It was on, then off, and welp, now it’s on again — and this time for a lot more money. Yep, the Equity podcast dug into Google’s $32 billion acquisition of cloud security startup Wiz. There was a lot to unpack: the why, the how, what it means. And of course, there was the “who […]
Inside the Google-Wiz acquisition and the deal’s biggest winners Read More »
“The enthusiasm into AI actually carries over into everything, which effectively impacts all startups,” said AngelList CEO Avlok Kohli when asked if investors remain as excited about emerging startups outside of AI. According to Kohli, AI startups make up nearly 40% of the startups on AngelList’s platform. Today on Equity, Mary Ann Azevedo caught up
‘Every software company is an AI company now,’ says AngelList CEO Avlok Kohli Read More »
This week, OpenAI inked a five-year, $11.9 billion deal with CoreWeave, the GPU-heavy cloud provider, securing its own AI computing pipeline—and a $350 million equity stake in the company. With CoreWeave’s pending IPO and deep ties to Microsoft, OpenAI’s deal marks a significant shift in the AI cloud wars. Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts
OpenAI and Microsoft’s ‘frenemies relationship,’ and what you missed at SXSW Read More »
California’s most controversial AI safety bill of 2024 might be dead, but its author isn’t backing down. State Senator Scott Weiner is back with SB 53, a new AI bill that strips away the most debated parts of last year’s failed legislation while keeping key whistleblower protections and a public cloud computing initiative called CalCompute.
The California AI bill is back…and it lost its teeth Read More »
“Silicon Valley is not a necessary and sufficient condition for success—it’s just one option,” says Ryan Hinkle, challenging the long-held belief that the Bay Area is the ultimate startup hub. Hinkle is a Managing Director at Insight Partners, the giant New York-based venture capital firm that invests in tech worldwide. It has $90 billion in
If you spend any amount of time online, you probably noticed that your user experience keeps getting worse. Websites are waterlogged with autoplay ads, pop-ups, and tracking scripts. Customer service chatbots are useless, despite the promises of generative AI. Social media algorithms boost rage-bait to keep you scrolling and engaged. Dating apps hide all the
Optifye.ai, a Y Combinator-backed startup, sparked massive social media backlash this week after its demo went viral. The video, which shows how the company’s AI-powered cameras track factory workers in real-time, quickly caught fire online, with criticism flooding in on X and Hacker News. In the clip, a supervisor calls out an underperforming worker, sparking
Every year, it seems like there’s at least one big YC controversy Read More »
“AI startups are like rockets — they need to launch fast, but they also need to be built to last,” says Gradient Ventures partner Eylul Kayin, who works on everything from seed-stage investments to helping companies scale. Today on Equity, Mary Ann Azevedo sits down with Eylul to explore the fast-evolving world of AI startups.
How Gradient Ventures is Shaping the AI Startup Landscape with Eylul Kayin Read More »
Humane’s Ai Pin, which promised to replace your smartphone with a sleek wearable device, is officially dead. After a rocky launch, negative reviews, and returns outpacing sales, the startup is shutting down and selling its assets to HP for $116 million — less than half of what it raised. But what’s next for Humane’s tech,
AI wearables 1.0: Was Humane’s Ai Pin too ambitious? Read More »
The team at early-stage VC firm Slow Ventures last week launched a $60 million fund entirely dedicated to investing in creators, with an eye towards helping them launch businesses. The idea is that the same entrepreneurial spirit and niche expertise that has helped creators build community is what would make them great founders. According to
How Slow Ventures is giving the creator economy a rebrand Read More »
