YC-backed EzDubs is chasing consumer market for translation

The global translation service market is worth around $40 billion, according to various analysts. Within that market, enterprise services represent a significant share. For consumers, apps like Google Translate and Apple Translate are dominating, but they don’t work with calls or voice messag

Apple releases new Apple Intelligence features including ChatGPT integration with iOS 18.2

Apple released new Apple Intelligence features, including image playground, Genmoji, writing tool enhancements, and ChatGPT integration with iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2. The company also expanded language support for Apple Intelligence to localized English in Australia, Canada, I

After you check out your Spotify Wrapped, explore these copycats 

Spotify's annual Wrapped feature just dropped, giving listeners a fun, personalized summary of their listening habits, and it has gained immense popularity over the years. As a result, many companies have seized the opportunity to create similar year-in-review experiences, offering users a reca

Albert Invent hopes to revolutionize the chemicals sector with its AI platform

If startup funding rounds are any metric, generative AI is seeing ample adoption in the sciences. It makes sense: there’s a lot of trial and error involved in research and development, and any tool that can speed up the process for researchers is bound to be useful. The latest is Albert Inv

Mynt raises a cool $23M at $210M valuation to build a smarter expense card for SMEs

Small and medium businesses are getting more love from fintechs these days, and one example of that is the fast growth of a startup out of Sweden. Mynt, which has built an AI-based platform for corporate cards and spend management catering to SMEs, has closed a round of €22 million ($23 million)

HongShan, Peak XV back stablecoin-powered neobank KAST

Peak XV and HongShan, the Indian and Chinese investment firms that split from powerhouse Sequoia last year, have co-led a $10 million seed investment in KAST, a dollar-denominated neobank-like platform that lets customers hold and spend stablecoins through traditional payment avenues.  Kast a

Court orders Automattic to restore WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org

A California district court judge on Tuesday ruled that Automattic and its CEO Matt Mullenweg must restore WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org, a theme and plug-in repository owned by Mullenweg. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin noted that WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org, themes, plugi

ElevenLabs’ AI voice generation ‘very likely’ used in a Russian influence operation

Generative AI has a plethora of well-documented misuses, from making up academic papers to copying artists. And now, it appears to be cropping up in state influence operations. One recent campaign was “very likely” helped by commercial AI voice generation products, including tech publicly rel

Joby launches $300M public offering ahead of 2025 commercial eVTOL release

Electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle startup Joby Aviation has launched a public offering to sell up to $300 million of its shares of common stock, per a regulatory filing. Separately, Joby raised $222 million in October from underwriters. This latest filing adds to that offering and woul

HarperCollins CEO touts Spotify’s audiobooks entry, AI’s impact on publishing

The future of audiobooks and AI’s impact on the publishing industry were points of discussion for HarperCollins, whose CEO, Brian Murray, spoke at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday. During the event, the exec praised Spotify’s entry into the audiobooks market

Google says its new quantum chip indicates that multiple universes exist

Google on Monday announced Willow, its latest, greatest quantum computing chip. The speed and reliability performance claims Google’s made about this chip were newsworthy in themselves, but what really caught the tech industry’s attention was an even wilder claim tucked into the blog po

A new disclosure shows, again, how badly Tiger's 'spray and pray' fund performed

Tiger Global famously fueled the pandemic-era venture capital boom, investing heavily in a wide range of startups, setting up bidding wars for even the most unproven startup that led to sky-high valuations. In 2021 alone, the hedge fund backed 315 startups, according to PitchBook data. And much of

Phhhoto’s antitrust claim against Meta is heading back to the courts

A U.S. appeals court has overturned a decision in an antitrust lawsuit against Meta, which was filed in in late 2021 by the long-shuttered social app Phhhoto. In court, the startup alleged that Meta violated U.S. antitrust law by copying its core features and suppressing competition. U.S. District

CarDekho SEA raises first-ever outside funding, co-founder says he’s interested in acquisitions

CarDekho SEA, a Singapore-based auto financing service platform, has raised $60 million in equity, valuing the company at over $300 million, from Navis Capital Partners and Dragon Fund. This is its first round of external funding, following a previous investment of $40 million from its parent compa