Friday, February 2, 2024

Cake files for bankruptcy

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By Christine Hall

Friday, February 02, 2024

Good afternoon, and welcome to TechCrunch PM. As you head into the weekend, slice into our story about e-motorcycle company Cake filing for bankruptcy, scan the list of robotics companies that are hiring, learn what will happen to Spotify as Joe Rogan goes rogue and see which investor is all in on blockchain. Have a great weekend! — Christine

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Image Credits: Cake

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TechCrunch PM Top 3

Cake's latest struggle demonstrates how fragile fundraising still is: Electric motorcycle company Cake confirmed that it is filing for bankruptcy. The move came as the company worked to secure additional funding. It seems when one investor pulled out, Cake had to find another solution.

Some good tech news for a change: The tech layoffs we've seen over the past few years are no fun; however, we have some good news for you if you work in robotics, or want to. A list of 30 robotics companies who are hiring.

It's here! Apple Vision Pro Day: It's February 2, and in addition to learning if it will be an early spring, it’s Apple Vision Pro Day. As thousands of preorders roll in, we have your look at some of the independent apps and games that will arrive with the device. Oh, and check out the first apps you should download.

TechCrunch PM Top 3 image

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch, with stock photos from Getty under license

More top reads

Joe Rogan is no longer Spotify-exclusive: Spotify signed another multi-year agreement with the controversial podcaster; however, new for this time is that Rogan's show can also be launched on other audio platforms.

Cloud computing comes back: Learn what breathed new life into the cloud computing space this quarter to cause the sector's revenue to have some big growth.

New venture capital alert: Niremia Collective is the latest women-led fund to close on a debut fund. The firm, led by Naoko Okumoto and Nichol Bradford, deploys capital into well-being technology.

Pitch Deck Teardown: Head over to TechCrunch+ to see how PhageLab's $11 million Series A deck stands up to Haje Jan Kamps' critical eye for pitch slides.

European Union's AI Act is closer to adoption: Member state representatives voted to confirm the final text of the draft law, which is a risk-based plan for regulating applications of artificial intelligence. Read about the act's journey to get there.

A focus on blockchain: In case you missed Jacquelyn Melinek's Chain Reaction episode from this week, she writes about her discussion with Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon and his view on the "productive side of blockchain." (TC+)

SpaceX slays a Dragon: Thanks to a new program inviting research on crewed Dragon missions, Elon Musk's space mission company is poised to become the co-owner of valuable data, biological samples and possibly even patents and intellectual property related to human spaceflight.

Blackbaud ordered to end reckless security practices: The education technology company is still cleaning up after a 2020 breach that resulted from what the U.S. federal government deemed was "lax" security protocols.

More top reads image

Image Credits: IR_Stone / Getty Images

On the pods

In today's Equity, Kirsten Korosec, Karyne Levy and Alex Wilhelm ran down some of this week's headlines. Among them, a recap of what happened when Big Tech CEOs met with Congress, deals of the week, more fintech layoffs and automating the work of investors. Listen here.

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Apple promises to show off its GenAI work later this year

TechCrunch Newsletter
TechCrunch AM logo

By Alex Wilhelm

Friday, February 02, 2024

Good morning, and welcome to TechCrunch AM for February 2, 2024. It's Friday! We made it! And to celebrate that, we have drama at an Indian unicorn, Apple's genAI plans, the latest on Apple's App Store payments fracas, a neat startup out of Armenia, and a small Tesla fine.

Alex

TechCrunch Top 3

  1. Governance matters: If an investor wants to take the extraordinary step of removing a CEO from their company, what can stop them? Well, the legal paperwork. Indian edtech giant Byju's said in a statement today that its investors' "shareholder's agreement does not give them the right to vote on a CEO or management change." Of course, lawyers will have the final say, but the mess at Byju's is a reminder that governance really does matter.
  2. Apple teases its GenAI: If you are an Apple fan bummed out that your favorite tech company is nowhere on the generative AI map, well the company's CEO Tim Cook wants you to expect some good news on that front. The questions before us now include when, and, of course, what would GenAI under the aegis of Apple look like?
  3. What two top AI investors see in the market today: At our recent StrictlyVC event, TechCrunch Editor in Chief Connie Loizos spoke with investors Sarah Guo and Elad Gil about investing in AI startups, how they are working to track the latest developments in the technology, and what to do when AI products are used in an abusive manner. (Our next StrictlyVC event is in LA later this month!).
TechCrunch Top 3 image

Image Credits: Manjunath Kiran / Getty Images

Don't miss these

No one’s happy with Apple’s App Store shenanigans: Apple's recent moves to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) have been met with criticism, but it's not just from small app developers and the like. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks that the company's new plan is "so onerous" that he doesn't expect developers to adopt the new policies.

That's good news for Apple, which wants to keep its lucrative status quo in effect. How much money is at stake? Apple just revealed that the EU accounts for 7% of its total App Store revenue. That's about one in every fourteen dollars. That was lower than I expected given how large the EU is.

A startup market to watch: Armenian startup Podcastle just raised $13.5 million in a round led by Mosaic Ventures. The company's service offers a podcasting platform infused with AI elements for recording and editing. And we should expect more news out of Armenia, where developer talent is driving tech interest, according to Podcastle CEO Arto Yeritsyan. "We're basically becoming a small Silicon Valley here," he says.

Paytm's expensive regulatory woes: The value of Indian fintech giant Paytm has been in freefall after India's central bank imposed measures that would impact Paytm's Payments Bank. The company's stock fell about 20% on Friday after falling 20% on Thursday, causing its market cap to shrink by $2.1 billion.

Today in tiny corporate fines: Just two days after 25 California counties filed a lawsuit against Tesla alleging that the automaker repeatedly mishandled hazardous waste at its facilities throughout the state, the parties have reached a settlement. The total bill? $1.5 million. That's, well, just about nothing to a company of Tesla's size.

Amazon's Rufus wants to help you shop: Amazon has a new shopping tool coming your way, an AI-powered shopping assistant called Rufus. The gist is that the tool aims to help customers find products, compare them, and get better recommendations. Sure, but why not just make the normal Amazon shopping system… better?

Don't miss these image

Image Credits: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty Images

Before you go

Will the UK kill the AI golden goose? The UK's House of Lords' Communications and Digital Committee thinks that the "government should refocus its efforts on more near-term security and societal risks posed by large language models (LLMs) such as copyright infringement and misinformation," instead of apocalyptic scenarios. That seems reasonable enough. On the other hand, there's risk of "regulatory capture" if governments focus on the issues that existing foundation model companies want to keep in center view, Paul Sawers reports.

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