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Over the past eight years, renowned automotive designer Henrik Fisker has suggested that his EV startup would deliver on many promises, but none of them have come true. As Fisker searches for an unexpected rescue, employees tell TechCrunch the responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of his husband-and-wife team leading the company.
There was a big uproar in the fintech sector this week as well. After years of mistakes and difficulties, banking-as-a-service fintech Synapse has officially gone bankrupt. According to Synapse's filing, up to 100 fintech companies and 10 million end customers could be affected by the company's collapse.
Elon Musk made a lot of cash from xAI. The AI startup has raised $6 billion at a pre-valuation of $18 billion to compete with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Alphabet.
In another big funding move, Google is investing nearly $350 million in Flipkart. The new investment values the Walmart-owned Indian e-commerce startup at $36 billion. Google, which serves more than 500 million people in India, identifies the South Asian country as its key overseas market.
News
Was Sam Altman Fired from Y Combinator?: Paul Graham is setting the record straight. In a series of posts about X, the Y Combinator co-founder dismissed claims that Sam Altman was pressured to resign in 2019 due to a potential conflict of interest. Learn more
Spotify offers Car Thing refunds. Spotify is facing backlash after deciding to stop supporting its in-car streaming device, Car Thing. Spotify has now started the refund process, but some users are asking the company not to brick their devices. Learn more
Are earbuds the future of AI hardware?: unequal Iyo, a generative AI device like Humane's Ai Pin and Rabbit's R1, aims to build its technology into an already successful category: Bluetooth earbuds. Learn more
Firefly does the following: Following a personal tragedy A Tel Aviv-based startup has raised $23 million for its “infrastructure as code” solution to the growing cloud asset management problem. Learn more
Is Apple planning to ‘Sherlock’ Arc?: Apple is reportedly planning to release a new technology called “smart recaps” in iOS 18. This appears to closely mimic Arc Search's innovative “Browse for me” feature. Learn more
The misinformation is back again. Two new studies provide evidence that misinformation on social media has the power to change people's minds. Find out who was most responsible for the majority of “fake news” during the study period. Learn more
AI models also have favorite numbers. Gramener's engineers conducted an experiment where they asked several leading LLM chatbots to choose a random number between 0 and 100, and the results were quite interesting. Learn more
Mistral exposes its coding model. The French AI startup has launched the first generative AI model for coding, called Codestral, designed to help developers write and interact with code. Learn more
Introducing Meme Technology: Is it time to shake up the meme industry? With Meme Depot, founder Alex Taub hopes to build a comprehensive archive of every meme imaginable with a cryptocurrency-focused business model. Learn more
AI is here for teachers. The rise of AI bots poses a threat to long-established tutoring franchises and professional tutors, with the leading apps coming from China. But does it actually help students learn? Learn more
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What happens to a company when its founder dies?: Onyx Motorbikes was already in trouble, when its 37-year-old owner died unexpectedly without a will or succession plan, leaving behind millions of dollars in debt. Rebecca Bellan reports how the ongoing battle for control has left Onyx in legal limbo. Learn more
OpenAI's 'edgelords': Meredith Whittaker has her honest thoughts on OpenAI's current leadership. Mike Butcher sat down with the Signal president and discussed the tech industry's unscrupulous “little brotherhood” in a wide-ranging conversation. Learn more
Don’t expect an IPO from your next startup. While 2024 is expected to be a better year for tech startups to go public, there are still plenty of big names that might want to wait a little longer. From Plaid to Figma, Rebecca Szkutak rounds up the companies that don't yet want to go public. Learn more
