This is how bad China’s startup scene looks now
In early 2018, VC Mike Moritz wrote in the FT that “Silicon Valley would be wise to follow China’s lead,” noting the pace of work at tech companies was “furious” and that China offered “investment opportunities in the best companies.” Soon after, it all imploded. Worse, as the FT notes
Read moreFei-Fei Li’s World Labs comes out of stealth with $230M in funding
Fei-Fei Li, the Stanford professor many deem the “Godmother of AI,” has raised $230 million for her new startup, World Labs, from backers including Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and Radical Ventures. World Labs is valued at over $1 billion, and the capital was raised over two rounds spaced a couple of
Read more23andMe agrees to pay $30 million to settle lawsuit over massive data breach
Image: Getty 23andMe will pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit over a data breach that affected more than 6.9 million customers. As part of the proposed settlement, the genetic testing site will compensate affected customers and provide them with access to a security monitoring program for three
Read moreFintech Bolt is buying out the investor suing over Ryan Breslow’s $30M loan
Bolt says it has settled its long-standing lawsuit with its investor Activant Capital. One-click payments startup Bolt is settling the suit by buying out the investor’s stake “after which Activant will no longer hold any interest in Bolt,” the company said in a statement. Activant’s suit accused founder and then
Read moreDave and Varo Bank execs are coming to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
The rise of neobanks has been fascinating to witness, as a number of companies in recent years have grown from merely challenging traditional banks to being massive players in and of themselves. Dave and Varo Bank are just two examples of such neobanks. Hear Dave co-founder and CEO Jason Wilk
Read moreFirst impressions of ChatGPT o1: An AI designed to overthink it
OpenAI released its new o1 models on Thursday, giving ChatGPT users their first chance to try AI models that pause to “think” before they answer. There’s been a lot of hype building up to these models, codenamed “strawberry” inside OpenAI. But does strawberry live up to the hype? Sort of.
Read moreA fight is brewing as TuSimple tries to move $450M to China and pivot from self-driving trucks to AI animation
TuSimple, once a buzzy startup considered a leader in self-driving trucks, is trying to move its assets to China to fund a new AI-generated animation and video game business. The pivot has not only puzzled and enraged several shareholders, but also threatens to pull the company back into a legal
Read moreSome startups and investors are more risk-averse than others
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week once again proved that the startup world isn’t homogeneous when it comes to risk-taking. Let’s have a look. Most interesting
Read moreY Combinator expanding to four cohorts a year in 2025
Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator will expand the number of cohorts it runs each year from two to four starting in 2025, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Y Combinator president Garry Tan told the site that approximately the same number of companies will go through YC each year, despite the change.
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