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How Sequoia-backed Ethos reached the public market while rivals fell short
The profitable life-insurance platform was one of the first major tech companies to test the 2026 public markets.
The iPhone just had its best quarter ever
Growth in regions like China and India are credited with pushing Apple's phone sales higher than ever.
Guys, I dont think Tim Cook knows how to monetize AI
One intrepid Morgan Stanley analyst dared to ask how Apple will make money on its AI investments. The answer will not shock you.
Elon Musks SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI in talks to merge, according to reports
This merger would bring the Grok chatbot, Starlink satellites, and SpaceX rockets together under one corporation.
Amazon is reportedly in talks to invest $50B in OpenAI
If a deal materializes, it would mean Amazon is backing competing startups in the race for AI supremacy.
Medium gives employees Friday off to participate in national strike protesting ICE
Activists behind the general strike are calling for o work, no school, and no shopping amid a push to defund ICE, which has escalated raids in U.S. cities, killing several people, including two U.S. citizens earlier this month in Minneapolis.
Fintech firm Marquis blames hack at firewall provider SonicWall for its data breach
The fintech giant said it plans to seek recoupment of any expenses from its firewall provider SonicWall after a 2025 data breach exposed customer firewall configurations.
Satya Nadella insists people are using Microsofts Copilot AI a lot
With Microsoft spending many billions on data centers, and rumors that no one is using its AI, CEO Satya Nadella shared some usage numbers.
Elon Musks SpaceX and xAI in talks to merge, report says
This merger would bring the Grok chatbot, Starlink satellites, and SpaceX rockets together under one corporation.
Apple buys Israeli startup Q.ai as the AI race heats up
Q.ai is an Israeli startup specializing in imaging and machine learning, particularly technologies that enable devices to interpret whispered speech and enhance audio in noisy environments.
Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides to and from San Francisco International Airport
Waymo's SFO win comes as the company faces criticism and concerns about safety in some of the cities it operates.
I built marshmallow castles in Googles new AI world generator
Starting Thursday, Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. can play around with Project Genie, which is powered by a combination of Googles latest world model Genie 3, its image generation model Nano Banana Pro, and Gemini.
OpenAIs Sora app is struggling after its stellar launch
Sora's mobile app downloads fell 45% in January, and consumer spending dropped.
Music publishers sue Anthropic for $3B over flagrant piracy of 20,000 works
Originally, these music publishers had filed a lawsuit against Anthropic over its use of about 500 copyrighted works.
Flapping Airplanes and the promise of research-driven AI
A new AI lab called Flapping Airplanes launched yesterday, and a Sequoia partner has an interesting take on why they stand out.
Teslas energy storage business is growing faster than any other part of the company
Energy storage products like the Megapack, Megablock, and Powerwall drove
Spotify users can now share the podcasts, playlists, and audiobooks they're listening to with up 10 people.
The new security feature makes it more difficult for police and malicious hackers to obtain a person's precise location data from a cell phone company.
Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica
The child, whose age is not known, sustained minor injuries according to Waymo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating.
Upwind raises $250M at $1.5B valuation to continue building runtime cloud security
The $250 million Series B was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital.
Apple hires iPhone camera app Halides co-founder for its design team
Halide also released a public preview of its up coming app Halide Mark III.
Meta burned $19 billion on VR last year, and 2026 wont be any better
The reported financial losses follow a series of layoffs at the VR unit.
Elon Musk reportedly wants a June SpaceX IPO to align with his birthday, the planets
SpaceX eyes June for IPO to align with Musk's birthday and the planets.
With Apples new Creator Studio Pro, AI is a tool to aid creation, not replace it
Apples Creator Studio Pro leverages AI to help creators with tedious taskslike finding clips or building slideswithout trying to do the work for them
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Plus-one passes are almost gone and only 3 days remain
The TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 plus-one passes at50% off are almost sold out, and this deal ends in 3 days. Register here before this deal ends on Friday, January 30 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Trumps acting cybersecurity chief uploaded sensitive government docs to ChatGPT
A report cited officials as saying that Homeland Security sought to determine if there was any harm to government security as a result of the lapse.
The AI infrastructure boom shows no sign of slowing down
ASMLs record orders show chipmakers are still betting big on AI data centers.
Standard Nuclear raises $140M as nuclear power enters its gold rush era
Investors including a16z are betting that nuclear industry suppliers will be the big winners of the AI demand-driven nuclear renaissance.
LinkedIn will let you show off your vibe coding chops with a certificate
LinkedIn is partnering with Descript, Lovable, Replit, and Relay.app at launch
TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026unites 1,100 founders and investors in Boston on June 23 for a day focused on real-world scaling insights and networking that pushes the needle. Save up to $300 on your ticket.
Anthropic, Apple, OpenAI CEOs condemn ICE violence, praise Trump
Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman spoke out against ICE enforcement tactics following Minneapolis violence, with one addressing concerns publicly and the other in an internal message.
Amazon says it is laying off 16,000 employees
This is Amazon's second layoff after the company cut 14,000 corporate jobs in October.
Redwood attracts Google for its $425M Series E as AI power needs rise
Google is the latest investor to back Redwood Materials as the battery recycling startup scales a new energy storage venture to power AI data centers and other industrial sites.
Snap gets serious about Specs, spins AR glasses into standalone company
The social media company's smartglasses are set to be released to the public later this year.
Waabi raises $1B and expands into robotaxis with Uber
Waabi has secured a $750 million Series C round to accelerate autonomous trucking, and another roughly $250 million commitment from Uber to deploy 25,000 robotaxis exclusively on its platform.
Google pitches Gemini to students studying for Indias most competitive college entrance exam
Google's launch of practice tests for JEE follows its recent move to offer full-length SAT practice tests in Gemini.
