Author: GT

Shares of USA Rare Earth jumped in extended trading Thursday, after CEO Barbara Humpton told CNBC that the rare earth miner is “in close communcation” with the White House.Humpton’s comment comes after the Trump administration took a 5% equity stake in Lithium Americas this week. The Defense Department took a 15% stake in rare earth miner MP Materials in July.”We are in close communication with the administration,” Humpton told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan when asked whether USA Rare Earth was interested in a deal with the Trump administration.Stock Chart IconStock chart iconUSA Rare Earth stock year to date.USA Rare Earth shares…

AI isn’t just crunching data — it’s helping humans dream bigger. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, three leaders from TwelveLabs, Wonder Dynamics (an Autodesk company), and Pocket Entertainment, at the intersection of creativity and AI, will explore how machines are becoming co-creators in storytelling, film, and media. Together, they’ll dive into how AI is blurring the lines between artist and algorithm, reshaping storytelling, and opening new creative frontiers. Join this AI-infused discussion, only on the AI Stage at Disrupt, with 10,000+ startup leaders, VCs, and tech innovators. Get your discounted 20% off group passes before October 3, or save up to…

Iman Clark, CEO of Prickly Pear Health, says she had an epiphany that eventually led her to TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.   It was around nine years ago. She moved from Tunisia to the U.S. for grad school, then joined a company that created gamified experiences for people with neurodegenerative conditions, like dementia. This was done by giving them a tablet or a computer and letting them play games while doctors collected data on them, like their risk of falling and overall range of motion.   “I realized that most people, 75-plus, have two to three chronic conditions, and…

OpenAI could now be the world’s most valuable startup, ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, after a secondary stock sale designed to retain employees at the ChatGPT maker.Current and former OpenAI employees sold $6.6 billion in shares to a group of investors, pushing the privately held artificial intelligence company’s valuation to $500 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the deal who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.The investors buying the shares included Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price, along with Japanese tech giant SoftBank and the United Arab Emirates’ MGX,…

Last month, Gusto, a payroll and HR software company, announced that it agreed to acquire Guideline, a startup offering retirement plans to small and medium businesses.   The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Gusto paid approximately $600 million, according to a source familiar with the deal, although TechCrunch could not confirm how much of this was cash and how much was stock.  Guideline was last valued at $1.15 billion in 2021 when it raised a $200 million Series D funding round. Since its founding in 2015, it has raised a total of $340 million. While the acquisition price is…

Amazon’s new MK30 Prime Air drone is displayed during Amazon’s “Delivering the Future” event at the company’s BFI1 Fulfillment Center, Robotics Research and Development Hub in Sumner, Washington on Oct. 18, 2023.Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty ImagesAmazon is facing federal probes after two of its Prime Air delivery drones collided with a crane in Arizona, prompting the company to temporarily pause drone service in the area.The incident occurred on Wednesday around 1 p.m. EST in Tolleson, Arizona, a city west of Phoenix. Two MK30 drones crashed into the boom of a stationary construction crane that was in a commercial…

When Donnell Beverly Jr. decided to launch end-of-life planning startup Eazewell after the loss of both of his parents, he knew exactly who to call to help launch the business: longtime friend, and nine-time NBA All-Star, Russell Westbrook.   “The main thesis with Russ across every business that he touches is how do we impact people?” Beverly Jr. [pictured above] told TechCrunch. “He’s been very vocal about that throughout his career. I always say we really took personal pain and then created a platform to really help people.”  Westbrook was in. Four-time NBA All-Star Kemba Walker also joined, and the trio launched Eazewell.   Eazewell is an AI-driven platform that helps families navigate and automate the administrative aspects…

New York City regulators have extended Waymo’s autonomous vehicle testing permit through the end of the year, the company said Wednesday.   The permit was initially granted in August to allow Waymo to test its robotaxis in the city until the end of September. The terms of the extended permit are the same: Waymo can deploy up to eight of its Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn with a human safety operator behind the wheel. A spokesperson for Waymo said the permit makes the company’s drivers exempt from New York’s rules mandating they keep one hand on the wheel at all times.  Waymo’s permit extension signals that it is inching toward being the first AV company to launch a robotaxi…

Tesla vehicles are parked outside of a dealership on July 24, 2025 in Austin, Texas.Brandon Bell | Getty ImagesTesla reported quarterly vehicle deliveries up 7% over the year prior for the period ended Tuesday, the same day that a key tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles in the U.S. expired.Here are the key numbers:Total deliveries Q3 2025: 497,099Total production Q3 2025: 447,450Shares sank Thursday following the report. Tesla plans to update investors on its third-quarter financial results on Oct. 22.The company reported 462,890 total deliveries in the third quarter of 2024. Tesla saw a decline in production this quarter…

Aravind Srinivas, chief executive officer Perplexity AI, during a news conference at the SK Telecom Co. headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, Sept.4, 2024. SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesPerplexity AI on Thursday announced that its artificial-intelligence-powered web browser Comet is available worldwide, and will be free to users.The Comet browser is designed to serve as a personal assistant that can search the web, organize tabs, draft emails, shop and more, according to Perplexity. The startup initially launched Comet in July to Perplexity Max subscribers for $200 a month, and the waitlist has ballooned to “millions” of people,…