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 »
As a dietitian, Vanessa Rissetto’s main goal is to help people stay healthy. She also knew that there were some roadblocks to achieving that. For example, the Black community deals with pressing health concerns, in addition to a disproportionate lack of access to care. More than 80% of registered dietitians in the U.S. are white,
Culina Health nabs $7.9M to provide virtual access to registered dietitians Read More »
Integrating quantum computing into real-world computer applications is an ongoing problem, as the platforms are architected fundamentally differently. BlueQubit, a San Francisco-based quantum software startup founded by Stanford alumni, thinks it might have the answer. Its Quantum Software as a Service (QSaaS) platform attempts to tackle the above problem by providing end-users with access to
BlueQubit raises $10M to take Quantum software into real-world applications Read More »