Google Photos brings its prompt-based editing feature to India, Australia and Japan
Users can describe their edits in natural language to modify an image.
Indias Shadowfax slips on listing, as client concentration spooks investors
Shadowfax shares fell about 9% on theirdebut, valuing the logistics firm near its last private valuation.
Everything you need to know about viral personal AI assistant Clawdbot (now Moltbot)
Personal AI assistant Moltbot formerly Clawdbot has gone viral in a matter of weeks. But theres more you should know before jumping on the bandwagon.
Fashion rental app By Rotation and Uber partner to help deliver ski clothing
By Rotation, one of the U.K.s most popular peer-to-peer fashion rental platforms, is partnering with Uber to deliver ski clothes.
Anduril has invented a wild newdrone flying contest where jobs are the prize
This is a race series for software programmers and the brainchild of founder Palmer Luckey, he tells TechCrunch.
Bluesky teases 2026 roadmap: A better Discover feed, real-time features, and more
Bluesky is teasing new features and improvements ranging from the Discover feed to video support.
Anthropic reportedly upped its latest raise to $20B
Anthropic looks to raise $20 billion at more than $300 billion valuation, according to reports.
Amazon agrees to pay consumers $309M in returns policy settlement
The lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleged that Amazon caused substantial unjustified monetary losses for consumers who returned an item but were still charged for it.
TikTok joins Snap to settle social media addiction lawsuit
Jury selection begins Tuesday as this case moves closer to trial.
Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs condemn ICE violence, praise Trump
Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman spoke out against ICE enforcement tactics following Minneapolis violence, with one addressing concerns publicly and the other in an internal message.
OpenAI launches Prism, a new AI workspace for scientists
OpenAI has launched a new scientific workspace program called Prism, which integrates AI into existing standards for composing research papers.
Amid Trump attacks and weaponized sanctions, Europeans look to rely less on US tech
European governments are looking to move away from U.S. tech and reclaim their digital sovereignty at a time of unpredictability and volatility in the United States.
The price gap between Waymo and Uber is narrowing
Data collected and analyzed by Obi suggest a shift is underway.
If you live in the UK, you probably wont be able to visit Pornhub anymore
Pornhub parent company Aylo will restrict access from U.K. users, rather than comply with age verification mandates, which the company said it believes have not succeeded in promoting online safety.
Uber launches an AV Labs division to gather driving data for robotaxi partners
Uber is not developing its own robotaxis again; instead it plans to collect and offer data. It's a bet that more volume will help autonomous vehicle partners solve the weirdest edge cases.
Qualcomm backs SpotDraft to scale on-device contract AI with valuation doubling toward $400M
SpotDraft now processes over 1 million contracts annually using its AI tool, with contract volumes up 173% year-over-year.
South Koreas Edenlux set for U.S. debut of eye-strain wellness device
Edenlux builds wearable tech to protect and train your eyes, inspired by its founders personal vision recovery.
Meta to test premium subscriptions on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp
In the coming months, Meta is going to explore a premium experience on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp that gives users access to special features and more control over how they share and connect, while keeping the core experiences free.
Vinod Khosla publicly disavows Keith Rabois comments on ICE shooting
Unwavering Trump loyalist and VC Keith Rabois caused his colleague and his firm's founder to distance themselves from his comments on ICE.
YouTubers sue Snap for alleged copyright infringement in training its AI models
The YouTubers claim Snap, like others, used AI datasets meant for research and academic use to train its AI models.
Heres the tech powering ICEs deportation crackdown
From phone spyware and facial recognition to phone unlocking technology and databases and more, this tech powers Trump's deportation machine.
Social network UpScrolled sees surge in downloads following TikToks US takeover
UpScrolled is a social network that pledges to remain impartial to political agendas. It blends familiar features from Instagram and X, letting users share photos, videos, and text posts, discover new content, and send direct messages.
Rad Power Bikes reaches deal to sell itself for $13.2M
A company called Life Electric Vehicle Holdings has emerged as the top bidder for Rad Power's assets. It's not clear what the company plans to do with them, though.
VC firm 2150 raises 210M fund to solve cities climate challenges
Europe-based venture fund 2150 raised the money to invest in climate tech startups that help solve cities' carbon footprint.
Saudi satirist hacked with Pegasus spyware wins damages in court battle
The London High Court awarded the London-based satirist and human rights activist Ghanem Al-Masarir more than 3 million, after finding the Saudi government hacked his phone and was likely behind a physical attack targeting him in London.
Tech workers call for CEOs to speak up against ICE after the killing of Alex Pretti
More than 450 tech workers from companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, and Salesforce have signed a letter urging their CEOs to call the White House and demand ICE leave our cities.
Nvidia invests $2B to help debt-ridden CoreWeave add 5GW of AI compute
CoreWeave will also integrate Nvidia's products across its platform, including the new Rubin chip architecture.
SpaceX eyes mid-March for first test of upgraded Starship rocket
The launch date had been up in the air after the rocket's booster stage suffered an explosion during testing in November.
Register nowtosaveup to $680 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 passand get a +1 ticket at50% off. Offerendsthis Friday, January 30.
Apples new AirTag is louder and can be found across longer distances
Apple's new AirTag is louder and supports better finding at longer distances.
Nvidias new AI weather models probably saw this storm coming weeks ago
Nvidia announced three new AI weather tools today. Together, they promise to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts while also making them accessible to more users.
Synthesia hits $4B valuation, lets employees cash out
British startup Synthesia, whose AI platform helps companies create interactive training videos, has raised a $200 million Series E round of funding that brings its valuation to $4 billion up from $2.1 billion just a year ago.
