Monday, June 10, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Hey y'all, happy Monday. It's me, Dom, filling in for Rebecca again. Today, we have New York State passing a bill to save kids from "addictive screens," a new $125 million venture fund, and why a marketplace for AI licensing deals is in demand right now. Let's dive in! — Dom

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: LeoPatrizi / Getty Images

1. Fundraising is on the up: Collaborative Fund has raised a $125 million fund to invest in climate, health, and food startups. It took the firm only 90 days to raise, too. Early investments from the firm have seen great success, including Reddit's IPO and Scopely's billion-dollar acquisition by Savvy Games Group. It seems LPs were only a bit hesitant, but in the end, they set those worries aside. Read More

2. Shipping delays: Last year, Wasoko and MaxAB, two of Africa's most prominent e-commerce startups, announced a merger, but due diligence and macroeconomic headwinds have delayed those plans, TechCrunch learned exclusively. The merger was expected to close early this year. Read More

3. New York takes a screen break: New York State has passed a bill looking to protect children under 18 from "addictive feeds." The bill would force social media companies to verify users' ages, and also forbid them from sending notifications related to those feeds between midnight and 6 a.m. without parental consent. Gov. Kathy Houchl is expected to sign the bill into law. Read More

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Morning Must Reads

Image Credits: Italian Founders Fund

Italia takes a swing: The newly launched Italian Founders Fund has raised €50 million to invest in 25 companies, in a well-deserved boost to the Italian startup ecosystem. The firm will be sector-agnostic and hopes to work with global VCs looking to back more Italian founders with "global ambitions." IFF's portfolio already includes four companies, and a fifth deal is said to be in the works. Read More

Medtech's affair with AI continues: No one likes dealing with insurance companies during a medical emergency, and it appears AI health company Anterior agrees. The startup has raised a $20 million Series A to help make the medical insurance approval process faster and easier. Angel investors in the round include DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. Read More

A marketplace for data: Licensing is a big issue in the world of content right now, since the large language models used for AI applications need to be trained on so much data. Human Native AI plans to make that licensing negotiation easier for AI companies with a marketplace that can help broker deals between businesses building LLM projects and those looking to give them data. Becca Szkutak has the inside story on the startup. Read More

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Around the Web

The billionaire space race speeds up: Two of India's biggest telecom companies — and two rival billionaires — are set to launch internet satellites into space, according to the Financial Times. The goal is to challenge Elon Musk, who is trying to bring his own satellite-powered internet service, Starlink, to the country. Sunil Bharti Mittal's telco, Bharti Airtel, has teamed up with Anglo-French Eutelsat and hopes to start operations by early June. Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani's JioSpaceFiber will look to start satellite operations later this year. Read More

Insurance companies are at it again: The New York Times looked into how insurance companies are seeking to rate drivers on their safety by sourcing data from their smartphones. Apps like Life360 and GasBuddy have opt-in driving features — originally marketed as a way to keep track of your loved ones' safety or for affordable gas prices — that compile data on a driver's driving habits to then sell to insurance companies. Read More

More. AI. News. Hong Kong's government is set to sign an $8 billion pact with a local company to build out artificial intelligence models and manufacturing, Bloomberg reports. The hope is that this deal will help "accelerate the digitization" of Hong Kong and the surrounding Bay Area, which also includes Macau and Guangdong. Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: NASA/William Anders

Astronaut behind famous "Earthrise" photos dies: William A. Anders, the astronaut who took one of the most famous images of Earth, passed away at 90 on Friday. He was piloting a plane that sadly crashed into the water. Anders is survived by his wife Valerie, his four sons, two daughters, and 13 grandchildren. Read More