Startups

As consumers ditch Google for ChatGPT, Peec AI raises $21M to help brands adapt

Startups /

With consumers increasingly asking questions of ChatGPT — not Google — product discovery is changing. And the promise to give brands visibility and control over this fast-growing search channel has made Peec AI one of Europe’s hottest startups. Just four months after its Seed round led by 20VC, the Berlin-based startup has raised a $21 […]

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MCP AI agent security startup Runlayer launches with 8 unicorns, $11M from Khosla’s Keith Rabois and Felicis

Startups /

On Monday, a new Model Context Protocol security startup called Runlayer launched out of stealth with $11 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures’ Keith Rabois and Felicis.  It was created by third-time founder Andrew Berman (previous companies: baby-monitor maker Nanit and an AI video conferencing tool, Vowel, that sold to Zapier in 2024). In

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JPMorgan doesn’t want to pay Frank founder Charlie Javice’s legal bills

Startups /

JPMorgan Chase says it’s been billed a total of $142 million in legal fees for the defense of Charlie Javice and Olivier Amar, respectively the founder and chief marketing officer at financial aid startup Frank. JPMorgan acquired Frank for $175 million in 2021, but earlier thai year, Javice and Amar were found guilty earlier of

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Pine Labs gets warm market welcome on $440M India IPO despite a valuation trim

Startups /

Payment technology company Pine Labs, backed by PayPal and Mastercard, won over public investors on Friday, finishing its first day of trade 14% higher even after lowering its valuation for its $440 million IPO. This makes it the second-largest Indian fintech listing this year after online brokerage Groww’s nearly $750 million debut earlier this week.

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Build Mode starts at the beginning: How Forethought AI found product-market fit

Startups /

In the debut episode of the Build Mode podcast, host Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI, to unpack what it really takes to build a lasting company with and for your customers from day one. Build Mode is TechCrunch’s new podcast that pulls back the curtain on how startups actually

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The 10 companies that just launched from Betaworks latest startup camp

Startups /

Early-stage venture fund Betaworks announced the latest 10 companies launching from its prestigious Camp program, the 13-week biannual residence program launched in 2016 that has given way to names like Hugging Face and Graze Social.   The theme for this year’s Camp is Interfaces, as in companies that are designing products that impact how users experience AI. (Previous Camp themes focused on application layers and agents). Applications opened in June, and the camp began in August, with DemoDay being November

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Coding assistant Cursor raises $2.3B 5 months after its previous round

Startups /

Developer AI coding tool Cursor continues to gobble up venture capital as its valuation keeps climbing. On Thursday, Cursor announced a $2.3 billion funding round that valued the company at $29.3 billion, as originally reported by the Wall Street Journal. This round more than doubles the company’s previous valuation of $9.9 billion, which it achieved

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How founders can prepare for their late-stage fundraises from the start

Startups /

Raising a $250 million Series D round may seem like a distant and unnecessary distraction to startup founders pitching investors for that first $1 million in seed money. But it shouldn’t be, according to several founders and venture capitalists. In their view, founders should be charting out a strategy for those later stage fundraises from

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