Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Welcome to TC PM! If you haven't checked out TechCrunch's newly designed website, you should definitely do that. But before you do, today we've got a look at OpenAI's massive funding round; we dive into another sizable AI funding round; and we unpack the misinformation surrounding SB 1047. Scroll on!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

🏇 Over the finish line: After weeks of speculation, OpenAi raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion post-money valuation. This is slightly above where the deal was rumored to land and is the largest VC deal of all time. Read more

🏊 Powder for poolside: Speaking of AI funding rounds, AI-powered software development platform Poolside raised $500 million in a Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures. The company is now valued at $3 billion. Read more

🙃 AI misinformation: California's controversial AI bill SB 1047 was vetoed over the weekend. The bill's author, California senator Scott Wiener, said there was more misinformation spread about this bill than any he has written in the past. Read more

A Message from Carta

Startup Fundraising 101 Virtual Event Series

Are you a founder who wants to deepen your fundraising knowledge? If so, Carta's Startup Fundraising 101 virtual event series is a great opportunity for you to learn more. Watch the first event of this 4-part series on-demand below.

Watch Now

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Meta

🤳 Content creators cash out: While Facebook isn't the first place I think of when I think of content creators, the platform is definitely attracting them and paying them well. Meta said it has paid more than $2 billion to Facebook creators so far this year. Read more

🚛 TuAutonomous vehicle companies: Xiaodi Hou, the ousted former CEO and co-founder of autonomous trucking startup TuSimple, is back with another self-driving truck startup. The company is called Bot Auto and has already raised $20 million. Read more

🧮 ChatGPT needs a calculator: ChatGPT is bad at math. (Same, girl.) But considering AI is supposed to revolutionize technology and the world as we know it, this hurdle is odd. Kyle Wiggers dives into why chatbots can't get this right. Read more

📰 News hack: Global media conglomerate Agence France-Presse informed French regulators of a potential data breach after a cyberattack last week. The company has not confirmed yet whether this breach affects customer data. Read more

🚫 You can't do that: Starling Bank, a U.K. challenger bank, was hit with a ￡29 million ($39 million) fine for not having proper financial crime controls from 2021 to 2023. The Financial Conduct Authority said the company allowed 54,000 high-risk accounts to open. Read more

📦 Automating the warehouse: Despite being multi-trillion-dollar industries, manufacturing and warehousing are stuck on old software. Perfectly named Pallet is trying to change that and just raised an $18 million Series A. Read more

🧑‍🌾 Regenerative agriculture middleman: Permanent is looking to build a bridge between enterprise customers and regenerative farms. The company launched last year and just raised a $3.7 million seed round. Read more

💵 Capital from Kerry Washington: Many of the X challengers that have launched in recent years are not doing well. Some are, though, and Spill is one of them. The Black-owned Twitter alternative just raised money from award-winning actress Kerry Washington. Read more

A Message from TechCrunch

Attending Disrupt 2024? Don't miss our exclusive hotel deals!

Exclusive hotel savings are available only for Disrupt 2024 attendees. Stay at top hotels like Intercontinental and Hyatt Regency San Francisco, enjoying free Wi-Fi and waived facility fees. Plus, book now, pay later! Discounts end this Friday, October 4.

Book Now

Around the web

👀 Delivery fraud: 404 Media reports that two men were recently indicted for their role in impersonating 138 DoorDash delivery drivers and stealing more than $1 million in wages from them. Wild. Read more

🌊 Early AI cracks: Tome, an early player in the generative AI space, is shedding a third of its 39 employees. This is the AI company's second round of layoffs this year and shows that funding isn't flowing to all AI companies. The Information has more

Before you go

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington

🥸 Doxxing: Maybe walking around with a camera on your face is bad, actually. A pair of college students was able to link Ray-Ban Meta glasses with facial recognition software, making the glasses essentially a doxxing device. Read more