Funding & Business
From Toast to Bessemer: Who founders will hear from at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026
Hosted by TechCrunch in partnership with Fidelity Private Shares, the full-day event goes beyond fundraising and AI to explore the realities of finding customers, building teams, sharpening a pitch, developing…
Eric Schmidt reportedly owns about half as much of Anthropic as CEO Dario Amodei
The former Google CEO owns about 1% stake in the leading AI lab, Bloomberg reported.
Otter.ai raises $320 million from General Catalyst’s growth fund for its meeting tool
Meeting note-taking tool Otter.ai announced on Tuesday that it has raised $320 million from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF), which provides capital to startups without diluting equity and gets…
Laplace Intelligence red-teams robots and self-driving cars before they hit the real world
University of Michigan spinout Laplace Intelligence uses AI agents and interactive simulation to stress-test robots and self-driving vehicles before deployment. The profitable startup is competing in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch…
Disney agrees to hire the majority of Character.AI’s workforce
After chatbot startup Character.AI filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, many of its employees will have the opportunity to take jobs at Disney. Character.AI’s former CEO Karandeep Anand recently became…
Why the Creators of AI Do Not Understand Their Own Creations
Just citations. Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic, 2025): "People outside the field are often surprised and alarmed to learn that we do not understand how our own AI creations work.…
Replit’s CEO says the future of work is the ‘self-driving company’
Replit CEO Amjad Masad envisions a future of “self-driving companies,” where AI agents handle day-to-day tasks and people focus on higher-level decisions.
Will big software companies (like Adobe) come together to curb AI?
Recently heard about the fact that someone vibe-coded Adobe Cloud apps and having read people's reactions, one thing is clear: people say that this is "karma" hitting Adobe back. Now…
Scimplify raises $25M to challenge China’s grip on critical materials with AI
Scimplify's annualized revenue run rate has tripled to $200 million as it eyes U.S. expansion.
Zenzap raises $44M for its AI chat app that aims to replace WhatsApp in the workplace
Zenzap is used by organizations including Starbucks and Taco Bell
Pluto Security raises $42M as AI gives enterprise security teams a new headache
The problem with giving everyone in a company access to AI tools is that people will use them in unexpected ways. And that fact is steadily seeding fears that companies…
Laplace Intelligence red-teams robots and self-driving cars before they hit the real world
University of Michigan spinout Laplace Intelligence uses AI agents and interactive simulation to stress-test robots and self-driving vehicles before deployment. The profitable startup is competing at TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield.
Satlyt, founded by a former Google and SpaceX product manager, raises $8M to run AI on satellites
Satlyt wants to be the Android of orbital computing, offering open software that works on many companies' satellites, versus SpaceX's closed, all-in-one iPhone-style approach.
Former Plaud exec raises $26M for AI app that listens to you in the background
Ambi is releasing apps for iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch that enables ambient capture
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella says AI models need an ‘emergency brake’
In a Saturday morning post, Microsoft's CEO wrote that it’s time “to step back and assess the trust architecture” of AI.
A16z’s Olivia Moore on the state of consumer AI
Moore sees a huge opportunity in consumer AI, particularly if the industry can tap into revenue streams beyond just subscriptions and API charges.
OpenAI’s revenue is reportedly $20 billion less than previously projected
It had previously been reported that the AI lab's annualized revenue was some $70 billion, but a new report claims it's a whole lot less than that.
Popular AI leaderboard Arena nearly doubles valuation to $3.1B valuation in 10 months
The company behind the popular LMArena leaderboard has raised $200 million led by Lightspeed and Khosla, and is now measuring AI models on alignment issues such as lying.
China’s Manus raises over $500M in first funding round since split with Meta
Boyu Capital and IDG Capital led the funding round, and existing shareholders Tencent, HSG (formerly known as Sequoia China), ZhenFund, and others also participated.
Hear from Ambrosia Energy and Bloom Energy execs on where the AI infrastructure boom is creating opportunity at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Ambrosia Energy CEO Ben Longmier and Bloom Energy SVP Bill Thayer join the Smart Systems Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt. Register now to save up to $100. Grab a second of…
Ask HN: Why hasn’t AI replaced Tax filing software
Intuit has a market cap of ~$80B and there are others. Intuit aggressively lobbies against free tax filing or automated tax filing by IRS, which gets all the info anyways.
Tony Fadell on why the first wave of AI gadgets failed — and what comes next
The “father of the iPod” says the first generation of AI gadgets failed to solve real problems — and the next wave will need to earn consumers’ trust.
Healthleap raises $38M for its AI that flags hospital patients who may need a closer look
The financing includes an $8M seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital, and a $30 million Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures.
Atlassian and OpenAI expand partnership to turn enterprise knowledge into action
Atlassian and OpenAI are expanding their partnership to connect frontier models with enterprise knowledge and help teams plan, build, and deliver work.