Shield AI, which is building an ‘AI pilot’ to turn aircraft into autonomous systems, expands massive Series F

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Kyle Wiggers Friday, December 29, 2023

Welcome to the final Daily Crunch of the year. We’ll be off Monday for New Year’s Day, but fret not! We’re back on Tuesday. This morning, Aria exclusively reported on Shield AI, the defense tech startup, expanding its latest funding round with $300 million in equity and debt — bringing its total Series F to $500 million. Shield AI is building an “AI pilot” to turn aircraft into autonomous systems, with the goal of allowing fleets of aircraft to operate independently of remote operators, communications or GPS. Read more here. She also covered SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, which launched a secretive military spaceplane to orbit last night after weeks of delays, though scant details about the mission have been released to the public. Read more. And I wrote about Copilot Chat, GitHub’s ChatGPT-like programming-centric chatbot, becoming generally available for all Copilot users. It’s powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 model and can answer questions about codebases. Read more.  Elsewhere, Connie has an interview with Sanna Marin, the popular former prime minister of Finland. They talked Putin, powerful women and legislating in the age of AI. Read more.  Image Credits: Shield AI

More Top Reads The TechCrunch Pub Quiz: How well do you remember the major events in tech this year? Play TC’s quiz to find out — round 2 published today. Here’s round 1. Overlooked tech in mobility: Rebecca dug into the technology that's helping cities move today. Some of it is unsexy, but transportation is, more often than not, a utility. Read more. Investor survey roundup: For TechCrunch+, Karan put together a curated list of timely TC investor surveys from the year. They touch on topics including alternative protein, the robotics revolution, the Silicon Valley Bank collapse and the future of power. Learn more. Badly handled breaches: Carly highlights 2023’s worst-handled data breaches — the ones plagued with delays, silence and unanswered questions. Read the full list.  Offline LLMs: Giga ML, a Y Combinator-backed startup, wants to help companies deploy text-generating AI models offline and then fine-tune them to their needs. Learn more. Ditching Audible: Amazon-owned Audible is arguably the most popular audiobook app out there. There are several other lesser-known options that offer a great listening experience for people looking to try out a new app or just getting into the world of audiobooks — Aisha has the list.  China’s robotaxis face roadblocks: A few years ago, robotaxis were the darlings of VCs in China. But now, losses are pushing China’s self-driving upstarts to seek new revenue streams, reports Rita. Learn more. What lies ahead for robotics: Brian reflects on the year that was for the robotics industry — and what comes next. Humanoid robots? Generative AI? It’s all on the table. Read more. Image Credits: Juan Maria Coy Vergara / Getty Images

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On the pods The Equity crew said goodbye to 2023 with its annual predictions episode. As they attempt to do every year, the hosts brought in a number of voices to speak on startup trends, media, proptech, AI and transport — and went back and vetted their predictions from last year. Listen here.

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Xiaomi's first EV

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Kyle Wiggers Thursday, December 28, 2023

Welcome back to Daily Crunch. As the countdown to the New Year continues, TechCrunch’s intrepid reporters aren’t resting. Sean writes about Xiaomi’s first EV, the SU7, which he calls a “smartphone on wheels.” Slated to roll out in China next year, it's another entry in an increasingly crowded market for EVs — and another attempt in this software-obsessed world to match the tech that people find in phones to what goes on inside their car. Read the full report. Elsewhere, Manish writes about Indian journalists' iPhones infected with Pegasus spyware. India has never confirmed nor denied using Pegasus, but nonprofit advocacy group Amnesty International reported Thursday that it found NSO Group's invasive spyware on the iPhones of prominent reporters in India, lending more credibility to Apple's warnings from late October. Read more. Image Credits: Xiaomi

The TechCrunch Top 3 To cap off the year, the TechCrunch crew wrote a roundup of the “convicts of Silicon Valley” — the tech titans that fought the law and lost. From deepfaked phone calls with bankers on the line to mountains of lies that grew out of control, these once-VC darlings couldn’t escape fines and, in some cases, jail time. Read on here.  In other criminal dealings, Zack wrote up a list of the top cybercriminals of 2023. The year saw round after round of high-profile busts, arrests, sanctions and prison time, with highlights including a Russian accused of ransomware burning his passport, notorious malware gangs rearing their ugly heads and one country's hackers targeting an unsuspecting phone maker. Click through for more. In lighter news, Brian has a preview of what to expect from CES 2024 — the biggest consumer electronics show of the year. He notes that the nature of the show changed post-pandemic, with more large companies pulling out and opting for virtual events. But this presented an opportunity for startups looking to stand out from the crowd. Read more. Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

