Electra has raised $76.3 million to clean up the dirty ironmaking industry, TechCrunch has learned. The startup has developed a novel method of using electricity to coax pure iron out of low-grade ores, opening the door to cleaner steel. The new funding round, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing, seeks to raise a total […]
KoBold Metals closed a $537 million Series C round on Wednesday to help build a multi-billion-dollar mine to exploit a copper deposit it found using AI. The new funding round, which was led by Durable Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price, will be used to expand the company’s exploration efforts on five continents and develop
KoBold used AI to find copper — now investors are piling in to the tune of $537M Read More »
Like many highly valued startups, SpaceX sometimes allows its employees to cash out some of their shares by selling to company-authorized outside investors. TechCrunch has gotten a peek at an internal SpaceX document about such a tender offer from May 2022. Musk posted on X last month that SpaceX holds such sales for employees about
xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, has raised $6 billion, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. Investors gave a minimum of $77,593, per the filing (97 participated, but the document doesn’t reveal their identities). xAI later announced (confirming some earlier reporting) that Andreessen Horowitz , Blackrock, Fidelity, Kingdom Holdings,
Elon Musk’s xAI lands $6B in new cash to fuel AI ambitions Read More »
AI is everywhere. And increasingly it’s being described as defense tech. This week, the Equity pod gang — which included newcomer Max Zeff, Margaux MacColl, and Kirsten Korosec — noticed an emerging trend: the worlds of AI and defense tech are colliding. And that matters, for a few reasons. For one, venture money is flowing
Are AI companies just defense tech now? Read More »
Lerer Hippeau, one of New York’s most prolific A-list VC firms, has filed to raise its ninth fund, according to an SEC filing made Wednesday. There is no target raise amount. Lerer Hippeau did not immediately respond to our request for comment. The firm, founded in 2010, has more than $1.2 billion in assets under
Lerer Hippeau files to raise Fund IX Read More »
AI-powered search engine Perplexity has reportedly closed a $500 million funding round, valuing the startup at $9 billion. Bloomberg, citing sources familiar, reports that the round was led by Institutional Venture Partners, and that it closed earlier in December. In an email to TechCrunch, a Perplexity spokesperson declined to comment. The mammoth tranche comes as
Perplexity has reportedly closed a $500M funding round Read More »
Accounting firms are struggling to adopt high-tech solutions. That’s according to a survey earlier this year from Rightsworks, which found that, while 88% of firms believe tech has had a positive impact on their efficiency, 60% are suffering from disconnected systems, inconsistent processes, and a lack of standardized workflows. Startups like Aiwyn are trying to
A bad experience with an accounting firm spurred this founder to start Aiwyn Read More »
Real estate venture firm Fifth Wall is raising a new $500 million fund called Fifth Wall React, according to a regulatory filing. The eight-year-old firm, helmed by its co-founder and CEO Brendan Wallace (pictured), is already managing $3.2 billion in capital, including raising an $866 million fund in late 2022 that was the largest venture
Real estate VC Fifth Wall is raising $500M for a new fund Read More »
Doug Schuessler has always been a founder. This passion, which has been with him since childhood, saw him launch two startups, move to San Francisco, and take a job at Square to see what a “real rocket shop looked like.” He later became chief revenue officer at restaurant booking platform Resy, before becoming a founder once
Hotel booking platform Safara raises $14M, acquires rival Skipper Read More »
