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Chinese robotaxi startup WeRide gets approval to carry passengers in California 

Transportation /

Chinese autonomous vehicle company WeRide has received the green light to test its driverless vehicles with passengers in California.  The step comes as WeRide begins the process to go public on the U.S. stock market at a nearly $5 billion valuation. The timing also coincides with reports that the Commerce Department is considering a ban […]

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ArborXR secures $12M to boost its management platform for AR and VR devices

Enterprise /

ArborXR, a startup that helps companies remotely manage AR and VR devices, believed that enterprise customers would be the primary targets for AR and VR devices. Now, that bet is paying off. On Tuesday, the company announced it has secured $12 million in funding, a Series A that will be used to develop and scale

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PayZen secures $23M Series B, $200M debt facility to grow its “care now, pay later” product

Biotech & Health /

The cost of healthcare in the U.S. has been rising rapidly, but the portion of those costs footed by patients has increased even faster. Just two decades ago, fees paid by patients accounted for only 5% of hospitals’ and doctors’ revenue, but by 2017, those fees made up 35% of revenue. This trend inevitably led millions

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Prediction marketplace Polymarket partners with Perplexity to show news summaries

Apps /

Prediction marketplace Polymarket, which lets users bet on real-world events, is partnering with AI-powered search engine Perplexity to display news summaries of events. When users click on an event on Polymarket, they will now see a summary of news related to the event based on search results from Perplexity. There’s also a search box that

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India’s Kazam powers up to roll out EV charging in Southeast Asia

Transportation /

EV charging station startup Kazam plans to expand beyond India, where it already holds a significant share of the market, and into Southeast Asia to gain an early mover’s advantage, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which has offices in Delhi and Pune and city managers in 4,000 postal codes across India, is set

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Why Scott Painter is selling a beach house to start a new vehicle software company

Transportation /

Serial entrepreneur Scott Painter’s plan to build an all-electric vehicle subscription company called Autonomy has not worked out. So he’s pivoting once again to what he calls the “hardest build” of his career. While Autonomy will continue operating the small 1,000-car fleet it assembled over the last few years — far from the stated goal

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YouTube is testing a feature that lets creators use Google Gemini to brainstorm video ideas

Apps /

YouTube is testing an integration with Google Gemini to help creators brainstorm video ideas, titles and thumbnails. The Google-owned company announced the launch of the new Brainstorm with Gemini feature in a video posted to its Creator Insider channel. A YouTube spokesperson told TechCrunch that the feature is available to select creators as a part

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Fintech Payoneer is buying 5-year-old global payroll startup Skuad for $61M in cash

Fintech /

New York-based fintech Payoneer has acquired Skuad, a Singapore-based global HR and payroll startup, for $61 million in cash, the company exclusively told TechCrunch.  Payoneer said it could also pay up to another $10 million, contingent on if Skuad meets various performance goals within the first 18 months of the acquisition. Payoneer also committed to

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AI-powered water heater could banish cold showers and carbon pollution

Climate /

Chances are you’ve been there: Your formerly hot shower suddenly turns cold, darkening your mood in the process.  Maybe someone in your household took an extra shower or you did a few too many loads of laundry. It’s a classic case of supply not meeting demand. Michael Rigney thinks he can predict when a household

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