Fundraising

Yope is sparking GenZ (and VC) interest with an Instagram-like app for private groups

Fundraising /

Photo and video apps targeting young adults with social hooks are a dime a dozen these days, so those that show traction with 18-twentysomethings tend to catch the attention of investors looking for the next Instagram or TikTok. In the latest example, photo-sharing app Yope, which lets you share still images to private groups, says […]

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Apply to Speak at Sessions: AI before the deadline

Fundraising /

AI Innovators, seize your moment! Have insights that could inspire 1,200 AI founders, investors, and enthusiasts eager to advance the future of AI? Take center stage, influence the AI conversation, and exchange ideas at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. We’re gathering top AI visionaries from the startup world to

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Pre-seed firm Afore Capital has a fresh $185M fund and a new program to help founders discover ideas

Fundraising /

Afore Capital, a firm that claims to be the largest dedicated pre-seed investor, was founded on the idea that the first check into a new startup should be larger than what most accelerators and early-stage investors were offering. When Afore raised its third $150 million fund in 2022, the firm wrote checks ranging from $1

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61 US startups became unicorns in 2024: Here’s the full list

Fundraising /

Despite the tight venture capital market, unicorns are still being created every month. Using data from Crunchbase, CB Insights, and PitchBook, TechCrunch tracked down the newly minted unicorns so far this year. The list includes Elon Musk’s xAI, which is already valued at a staggering $24 billion, as well as a good number of other

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Arize AI hopes it has first-mover advantage in AI observability

Fundraising /

There are numerous observability platforms that monitor and evaluate cloud software, like Dynatrace and ServiceNow, which flag potential code errors or failures so engineers can find and fix them. Arize AI says it is bringing that same approach to AI models and applications. Arize is an AI observability platform that helps companies evaluate their AI

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SmartSuite raises $38M to be the final word on enterprise collaboration

Fundraising /

Three founders who built out one of the bigger startups in risk management are scaling a new company to take on another pain point in the world of work. SmartSuite‘s platform lets teams collaborate on projects, build automations around that work, and search and access work across larger libraries of data spanning a disparate number

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AI-coding startup Codeium in talks to raise at an almost $3B valuation, sources say

Fundraising /

Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup, is raising a new round of funding at a $2.85 billion valuation, including fresh capital, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal.  The round is being led by a returning investor Kleiner Perkins, the people said. The new round comes just six months after Silicon Valley-based Codeium announced

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After raising $1 billion, fintech Varo closes another $29 million, replaces founder CEO

Fundraising /

Fintech Varo has been hoping to raise a $55 million Series G round but has, so far, closed on $29 million to date, according to a recent SEC filing. Varo declined to comment on this new round but the fintech has raised just over $1 billion in funding since its 2015 inception, according to PitchBook. 

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