Techcrunch blog!: Days before Apple is expected to release its headset, Meta unveils the $499 Quest 3

Thursday, June 01, 2023

Today, Meta has a brand-new Quest headset, BeReal lets you chat ForReal, and a lot of people want a free Telly. This is your Daily Crunch for Thursday.

Image Credits: Meta

First, Walmart's got a brand-new bag — yours. The retail giant is allowing customers to bring their own bags to pick up orders now in a move to reduce the amount of plastic bags it uses. Read more.

Artificial intelligence is now powering the way you create images in Microsoft Teams. Provide text or uploaded images into Designer, and it spits out a finished product. Find out how.

Find out what happened at Computex, which held its first in-person event since the global pandemic. We have your scoop on the elephants from that room.

Next, prepare to get your game on, because Meta unveiled its Quest 3 headset that will be arriving this fall. To make this news even sweeter, there will be over 20 new games for Quest headsets coming as well.

Google liked what it saw and invested in hyperspectral imagery startup Pixxel. When I look at Pixxel's orbital imagery, I see smoke, but also a person. What do you see?

Startups focused on content generated by artificial intelligence applications have a new funding source: Chinese search giant Baidu has plans to create a venture fund with 1 billion yuan ($145 million). Now learn more about why.

We've got some big funding rounds here:

GetYourGuide books $194M at a $2B valuation with travel experiences back in business

Measurabl, an ESG platform for real estate, raises $93M

Lightmatter's photonic AI hardware is ready to shine with $154M in new funding

Image Credits: Walmart

Now let's move over to a gaggle of Google news. First, Google Play Books has a new feature that will help new readers work on their mad skills. Meanwhile, Google Wallet has some new features that include support for QR-based cards and insurance cards. Oh, and Parisa Tabriz, who calls herself Google's "security princess," will be on the Disrupt stage in October. Learn more.

Speaking of security, we have reports of companies investigating breaches, including legal tech firm Casepoint, which got word from hackers that some of their sensitive data was compromised. Also, over at Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky, some hackers reportedly infiltrated some employee iPhones. Find out what happened.

Remember in May when we told you about smart television Telly giving away free televisions? Well, the response has been so great a quarter million people have signed on to take advantage of the offer, which you will recall comes with watching a lot of ads. Read more.

You've got the look: Match Group has a new gay dating app for men called Archer that takes a social approach. Find your match.

Baby, talk is not cheap: BeReal users in Ireland are the first to get to test out a new chat feature. Get the scoop.

At a data loss: Ariga is pouring its new $15 million Series A into helping developers define database schema as code. Read more.

Leave no stone unturned: Platformatic, a new back-end development platform, raised $3.5 million to make it easier for enterprises to modernize their infrastructure. Find out more.

Bank on it: Revolut alums raised $3.7 million for Vault, a startup offering banking services to Canadian small businesses. See why this is so uncommon.

Now here's more:

No Man's Sky launches on Mac starting today

Developers of third-party Reddit apps fear shutdown because of API pricing changes

YouTuber Emma Chamberlain adds to coffee empire with a ready-to-drink line

New New York-meets-Warsaw VC fund brings in Japan partner to hunt for European startups

AMC and Vudu score big with new on-demand streaming partnership

Image Credits: Leon Neal / Getty Images

Crunchbase will begin tracking venture dollars allocated to LGBTQ+ founders

According to one estimate, founders who identify as LGBTQ+ receive less than 1% of startup funding. To kick off Pride Month, Crunchbase announced today that it has started measuring how much venture capital flows to members of this community.

"Having concrete data helps in advocating for policy changes, funding initiatives and resource allocation to support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs," said Ryan Husk, Crunchbase's director of business development.

“It enables us to make evidence-based arguments for greater equity and access within the startup ecosystem.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

Ceibo unearths $30M Series B to extract more copper out of existing mines

Many startups are built off research, so why don't more scientists become founders?

Startups may have room to innovate as enterprise providers puzzle out how to price AI tools

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Crunchbase will begin tracking venture dollars allocated to LGBTQ+ founders image

Image Credits: Namthip Muanthongthae / Getty Images

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