Monday, January 22, 2024

Say hello to the newest AI unicorn

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By Alex Wilhelm

Monday, January 22, 2024

Good morning, friends, and welcome to TechCrunch AM for Monday, January 22, 2024. Today we have a new AI unicorn, electric supercars, a startup acquisition, and notes on how TikTok may finally have hit the ceiling. It's going to be a busy week, so let's get to it!

Alex

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TechCrunch Top 3

  1. AI voice cloning is big business: ElevenLabs just raised $80 million at a valuation north of $1 billion in a round backed by a16z, Sequoia Capital and others. The startup is developing AI-powered tools to create and edit synthetic voices, and is building a marketplace for voices, which is cool, as long as voice actors can still make money. It was last valued at around $100 million last year.
  2. Did you charge your Lambo? Italian supercar maker Lamborghini has tapped an MIT-sourced piece of battery technology to help electrify its lineup. Don't think that supercars should be electric? Google "Rimac" to learn the error of your ways.
  3. The only one who can stop TikTok is TikTok: Meta, Snap and X have struggled for years to grab a share of TikTok's growth, but there now seems to be one company that can finally rope it in: TikTok itself. Sarah Perez reports that the introduction of TikTok Shop might have been detrimental for the short-form video app's growth curve in the U.S.
TechCrunch Top 3 image

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Don't miss these

Chronosphere buys Calyptia: Startup M&A could be a big theme this year, so we're keeping close tabs on startups that are feeling acquisitive. Today, Chronosphere, a startup that offers a cloud-native observability platform, has acquired Calyptia, which is commercializing some open source tech. The deal could broaden the remit of Chronosphere's suite of offerings.

XRP eyes enterprise future: The regulatory fog that crypto has endured for a while in the United States is lifting ever so slightly, which is making crypto projects big and small more bullish on the future. Ripple and its XRP token are no exceptions, Jacquelyn Melinek reports.

Sony and Zee will not merge: Sony is not going to end up closing a merger of its Indian unit with media conglomerate Zee Entertainment to form a $10 billion giant. Sony is bummed about the deal's failure, which underscores just how large and important the Indian market is for digital entertainment companies and tech startups alike.

Captain looking to command $50M more: Speaking of India, a local startup called Captain Fresh is hunting for $50 million. The company operates a harvest-to-retail marketplace for animal protein, which is a fancy way of saying that it connects fishermen and others of their ilk to places that sell their goods to consumers. Nekkanti Sea Foods, SBI Investment, Evolvence, Tiger Global and Prosus Ventures are in the mix as potential backers for its next round.

AI bossware may be messware: AI is cool, but not all it’s going to be used for will be. Bossware is one such category. Sure, companies have been using software to keep tabs on employees for years, but AI opens up all sorts of new ways to dig into how productive workers are, and how they might be tuned. If that sounds miserable, that's because you aren't a CEO! (Note: I am also not a CEO.)

Team Equity recently interviewed Aileen Lee, and has a deep dive with Crunchbase's Gene Teare coming this week on all things 2023 venture capital. Remember to tune in!

$3.7M more for Kenyan agtech: Shamba Pride just snagged a new funding round for its business that provides last-mile distribution for farm inputs and tackles price exploitation and quality issues for farmers. African startups have seen venture demand for their shares wither in the present downturn, so this round is a notable transaction.

We have even more: EU rules are affecting how Meta deals with user accounts; LoanDepot was breached; and AI might not be coming for as many of our jobs as we feared.

Don't miss these image

Image Credits: Andriy Onufriyenko / Getty Images

Before you go

Former stablecoin company Terraform has filed for bankruptcy protection.

If you're thinking, "Wait, that hadn't happened already?", you aren't alone. The parent company of failed algorithmic stablecoin Terra, Terraform Labs wiped out at least $40 billion in market value and played a role in the collapse of the crypto market in May 2022. Quelle surprise.

Read More

Before you go image

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Friday, January 19, 2024

The rabbit r1 is not perplexed by Perplexity’s AI

TechCrunch Newsletter
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By Christine Hall

Friday, January 19, 2024

Good afternoon and welcome back to TechCrunch PM. Today we have an update on the popular rabbit r1, and we look at layoffs from Amazon, we learn what a "thirst trap" is, and we explore some new features for Plex. Have a good weekend, and we'll see you on Monday.

Christine

 image

Image Credits: rabbit

TechCrunch PM Top 3

Rabbit partners with Perplexity AI's tech: If CES is your jam, then you may agree that the rabbit r1 was a popular gadget this year. More evidence here. To recap, the r1 is an AI-first gadget that saves you the hassle of taking your phone out for tasks like performing web searches, playing a song on Spotify, and ordering a cab. Now it has even more AI power thanks to a new partnership with Perplexity.

Amazon has more layoffs: First it was Amazon's streaming division, and now the e-commerce giant confirms it is laying off employees within its Buy with Prime segment.

OpenAI signs up its first higher education customer: OpenAI and Arizona State University have struck a deal to bring ChatGPT to the university's researchers, staff and faculty. Next month, ASU will invite those potential users to submit ideas for ways to use ChatGPT — focusing on student success, among other things.

TechCrunch PM Top 3 image

Image Credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images

More top reads

Sometimes you don't need a pitch deck: Learn how FYPM used Instagram Stories and thirst traps (a sexy or filthy picture) to raise $275,000.

LoanDepot outage drags on: Some LoanDepot customers say they have been unable to make mortgage payments or access their online accounts following a suspected ransomware attack on the company last week. The company said it is working on it.

Apple offers EU set of pledges aimed at settling Apple Pay antitrust probe: Apple has offered a set of commitments to competition regulators in the European Union aimed at resolving concerns focused on NFC payments and mobile wallet tech on iOS, its mobile operating system.

The FTC bans another data broker: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission cracks down on another data broker, banning data aggregation company InMarket from selling consumers' precise location data. The FTC claims InMarket failed to obtain consent from users of its own apps.

Plex confirms plan to launch TV and movie rentals: Next month, media streamer Plex has plans to finally launch a marketplace for TV and movie rentals after multiple false starts.

Pitch Deck Teardown: Over on TechCrunch+, Haje dives into Rypplzz' (pronounced “ripples”) $3 million seed deck. He gives you a hint on how it went: "I have to admit: this deck didn't set me alight, so I was a bit surprised by its success. Still, it's worth exploring what could be improved here."

Half of Apple's India smartphone shipments are now iPhone 15: That's right, the iPhone 15 and its many iterations comprised more than half of Apple's Q4 smartphone shipments of nearly 2.8 million units in India, according to a new report.

Amazon's iRobot deal could be blocked by European Union: It's been 17 months since Amazon agreed to buy iRobot for $1.7 billion. Things have been going slow. And now the European Union is throwing a wrench in the deal that could mean the acquisition doesn't move forward.

Private equity could be the last resort for startups struggling to exit: Over on TechCrunch+, Alex and Anna found another area where recent research from Cowboy Ventures' Aileen Lee applies — there's a towering pile of private companies in need of an exit, or a bailout.

More top reads image

Image Credits: FYPM

On the pods

On today's Equity, Mary Ann Azevedo and Alex Wilhelm chewed through funding rounds and the trends prevalent today in startup land. These include Pomelo, Tandem, Briq, AI and the enterprise and a possible recovery in startup valuations. Listen here.

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