French startup Nijta hopes to protect voice privacy in AI use cases
France-based startup Nijta, whose flagship product Voice Harbor anonimizes voices for AI, raised €2 million in funding from various sources, including deep tech VC fund Elaia. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreInclusivity-focused VC Ada Ventures pulls in $80M for second fund
UK-based Ada Ventures is an unusual VC. Instead of just talking about SaaS or AI, it hunts down founders addressing inclusivity and diversity. Instead of confusing LPs with this methodology, it’s attracted them, thus hitting the $80 million mark for the final close of its second fund (it reached $44.7
Read moreBacked by Leonardo DiCaprio, YC alum SolarMente wants to help democratize solar power in Spain
Barcelona-based cleantech startup SolarMente recently added Leonardo DiCaprio to its cap table, hence becoming the actor's and activist's first investment in the country. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreZomato’s Blinkit sprints to quick commerce dominance in India
Even as quick commerce is slowly fading in many markets and several heavily-funded startups have folded in the past two years, India is emerging as a striking outlier where the model remains vibrant. India’s quick commerce market has witnessed a staggering 10-fold growth between 2021 and 2023, fueled by the
Read moreThe loneliness of the robotic humanoid
Perhaps a few years from now, the halls of the Georgia World Congress Center will be peppered with humanoid robots the week of Modex. In 2024, however, Digit stands alone at the supply chain show. It’s a testament to Agility’s healthy head start over competitors like Figure, Tesla, 1X and
Read moreFour things we learned when US spy chiefs testified to Congress
Cyberattacks, regional conflict, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, commercial spyware, AI, misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes and TikTok. These are just some of the top perceived threats that the United States faces, according to the U.S. government’s intelligence agency’s latest global risk assessment. The unclassified report published Monday — sanitized for public
Read moreMoonbird’s relaxation device takes flight internationally
“Well it looks like you had some fun recently,” a friend said as he joined me for coffee. There, in the middle of my dining room table, is a device that does, now that he mentions it, look an awful lot like a sex toy. Moonbird‘s raison d’etre isn’t to
Read moreTechCrunch Space: RIP $ASTR
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. Happy South by Southwest week for all who celebrate. On to the news. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreShould artists be paid for training data? OpenAI VP wouldn’t say
Should artists whose work was used to train generative AI like ChatGPT be compensated for their contributions? Peter Deng, VP of consumer product at OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT — was loath to give an answer when asked on SXSW’s main stage this afternoon. “That’s a great question,” he
Read moreLucid Motors is stuck in a fight over the name of its Gravity SUV
Lucid Motors is at risk of losing the trademark for the name of its Gravity SUV, just months before the company is supposed to start production. Google Ventures-backed EV charging company Gravity Inc. filed a “petition for cancellation” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
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