[[{“value”:” On a cool morning last November, 800 people gathered before sunrise in a South Burlington hangar to witness the maiden flight of Beta Technologies’ first electric aircraft to be built on its new scaled production line. Kyle Clark, Beta’s enigmatic founder and CEO, piloted the Alia CX300 — one of the startup’s two aircraft models […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Trump’s FTC is looking into censorship on tech platforms
[[{“value”:” The Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday that it will launch a public inquiry into “censorship by tech platforms,” soliciting comments from people who feel they have been demonetized, banned, or otherwise censored due to their speech or affiliations. “Tech firms should not be bullying their users,” said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson in a statement. […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Amazon shuts down Chime, its Zoom alternative
[[{“value”:” Amazon Chime, the tech giant’s underwhelming alternative to Zoom and Google Meet, is shutting down for good. The company on Wednesday confirmed it will end support for Chime, including its Business Calling features, on February 20, 2026. As part of this transition, Amazon stopped accepting new Chime accounts as of February 19, 2025. From now […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
In India, Apple’s iPhone 16e faces stiff competition from older models
[[{“value”:” Apple has brought the iPhone 16e to offer a more affordable option within the iPhone 16 lineup, targeting emerging markets including India. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. “}]]
Pre-seed firm Afore Capital has a fresh $185M fund and a new program to help founders discover ideas
[[{“value”:” Afore Capital, a firm that claims to be the largest dedicated pre-seed investor, was founded on the idea that the first check into a new startup should be larger than what most accelerators and early-stage investors were offering. When Afore raised its third $150 million fund in 2022, the firm wrote checks ranging from $1 […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
61 US startups became unicorns in 2024: Here’s the full list
[[{“value”:” The list included Elon Musk’s xAI, as well as a good number of other AI startups. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. “}]]
Inside the Humane acquisition: HP offers big raises to some, others immediately laid off
[[{“value”:” Hours after the acquisition was announced, several Humane employees received job offers. Others were not so lucky. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. “}]]
Cherryrock Capital raises new $172M fund from all-star investors to back diverse founders
[[{“value”:” Cherryrock Capital, founded by ex-TaskRabbit CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot, announced Wednesday the closing of its $172 million Fund I with an all-star limited partner list that includes JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, MassMutual, Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, Reid Hoffman, Mellody Hobson, and Sheryl Sandberg. Brown-Philpot told Bloomberg that the fund actually closed in January. The firm launched […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Figure’s humanoid robot takes voice orders to help around the house
[[{“value”:” Figure founder and CEO Brett Adcock Thursday revealed a new machine learning model for humanoid robots. The news, which arrives two weeks after Adcock announced the Bay Area robotics firm’s decision to step away from an OpenAI collaboration, is centered around Helix, a “generalist” Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model. VLAs are a new phenomenon for robotics, leveraging […] © 2024 TechCrunch….
Instagram’s new ad format lets creators get paid for testimonials in comments
[[{“value”:” Instagram is introducing a new way for creators to work with brands to make money by recommending products. On Thursday, Meta introduced an addition to its Partnership Ads called Testimonials, which allows creators to get paid via written endorsements, shared as comments on the brand’s social media posts and advertisements. The new ad format is […] © 2024 TechCrunch….