons of cool stuff for your reading pleasure this week: Jeff Bezos backs EV startup Slate; a Meta whistleblower accuses the company of collusion; Waymo may use interior camera data; and much more. Lets get to it! I want this: Slate, an EV startup, has the ambitious []

EaseMyTrip Allots 12.57 Cr Shares For Various Acquisitions

Months after announcing acquisitions of businesses in erstwhile uncharted territories, online travel aggregator (OTA) EaseMyTrips (EMT) board has approved the

The xAIX merger is a good deal if youre betting on Musks empire

When Elon Musk announced that his AI startup, xAI, had acquired his social media company, X (formerly known as Twitter), in an all-stock deal, it raised some eyebrows. But in many ways, the deal made sense. xAIs chatbot, Grok, was already deeply integrated with X, X was floundering financially, and Musk needed a way to []

Forerunners long game: As startups stall before IPO, all options are on the table

Thirteen years ago, Forerunner Ventures began helping to usher in a new era of consumer startups, including Warby Parker, Bonobos, and Glossier. None has gone through a traditional IPO process. Warby Parker was taken public through a special purpose acquisition vehicle. Bonobos was acquired by Walmart. Glossier is still privately held, along with many other []

Metas vanilla Maverick AI model ranks below rivals on a popular chat benchmark

Earlier this week, Meta landed in hot water for using an experimental, unreleased version of its Llama 4 Maverick model to achieve a high score on a crowdsourced benchmark, LM Arena. The incident prompted the maintainers of LM Arena to apologize, change their policies, and score the unmodified, vanilla Maverick. Turns out, its not very []

The most interesting startups showcased at Google Cloud Next

Google Cloud announced a long list of impressive AI startups as customers during its Cloud Next conference this week

Meta adds Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Dina Powell McCormick to its board

Banking executive and former presidential advisor Dina Powell McCormick and Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison are joining the board of Meta, according to a report from Axios. Powell McCormick spent 16 years in several leadership roles at Goldman Sachs. She also served as Deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald J. Trump during his []

Law professors side with authors battling Meta in AI copyright case

A group of professors specializing in copyright law has filed an amicus brief in support of authors suing Meta for allegedly training its Llama AI models on e-books without permission. The brief, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, calls Metas fair use defense a []

38 consumer startup founders lobby over Trump tariffs: One faces a surprise $200K bill

Small businesses could be crushed under President Trumps increased tariffs, according to an open letter by 38 female consumer product founders. While Trump paused his tariff increases for 90 days for various countries setting the rate at 10% for now Chinas was raised to 145%, which includes the previous 20% levy. In the []

TechCrunch Mobility: Jeff Bezos backs a secretive EV startup and Lucid snaps up Nikolas assets

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free just click TechCrunch Mobility! Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. If there is one certainty in this uncertain moment, its this: U.S. tariff policy is likely to change again. As of Friday morning, there []

Nikola founder Trevor Milton accused of trying to derail bankruptcy case

A court hearing on the sale of bankrupt electric truck startup Nikolas assets to Lucid Motors was going smoothly on Friday. No objections had been filed to the transaction, and Delaware bankruptcy Judge Thomas Horan verbally approved it without hesitation. Until, that is, a lawyer piped up on the Zoom call towards the end of []

Ex-OpenAI staffers file amicus brief opposing the companys for-profit transition

A group of ex-OpenAI employees on Friday filed a proposed amicus brief in support of Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, opposing OpenAIs planned conversion from a non-profit to a for-profit corporation. The brief, filed by Harvard law professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, names twelve former OpenAI employees: Steven Adler, Rosemary Campbell, []

GM cuts 500 jobs because of weak demand for BrightDrop electric vans

General Motors is laying off 500 workers at a factory in Canada because of weak demand for its all-electric BrightDrop vans, according to CNBC. GM told CNBC that the cuts were not related to the ongoing trade war being waged by President Donald Trump. The company is cutting one of the two shifts at the []

ChatGPT became the most downloaded app globally in March

ChatGPT became the worlds most downloaded app in March, excluding games, topping the usual contenders for the No. 1 spot, Instagram and TikTok. This is the first time the app has topped the monthly download charts and ChatGPTs biggest month ever. According to new data, ChatGPTs installs jumped 28% from February to March to reach []

YouTube considers a daily timer for users looking to cut back on Shorts

YouTube is looking into potentially offering a feature that would allow users to set a daily timer to limit how long they spend on Shorts. Recent findings from the beta version of the YouTube app, first reported by Android Authority, suggest that the platform is developing a feature to help users stop the endless scrolling []

