Welcome to Startups Weekly — Haje’s weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups.
Image Credits: OdaHardware is hard, episode 234: We already knew that Humane’s Ai Pin launch was going anything but smoothly.
Image Credits: Sword Health / CompanyLive by the sword : Sword Health, an AI-powered virtual physical therapy startup, raised a $30 million primary funding round and a $130 million secondary funding round that brought its valuation to $3 billion.
: Sword Health, an AI-powered virtual physical therapy startup, raised a $30 million primary funding round and a $130 million secondary funding round that brought its valuation to $3 billion.
Where’s your head at: Austrian startup Storyblok raised $80 million to add more AI to its “headless” content management system (CMS) for non-technical people.
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups.
Despite this general downturn, certain segments like generative AI continue to attract significant funding, indicating a selective yet substantial interest in specific AI applications.
AI investment is slowing down for a few reasons, like the crowded market and the steep costs of building big AI models.
Investors are getting pickier and want to see real, solid returns instead of just throwing money at hopeful growth.
(That isn’t stopping them from raising billion-dollar funds focusing on AI, of course.)
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups.
Ron has been working from home as a writer for almost as long as I’ve been alive.
Moar transpoLook, I’m trying my best to have a balance of everything here on Startups Weekly.
The Apple falls far from the car: Apple, after packing in its electric car project, let go of 600 staff who were reportedly working on the project.
I’d pay good money to see the prototypes …Apple, after packing in its electric car project, let go of 600 staff who were reportedly working on the project.
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups.
For the low, low price of being a Robinhood Gold member (because who doesn’t want to pay $5 a month for the privilege of spending more money?
Robinhood unveiled its Gold Card, a credit card so packed with features it might just make Apple Card users pause for a hot second.
For the low, low price of being a Robinhood Gold member (because who doesn’t want to pay $5 a month for the privilege of spending more money?
Trend of the week: Transportation troubleThe New York Stock Exchange has given EV startup Fisker the boot, citing its “abnormally low” stock prices.
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups.
Pornhub has been playing a game of chicken with a bunch of state legislatures for a while now.
That’s right, Texans are now officially barred from the sacred halls of Pornhub, unless they’re crafty enough with a VPN to sneak past the digital bouncers.
In a twist that surprises exactly no one, Pornhub isn’t thrilled about asking its patrons to flash their digital IDs at the door.
Pornhub is not exactly a startup, so why are we featuring this front and center in the Startups Weekly newsletter?
Welcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter.
This week, some thoughts on AI aesthetics, the challenge of uninsurability, and how to pitch a biotech startup to non-experts.
— AnnaToo good to be trueMost tools claiming to detect AI-generated text fail spectacularly, my colleague Kyle Wiggers reported.
I’m only human, but a lot of the AI-written pitches I receive don’t pass the sniff test yet; their style and wordiness feel off.
As fellow TechCrunch writer Ron Miller observed recently, “it’s really like AI-generated art, which has a certain look and feel.”That look and feel was made funnily obvious in a recent experiment conducted on one of my favorite social media accounts, Ugly Belgian Houses.
Welcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter.
It’s inspired by the daily TechCrunch+ column where it gets its name.
But sometimes we forget that technology does, too — especially when it comes to AI, which is still in its early days in many respects.
— AnnaAI unfairness at workEmployee-monitoring software isn’t new.
Also known as bossware, it is pitched by its makers as a way to help boost productivity, but by those who endure it, it’s a surefire way to deplete morale.
Farm work is tough on the body and requires long hours in sometimes extreme environments.
It can also be difficult to hire and retain staff in a category that frequently relies on migrant workers.
We’ve seen a number of startups attempt to automate field work over the past decade.
The company’s first system, Amiga, is modular, allowing it to be deployed for a broad range of tasks.
In this study we saw the number of weekly labor hours reduced by 50% – 80%.
Age tech at CES was much more than gadgetsWelcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter.
There was a lot going on in tech this week, and not just CES.
But yes, CES was definitely worth watching closely, if only just for the rise of age tech.
— AnnaBetter agingFollowing CES from a distance this year, I couldn’t help but notice how age tech, or silver tech, companies seemed to be in the spotlight — perhaps more than we expected.
For instance, I read that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had visited the booth of AgeTech Collaborative, an initiative from U.S. senior advocacy group AARP to showcase “groundbreaking age tech innovations” during the event.
Welcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter.
I would be lying if I said that mixed reality and generative AI were two of my favorite things.
And yet, a Christmas Day TV special made me unexpectedly bullish about them.
— AnnaVersailles 400I am not an early adopter of the metaverse.
But I am ready for things to change in 2024, with new mixed-reality experiences that cater to people like me.
