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Chinese VCs are hounding failed founders to claw back their investments
In the U.S., it’s accepted that most startups fail — and when that happens, VCs (generally) accept their losses and move on. But that’s not the case in China, where VCs are trying to claw back their investments in failed startups by pursuing the personal assets of their founders in court, The Financial Times reports.…
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Threads prototypes custom display names and cover images for profiles
Instagram Threads is developing new features that would bring its user experience more in line with that of X (formerly Twitter) and the social network Bluesky. The Meta-owned company is internally prototyping the ability to set a display name and add a cover image to profiles. A spokesperson for the company confirmed to TechCrunch on…
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Anthropic reportedly in talks to raise $2B at $60B valuation, led by Lightspeed
OpenAI rival Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion in new capital in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. The round, which The Journal reports would value Anthropic at $60 billion, would bring Anthropic’s total raised to $15.7 billion, going by Crunchbase’s data. It would also…
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Xpeng Aero HT unveils ‘flying car’ that’s part-van, part-eVTOL at CES 2025
Xpeng Aero HT, the aerospace company under Chinese EV startup Xpeng, unveiled at CES 2025 its “modular flying car,” the so-called Land Aircraft Carrie. It’s ssentially an electric minivan with a small folding eVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing vehicle) tucked in the back, which can be rolled out and launched into flight. The company says…
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South Park Commons is raising $40M for an India-specific fund
South Park Commons is raising $40 million for its India-specific fund over six months after announcing its outpost in Bengaluru. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
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Telegram reports spike in sharing user data with law enforcement
The messaging app handed over user data on thousands of Telegram users to U.S. authorities over 2024, the data reveals. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
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Honda reveals its futuristic ‘0 SUV’ prototype at CES 2025
Honda is adding to its so-called 0 Series of EVs with a new SUV it just revealed at CES 2025. The company showed off a mid-size SUV prototype dubbed, surely enough, the 0 SUV, which will join the 0 Saloon that Honda showed off at last year’s show. A production version of the SUV will…
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Panasonic unveils an AI-powered wellness coach, powered by Anthropic’s Claude, at CES 2025
At CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Panasonic unveiled its upcoming digital assistant, Umi, which offers families a personalized, AI-powered wellness coach. Created in partnership with Anthropic, Umi uses the Claude AI model to help families “care, coordinate, and connect” with each other, the company said. More specifically, this involves an AI assistant that focuses on…
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HR software startup OnPay was inspired by the founder’s family payroll business
In 2007, Jesse Burgess joined his family’s payroll business. He quickly noticed that the business’ six payroll clerks were getting bogged down by repetitive, monotonous tasks. So he sought to streamline those tasks by creating workflow automation tools. Several years later, Burgess sensed an opportunity to bring the tools he developed for his family’s business…
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BMW’s new UI puts widgets on the windshield at CES 2025
BMW is totally revamping its in-car user interface, starting with the Neue Klasse sedan later this year and ultimately spreading to all models, the company announced at CES 2025. Some of it looks and feels familiar, but the big change is a widget-based system that lets users customize the layout — including on the car’s…