Stripe CEO says company management regularly asks customers for candid feedback

Digital payments platform Stripe invites customers to join its management team meetings on a bi-weekly basis so it can get candid feedback, according to co-founder Patrick Collison. In an April 8 post on X, the fintech giants CEO said the company has a customer join for the first 30 minutes of the meeting, which is []

Irelands data regulator investigates Xs use of European user data to train Grok

Irelands data regulator, the Data Protection Commission (DPC), said Friday that it has opened an investigation into Elon Musks X over the social media platforms use of personal data collected from European users to train Grok. The DPC will investigate how X processes personal data comprised in publicly accessible posts by European users for the []

Parallel Systems is building autonomous electric rail for short-distance freight

The business of moving goods in the United States is dominated by trucks, which handle about two-thirds of the 20.2 billion tons of freight thats transported annually. Parallel Systems founder and CEO, Matt Soule, wants to change that by putting a modern autonomous and electric twist on the centuries-old railroad system. The Los Angeles-based company []

Hacked documents reveal guide to serving Elon Musk on private jets

A recent breach of Berkshire Hathaway-owned private jet company NetJets has revealed a guide for flight attendants serving Elon Musk, per a Bloomberg report. The memo offers an interesting glimpse into the personal preferences of the worlds richest man. Some of the preferences are surprising for the CEO of Tesla, a company dedicated to sustainability. []

Spotify invests over $1M to grow its catalog of non-English audiobooks

Spotify announced on Friday that it plans to invest 1 millionor approximately $1.1 million to boost audiobook production in languages other than English, beginning with French and Dutch. The investment indicates that Spotify is eager for more non-English titles in its limited library as it tries to compete with major players like Audible in []

Delhi EV Policy: Govt Plans INR 30,000 Subsidy For Purchasing 2-Wheelers

In an effort to accelerate EV adoption and improve the air quality in Delhi, the state government is considering offering

ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot

ChatGPT, OpenAIs text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users. 2024 was a big year for OpenAI, from its partnership []

OpenAI will soon phase out GPT-4 from ChatGPT

OpenAI will soon retire GPT-4, an AI model it launched over two years ago, from ChatGPT, according to a changelog posted on Thursday. Effective April 30, GPT-4 will be fully replaced by GPT-4o, the current default model in ChatGPT, OpenAI said. GPT-4 will remain available for use via OpenAIs API. In headtohead evaluations, [GPT-4o] consistently []

Less than a month to get your exhibit table for TechCrunch Sessions: AI

TechCrunch Sessions: AI is fast approaching. So, what does that mean for you? It means exhibit tables are nearly gone and nows your chance to grab one before theyre all sold out. If youve got a game-changing product to showcase to the AI world, dont keep it quiet. Exhibit your brand in front of []

Dropboxs chief customer officer Eric Cox plans to step down, per filing

Dropboxs chief customer officer, Eric Cox, plans to step down, according to a document filed with the SEC on Friday. Cox will remain in his current role for a period of time to help with the transition, per the filing, and then will continue as a non-executive employee through mid-August. The filing did not mention []

A comprehensive list of 2025 tech layoffs

A complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2024.

Startups Weekly: Enjoying the reprieve

Welcome to Startups Weekly your weekly recap of everything you cant miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. Startups arent isolated from the world. But this week, funding news felt positively uncorrelated from the overall news cycle, offering somewhat of a reprieve or perhaps []

Drishti IAS redefines UPSC preparation with AI-enhanced learning app

Drishti IAS has revolutionized UPSC preparation by integrating AI into its learning app. The updated app, available on Android and iOS, offers AI-powered summaries, quizzes, and real-time Q&A for IAS Foundation Courses in Hindi and English.

Zolo Sells Student Accommodation Business For INR 108 Cr

Bengaluru-based coliving spaces provider Zolo is set to sell its student accommodation business to Mumbai-based Good Host Spaces Management Services

CarTrade Shares Surge 11% Amid Broader Market Rally

Amid a broader market rally, shares of CarTrade surged as much as 11.22% to reach INR 1,542 apiece during the

Leaders from Accel and Paladin Capital Group join the stage at StrictlyVC London in May

Mark your calendar StrictlyVC London is just around the corner on 13 May. Designed for founders, entrepreneurs, and investors, this exclusive gathering promises deep VC insight and high-value connections. Were thrilled to welcome our first pair of confirmed speakers: Nazo Moosa, managing director of Paladin Capital Group, and Sonali De Rycker, partner of Accel []

Domestic Institutional Investors Shore Up Stakes In Paytm In Q4 FY25

Domestic Institutional investors ramped up their shareholding in fintech major Paytm in the fourth quarter (Q4) of financial year 2024-2025

