March 05, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

Science Corp raises $230M as it races to bring its brain implant to market: A source close to the company says the round assigns Science a post-money valuation of $1.25 billion. Read More

How 1,000+ customer calls shaped a breakout enterprise AI startup: On this episode of Build Mode, David Park joins Isabelle Johannessen to discuss how he and his team are intentionally iterating, fundraising, and scaling Narada. Read More

Meta will allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe, but for a fee: Meta will allow rival AI chatbot providers to offer their services on WhatsApp for a fee, which ranges from €0.0490 to €0.1323 per "non-template message," depending on the country. Read More

Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite

Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum.

A message from LILT AI

See Multilingual AI in Action: Platform Tour

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Morning Must-Reads

Lio raises $30M from Andreessen Horowitz and others to automate enterprise procurement: AI procurement startup Lio announced a $30 million Series A in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Read More

Google settles with Epic Games, drops its Play Store commissions to 20%: Google has dropped its commission, charging a 20% service fee and an optional 5% to use its billing services. It will also offer a new process for third-party app stores. Read More

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls OpenAI's messaging around military deal 'straight up lies,' report says: Anthropic gave up its contract with the Pentagon over AI safety disagreements -- then, OpenAI swooped in. Read More

Rivian is betting its future on one of the fastest EV launches in US history: If Rivian reaches its R2 sales target in 2026, it will be one of the fastest ramp-ups ever of a new EV in the United States. Read More

US and EU police shut down LeakBase, a site accused of sharing stolen passwords and hacking tools: Authorities say LeakBase was "one of the world's largest online forums for cybercriminals," and maintained an archive of hacked databases containing hundreds of millions of passwords. Read More

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Last but Not Least

Jensen Huang says Nvidia is pulling back from OpenAI and Anthropic, but his explanation raises more questions than it answers: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Wednesday that his company's investments in OpenAI and Anthropic will likely be its last — but his explanation may not tell the whole story. Read More