a16z

NEA led a $100M round into Fei-Fei Li’s new AI startup, now valued at over $1B

Fundraising /

World Labs, a stealthy startup founded by renowned Stanford University AI professor Fei Fei Li, has raised two rounds of financing  two months apart, according to multiple reports. The latest financing was led by NEA and valued the company at over $1 billion, TechCrunch has learned from several people with knowledge of the investments. This […]

NEA led a $100M round into Fei-Fei Li’s new AI startup, now valued at over $1B Read More »

California AI bill SB 1047 aims to prevent AI disasters, but Silicon Valley warns it will cause one

AI /

Outside of sci-fi films, there’s no precedent for AI systems killing people or being used in cyber attacks. However, some lawmakers want to implement safeguards before bad actors make that dystopian future a reality. A California bill, known as SB 1047, tries to stop real world disasters caused by AI systems before they happen, and

California AI bill SB 1047 aims to prevent AI disasters, but Silicon Valley warns it will cause one Read More »

California AI bill SB 1047 aims to prevent AI disasters, but Silicon Valley warns it will cause one

Government & Policy /

Outside of sci-fi films, there’s no precedent for AI systems killing people or being used in cyberattacks. However, some lawmakers want to implement safeguards before bad actors make that dystopian future a reality. A California bill, known as SB 1047, tries to stop real-world disasters caused by AI systems before they happen, and it’s headed

California AI bill SB 1047 aims to prevent AI disasters, but Silicon Valley warns it will cause one Read More »

Anysphere, a GitHub Copilot rival, has raised $60M Series A at  $400M valuation from a16z, Thrive, sources say

Fundraising /

Anysphere, a two-year-old startup that’s developed an AI-powered coding assistant called Cursor, has raised over $60 million in a Series A financing at a $400 million post-money valuation, two sources familiar with the deal told TechCrunch.  The round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital. Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe, also participated

Anysphere, a GitHub Copilot rival, has raised $60M Series A at  $400M valuation from a16z, Thrive, sources say Read More »

The SEC has charged an a16z and Sequoia-backed crypto startup founder with fraud 

Cypto /

The founder of once-hyped crypto startup BitClout is facing trouble. On Tuesday, the SEC charged BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji with fraud and unregistered offering of securities, claiming he used a pseudonymous identity to avoid regulatory scrutiny while he raised over $257 million in cryptocurrency.  BitClout, a decentralized social media platform, raised from a who’s-who of

The SEC has charged an a16z and Sequoia-backed crypto startup founder with fraud  Read More »

AI startup Hebbia rased $130M at a $700M valuation on $13 million of profitable revenue

Fundraising /

Hebbia, a startup that uses generative AI to search large documents and respond to large questions, has raised a $130 million Series B at a roughly $700 million valuation led by Andresen Horowitz with participation of Index Ventures, Google Ventures and Peter Thiel. And its funding demonstrates that 50x annual recurring revenue (ARR) is becoming

AI startup Hebbia rased $130M at a $700M valuation on $13 million of profitable revenue Read More »

Kleiner Perkins announces $2 billion in fresh capital, showing that established firms can still raise large sums

Venture /

Many VC firms are struggling to attract new capital from their own backers amid a tepid IPO environment. But established, brand-name firms are still able to raise large funds. On Friday, Kleiner Perkins announced that it closed on more than $2 billion in fresh capital across two funds, a slight increase from the 52-year-old firm’s

Kleiner Perkins announces $2 billion in fresh capital, showing that established firms can still raise large sums Read More »

Character.AI now allows users to talk with AI avatars over calls

Apps /

a16z-backed Character.AI said today that it is now allowing users to talk to AI characters over calls. The feature currently supports multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese. The startup tested the calling feature ahead of today’s public launch. During that time, it said that more than 3 million users had

Character.AI now allows users to talk with AI avatars over calls Read More »