Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! We've got a packed newsletter this morning, filled with news about AI, what else? We're also looking at a significant investment in femtech, new Lime e-bikes, Fisker's big dilemma, and cool developments in microbiome tech. Let's jump in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Bloomberg / Getty Images

1. Canva broadens its AI stack: The Aussie company that democratized graphic design has acquired Leonardo.ai, a generative AI content and research startup. Leonardo will continue to run as its own company, but the startup's capabilities certainly add to Canva's new AI core. Leonardo's platform creates and trains AI models for image and video generation across industries such as fashion, advertising and architecture. Read More

2. Femtech gets a boost: Investors are finally realizing that the other half of the population also spends money. London-based Flo Health, a fertility-focused period-tracking app, has raised a $200 million Series C at a more than $1 billion valuation. The startup will use the funding to attract more users and appeal to older users with a focus on menopause and perimenopause. Read More

3. Lime pilots new bikes to attract more riders: About 70% of the people who ride Lime's e-scooters and e-bikes are men, and they're on average 33 years old. Lime has been trying to remedy this disconnect for some time by introducing new vehicles, but they never quite hit. I tested out Lime's latest new vehicles — an e-bike, and a "glider," which is like a motorbike — and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Lime will be testing them in Atlanta, Zurich and Seattle over the coming months. Read More

Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: NicoElNino / Getty Images

⚔️ AI unlearning techniques are a double-edged sword: Companies use "unlearning" techniques to make generative AI models forget specific and undesirable information they may have picked up from training data. But a new study finds that this practice could make LLMs less capable of answering basic questions. Another incentive for companies to find ways to keep data that doesn't belong to them. Read More

🚘 To pay or not to pay, that's Fisker's question: Failed EV startup Fisker is facing a tricky question during bankruptcy proceedings: Does its only secured lender, Heights Capital Management, deserve to be the first to reap the proceeds of a liquidation? The drama stems from Heights' move to convert Fisker's case to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which would dissolve Fisker forever. The EV maker is gunning for a Chapter 11 so it can finish up selling off its remaining vehicles. Read More

📸 Meta gets better at segmenting images: Meta's Segment Anything 2 builds on its previous iteration by quickly and reliably identifying and outlining anything in videos, as well as images. It's a major feat that wouldn't have been possible a year ago without melting the data center, and a testament to the ecosystem being built around Meta's open source AI. Of course, Meta has also had access to everyone's photos and videos for decades, so maybe that has something to do with it? Read More

💁 Meta rolls out AI studio to creators: Meta has officially rolled out its AI studio in the U.S. that lets creators make personalized AI-powered chatbots that can engage with their audience on their behalf. It must be genuinely exhausting to have to reply to comments on your posts and answer audience questions all the time, but creators sell the idea of authenticity to their fans. I'm curious to see how audiences respond to these chatbots. Read More

🦠 There's money to be made in microbiomes: Zoe, a nutrition company based in London, has raised a $15 million Series B extension to expand in the U.S. The company sends customers at-home tests to collect blood or feces to test blood fat, blood sugar and gut microbiome health. Then the company scores every food, so people can make better choices about what to eat. Zoe couldn't have picked a better market. Read More

Around the Web

🌪️ Will AI help us predict the weather?: As climate change leads to more dangerous weather patterns, using AI to predict the path of hurricanes and other natural disasters seems like a good idea. A report from The New York Times reports that a growing number of smart machines, like GraphCase from Google's DeepMind, are making these predictions with new speed and accuracy. Read More

⚡ Spreading the word about IRA tax benefits: Nonprofit group Civic Nation told Axios that it's launching the "Save on Clean Energy" campaign to educate Americans about tax benefits available under Biden's IRA — something that some would argue should have been done a long time ago. The IRA is arguably Biden's legacy, and most people don't seem to know about it. The DOE says the new tax incentives in the IRA could save Americans $38 billion on electricity bills by 2030. Read More

🌱 Vertical farming startups are still hoping to grow, even though venture interest has seemingly dried up for the space, according to Crunchbase. From 2019 to 2023, investors have plowed over $6 billion into startups in the space, but the returns have been meager so far, even as the market for indoor agriculture grows. Maybe it's an industry not suited for venture capital? Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Meta

👯 Huang and Zuckerberg, just hanging out, swapping jackets: During a fireside chat at the SIGGRAPH 2024 conference in Colorado, things got a bit familiar between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The two acted like long-time friends, swapping sick black jackets and roasting each other. Huang also shared something that doesn't surprise me at all about Zuck's preferred method for slicing tomatoes. Read More