From TechCrunch · 40 stories
a16z Launches $1.1 Billion 'Machine Age' Fund for AI Hardware Investment
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has established a new $1.1 billion "Machine Age" fund dedicated to investing in AI infrastructure and hardware. This fund marks a shift from the firm's traditional software focus to support the physical buildout of AI, including components like chips, memory, data centers, and robotics.
Pro-AI Super PAC Funds Ads to Promote Data Centers in Key Midterm States
Build American AI, a new group affiliated with the super PAC Leading the Future (LTF), plans to launch a multi-million dollar ad campaign in Kansas, Ohio, and Wisconsin to advocate for data centers. LTF is heavily funded by Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, and supports candidates favorable to AI while opposing those against it. This initiative highlights increasing political spending by tech investors to influence public perception and policy regarding AI infrastructure.
Clipto raises $15M at $250M valuation for AI-powered video and file search
Clipto, a San Francisco-headquartered startup, secured $15 million in an all-equity funding round, valuing the company at $250 million post-money. The company uses AI to index and make searchable various digital files, including videos, audio, and documents, addressing the challenge of managing large volumes of digital content.
US tightens restrictions on foreign-made drones and robots, impacting global market
The U.S. implemented new restrictions and tariffs on foreign-made advanced robotic systems and drones in July and August, citing national security concerns. These measures aim to limit foreign technology in strategic industries, but analysts suggest they may lead to a fragmented global market rather than a clean U.S.-China split, as Chinese manufacturers hold significant scale advantages.
Meta India and Southeast Asia VP Sandhya Devanathan joins OpenAI
Sandhya Devanathan, Meta's Vice President for India and Southeast Asia, has left Meta to join OpenAI. She will oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement, and operations across Southeast Asia and Australia for OpenAI, reporting to Kiran Mani.
Rivian CFO Claire McDonough to resign, effective end of October
Rivian's Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough is resigning at the end of October to take a CFO position at GE Vernova. Her departure occurs as Rivian scales production of its R2 SUV and manages a significant investment deal with Volkswagen Group.
CivilGrid raises $26 million Series A to map underground utility infrastructure
CivilGrid, a startup founded by former PG&E engineer Josh Mackanic, secured $26 million in Series A funding to expand its platform for mapping underground utility assets. The company aggregates data on utilities, property ownership, and environmental regulations to provide a comprehensive view of subterranean infrastructure, aiming to reduce costly delays and utility strikes.
AI startup Instinct raises $250 million Series B, valuing company at $2.5 billion
Instinct, an AI assistant startup, secured $250 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to $350 million and its valuation to $2.5 billion. This funding round, co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark, highlights continued investor interest in AI technologies despite some user privacy concerns.
Particle launches Radar, a podcast search engine for AI agents and data analysis
Particle, an AI newsreader startup, has launched Radar, a podcast search engine that transcribes and semantically understands podcast audio. Radar provides an API for AI agents and data resellers, with hedge funds being early adopters for accessing unstructured audio data.
Perceptron, founded by ex-Meta scientists, launches Isaac 0.5 for industrial visual AI
Perceptron, a startup founded by former Meta research scientists, launched Isaac 0.5, an open-weight visual AI model designed to help robots perceive, reason, and act in industrial environments like warehouses and factory floors. This release matters as it aims to provide general-purpose AI for physical robotics, addressing limitations of existing specialized or resource-intensive models.
Ventures Platform Closes $84M Second Fund for Pan-African Early-Stage Investments
Ventures Platform, a Pan-African venture firm, has raised an oversubscribed $84 million for its second fund, expanding its investment focus beyond Nigeria to other African markets. This fund will back early-stage founders in sectors like fintech, healthcare, SaaS, and AI, aiming to address essential needs and build businesses across the continent.
General Intuition Nears $6B Valuation with New Funding from Valor, Point72
General Intuition, an AI startup developing a foundation model for generalized AI agents, is finalizing a funding round at a $6 billion pre-money valuation with new investors including Valor Equity Partners and Point72 Ventures. This new investment follows a $320 million round at a $2.3 billion valuation just weeks prior, indicating significant investor interest in its approach to physical AI and robotics.
Stability AI Secures $76 Million in Series B Funding from Entertainment and Tech Firms
Stability AI, developer of the Stable Diffusion image generation model, raised $76 million in Series B funding, bringing its total fundraising to $232 million. The capital will be used to expand its creative production product suite and professional services arm, with investments from major entertainment companies indicating a focus on content licensing and distribution deals.
