How AI sales startup Landbase nabbed Ashton Kutcher's Sound Ventures to lead its $30M Series A

When Daniel Saks was working as a co-CEO of the previous startup he co-founded, AppDirect, billionaire Michael Dell sent him a LinkedIn message asking for a meeting. Dell famously likes to cold-contact founders of startups he finds interesting.  “I thought it was fake,” Saks tells TechCrunch.

Researchers confirm two journalists were hacked with Paragon spyware

Two European journalists were hacked using government spyware made by Israeli surveillance tech provider Paragon, new research has confirmed.  On Thursday, digital rights group The Citizen Lab published a new report detailing the results of a new forensic investigation into the iPhones of Ita

Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft — and people are paying anyway

A central premise of robotaxis is that high usage and lower labor costs will ultimately make it a cheap transportation option. That is still far from true, but now there's some data that gives us an idea of by how much. Obi, an app that aggregates real-time pricing and pick-up times across mul

Meta sues AI ‘nudify’ app Crush AI for advertising on its platforms

Meta has sued the maker of a popular AI “nudify” app, Crush AI, that reportedly ran thousands of ads across Meta’s platforms. In addition to the lawsuit, Meta says it’s taking new measures to crack down on other apps like Crush AI. In a lawsuit filed in Hong Kong, Meta alle

Multiverse Computing raises $215M for tech that could radically lower AI costs

Spanish startup Multiverse Computing on Thursday said it has raised an enormous Series B round of €189 million (about $215 million) on the strength of a technology it calls “CompactifAI.” CompactifAI is a quantum computing-inspired compression technology that is capable of reducing the size

Apple is salvaging Image Playground with a boost from ChatGPT

When Apple unveiled Image Playground last year, the company touted it as a quick and easy way to generate personalized, original images with the help of Apple Intelligence. Upon launch, the app was met with skepticism, as some users were disappointed by its limitations and low-quality results. For

Sam Altman-backed Coco Robotics raises $80M

Los Angeles-based Coco Robotics, a startup building last-mile delivery robots, announced it raised $80 million on Wednesday. The company raised this funding from angel investors Sam Altman and Max Altman, both returning investors, in addition to VC firms like Pelion Venture Partners and Offline Ve

All of the new features coming to Apple’s iOS apps

At WWDC 2025 on Monday, Apple unveiled a series of new features that will launch with iOS 26 this fall across its apps. These include significant updates like Call Screening, more travel-friendly features in Wallet, and highly requested group chat features in Messages. Some of these updates includ

Fervo Energy lands $206M in financing to build massive geothermal power plant

Geothermal frontrunner Fervo Energy said Wednesday that it had secured $206 million in financing to continue work on a new power plant in Utah.  The startup is developing what promises to be the largest enhanced geothermal power plant in the world. The initial phase of Cape Station is expecte

Can Scale AI and Alexandr Wang reignite Meta’s AI efforts?

Meta is reportedly investing nearly $15 billion in the data-labeling firm Scale AI and taking a 49% stake in the startup, while also bringing on CEO Alexandr Wang to help lead a new “superintelligence” lab within the company. The deal is reminiscent of Meta’s previous large and r

At WWDC, Apple says it will use AI to tag apps to improve discoverability on the App Store

Apple will begin using AI technology to power the discovery of apps on the App Store, the company announced at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 25). In a session focused on updates to App Store Connect, its app distribution platform for developers, the company announced it w

How to delete your 23andMe data

DNA testing service 23andMe filed for bankruptcy protection in March, sparking concerns about what could happen to the genetic data of the company's 15 million customers.  Pharmaceutical giant Regeneron announced in May that it was buying the genetic testing company for $256 million follo

Snapchat rolls out a new $8.99 Lens+ subscription tier

Snapchat on Wednesday announced the launch of a new Snapchat+ tier called “Lens+.” The new tier costs $8.99 per month and, as its name suggests, is centered around giving users access to exclusive Lenses and AR experiences. In addition to giving users access to the perks unlocked with

Whole Foods warns of shortages after cyberattack at its primary distributor UNFI

Whole Foods told its employees that the ongoing outages and disruptions at its primary distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI), may take “several days to resolve.” The Amazon-owned retail giant told staff in an internal communication, seen by TechCrunch, that UNFI was experiencing a &