More top reads Australia ripe for VC: The country has punched above its weight on a global scale for years. Rebecca explores its ability to attract the funding and talent, and become inclusive enough, to play at the top. Read the feature.  Australian VCs sponsor diversity: Rebecca, writing for TechCrunch+, spotlights F5 Collective, an Australian VC firm and advocacy group that's backed by a U.S. family fund. F5 Collective sponsored a California bill that mandates VCs report the diversity of founders they're backing, including their race, disability status, gender and LGBTQ+ status. Learn more. Terran Orbital closes in: Satellite upstart Terran Orbital may be close to receiving a major payment from its biggest customer, CEO Marc Bell announced internally at a company-wide meeting. Rivada Space Networks is in the final stages of closing funding to help fund a mega-constellation to be built by Terran at a cost of $2.4 billion, revenues that currently make up the vast majority of Terran's backlog. Read more. Comparing driver assist: Tim writes about how the driver assist systems from Tesla, BMW, Ford, GM and Mercedes compare. Read on to find out who reigns supreme. Superpedestrian fallout: Rebecca has the story on how the demise of Superpedestrian, the VC-backed e-scooter startup, is emblematic of problems within the shared micromobility industry — and what it might mean in the broader context. Learn more. SoftBank-backed FirstCry raises: FirstCry, India's biggest e-commerce platform for mother and baby products, is aiming to secure $218 million through the sale of new shares in its initial public offering, almost a third of the $700 million it had originally targeted, Manish reports. Read more. Sticking to diversity commitments: Dom, writing for TechCrunch+, checked up on some in the VC space that made commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Read what she learned. India blocks crypto exchanges: Financial Intelligence Unit, an Indian government agency that scrutinizes financial transactions, said Thursday that nine global crypto exchanges — including Binance, Kraken, Kucoin and Mexc — are operating “illegally” in the country without complying with local anti-money laundering acts and asked the IT Ministry to block their websites. Read more. Five more stories you should read: More than 40 investors share their top predictions for 2024 From graphic design to visual workflows, Canva's new AI core is changing its business Giga ML wants to help companies deploy LLMs offline Three steps to take your company out of the one-product mold Australia's climate tech industry is booming, but it could bust without funds

On the pods On a throwback episode of Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn interviewed Deana Burke and Natasha Hoskins, the co-founders of Boys Club. Boys Club is a social decentralized autonomous organization for the "crypto curious," originally designed to get women and non-binary people into the web3 world. It now aims to be an open space for anyone looking to get into the sector. Listen here.

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Apple’s Vision Pro approaches

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Kyle Wiggers Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Welcome back, folks, to Daily Crunch. The sluggish week between Christmas and New Years continues — but from where this reporter's standing, it's less sluggish than in years past news-wise. Brian writes about projections around Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro headset, which is set to be one of the biggest consumer electronics launches in some time. Apple oracle Ming-Chi Kuo recently narrowed down what he believes will be a “late-January/early-February” release date for the system; the first wave of Vision Pros are being shipped to Apple in about a month, Kuo says, with total shipments numbering around 500,000 for the full year. Read more. In other Apple news, an appeals court has instituted a pause on the Apple Watch import ban that went into effect in the U.S. just yesterday. The halt, which comes after Apple filed an emergency request with the U.S. Court of Appeals, will remain in place until the court takes additional action. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 remain unavailable on Apple’s site nearly a week after initially being pulled. Read more. Image Credits: Brian Heater

More top reads Hackers keep hacking: Hackers had a busy year exploiting popular file-transfer tools and targeting under-resourced organizations. Carly writes about the biggest data breaches of the year, including MOVEit, Capita, and Citrix Bleed. Read the full list. The year’s best apps: As 2023 draws to a close, Ivan and the rest of the TechCrunch crew reflect on some of their favorite apps that made everyday life a little easier this year. Some picks include Mimestream (a Mac app for Gmail), a bite-sized comics app (Tinyview) and a macro tracking app with minimal cues (MacroFactor). See the rest. The Times sues OpenAI: The New York Times is suing OpenAI and its close collaborator (and investor), Microsoft, for allegedly violating copyright law by training generative AI models on Times' content. It’s the latest in a string of IP-related lawsuits over GenAI tech. Read more. NFTs will survive: NFTs have suffered everything from ridicule and scams to a broad dip in demand due to the "crypto winter." Still, Jacquelyn says, the sector has persisted through the downturn, and recent momentum in crypto has investors, community members and spectators alike becoming interested in NFTs again. See why here. (TC+) Building homes with robots: A new startup, BotBuilt, wants to lower the cost of homebuilding using robots. BotBuilt’s robots specifically tackle framing, a costly and time-consuming part of the homebuilding process. Read more. AI’s hidden costs: As the lynchpin of digital innovation, AI holds the future for many forward-leaning businesses. But while AI and GenAI very possibly pave a path toward opportunity, they come with risks that can threaten the sustainable use of the technologies, writes Tangoe CIO Mark Troller for TC+. Learn more. (TC+) Image Credits: MirageC / Getty Images

