Startups

Europe’s most valuable fintech, and which startups became unicorns this year

Fintech /

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Revolut’s reported valuation hike, fintech unicorns, the Disrupt Fintech Stage, and more. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT, subscribe here. The big story Revolut reportedly told staff last week of […]

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German computer scientists raise $30 million to help companies make sense of their data

Startups /

It’s not easy for organizations to become data-driven, despite the aspirations many have to get there. Even orgs with data analytics teams often struggle to make effective use of their data. According to a recent Gartner survey, fewer than half of data and analytics leaders say their teams are effective in providing value to their

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AI music startup Suno claims training model on copyrighted music is ‘fair use’

AI /

Following the recent lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against music generation startups Udio and Suno, Suno admitted in a court filing on Thursday that it did, in fact, train its AI model using copyrighted songs. But it claimed that doing so was legal under the fair-use doctrine. The RIAA filed the lawsuit

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How filming a capella concerts and dance recitals led Northzone’s newest parter Molly Alter to a career in VC

Venture /

Molly Alter wears a lot of hats. She’s a mockumentary film maker working on a project about an alternate reality where charades is big business. She’s a caesar salad connoisseur and documents her rankings of different restaurants’ attempts on a blog called JULIUS. She’s also Northzone’s newest partner. Alter’s path to venture capital was not

How filming a capella concerts and dance recitals led Northzone’s newest parter Molly Alter to a career in VC Read More »

How filming a capella concerts and dance recitals led Northzone’s newest partner Molly Alter to a career in VC

Venture /

Molly Alter wears a lot of hats. She’s a mocumentary film maker working on a project about an alternate reality where charades is big business. She’s a caesar salad connoisseur and documents her rankings of different restaurants’ attempts on a blog called JULIUS. She’s also Northzone’s newest partner. Alter’s path to venture capital was not

How filming a capella concerts and dance recitals led Northzone’s newest partner Molly Alter to a career in VC Read More »

VCs are still pouring billions into generative AI startups

Fundraising /

Investments in generative AI startups — those that are creating AI-powered products to generate text, audio, video and more — aren’t slowing down. But they’re being consolidated into a shrinking number of early-stage ventures. In the first half of 2023, from January to July 16, 225 startups raised $12.3 billion from VCs, according to Crunchbase

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Austin-based Ironspring Ventures raised $100M to invest in the industrial revolution

Hardware /

When Ironspring Ventures launched in 2020 to back startups in industrial sectors like construction and manufacturing, it was one of very few early-stage venture firms paying attention to those capital-intensive sectors. Now, the firm is doubling down. The Austin, Texas-based firm raised $100 million for its second fund to focus on industrial startups. This is

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Smashing, from Goodreads’ co-founder, curates the best of the web using AI and human recommendations

Startups /

Goodreads‘ co-founder Otis Chandler is back to build the next big app community. But this time, his focus isn’t on books; it’s on the content you can find online, including news articles, blog posts, social media posts, podcasts and more. With Smashing, an AI and community-powered content recommendation app, now launching into an invite-only beta,

Smashing, from Goodreads’ co-founder, curates the best of the web using AI and human recommendations Read More »

Foray Bioscience is breaking down the barriers of bringing biomanufacturing to plants

Climate /

Ashley Beckwith spent years of her academic and professional career focused on the intersection of biology, materials and manufacturing to build medical solutions more efficiently. When she realized the tech could be applied to plants and plant-based materials, an area that desperately needed it, she decided to switch gears. “Life on earth is only as

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