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The company’s sensor uses sonar and echos to give robots more information about their surrounding environment.

Blacksmith, a Y Combinator alum, raised $10M Series A led by Google Ventures to cut costs and speed up software builds.

Urban Company’s IPO, which opened last week, was oversubscribed more than 100 times, reflecting strong investor demand.

Groww’s listing — expected later this year — is set to double as a major cash-out moment for global venture funds.

Al Gore and Lila Preston of Generation Investment Management talked with TechCrunch about recent headlines, including the tech industry’s growing appetite for rare earth minerals, how the AI boom’s demand for massive data centers could impact global energy consumption, and whether the space industry’s rocket launches are truly a net positive.

Meta is expected to unveil new versions of its AI-powered smart glasses, as well as a gesture-indicating wristband.

Impulse Space wants to ignite a revolution in in-space logistics.

Altman’s first fund, raised in early 2024, was $150 million. So this is a big step up, too.

Tesla is recalling an unspecified number of Powerwall 2 home batteries in Australia after receiving reports of fires.

A wave of startups are creating RL environments to help AI labs train agents. It might be Silicon Valley’s next craze in the making.

The round, which brought the two-year-old startup’s total funding to $88 million, was led by Scale Venture Partners.

The app will allow people to use an Alt + Space shortcut to instantly search for information from their computer files, installed apps, Google Drive files, and the web.

Though the month is only half over, Gemini’s app has already gained 12.6 million downloads in September, up from 8.7 million in August.

While largely ceremonial, it’s an important step for a project that has dealt with a lot of uncertainty the last few years. Rivian R2 SUVs will roll off the line in 2028.

“I’m as guilty of doomscrolling as the next person, but knowing that doomscrolling is actually costing me money makes me feel dumb,” Yang told TechCrunch.

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana takes the Disrupt Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 (Oct 27–29, SF) to share the realities of scaling autonomous vehicles — from safety to regulation to the road ahead.

Figure raised more than $1 billion in a Series C round led by Parkway Venture Capital in addition to numerous other investors.

Waymo has spent years locked in back-and-forth negotiations with SFO, the biggest airport serving its home base of Silicon Valley.

Under the new policy, ChatGPT will be trained to no longer engage in “flirtatious talk” with underage users, and additional guardrails will be placed around discussions of suicide.

The Galaxy phone maker said it was notified in August that hackers are actively exploiting the security flaw to target Samsung customers.

Fourth Power has raised $20 million to build a demonstration version of its thermal batteries, which ultimately could store electricity at $25 per kWh.

Video creation platform D-ID snaps up Berlin-based video generation startup Simpleshow to expand its digital avatar solution.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received nine reports from owners who couldn’t access their cars, including from parents whose children were stuck inside.

YouTube launches a handful of updates for creators, including lip syncing features for dubbed videos, likeness detection, collabs, an AI chatbot and more.

YouTube is bringing a custom version of Google’s text-to-video generative AI model, Veo 3, to Shorts, along with a new remixing tool, an ‘Edit with AI’ feature, and more.

YouTube announced new features for livestreaming, such as letting creators play mini-games, AI-powered highlights, and more.

YouTube Music users will soon be able to pre-save songs, see a countdown for album releases, get exclusive merch, and more.

YouTube teases new AI-powered tools for turning podcasts into video clips, even if they’re audio-only.

YouTube is going to allow creators to swap out brand sponsorships in long-form videos.

Salesforce’s Missionforce will help modernize national defense workflows across areas including personnel, logistics and decision making.