Pacific Fusion breaks ground on New Mexico facility to achieve net facility gain by 2030
Pacific Fusion began construction on a new facility in New Mexico designed to generate as much energy as it consumes, a milestone known as net facility gain. This development is a step towards commercializing fusion power, with the company aiming for a commercial power plant by the mid-2030s.
Gamma acquires design startup Lica to establish new design research lab
Presentation startup Gamma acquired design startup Lica, backed by Accel, to create a new design research lab. Lica's co-founders will lead this initiative, focusing on AI models for visual communication and expanding presentation formats.
Self-driving truck startup Gatik raises $200M after PepsiCo deal
Gatik, a self-driving box truck startup, raised $200 million in funding, two months after securing a multiyear commercial agreement with PepsiCo. This funding round, led by Qatar Investment Authority and Koch Disruptive Technologies, will support Gatik's expansion from pilot programs to commercial driverless operations across multiple cities and customers.
Airbound raises $37M Series A to develop cargo drones for logistics in India
Indian startup Airbound secured $37 million in Series A funding to develop autonomous drones designed to transport goods more affordably than traditional trucking. The company aims to achieve cost parity with ground transportation by designing drones that carry more payload relative to their own weight, potentially transforming logistics for specific goods.
Instinct AI Assistant Raises Privacy and Security Concerns During Private Testing
Instinct, an AI personal assistant from Spear Street Technology, is drawing privacy and security concerns from testers due to its broad data access and terms of service. The AI connects to user applications and devices, and its terms grant it extensive rights to user data, including for model training. These concerns highlight the trade-offs involved in granting AI agents significant access and autonomy.
Flipkart Minutes Nears India's Quick-Commerce Leaders with 1.2 Million Daily Orders
Walmart-owned Flipkart's quick-commerce service, Flipkart Minutes, now processes 1.1 million to 1.2 million daily orders, significantly closing the gap with established Indian quick-commerce players like Swiggy's Instamart. This growth is driven by an aggressive expansion of its micro-fulfillment center network, increasing its market share in India's competitive instant delivery sector.
DOJ Investigates Andreessen Horowitz Over Board Seats at Competing Companies
The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) concerning its partners holding board seats at Databricks and Fivetran, which are now considered competing companies. This probe, focusing on potential violations of the Clayton Act, could set a precedent for venture capital firms regarding board representation in overlapping portfolio companies.
Inherent's Faraday AI Agent Outperforms Larger Models in Scientific Paper Replication
Inherent, an AI lab founded by DeepMind alumni, announced that its new AI agent, Faraday, successfully replicated scientific paper findings, outperforming larger models from Anthropic and OpenAI. This achievement demonstrates the potential for smaller, more efficient AI models in scientific research tasks, highlighting a different approach to AI development through reinforcement learning.
US Battery Startups Receive $500M DOE Grants, Bolstered by Defense Sector Demand
The Department of Energy awarded $500 million in grants to US battery startups to strengthen the domestic battery supply chain, with a focus on reducing reliance on foreign sources and supporting national security. This funding provides a lifeline for startups facing reduced EV incentives, as the defense sector increasingly drives demand for advanced battery technologies.
Rillet, an AI accounting startup, raises $100M Series C at $1B valuation
AI accounting startup Rillet secured $100 million in Series C funding, led by Iconiq, valuing the company at $1 billion. This funding round occurred two years after the company emerged from stealth and follows rapid growth in its customer base and annual recurring revenue (ARR). The investment highlights continued investor interest in AI solutions for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and finance.
Waymo Submits Redacted Documents to NHTSA for Child Collision Investigation
Waymo has provided redacted documents to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as part of an investigation into a January incident where a robotaxi struck a child. This submission indicates progress in the regulatory inquiry concerning autonomous vehicle safety protocols, particularly around schools.
US Government Lab Investigates Security Risks of Chinese Lidar Sensors in Vehicles
The Idaho National Laboratory, a Department of Energy facility, is investigating potential security vulnerabilities in Chinese lidar sensors for vehicles in the United States. This review is funded by companies in the electric and autonomous vehicle industries and comes amid legislative efforts to ban Chinese lidar due to national security concerns.
Senator Wyden Requests GAO Review of Federal Agencies' Hacking Tool Use
Senator Ron Wyden has asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate how federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and DEA, use hacking tools and spyware against Americans. This request aims to increase transparency regarding the scope, frequency, and safeguards surrounding these tools, which have been used for over two decades with little public oversight.
