Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Welcome to TC PM! Happy NHL opening night to those who observe — except Toronto Maple Leafs fans. Today we're looking at Dave Clark's new supply chain startup; we also dive into Honda's upcoming fleet of EVs; and we get an update on an AI-powered mortgage startup. Get pucks deep!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Auger

🤙 Dollars for Dave Clark: In the past two years, Dave Clark ended a decades-long career with Amazon, joined and then resigned from Flexport, and almost launched a career in politics. Now he's a startup founder, and his company, Auger, just raised $100 million. Read more

🚕 Robotaxi's here: Tesla is set to reveal its long-rumored Robotaxi on Thursday, and we'll be bringing you all the news from the event. We expect to see a new vehicle concept and perhaps previews of the company's $25,000 EV, which fans are calling the Model 2. Read more

👀 Oh, snap: AI-powered mortgage startup LoanSnap lost its license to operate in the state of Connecticut. This follows an investigation that was launched shortly after TechCrunch reported on the company's troubles. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Fisker

❓ The daily Fisker: Another day, another seemingly devastating blow for EV startup Fisker. Today we learned that a technical issue might prevent the company from going through with a fire sale of the rest of its vehicles. Read more

🤝 Parking partner: SpotHero, an app that lets people reserve parking spots, announced it is teaming up with Google so that you can use the parking tool in Google Maps and Google Search. Now, this is a partnership I can get behind. Read more

🎨 Adobe AI: Adobe wants to help mitigate AI problems related to deepfakes, content theft, and misinformation by releasing a Content Authenticity web app. The tool, which launches in beta in 2025, will allow creators to apply credentials to their work. Read more

🚧 Cash for construction tech: Delivery Hero co-founder Markus Fuhrmann is back with a new startup, Gropyus, which looks to build prefabricated businesses using robots. The startup just raised €100 million. Read more

🔋 Honda moves on from hybrids: Honda's electrification strategy has centered on hybrid vehicles up to this point. Now the company plans to roll out a line of all-electric cars over the next several years, and TechCrunch got a first look. Read more

🛩️ Now boarding group AI: Alaska Airlines launched an aviation-focused venture lab with UP.Labs last year. Now it is spinning out its first company, a startup named Odysee, that uses AI to analyze commercial flight schedules. Read more

🎙️This week on Found: The founder of children's toy company KiwiCo, Sandra Lin, joined us to discuss how she knew it was time to take the leap to launch the company and why she stopped taking VC money after the Series A. Listen here

🚫 Software shutdown: Cybersecurity software company Kaspersky hit another snag — it's now winding down its U.K. operations and laying off staff just months after the company was banned from selling its products in the U.S. Read more

🤳 Attorneys general vs. TikTok: TikTok seems to have made a new enemy — state attorneys general. Fourteen of them sued the social media platform claiming it harms minors' mental health and harvests their data without consent. Read more

Around the web

⛈️ Storm surge: FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said that the misinformation being spread about Hurricanes Helene and Milton has been the worst she's ever seen. Not good. Read more

🚶‍ He just walked out: The Information reports that Jon Jenkins has left Amazon. He was the head of Amazon's Just Walk Out division of checkout-less stores and is now the chief technology officer at Lime. Read more

Before you go

Image Credits: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group / Getty Images

🧩 New little treat game: The New York Times is pushing further into games. The publication is currently beta testing a game called Zorse that involves deciphering a mashup of two common phrases. Asking for myself: How does one become a game beta tester? Read more