Amazon’s Zoox to start testing AVs in Atlanta, following Waymo

Amazon’s autonomous vehicle unit Zoox is about to start testing its self-driving vehicles in Atlanta, Georgia, a precursor to eventually offering public rides in the city. Zoox told technewss on Tuesday that it has completed the “initial mapping phase” in Atlanta and will begin

Amazon Music tests an AI-powered search experience for fans to learn more about their favorite artists

Amazon Music announced Tuesday that it's testing a new AI-powered search feature called “Explore,” designed to help fans learn more about their favorite artists.  To use this feature, users can tap the “Find” button at the bottom of the screen and enter an artist's name in the

Adaptation Ventures is a new angel investor group focused on disability and accessibility tech

The global assistive technology market was valued at more than $22 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow substantially by 2030. Despite the potential market size, many founders building tech to help people with disabilities struggle to secure the kind of early funding needed to get their compani

Brex partners with former competitor Zip, with an eye on reducing cash burn to get to an IPO

Brex has once again made the surprising, but perhaps realistic, decision to partner with another one-time competitor. This time Zip, the CEOs of both companies told technewss exclusively.  In April 2022, fintech Brex announced it was making “a big push” into both the enterprise and softw

South Loop Ventures closes $21M fund in Houston to build up local tech ecosystem

South Loop Ventures, a Houston-based venture firm, announced a $21 million Fund I, with Rice Management Company and Chevron Technology Ventures serving as anchor investors.  The firm, which launched in 2022, focuses on seed and pre-seed companies, with $400,000 as the average check size. It a

Alation acquires Numbers Station to bolster its AI agent offerings

Enterprise data intelligence platform Alation acquired Numbers Station to help give its customers access to AI agents that run on top of their structured data. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Numbers Station, which builds AI-native data applications, is a Series A-stage startup that’s

SparkCharge raises $30M to help fleets electrify without commitments

Electrifying a fleet of vehicles is the chicken-and-egg problem for the 21st century. Where do you spend money first, on the vehicles or the charging infrastructure? Believe it or not, that question isn't always thought through. Joshua Aviv, founder and CEO of SparkCharge, has had fleets appro

OpenAI's Codex is part of a new cohort of agentic coding tools

Last Friday, OpenAI introduced a new coding system called Codex, designed to perform complex programming tasks from natural language commands. Codex moves OpenAI into a new cohort of agentic coding tools that is just beginning to take shape. From GitHub's early Copilot to contemporary tools li

In a good sign for consumer internet startups, Creator Ventures raises $45M

“I’ve got a pretty wild story to tell you,” the early YouTube star Caspar Lee says in a TikTok. He goes on to tell the story of how a startup founder slid into his LinkedIn DMs with a pitch about an eco-friendly deodorant called Wild. He ignored the message at first, but his cous

Gravitee, a platform that helps companies manage APIs, raises $60M

Gravitee, a platform designed to help companies manage their APIs and other digital traffic pipelines, has raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by Sixth Street Growth with participation from Riverside Acceleration Capital and Albion VC. The new capital, which brings Gravitee’s

Affiniti’s 20- and 22-year-old founders raise $17M led by SignalFire just 6 months after an $11M seed

Affiniti founders Aaron Bai, 20, and Sahil Phadnis, 22, are building the kind of expense-management software for main street small businesses that tech startups have enjoyed for years. Their growth has been so impressive that six months after raising an $11 million seed round, they raised a $17 mi

Monzo’s pivot from cool to corporate: ‘Freshness is not about gimmicks’

Monzo, Britain’s biggest digital bank, is still synonymous with its neon debit cards, extensive use of emojis, and free spending abroad. But it's no longer just trying to be cool; it's trying to become a major financial institution. That shift, from an upstart fintech beloved by mill

Sylndr, with a fresh $15.7M, allows users to buy, sell, finance, and service used cars in Egypt

Cairo-based Sylndr has raised $15.7 million as it expands beyond online used car sales into auto financing, servicing, and tools for dealers. Development Partners International's Nclude Fund led the round. The company, which operates in Egypt's fast-growing but underdigitized vehicle marke

Waymo gets OK to expand robotaxi service into more of Silicon Valley

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved Waymo’s request to expand its commercial robotaxi service area, opening the door for the Alphabet company to bring its driverless ride-hailing vehicles into more communities south of San Francisco. The company said in a post on X the a