Author: GT

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 returns to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27-29, bringing together more than 10,000 startup and VC leaders for an inside look at where innovation is headed. Among the must-attend sessions is a candid panel on the Builders Stage about one of the most high-stakes moments in any founder’s journey: raising your first round. From pitch to partnership: The real roadmap to seed funding This dynamic panel brings together three seasoned investors — Maria Palma (Freestyle Capital), Gabby Cazeau (Harlem Capital), and Marlon Nichols (MaC Venture Capital) — to unpack the realities of early-stage fundraising. From…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 is the epicenter where 10,000+ startup and VC leaders gather to explore the future of innovation — and this year, two AI Stages bring the intersection of design and machine learning into sharp focus. We’re thrilled to welcome Alejandro Matamala Ortiz, co-founder and chief design officer at Runway, to one of the AI Stages at Disrupt 2025, taking place October 27–29 in San Francisco. As part of a can’t-miss panel conversation, Ortiz will share how design principles are guiding the next generation of generative AI tools — and how his team at Runway is redefining what creativity…

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching an AI agent marketplace next week and Anthropic is one of its partners, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The AWS agent marketplace launch will take place at the AWS Summit in New York City on July 15, two people familiar with the development told TechCrunch. AWS and Anthropic did not respond to requests for comments. AI agents are ubiquitous nowadays. And every single investor in Silicon Valley is bullish on startups building them — even if there is some disagreement on exactly what defines an AI agent. The term is somewhat ambiguous and is loosely…

Tesla has applied to test and operate autonomous vehicles in Arizona in a bid to bring its fledgling robotaxi service to the Metro Phoenix area, the state’s Department of Transportation confirmed to TechCrunch.  Tesla contacted the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) under the Arizona Department of Transportation on June 26 to begin the certification process, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The company, which launched a limited robotaxi service in South Austin last month, expressed interest in operating within the Phoenix Metro area, according to the department.  Tesla has applied for both autonomous vehicle testing and operating with a driver…

Robinhood stock hit an all-time high Friday as the financial services platform continued to rip higher this year, along with bitcoin and other crypto stocks.Robinhood, up more than 160% in 2025, hit an intraday high above $101 before pulling back and closing slightly lower.The reversal came after a Bloomberg report that JPMorgan plans to start charging fintechs for access to customer bank data, a move that could raise costs across the industry. For fintech firms that rely on thin margins to offer free or low-cost services to customers, even slight disruptions to their cost structure can have major ripple effects.…

During xAI’s launch of Grok 4 on Wednesday night, Elon Musk said — while livestreaming the event on his social media platform, X — that his AI company’s ultimate goal was to develop a “maximally truth-seeking AI.” But where exactly does Grok 4 seek out the truth when trying to answer controversial questions? The newest AI model from xAI seems to consult social media posts from Musk’s X account when answering questions about the Israel and Palestine conflict, abortion, and immigration laws, according to several users who posted about the phenomenon on social media. Grok also seemed to reference Musk’s…

The latest version of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is echoing the views of its billionaire creator, so much so that it will sometimes search online for Musk’s stance on an issue before offering up an opinion.The unusual behavior of Grok 4, the AI model that Musk’s company xAI released late Wednesday, has surprised some experts. Built using huge amounts of computing power at a Tennessee data center, Grok is Musk’s attempt to outdo rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in building an AI assistant that shows its reasoning before answering a question.Musk’s deliberate efforts to mold…

After 14 years of developing inside of semiconductor giant Intel, RealSense is striking out on its own. RealSense sells cameras that use stereoscopic imaging, a process that combines two images of the same object from different angles to create depth, enhanced with infrared light. This technology helps machines like robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles have a better perception of the physical world around them. The tech is also used for facial authentication. “The common denominator of all of them is they live in the real, physical world,” CEO Nadav Orbach told TechCrunch. “They need to understand the surroundings in 3D…

Justin Sun, founder of blockchain platform Tron, poses for a photograph in Hong Kong, May 8, 2020.Calvin Sit | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCrypto billionaire Justin Sun is buying another $100 million worth of $TRUMP, doubling his total known stake of digital coins tied to President Donald Trump.Sun, who founded the TRON blockchain and is working to resolve a civil fraud case with the Securities and Exchange Commission, announced the purchase of the $TRUMP token in an X post on Wednesday. Sun said the Trump-linked digital coins will soon be tradeable on the TRON network.”$TRUMP on TRON is the currency of…

Recruit Holdings, the Japanese parent of Indeed and Glassdoor, said on Friday it is laying off about 1,300 employees at the two companies. The layoffs are part of a broader restructuring that involves Glassdoor’s operations being integrated within Indeed, and an increasing focus on using AI. The job cuts would affect functions mostly in the U.S. across the two companies’ R&D, tech, and HR and sustainability divisions, though all functions across all countries will be affected, according to an internal memo by CEO, Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba, seen by TechCrunch. The cuts would affect 6% of Recruit’s HR technology division. Highlighting…