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a16z partner Kofi Ampadu to leave firm after TxO program pause
Kofi Ampadu, the partner at a16z who led the firm's Talent x Opportunity (TxO) fund and program, has left the firm.
If co-founder Lachy Groom has any doubts, he doesnt show it. Hes working with people who've been working on this problem for decades and who believe the timing is finally right, which is all he needs to know.
OnlyFans considering selling majority stake to Architect Capital
This isn't the first time in recent memory that OnlyFans has been in talks to sell off its business.
OpenClaws AI assistants are now building their own social network
The viral personal AI assistant formerly known as Clawdbot has a new shell again. After briefly rebranding as Moltbot, it has now picked OpenClaw as its new name.
Informant told FBI that Jeffrey Epstein had a personal hacker
The hacker allegedly developed zero-day exploits and offensive cyber tools and sold them to several countries, including an unnamed central African government, the U.K., and the United States.
Instagram might soon let you remove yourself from someones Close Friends list
Since the feature's launch in 2018, users haven't been able to remove themselves from someone else's Close Friends list.
SpaceXs IPO could open the floodgates and secondaries are booming in the meantime
To unpack what SpaceXs IPO chatter means, how private liquidity works before a debut, and what investors are looking for in todays pre-IPO giants, we spoke with Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, a broker-dealer specializing in secondary share transactions for late-stage private companies.
Uber is literally in the drivers seat when it comes to AV bets
Self-driving truck startupWaabis billion-dollar fundraiseisntjust about trucks. The deal, for $750 million up front plus another $250 million from Uber tied to deployment milestones, marks a major expansion into robotaxis for the company founded by former Uber AI chief Raquel Urtasun. It also feels like another chip from Uber on theautonomous vehicleroulette table. With more []
Last24 hoursto grab your +1 pass at 50% off to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
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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.
Microsoft wont stop buying AI chips from Nvidia, AMD, even after launching its own, Nadella says
Microsoft says its own chip leapfrogs those made by other cloud providers like Amazon and Google. But it needs more.
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.
India is teaching Google how AI in education can scale
With the highest global usage of Gemini for learning, India is emerging as a key market shaping Google's approach to AI in education.
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.
Tiny startup Arcee AI built a 400B open source LLM from scratch to best Metas Llama
30-person startup Arcee AI has released a 400B model called Trinity, which it says is one of the biggest open source foundation models from a US company.
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
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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
Samsung teases new privacy feature to hide your Galaxy phone screen from onlookers
Samsung said that the upcoming feature will let you protect selected parts of the screen like notification popup area.
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.
What you should know about the owners of US TikTok
ByteDance, TikToks Chinese parent company, recently established a separate American entity to run the apps U.S. operations. This restructuring aims to separate U.S. TikTok from its Chinese parent, addressing concerns about data privacy and foreign control. The move came after years of pressure from lawmakers, who feared the Chinese governments potential access to Americans data. []
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.
Googles more affordable AI Plus plan rolls out to all markets, including the U.S.
Gemini 3 Pro and other AI tools are now available globally through the Google AI Plus plan, which is $7.99 per month in the United States.
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.
