Benchmark, Index, others are in a wild unsolicited bidding war over Anysphere, maker of Cursor

There isn’t a shortage of AI-powered coding assistance startups. They include Augment, Codeium, Magic, and Poolside. However, Cursor has become one of the most popular. Its developer, Anysphere, has seen its revenue grow from $4 million annualized recurring revenue (ARR) in April to $4 milli

Ben Horowitz's cozy relationship with the Las Vegas Police Department aided a16z portfolio company Skydio

When Skydio, a young maker of drones in San Mateo, California, sent a customer proposal in 2023 to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, its chief of staff, Mike Gennaro, forwarded the email to VC Ben Horowitz. “Which deployment are you looking to do?” Horowitz wrote back.

What does Trump’s election mean for the TikTok ban?

As TikTok stares down an impending federal ban, Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election could be a lifeline. It’s a plot twist for the embattled, Chinese-owned social media company. During Trump’s last presidency, the president-elect had been the one to initiate the call

Monarch Tractor lays off 10% in restructuring towards software and licensing AV tech

Monarch Tractor has laid off around 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring that will see it prioritize non-agricultural customers, license its autonomous technology, and boost sales of its AI-powered farm management software, technewss has learned. Around 35 employees were cut this week

Startup land wasn’t as quiet this week as you might’ve expected

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 probably wasn’t the best one to make any type of big announcement. But when it comes to startups, there are quite a few c

Supersonic aircraft startup Exosonic is shutting down

Exosonic, a startup developing supersonic commercial air travel and UAV tech, is winding down after five years of operation. In an update posted to its website, Exosonic said it was unable to find the traction necessary to continue operations.  “Although the founders and te

The Beatles’ AI-assisted track ‘Now and Then’ is nominated for two Grammy awards

The Beatles have been nominated for two Grammy awards this year, and no, we did not accidentally fall into a time warp back to the 1960s. The Beatles’ song “Now and Then,” refined with the use of AI and released last year, is up for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance. So

AI-powered app integration platform UnifyApps grabs $20M from ICONIQ Growth

These days, it seems like every company either wants to or is already offering an AI product or service. For startups building an AI product in this space, it’s a really good time, but they aren’t without their challenges — the tech is still early, and though many companies are intere

How AI startup Conflixis is protecting hospitals from corrupt doctors 

After a career as an incident investigator with risk management firms like Kroll and FTI Consulting, Aaron Narva (pictured above) was working with a big international bank client at compliance software maker Exiger. He was responsible for monitoring that client's legal compliance after it had m

FBI says hackers are sending fraudulent police data requests to tech giants to steal people’s private information

The FBI is warning that hackers are obtaining private user information — including emails and phone numbers — from U.S.-based tech companies by compromising government and police email addresses to submit “emergency” data requests. The FBI’s public notice filed this week is a

Former Raya, Dispo exec has a new fund for the biggest out-of-favor tech: consumer

The idea of one day becoming a venture capitalist always loomed in the back of TJ Taylor’s mind. After all, he had an extensive tech background. He co-founded a stock app and worked in community at the dating app Raya and the photo-sharing app Dispo. After leaving Dispo at the end of 2022 h

Led by a founder who sold a video startup to Apple, Panjaya uses deepfake techniques to bite into video dubbing

There's a big opportunity for generative AI in the world of translation, and a startup called Panjaya is taking the concept to the next level: a hyperrealistic, GenAI-based dubbing tool for videos that recreates a person's original voice speaking the new language, with the video and the spe

Yelp just spent $80M on a site for car repair estimates

Yelp, which made a name for itself giving restaurant recs, just bought an auto services website. In the company’s earnings report on Thursday, Yelp revealed that it agreed to buy RepairPal, a site for car repair estimates, for $80 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close by the

With this latest deal, Flipboard looks to build a news ecosystem beyond X

An effort to bring a broader news ecosystem to the open social web, also known as the fediverse, is now in the hands of the social magazine app Flipboard. Press.coop, a service that created mirrored accounts of top news publishers (including Reuters, AP, WSJ, NYT, BBC, CNN, and even yours truly), h