Author: GT

David Ryder | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesAmazon is preparing to announce sweeping job cuts beginning Tuesday, CNBC has learned.The layoffs will amount to the largest cuts to Amazon’s corporate workforce in the company’s history, spanning almost every business, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details are confidential.Amazon is expected to begin informing employees of the layoffs via email Tuesday morning, the person said.The company plans to lay off as many as 30,000 staffers across its corporate workforce, according to Reuters, which first reported the news.Amazon declined to comment.Amazon…

Mercor, which connects AI labs with domain experts for training their foundational AI models, has raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Felicis Ventures, which led the company’s previous $100 million Series B at a $2 billion valuation, is also leading this round. Existing investors Benchmark and General Catalyst, and new investor Robinhood Ventures also participated. TechCrunch reported in September that Mercor was in talks with investors to raise a Series C at a valuation of $10 billion, up from its target of $8 billion a few months prior. The company at the time…

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesOpenAI on Monday said the U.S. needs to substantially ramp up its investment in new energy capacity if it wants to stay ahead of China in the race to develop artificial intelligence.The startup has been inking deals for ambitious infrastructure buildouts in recent months that will require massive amounts of power. The sprawling data centers will push the boundaries of what is possible in the U.S. during…

Meta’s X competitor, Threads, is introducing a new “disappearing posts” feature that will allow the app’s over 400 million monthly users to share their thoughts and engage in conversations that are automatically archived after 24 hours. The option, dubbed “ghost posts,” launches on Monday for Threads users worldwide. Users will now be able to create a ghost post on mobile devices by toggling on the new “ghost” icon on the app’s compose screen. When the post is published, it appears in others’ timelines with a dotted conversation bubble around it to differentiate the post from other content. Other users on…

Roomba robot vacuums made by iRobot are displayed on a shelf at a Bed Bath and Beyond store in Larkspur, California, on Aug. 5, 2022.Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesShares of iRobot plunged more than 30% on Monday after the company warned its search for a buyer has hit a substantial roadblock and its financial condition remains dire.The Roomba maker has been vying to sell itself since March, but last week, the only remaining potential buyer withdrew from the process following a “lengthy period of exclusive negotiations,” iRobot disclosed in a regulatory filing.iRobot’s future has remained uncertain after Amazon abandoned its…

Developers hate (bad) marketing, but they still need a way to find useful tools and services. That’s why you’ll find a preponderance of developers on forums and sites like Hacker News, Reddit, and Stack Overflow discussing their dev kits and why some tools are better than others. That buying intent is the signal that Israeli startup Onfire wants to help software vendors capture. The company monitors public forums to learn what tools devs are discussing, and then uses AI to identify which companies those commenters work with and who the decision makers there are. The platform also layers in data…

Today, Day 1, TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 goes full throttle — 10,000 founders, investors, and builders flooding Moscone West for a nonstop run of ideas, demos, and deals. The energy is electric, the conversations are everywhere, and the breakthroughs are only just beginning. From the Startup Battlefield to the AI Disruptors 60, from space entrepreneurs to the founders redefining how and when startups go public, this is where the next decade of tech is being written — live. Every hallway conversation, every roundtable, every coffee chat can spark a new partnership or the next big company. Check out the list of…

Artificial intelligence startup Mercor announced on Monday a new Series C round that values the company at $10 billion, a fivefold increase since its last raise in February.The company said in a blog post that it raised $350 million in a round led by Felicis, which also led its $100 million Series B round, with participation from Benchmark, General Catalyst, and new investor Robinhood Ventures.The new investment will feed into three focus areas: Expanding the company’s talent network, advancing its matching systems between experts and training opportunities, and providing faster delivery.Founded in by three Thiel Fellows, the company initially started…

Despite the growing chatter of an AI bubble, Sequoia Capital insists its investment approach is unswayed by the market frenzy. “Markets go up and down, but our strategy remains consistent. We’re always looking for outlier founders with ideas to build generational businesses,” said Bogomil Balkansky, a partner on Sequoia’s early-stage investment team. To prove this consistency, Sequoia announced two new funds on Monday that nearly match the sizes launched about three years ago: a $750 million early-stage fund targeting Series A startups and a $200 million seed fund. These funds were introduced after what has been a tumultuous period for…

The Startup Battlefield is the stage where legends are made, and the next 20 contenders have arrived. These are the breakout companies that rose to the top of a fiercely competitive, global applicant pool, and they’re headed to the main stage at TechCrunch Disrupt to compete for the $100,000 prize and the coveted Disrupt Cup.  This year’s Top 20 finalists are building across the full spectrum of frontier innovation, from life sciences and climate tech preserving human health and planetary survival; to defense, robotics, and mobility powering the next industrial revolution and strengthening our national and global resilience; to compliance,…