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
OnePlus has always marched to the beat of its own drummer — for better and worse. Take, for example, the company’s latest foray into mobile artificial intelligence, the AI Eraser. Before you ask, no, this is not simply a rebadged version of Google’s longstanding and very good Magic Eraser. Nope, OnePlus went ahead and built … Read more
Facebook is introducing a new, full-screen video player on Wednesday, which offers a more consistent design and experience for all types of video lengths, including short-form Reels, long-form videos, and even Live content. The upgraded player, which will first launch in the U.S. and Canada, aims to streamline the experience for both watching and sharing … Read more
Agnes Kozera and David Kierzkowski, the co-founders of podcast sponsorship marketplace Podcorn, today launched their newest app—Storiaverse, a short-form entertainment platform that offers a multi-format reading experience, combining animated video and written content. Available on iOS and Android devices, Storiaverse caters to graphic novel readers and adult animation fans who want to discover original stories … Read more
Microsoft and Quantinuum today announced a major breakthrough in quantum error correction. Using Quantinuum’s ion-trap hardware and Microsoft’s new qubit-virtualization system, the team was able to run more than 14,000 experiments without a single error. This new system also allowed the team to check the logical qubits and correct any errors it encountered without destroying … Read more
Rivian has a challenging year ahead — and the first quarter is off to a tepid start. The EV startup announced Tuesday that it built 13,980 vehicles and delivered 13,588 of them in the first quarter of 2024. Both of those figures are down from the fourth quarter of 2023, where it built 17,541 and … Read more
For years, the solar energy sector has grappled with interseasonal energy storage. The ability to harness the surplus solar energy of summer months for use during the winter has remained an elusive goal, with existing solutions like batteries falling short due to prohibitive costs and limited lifespans. Hydrogen, meanwhile, despite its clean-burning properties, has been … Read more
Rubrik, a data cybersecurity company that raised more than a half-billion dollars while private, filed to go public after the bell on Monday. Following quickly on the heels of debuts from Reddit and Astera Labs, the choice by Rubrik to pursue a public offering now could indicate that the IPO market is warming for tech … Read more
Thrive Market is well, thriving. The billion-dollar e-commerce company splashed onto the scene in 2016 with its idea of online grocery delivery. The idea came way before buying food online was normalized during the pandemic, putting Thrive Market well ahead —and making them well equipped — to stand out among its peers. Nick Green, one … Read more