Lucid Motors wins bankruptcy auction for Nikolas Arizona factory and other assets

EV startup Lucid Motors has emerged as a surprise winner in the bankruptcy auction for electric trucking company Nikolas Arizona factory and other assets, according a late Thursday night court filing. Lucid committed around $30 million in cash and non-cash considerations in exchange for the factory, Nikolas lease on its Phoenix headquarters, and certain machinery, []

Byju Vs BYJUS Alpha, Urban Companys INR 528 Cr IPO & More

Now, Its Byju Vs BYJUS Alpha Lenders are amping up the heat on BYJUS. The creditors, via the edtechs US-based

Urban Company Gets Board Nod To Raise INR 528 Cr Via IPO

In the run up to its public listing, Urban Companys board has approved raising up to INR 528 Cr (about

The AI Rush In SaaS: How Indian VCs Are Reinventing Their Thesis

By mid-2024, the Indian SaaS landscape reached a turning point. AI was no longer an edge or an innovation layer;

BYJUS Alpha Sues Byju Raveendran Over Alleged Misappropriation Of $533 Mn

BYJUS Alpha, the US-based special purpose finance vehicle of BYJUS, has sued the edtech startups founder Byju Raveendran, his wife

BluSmart Delays Salaries Citing Cash Flow Issues: Report

BluSmart Mobility has reportedly delayed salary payments for the month of March as the electric cab-hailing startup grapples with a

Wakefit Eyes Over $200 Mn IPO, Picks Three Bankers: Report

Bengaluru-based D2C furniture and mattress startup Wakefit is reportedly looking to make a splash in the market with an initial

Rise in coffee bean prices is beginning to affect margins: Barista Coffee CEO Rajat Agrawal

Agrawal says Barista Coffee, however, has adjusted well to the dynamic environment and kept the customers always engaged.

Fuelling Bharats AI Ambitions, Ather To Trim IPO Size & More

Fuelling Bharats AI Ambitions As India races to catch up with global AI advancements, Inc42s GenAI Summit 2025, held yesterday

Karnataka To Formulate New Rules To Regulate Online Gaming

The Karnataka government has begun work on a new legislation to regulate online gaming platforms in the state. In a

AI-Powered Photo Tool Has Doubled Food Tracking Engagement: Healthify CTO

For health and fitness app operator Healthify, the incorporation of GenAI has led to a better connection with its user

Indian MSMEs Wary Of AI Leap Due To Data Privacy Concerns: Tally Solutions Tejas Goenka

While enterprise solution companies are in the process of deploying GenAI, Tejas Goenka, the MD of Tally Solutions has said

Ather Energy Likely To Reduce IPO Size Amid Market Uncertainty

EV maker Ather Energy is reportedly mulling cutting its IPO size by at least $50 Mn (about INR 430 Cr)

Snacking Brand Lets Try Bags $2.5 Mn From SWC Global, Others

Delhi NCR-based snacking brand Lets Try has secured $2.5 Mn (around INR 21.64 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round

Apple Partner Globalstar Files For India Satcom Entry: Report

Apples satellite communication (satcom) partner Globalstar has reportedly filed its application with the Centres nodal agency Indian National Space Promotion

InCred Alternatives Hits Final Close Of Maiden PE Fund

InCred Alternatives, the alternative investment arm of InCred Capital Financial Services Limited, has announced the final close of its maiden

RBI Allows NPCI To Revise UPI Limits For P2M Transactions

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today allowed the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to revise transaction limits for

SEBI BlueStone & Aye Finance IPOs, Ola Electric Answers Back & More

BlueStone, Aye Finances IPOs Get SEBI Nod Amid a global stock market churn, including in India, markets regulator SEBI has

Cyient To Invest $100 Mn In Semiconductor Subsidiary

About a year after it announced plans to set up a new subsidiary to foray into the semiconductor space, engineering

Feb 2025 Sales Based On Paid & Confirmed Orders.., Ola Electric Clarifies

While much has been said and written about the issues with Ola Electrics February numbers in recent times, the company

Matter of Minutes: How D2C Brands Can Win the Quick Commerce Game

The pandemic has split human civilization into two distinct phases. . If pre-Covid was about pacing up along a known

Wealthtech Startup Scripbox Seeks Funding At $200 Mn Valuation: Report

Bengaluru-based wealthtech startup Scripbox is reportedly in talks to raise $15-20 Mn at a valuation of $200 Mn. An ET

Centre Finalising Move To Bring Online Gaming Apps Under PMLA: Report

The Centre is reportedly finalising a move that could bring online real money gaming (RMG) platforms such as Games24x7, Junglee