On the pods On the latest episode of Equity, Rebecca interviewed two Aussie VCs: Dan Krasnostein of Square Peg and Gabrielle Munzer of Main Sequence. They dug into why early-stage funding is popping off in the Australian region, the government's role in growing a startup ecosystem, why the region's deep tech startups are less worried about "tourist-style" investors and what it's like to compete — and collaborate — with Silicon Valley. Listen here. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

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New year transitions

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Kyle Wiggers Tuesday, December 26, 2023

It's that time of day, peeps: Daily Crunch time. To those who celebrated the Christmas holiday on Monday, I hope it exceeded expectations and you’re entering this quieter workweek relatively well rested. TechCrunch’s intrepid security desk is back at it, covering news this morning of CBS and Paramount owner National Amusements suffering a large data breach. According to the company, the breach, in which hackers stole the personal information of tens of thousands of people, occurred last December — but National Amusement didn’t begin notifying those affected until a few weeks ago. Learn more. As for the rest of today's roundup, you'll find a mix of more timely pieces, retrospectives and forward-looking analyses — best enjoyed in a comfy sweater and with your holiday beverage of choice in hand. Image Credits: Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 Writing for TechCrunch+, Tim posits that EV fast-charging networks will face a challenge in 2024. For years, electric vehicle charging companies have had little competition — except with each other. But soon, they'll have to contend with Tesla's much-lauded Supercharger network. After Ford signed an agreement with Tesla to give its EVs access to 12,000 Superchargers, other automakers followed suit, including GM, Rivian, Volvo, Mercedes, Nissan and Volkswagen. Read more. In a lighthearted feature, Amanda covers the internet moments that defined 2023, like when a submarine of billionaires disappeared, the first-ever presidential mugshot hit social media and hundreds of thousands of people got fooled into thinking AI-generated Balenciaga images were legit. As Amanda notes, the trends aren’t just entertaining — they give us a sneak peek into what we can expect in the future. Read the full list. Elsewhere, Paul dove into the struggle between open source and proprietary software — hardly a new struggle but one that came into sharp relief in 2023. As established technologies relied on by millions hit a chaos curve, Paul writes, it made people realize how beholden they were to a platform they had little control over (e.g., OpenAI, Unity). Learn more. Image Credits: Electrify America

More top reads Apple Watch ban upheld: A recent U.S. ban on Apple Watch imports will remain in place after the Biden administration declined to veto an earlier ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC). Read more. Hackers steal billions in crypto: For yet another year, hackers stole billions of dollars in crypto. The good news? For the first time since 2020, the trend is heading downward, according to crypto security firms. Read more. Bluesky rolls out in-app media player: Decentralized social network Bluesky is rolling out a new in-app video and music player for links, along with a new "hide post" feature. The holiday additions bring Bluesky's user experience closer to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Read more. Code.org sues WhiteHat Jr: Code.org, the U.S. educational nonprofit, has filed a lawsuit in a California district court alleging that Byju's subsidiary WhiteHat Jr breached a licensing contract by failing to pay fees while continuing to use Code.org's platform. Read more. What VCs want in cyber startups: Sapphire Ventures’ Casber Wang, writing for TechCrunch+, asserts that successful next-gen cybersecurity startups will seek to partner with players, enable IT teams to enhance productivity and address talent shortages while staying on top of mounting threats. Read more. Image Credits: Darrell Etherington

On the pods Today on Equity, Alex sat down with Deepka Rana from VC firm Northzone to chat through a bevy of key topics for the new year, including where venture capital is heading, the prognosis for startups at different stages of maturity, why 2023 was “the year of adjustment” and the fate of AI in the EU, where regulation is afoot. Listen here. Read More Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

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