Thursday, March 28, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Today we have a giga-round in the AI space, more drama at Byju's, a wide array of fascinating startup news, and a super-neat cybersecurity company. We're going to close out with LinkedIn asking, "How do you do, fellow kids?" — Alex

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: metamorworks / Getty Images

1. Amazon invests $2.75B more into Anthropic: After investing $1.75 billion into foundation model startup Anthropic, Amazon has now used its full option to complete its $4 billion investment in the company. Recall that OpenAI has also raised huge sums, Mistral is well-funded, and tech companies from Databricks to Alphabet are also building their own models... Read More

2. The U.K. wants more U.S. venture dollars, and it's using holograms to attract Americans. Well, not just that: TechCrunch swung by a New York City confab with government officials and tech denizens hosted by the United Kingdom. The U.K. is home to 160 unicorns, remains a fintech fixture, and is often considered a gateway to Europe by folks from the United States. But with Brexit still hurting, the U.K. wants even more tech investment, and some external money would not harm that goal... Read More

3. Byju's controversial shareholder meeting moves forward: In the midst of a battle to complete a $200 million recapitalization, Byju's embattled founder, Byju Raveendran, has received favorable court rulings. The company intends to move forward with an extraordinary general meeting to approve the deal on Friday. Prior backers are challenging the transaction and want the CEO gone... Read More

Morning Must Reads

Image Credits: Accel

Accel retools its Indian accelerator: Along with choosing to foster a smaller cohort of startups with its Atoms startup accelerator in India, Accel has narrowed its focus to just two themes: AI and smart manufacturing. The venture firm has seen success in India, but it is rethinking its accelerator setup to better fit local needs and issues. The new Atoms cohort features just eight companies, two of which are still under wraps... Read More

Africa, Europe-focused Satgana closes first fund: At only €8 million, this fund's final close is far cry from the €30 million Satgana had targeted previously, but the climate-focused venture firm still intends to make 30 investments and reserve capital to write follow-on checks. First-time venture funds are having a hard time at the moment, so Satgana's final close is not a shock. How the firm's first round of deals bear out in the coming years will be far more important... Read More

Singapore-based StealthMole raises $7M: I am not completely sure what "AI-powered dark web intelligence" is, but StealthMole does it, and is doing well enough to close a Series A round. Founded in 2022 StealthMole claims it has 50 customers in 17 countries, which implies both broad demand for its brand of cybersecurity and the ability to scale its revenues. This startup's one to keep an eye on... Read More

SMB cybersecurity startup Coro nears unicorn status: Replete with $100 million in new capital that values it at "over $750 million," Coro is evidence that the cybersecurity market remains an attractive venture segment (proving that I was, in fact, not completely off the mark last year). The company's recurring revenue rose 300% in the last year, so you can see why VCs are flocking to back it... Read More

Blueground's short-term housing play clocks revenue of $560M: The push to return to offices resulted in some managed-property startups shutting shop, but Blueground's approach to offering furnished apartments for short-term rental is doing well. With $45 million in the form of a new Series D, the company is poised to continue its international expansion. The company's revenue rose to $560 million last year, up from $300 million in 2022... Read More

Diamonds are more than jewelry: It feels like we have news about French startups every day these days. Today's French startup is Diamfab, which just raised €8.7 million for its diamond semiconductor technology business. It turns out that diamonds could be a good fit for more efficient semiconductors with a lower carbon footprint, placing this deep-tech startup at the start of a journey that could shake up how we build semiconductors... Read More

How close are we to general-purpose humanoid robots? Taking a long view and a broad perspective on the state of the robotics industry, TechCrunch's Brian Heater digs into just how close (or not) we are to having humanoid helper bots running errands and helping around the house... Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Nikolas Kokovlis / NurPhoto / Getty Images

LinkedIn wants to be TikTok, too: I can't really explain this one, so here's the story: "LinkedIn is testing a new TikTok-like short-form video feed, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Wednesday."

The idea that LinkedIn was working on games made more sense than this, if at all. I suppose that LinkedIn wants you to spend more time on its platform and earn more from your time. But is a so-called professional networking platform that doubles as an online resume repository and recruiting platform where you want to watch videos? I, for one, do not... Read More

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