Startups

China is reportedly keeping DeepSeek under close watch

China appears to think homegrown AI startup DeepSeek could become a notable tech success story for the country.  After DeepSeek’s sudden rise to fame in January with the release of its open “reasoning” model, R1, the company is now operating under new, tighter government-influenced restrictions, according to The Information. Some of the company’s employees have

China is reportedly keeping DeepSeek under close watch Read More »

Startups Weekly: Founders may be raising less, but deals haven’t been lacking

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week showed more optimism among startups than in other corners of the world, with entrepreneurs feeling confident enough to acquire other companies, raise fresh funding, and

Startups Weekly: Founders may be raising less, but deals haven’t been lacking Read More »

Kerry Washington invests in wedding marketplace Cheersy

Kerry Washington is expanding her angel investment portfolio, serving as lead investor in the pre-seed round of the wedding marketplace Cheersy.  Cheersy, which was founded in 2024 by Amy Shack Egan, helps couples find day-of service wedding coordinators and has raised a total of $550,000, from other investors including Elizabeth Cutler, co-founder of Soul Cycle

Kerry Washington invests in wedding marketplace Cheersy Read More »

Minimalist Light Phone III launches March 27

Light, the maker of a minimalist phone designed to help consumers disconnect from smartphone distractions and social media, will launch its newest model, the Light Phone III, on March 27. This version of the device, like its older counterpart, offers a simple black-and-white display and necessary features like support for calls, texts, navigation, alarms, hotspots,

Minimalist Light Phone III launches March 27 Read More »

10 startups to watch from Y Combinator’s W25 Demo Day

One of Silicon Valley’s most storied startup accelerators, Y Combinator, held its Winter 2025 Demo Day on Wednesday, showcasing what its latest batch of 160 startups are cooking up. Some of Silicon Valley’s most successful startups – including Stripe, AirBnB, and Reddit – started out in a YC batch. Today, YC’s newer startups are focused

10 startups to watch from Y Combinator’s W25 Demo Day Read More »

Omni raises $69M to design tools that help companies better analyze their data

Employees at many companies today are expected to make decisions through careful data analysis, but the tools they need to do it are clunky, slow or — in some cases — don’t exist. That’s according to Colin Zima, the CEO of Omni, a business intelligence (BI) platform that aims to help organizations simplify how they

Omni raises $69M to design tools that help companies better analyze their data Read More »

Bria lands new funding for AI models trained on licensed data

AI-powered image generators, which are at the center of a number of copyright lawsuits against AI companies, are frequently trained on massive amounts of data from public websites. Most of these companies argue that fair use doctrine shields their data scraping and training practices. But many copyright holders disagree.  That’s why some startups and firms developing image

Bria lands new funding for AI models trained on licensed data Read More »

Scimplify raises $40M to help manufacturers access specialty chemicals

Scimplify, an Indian startup that helps pharmaceutical and agriculture companies access a range of specialty chemicals, has raised $40 million in a new funding round co-led by Accel and Bertelsmann Investments to widen its footprint in the U.S. and reach new markets. The Series B round pegs Scimplify’s valuation at about $150 million post-money, the

Scimplify raises $40M to help manufacturers access specialty chemicals Read More »

Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow explains his troubled $30M personal loan, announces new ‘super app’

Bolt’s controversial co-founder Ryan Breslow, who returned as CEO earlier this month, spoke on Monday about the $30 million personal loan he took out of his company that sparked legal battles and contributed to his (temporary) ouster. Breslow also announced that Bolt will launch an “everything app” that will integrate one-click checkouts for everything from

Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow explains his troubled $30M personal loan, announces new ‘super app’ Read More »