Tag Archives: TechCrunch

Former LA Lakers star launches VC firm

Former NBA Lakers star Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly known as Metta World Peace), has teamed up with Stephen Stokols, the former CEO of Boost Mobile, to launch Tru Skye Ventures, a firm looking to invest in sports and health tech, according … Continue reading

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Heartcore Capital closes $180M fund to pivot towards infrastructure, synthetic biology, climate

Back in the heady days of 2021, Heartcore Capital planned to focus on consumer technology with a $200 million fund. Fast-forward to 2024, and its latest fund will now ‘leaven the bread’ of that thesis, with a fresh $180 million … Continue reading

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Uber and WeRide launch robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi

Ride-hail giant Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide have launched a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi. The launch marks Uber’s first international autonomous vehicle offering.  Uber has been snatching up partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies across sectors, … Continue reading

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Fly Ventures sets its eyes on technical founders with a fresh €80M fund

Fly Ventures, the Berlin-based VC that invests in seed-stage European startups within enterprise and deep tech, has launched its third fund at €80 million. The firm raised its last €53 million fund in 2020. Aiming at technical founders, the firm … Continue reading

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MobiKwik downsizes its IPO for the third time

MobiKwik, an Indian financial services startup, has cut the size of its planned IPO for the third time, setting a price band of ₹265-₹279 ($3.1-$3.3) that values it at $250 million — down sharply from its last private valuation of … Continue reading

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GitLab names Bill Staples as its new CEO

GitLab, the popular developer and security platform, has named a new CEO, Bill Staples, effective immediately. Staples, who’s also been appointed to the company’s board of directors, succeeds CEO Sid Sijbrandij, who’s battling a rare form of cancer. Sijbrandij will … Continue reading

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OpenAI’s o1 model sure tries to deceive humans a lot

OpenAI finally released the full version of o1, which gives smarter answers than GPT-4o by using additional compute to “think” about questions. However, AI safety testers found that o1’s reasoning abilities also make it try to deceive humans at a … Continue reading

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Ex-PayPal COO David Sacks is Trump’s new crypto and AI ‘czar’

Incoming President Donald Trump has a new crypto and AI “czar”: ex-PayPal COO David Sacks. Trump announced Sacks’ appointment Thursday in a post on Truth Social, Trump’s social networking platform. “[Sacks] will work on a legal framework so the Crypto … Continue reading

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Zopa, the UK neobank, snaps up $85M at a $1B+ valuation, eschewing the IPO route

Some believe Klarna’s planned IPO in 2025 could set the stage for other fintech startups to go public. But with the tech IPO market still sluggish, one of the candidates hotly tipped to follow suit has instead just announced a … Continue reading

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Planet A Foods nabs $30M to make tons more cocoa-free chocolate

Turning sunflower seeds into sustainable, cocoa-free chocolate has netted Munich-based B2B food tech startup Planet A Foods (formerly QOA) a $30 million Series B funding round. Now, the Y Combinator alum is gearing up for industrialization, with the funds set … Continue reading

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