Farmers have got to do something about pests. But nobody really likes the idea of using more chemical pesticides. Thomas Laurent’s company, Micropep, thinks the answer might already be in the plants themselves. Micropep is exploring how naturally occurring compounds, known as micropeptides, might work as an entirely new class of pesticides. If the startup […]
Micropep taps tiny proteins to make pesticides safer Read More »
Digital banking startup Mercury is no longer serving customers in certain countries, including Ukraine, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Mercury made headlines earlier this year when it was caught up in federal scrutiny through one of its partners, Choice Bank, around the practice of allowing foreign companies to open accounts. The FDIC was “concerned” that
Waymo has started testing a new robotaxi built by Chinese electric automaker Zeekr on public roads in San Francisco. Waymo has “less than a handful” of the Zeekr vehicles in San Francisco today and isn’t driving them autonomously yet. Still, the fact that Waymo has hit the roads with a roomier, custom-built robotaxi signals the
The Waymo-Zeekr robotaxi has come to San Francisco Read More »
LiDAR has been a cornerstone of autonomous vehicle and robotics industries. While it’s become an industry standard, the technology has its drawbacks. Chief among them is high cost. As the former CTO and CEO of LiDAR leader Velodyne, Anand Gopalan is aware of the tech’s pluses and minuses. It’s telling, then, that the executive’s latest
Former Velodyne CEO’s delivery robot startup is ditching LiDAR for foundation models Read More »
Indian food delivery and quick commerce startup Swiggy is pivoting one of its smaller businesses: Swiggy Minis, its Shopify alternative for small businesses, is being turned into a link-in-bio service that will now also cater to service providers like nutritionists and fitness trainers. In its new avatar, Swiggy Minis will act as a landing page
At the end of June, a security researcher found a vulnerability in a web app used by a16z, one of the most powerful and influential Silicon Valley venture capital firms, which exposed some data about the firm’s portfolio companies. The bug has since been fixed. On June 30, a security researcher who goes by xyzeva
Researcher finds flaw in a16z website that exposed some company data Read More »
Waymo is ramping up efforts to gain access to a lucrative robotaxi use case: pickups and drop offs at the San Francisco International Airport, according to emails viewed by TechCrunch and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Waymo already has the required permits to commercially operate its robotaxi service 24 hours a day
Waymo wants to bring robotaxis to SFO, emails show Read More »
The U.S. Postal Service was sharing the postal addresses of its online customers with advertising and tech giants Meta, LinkedIn, and Snap, TechCrunch has found. On Wednesday, the USPS said it addressed the issue and stopped the practice, claiming that it was “unaware” of it. TechCrunch found USPS was sharing customers’ information by way of
USPS shared customer postal addresses with Meta, LinkedIn and Snap Read More »
Proponents of nuclear fusion have long promised to create nearly limitless power here on earth by harnessing the same reaction that powers the sun. Today, fusion’s biggest hurdle is ensuring that any fusion power plant produces more power than it needs to operate. The second is ensuring that it has enough fuel to run. Many
Without this company’s technology, future fusion power plants might never light up Read More »
Coast, a startup that describes itself as “a financial services platform for the future of transportation,” has raised $40 million in Series B funding — just four months after announcing a $25 million round, the startup has told TechCrunch exclusively. Back-to-back fundraises were common prior to and during the wild investment days of 2021, but
Fintech startup Coast lands $40M just 4 months after its last $25M raise Read More »
