Startups

Runware raises $50M Series A to help make image, video generation easier for developers

Venture /

Flaviu Radulesc started Runware in 2023 when he was testing a text-to-image company and realized that, though genAI tech was powerful, it was slow in generating images. So Radulesc teamed up with Ioana Hreninciuc and launched Runware as a dev tool platform that specializes in generating images, videos, and audio in real time. The company has seen much […]

Runware raises $50M Series A to help make image, video generation easier for developers Read More »

Fertility startup Inito wants to use AI-designed antibodies to expand at-home health tests

Biotech & Health /

Fertility startup Inito has raised $29 million in Series B funding to scale its at-home health diagnostics platform and use AI-designed antibodies to unlock new kinds of at-home tests.  When the company launched its first fertility monitor in 2021, its goal was to make quantitative fertility hormone testing possible at home.  While standard at-home ovulation

Fertility startup Inito wants to use AI-designed antibodies to expand at-home health tests Read More »

After SEC investigation, Curastory founder resigns, hires replacement

Venture /

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused content monetization startup Curastory of overstating revenue to investors and misrepresenting true client numbers, according to paperwork seen by TechCrunch.   As a result of a settlement with the SEC, Curastory’s founder and CEO, Tiffany Kelly, has resigned from the role and replaced herself with Dave Dickman, former CEO of the influencer marketing platform Tagger.  Under Dickman’s leadership, the company has begun fundraising, international

After SEC investigation, Curastory founder resigns, hires replacement Read More »

VC Jennifer Neundorfer explains how founders can stand out in a crowded AI market

Venture /

January Ventures co-founder Jennifer Neundorfer stopped by the Equity podcast during TechCrunch Disrupt to chat about fundraising in this very AI-driven market.   Founders and investors alike are obsessed with AI, and even Neundorfer said her firm is looking at ways to use AI to make their work more efficient, such as helping to do due

VC Jennifer Neundorfer explains how founders can stand out in a crowded AI market Read More »

Subletting startup Kiki paid over $152K to settle charges after violating NYC short-term rental laws

Government & Policy /

Auckland-founded Kiki Club launched its peer-to-peer subletting startup in New York City in 2023 with the mission of helping renters sublet their apartments while traveling for extended periods.  However, Kiki’s model violated local short-term rental laws, leading to its shutdown this past June. The New York Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) announced on Wednesday

Subletting startup Kiki paid over $152K to settle charges after violating NYC short-term rental laws Read More »

Onepot AI raises $13M to help make chemical drug creation easier

Biotech & Health /

For Daniil Boiko and Andrei Tyrin, the idea for Onepot AI came from the same frustration.   “The best ideas in drug discovery were often blocked not by biology, but by synthesis,” Boiko told TechCrunch. Synthesis is the creation of new molecules by using chemical reactions. It’s like a recipe or Lego pieces, where small pieces, ingredients, molecules, come together to form a wider puzzle picture, a food dish, a larger molecule.   As

Onepot AI raises $13M to help make chemical drug creation easier Read More »

Emm raises $9M seed to create one of the world’s first ‘smart’ menstrual cups

Biotech & Health /

Jenny Button first thought of Emm during the COVID lockdown. She was using an Oura ring and the Whoop monitoring band and getting insights about her body, but there wasn’t a device that could provide data about one of the most important aspects — reproductive and menstrual health.   “It seemed crazy to me, because these are things that every woman wants to be able to

Emm raises $9M seed to create one of the world’s first ‘smart’ menstrual cups Read More »

a16z leads $21M Series A into AI-native tax compliance software Sphere

Startups /

As Nicholas Rudder built his last startup, an educational marketplace called ScholarSite, he kept running into the same problem: tax.   “Marketplaces are liable for tax on their entire GMV (gross merchandise value) not just their take rate, so every new country meant a maze of registrations, filings, deadlines, and risk,” Rudder told TechCrunch. “It became a constant distraction.

a16z leads $21M Series A into AI-native tax compliance software Sphere Read More »

Boop’s new app turns social recommendations into bookable itineraries

Apps /

In a sea of AI travel-planning apps, a new startup called Boop aims to redefine the space with a new approach: turning social recommendations into bookable itineraries. Instead of getting a random AI-generated travel plan, the app offers users access to itineraries from real people who went on real trips.  When someone takes a trip, Boop uses AI to quickly turn

Boop’s new app turns social recommendations into bookable itineraries Read More »

Creator Tayla Cannon recieves $1.1 million investment from Slow Ventures’ creator fund to build PT software

Venture /

In 2023, Tayla Cannon moved from Australia to the U.S. for a job in a city she’d never seen before.   “No family, no friends, just a fresh start,” she told TechCrunch. A sufferer of chronic back pain,  she first started working in physiotherapy, thinking it was helping make a difference in the lives of others. Yet the traditional physiotherapy model never quite lit a spark in her.   She moved

Creator Tayla Cannon recieves $1.1 million investment from Slow Ventures’ creator fund to build PT software Read More »