Fundraising

DeepRoute raises $100M in push to beat Tesla’s FSD in China

Fundraising /

DeepRoute.ai, a Shenzhen-based autonomous driving technology startup, raised $100 million from an unidentified Chinese automaker. The company aims to get its automated driving systems into as many vehicles in China before Tesla takes off next year, according to a Reuters report. China lifted certain restrictions on Tesla vehicles in April, clearing a path for the […]

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The Chainsmokers want to bring a different kind of value add to B2B companies

Fundraising /

The potential value a celebrity investor can bring to a consumer company, beyond just writing a check, is obvious: marketing and promotion. But that value is less clear when it comes to backing B2B startups. Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, also known as the Chainsmokers, think their VC fund Mantis VC can bring a value

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Former Caribou founder launches Further, a fintech that’s focused on helping people buy homes

Fundraising /

Buying a home has always been complicated. You have to figure out how much money to put down and how that down payment will affect a monthly mortgage bill. Then there are the closing costs and fees. Kevin Bennett launched Further to try to help make the financial process easier to navigate — especially for first-time

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BBG Ventures raises new $60 million fund to support diverse founders

Fundraising /

BBG Ventures raised a new $60 million fund to support founders from “diverse backgrounds,” including gender, race, age, and class, Business Insider reported. The firm is known for backing exclusively women founders, and this new fund is a slight departure from that focus but comes as funding to diverse founders continues to dip. Crunchbase found that

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Buddy.ai is using AI and gaming to help children learn English as a second language

Fundraising /

In 2014, Ivan Crewkov moved his family from Serbia to the U.S. as his startup, Cubic.AI, was preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign for its smart speaker. A week before the campaign was supposed to go live, Amazon launched its Echo smart speaker, rendering Cubic.AI essentially dead in the water. “It was a disaster,” Crewkov

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Equity Live: Bret Taylor’s $4.5 billion startup and Waymo’s $5.6 billion round

Fundraising /

The Equity crew was live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl took over the Builders Stage to kick off day 2 of Disrupt with no shortage of conference highlights, startups deals and venture news to chew through. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Equity will be back with a special interview episode on

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Regal claims its customer service chatbots are better than most

Fundraising /

People are generally skeptical of customer service chatbots, and many outright despise them. In a recent Gartner survey, 64% of consumers said that they’d prefer companies didn’t use AI of any kind — including chatbots — in their customer service. Fifty-three percent went so far as to say they’d weigh switching to a rival if

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Actor and director Olivia Wilde launches a VC firm

Fundraising /

Actor and director Olivia Wilde, famous for in “Tron: Legacy” and “Don’t Worry Darling,” quietly launched venture firm Proximity Ventures late last year, according to Bloomberg. She launched the early- and growth-stage investment fund with Neil Sirni, formerly of Roc Nation’s venture division Arrive; Jason Mack, formerly of Mack Ventures; and Santi White, the musician

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