TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Equity Live: Bret Taylor’s $4.5 billion startup and Waymo’s $5.6 billion round

Fundraising /

The Equity crew was live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl took over the Builders Stage to kick off day 2 of Disrupt with no shortage of conference highlights, startups deals and venture news to chew through. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Equity will be back with a special interview episode on […]

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How Generative AI Is flooding the web with deepfakes and disinformation

AI /

As generative AI tools become more widely available – and become cheaper, or even free, to use – they’re being abused by an array of actors, including state actors, to create deepfakes and sow disinformation online.In this session at Disrupt 2024, hear from CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed, CITRIS UC Director of the CITRIS Policy Lab

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VCs on how to raise in 2025 if you’ve taken a flat, down, or extension round

Startups /

Old ideas like you need $100 million worth of trailing revenue to go public, and $1 million worth of annual recurring revenue to raise a Series A are so old that they are practically perched atop Abe Lincoln’s head.In today’s market, what a startup needs to raise depends on its sector, founder profile, and, yes,

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GM CEO Mary Barra on the politics of EVs, the future of AVs, and moving away from China

Transportation /

“I never thought the propulsion of a vehicle would become a political issue,” GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Tuesday. While the executive didn’t expand on this statement, former President Trump has railed against EVs and claimed, wrongly, that there is a mandate to make and sell electric

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Tony Fadell on mission-driven a**holes, Silicon Valley entitlement and why LLMs are ‘know-it-alls’

AI /

Tony Fadell, the father of the iPod and founder of Nest, took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Tuesday to talk about how building the next generation of deep tech startups requires mission-driven a**holes. The entrepreneur and investor did not hold back on stage as he called out Silicon Valley for its entitlement and

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MDC is building a surgical robot that operates inside an MRI

Robotics /

MRIs are an indispensable tool for surgeons, though the technology certainly has its limitations. Take, for instance, surgeons using the machines to guide their procedures. The current process entails putting the patient into a machine to get an image, before pulling them out to advance a needle one centimeter at a time. It’s a time-consuming

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Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures backs Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs in continued AI push

AI /

Ashton Kutcher’s VC firm, Sound Ventures, co-led by general partners Guy Oseary and Effie Epstein, is betting on AI — including with an investment in Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs, the investors confirmed on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Tuesday. The startup, founded by Li, the Stanford professor dubbed the “Godmother of AI,” has already

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