Runlayer and Rippling File Lawsuits Against Each Other Over AI Product
AI startup Runlayer has sued HR software company Rippling, alleging trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract related to Runlayer's Model Context Protocol (MCP) gateway product. Rippling subsequently filed a counter-lawsuit, accusing Runlayer of infringing on three of its patents. The dispute stems from a product trial where Rippling evaluated Runlayer's technology before developing its own competing MCP server.
Castelion, a missile startup, raises $1 billion at a $13 billion valuation
Castelion, a startup founded by former SpaceX executives, secured $1 billion in Series C funding, bringing its valuation to $13 billion. This funding will be used to mass-produce hypersonic missiles, addressing the Pentagon's need to increase its stockpile of these weapons.
Ramp Launches AI Model Router Service for LLM Access and Management
Ramp, a corporate expense management platform, has launched "Router," an AI model routing service that allows users to access and switch between various large language models via an API. This service aims to tap into the AI inference market and integrate with Ramp's existing AI token usage monitoring and spend management products.
Inertia Enterprises Reduces Fusion Fuel Pellet Production Time from Days to Minutes
Fusion startup Inertia Enterprises has developed a method to produce its fusion fuel pellets in minutes, a process that previously took several days. This advancement addresses a key barrier to commercializing fusion power by making fuel pellet manufacturing more efficient and cost-effective.
Apollo Atomics Secures $26M Seed Round to Develop Compact Nuclear Steam Generators
Apollo Atomics raised $26 million in seed funding to develop a compact steam generator for nuclear power plants, aiming to reduce the cost and size of nuclear reactors. The company's technology focuses on shrinking the steam generator, a component that converts thermal energy into electricity, to make nuclear power more competitive with natural gas.
AI data company Alation confirms cyberattack after customer incident
Alation, an enterprise data software company, confirmed a cyberattack after an earlier incident caused degraded availability for some customers. The company is investigating the unauthorized activity in one of its systems, but has not specified the nature of the attack or the number of affected customers. This incident highlights the increasing targeting of companies storing large amounts of sensitive data.
Binance Launches Agent OS Platform for AI-Driven Crypto Trading
Binance introduced Agent OS, a new platform enabling AI agents to analyze markets and execute cryptocurrency trades on behalf of users. This development integrates autonomous AI directly into financial management on the world's largest crypto exchange, giving users control over agent permissions and trading limits.
T-Mobile Physically Disconnected System to Expel Chinese Hackers from Network
T-Mobile cybersecurity staff identified and removed Chinese government-backed hackers, known as Salt Typhoon, from its network in 2024 by physically cutting a cable to a compromised system. This action prevented a widespread breach during a campaign targeting multiple U.S. telecom companies to steal customer data and information on government officials.
TerraPower to Announce First AI Data Center Project, Leveraging Nuclear Energy Storage
TerraPower, a nuclear power startup, plans to announce its first AI data center project this year, with groundbreaking expected in 2027. The company's Natrium reactor design includes energy storage, which addresses the variable power demands of AI data centers and provides an advantage over traditional nuclear reactors.
Indian fintech Navi raises $100M from Prosus, valuing the company at $1.3 billion
Indian fintech company Navi, founded by Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, secured its first institutional funding of $100 million from Prosus, valuing the company at approximately $1.3 billion. This investment comes as Navi prepares for a potential initial public offering after an earlier attempt was abandoned.
Home battery costs decrease, driven by competition and virtual power plants
The cost of home battery systems is decreasing due to increased competition and the rise of virtual power plants (VPPs). Tesla has introduced a new Powerwall leasing plan, reducing monthly prices significantly, while companies like Base Power offer competitive rates, making home batteries more accessible to consumers.
Vivodyne Develops Robotic Labs to Generate Human Tissue Data for AI Drug Discovery
Biotech startup Vivodyne introduced HIVE, modular robotic labs capable of growing and monitoring 20 types of human tissue to generate causal biological data. This initiative addresses a data gap in AI drug discovery, which currently relies on less relevant animal or single-cell data, hindering the development of effective human treatments.
Relativity Networks raises $22M for hollow-core fiber technology to speed data centers
Relativity Networks secured $22 million in SAFE note funding and a $40 million follow-on order for its hollow-core fiber technology. This technology transmits data 30% faster than conventional fiber, which could help alleviate latency issues in large, distributed data center deployments.
TikTok explores peer-to-peer payments via direct messages
TikTok is developing a feature that would allow users to send money to each other through direct messages, according to a Bloomberg report. This potential expansion into financial services would utilize TikTok Pay and position the platform to compete with existing peer-to-peer payment services.