Fal nabs $140M in fresh funding led by Sequoia, tripling valuation to $4.5B
The round, which was Fal’s third fundraise this year, also included a secondary sale for early investors, sources tell us.
Startups
Cashew Research is going after the $90B market research industry with AI
Cashew Research uses AI to automate the market research process while still collecting real-world data from humans.
B Capital founding partner Kabir Narang leaves to launch new investment platform
Kabir Narang is laying the groundwork for a new investment platform slated for 2026 that will focus on “compounding at the intersection of technology, AI, and global capital flows.”
VSCO lays off 24 staff as its consumer business suffers
In an internal memo seen by TechCrunch, VSCO’s CEO Eric Wittman said the company’s consumer business had declined more than expected, and some of its new growth initiatives didn’t yield the expected results.
Pebble’s founder introduces a $75 AI smart ring for recording brief notes with a press of a button
After rebooting the Pebble smartwatch, founder Eric Migicovsky is expanding his company’s device lineup with a new smart wearable: an AI-powered smart ring known as Index 01. Named for the finger where the ring is…
Empromptu raises $2M pre-seed to help enterprises build AI apps
Empromptu claims all a user has to do is tell the platform’s AI chatbot what they want — like a new HTML or JavaScript app — and the AI will go ahead and build it.
SoftBank and Nvidia reportedly in talks to fund SkildAI at $14B, nearly tripling its value
Skild AI is developing a hardware-agnostic foundation model for robots that can be customized for various uses.
OpenAI says it’s turned off app suggestions that look like ads
While OpenAI continues to insist that there are currently no ads — or tests for advertising — live in ChatGPT, the company’s chief research officer also acknowledged that the company “fell short” with recent promotional…
Is it time to ‘refound’ your startup?
Sometimes, founding a startup just once isn’t enough.
Ex-Googler’s Yoodli triples valuation to $300M+ with AI built to assist, not replace, people
Yoodli counts Google, Snowflake, and Databricks among its customers.