TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 is gearing up to showcase the next wave of innovation. Among the standout finalists for the highly anticipated “So You Think You Can Pitch” segment are three groundbreaking startups ready to make their mark. These finalists represent diverse sectors, from social media to civic tech to sustainable energy solutions, and beat … Read more
Agility Robotics on Thursday confirmed that it has laid off a “small number” of employees. The well-funded Oregon-based firm says the job loss is part of a company-wide focus on commercialization efforts. “As part of Agility’s ongoing efforts to structure the company for success, we have parted ways with a small number of employees that … Read more
If you build it, people will try to break it. Sometimes even the people building stuff are the ones breaking it. Such is the case with Anthropic and its latest research which demonstrates an interesting vulnerability in current LLM technology. More or less if you keep at a question, you can break guardrails and wind up … Read more
Two years ago, Jobs for the Future (JFF), a non-profit dedicated to helping low-wage workers attain upward mobility, established a venture arm, JFFVentures, to back innovative employment tech. In a move implying that the launch went well, JFFVentures today unveiled its second fund, JFFVentures Fund II, with a target of $50 million. $15 million has … Read more
Paris-based startup Pigment has raised a $145 million funding round just five years after its inception. The enterprise software company offers a business planning platform so that large companies can visualize their past financial performance and forecast upcoming quarters. This funding round comes as a bit of a surprise as large rounds have been few … Read more
SingleInterface, a SaaS startup offering tools to offline businesses to grow their revenues by leveraging the web, has raised $30 million in its maiden external fundraising round as the Singaporean startup seeks to expand its footprint internationally and improve products to make them more relevant to global brands. While being offline is still prominent for … Read more
Zip describes itself as the “leading Intake and Procurement Orchestration platform and Intake-to-Pay suite.” That doesn’t sound like the most exciting space to be in as a startup, but if you’ve ever worked inside a larger company, you know how Byzantine the process of buying even the most basic things can be. It’s annoying for … Read more
Ghost Autonomy, a startup working on autonomous driving software for automaker partners, has shut down, TechCrunch has learned. The startup, which had raised nearly $220 million, posted a note on its website that it ended worldwide operations and wound down the company as of Wednesday. The company employed about 100 people and had operations in … Read more
DCVC’s target for its first climate-focused fund, DCVC Climate Select, has been all over the place and highlights the roller-coaster venture fundraising conditions of the last few years and how LPs aren’t as quick to back new strategies from established managers. The Silicon Valley VC firm launched the fund in December 2022 with a $500 … Read more
Springtime means rain, the return of flowers and, of course, Y Combinator’s first demo day of the year. During the well-known accelerator’s first of two pitch days from the Winter 2024 cohort, a covey of TechCrunch staff tuned in, took notes, traded jokes and slowly whittled away at the dozens of presenting companies to come … Read more