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It’s the cutest tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii… That’s right, we’re back with all the can’t-miss corporations from Y Combinator’s current crop of startups. Artificial intelligence was, unsurprisingly, the top topic, with 86 of 247 corporations describing themselves as AI startups, but we’re entering bubble territory provided that 187 mention artificial intelligence of their pitches. We have some summaries for you, including 18 of the most interesting and favorites of TechCrunch employees.
In the meantime, I wrote an in-depth interview with the founding father of Ember, a hot cup company, about (amongst other things) how he split his company in half to draw investors from the MedTech and life sciences industries.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
Image credits: PM Images (opens in a brand new window) /GettyImages
Startups losing money is nothing recent, but this week, Devin summarizes why Trump’s Truth Social is different in just a few key ways. In short, the whole thing is sort of a bad reality show where the plot centers around people stealing money and the suspense is whether or not they may run out of cash before viewers change the channel. Debuting on the Nasdaq as $DJT, due to a merger with the financial world’s desperate darling, a SPAC, the financial lifting of the veil by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) reveals a lack of $58 million on a meager $4 million in revenue. This is not your typical “burn cash now, cash later” Silicon Valley saga; it’s more of a “burn your money now and that’s it” sort of story. Unlike startups that thrive on VC backing while disrupting industries, TMTG’s bailouts are languishing, with no exponential user growth, no VC “sugar daddies” and an unenviable position of public responsibility while attempting to juggle a business model that seems to ward off advertisers as if it were made from antimatter. as stock market flops the reality is that TMTG’s story could also be less about pioneering digital media and more about losing friends and alienating advertisers, all while the end credits roll on arguably the costliest episode of “The Apprentice” ever produced.
- IPOs are gaining momentum…perhaps?: Rubrik, the cybersecurity darling that’s gobbling up enterprise capital prefer it’s going out of fashion, has decided it’s time to brave the public markets and file for an IPO. Rubrik has a history of bleeding money and describes modest revenue growth, staggering losses, and a pivot to subscription models that’s as disruptive as the decision to sell software as a service in the tech world.
- Accel changes its mind about India: Accel, the enterprise capital firm that collects Indian unicorns like they are going out of fashion, is having a little bit of an existential crisis with its Atoms accelerator program, realizing that in the eyes of its founders, all VC money is eventually beginning to look the same – just crap money with strings attached.
- Crypto is back?: If the crypto enterprise landscape in 2023 was a pot of icy water, the first quarter of 2024 is when bubbles begin to form just before the water boils, Tom Schmidt, partner at Dragonfly Capital, told TechCrunch in Jacquelyn’s review of the VC investment space for cryptocurrencies.
Chaos in the land of automotive startups
Tesla’s cyber truck already exists. That’s the smartest thing your friendly correspondent can say about this design monster. Image credits: Darrell Etherington/Getty
Stormy weather continues to be a giant topic in the startup world: transportation.
Canoo’s 2023 earnings report reads like a tragicomedy. The star of the show? CEO Tony Aquila’s private jet that cost the company to double its entire annual revenue. In a 12 months through which Canoo managed to rake in a meager $890,000 by delivering just 22 vehicles, it also spent $1.7 million to offer Aquila a trendy start on the jet. In the fast-paced world of electrical vehicles, I feel nothing says “fiscal responsibility” like a non-public jet card that dwarfs your sales whilst the company cleanses the bones of its failed competitors.
Meanwhile, in Fisker land, the company temporarily lost tens of millions in customer payments as a part of a frantic effort to restructure its business model. This financial game of hide and seek, which has diverted key resources from sales to detective work, highlights the company’s moderately lax approach to tracking transactions, including in some cases handing over vehicles on the honor system. Fisker’s try and clear a backlog of paperwork not only strained its relationship with PwC during the preparation of its annual report, but additionally left the company unaware of actual revenues, all while teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. So should you’ve ever felt bad about losing your automobile keys, at least take comfort in knowing that you simply have not lost the equivalent of a complete SUV full of dollar bills, or engage in an investigation into why the doors on the cars you make won’t open.
- Driving alone… into the abyss: Ghost Autonomy, a startup that after dreamed of constructing roads safer with autonomous driving software, has solid a shadow over the automotive world by halting operations despite an almost $220 million pitch to investors.
- An engaging read by Rivian: Rivian’s latest report sounds more like a cry for help than a victory lap. The weaker EV model began 2024 by producing fewer cars and delivering even fewer cars. Since each electric vehicle sold last quarter cost them the equivalent of the lack of a luxury sedan, Rivian’s path to profitability looks… interesting.
- Tesla submerges: Tesla’s latest shipment numbers are so-so as the company blames every thing from arsonists in search of revenge on German factories to maritime chaos courtesy of Houthi rebels for the first year-over-year sales decline in three years. As if the move to the recent Model 3 wasn’t enough of a lift, Tesla can also be combining production of the Cybertruck with a mysterious, cheaper electric vehicle, all while attempting to invent a revolutionary manufacturing process on the fly.
The most interesting collections this week
The Kidsy catalog aroused the interest of investors. Image credits: Kids
Kidsy is the latest idea to emerge from the startup kindergarten. The company is basically the TJ Maxx of baby gear, stepping in to avoid wasting parents from the financial black hole that’s raising children by offering discounted, overstocked and gently used items that were once destined for the landfill. Founded by a former business journalist and software engineer, Kidsy quickly became the circular economy superhero for kids’ products, in a position to charm investors in an “oversubscribed” pre-seed funding round faster than a toddler could throw a tantrum.
- A difficult start indeed: Payments giant Stripe swooned over a four-person startup called Supaglue, formerly generally known as Supergrain, in a classic tale of homegrown romance. Supaglue one way or the other caught Stripe’s attention — perhaps through the technological equivalent of a love potion mixed with mutual friends and serendipitous encounters.
- Google blesses nonprofits with $20 million: Google.org is giving $20 million to nonprofits to play fairy godmothers in making their AI dreams come true. Twenty-one lucky nonprofits grow to be guinea pigs in a six-month tech boot camp featuring AI trainers and Google worker assistants, all with the goal of constructing the world a greater place – one automated task at a time.
- Blah blah blah something, something, cars: From humble beginnings as an internet hitchhiking platform to becoming a unicorn with a penchant for accumulating tens of millions and traveling on buses, BlaBlaCar has done quite well. Now armed with a $108 million line of credit and a newfound passion for profitability, he goes on a buying spree for smaller corporations.
Other stories you possibly can’t miss on TechCrunch…
Every week there are at all times just a few stories I need to share with you that one way or the other don’t fit into the above categories. It can be a shame to miss them, so here’s a random bag of goodies:
- No account required: OpenAI, in a move that screams “data is the new gold,” now lets anyone confer with ChatGPT without an account, ensuring that even your grandma’s queries about knitting patterns might help train their AI, all while vaguely implying ” stricter content rules” which are as clear as mud.
- I’m just wandering around: Bumble, once the belle of the IPO ball, now struggles with the modern dating dilemma of getting users follow its love stories on TikTok. New CEO Lidiane Jones is on a mission to fan the flame by rethinking women’s first mover mantra and flirting with artificial intelligence, all while attempting to make dating fun again without actually changing swipe-right culture.
- Hey, that is impression on me: OpenAI is largely saying “hold my beer” by diving into the ethical quagmire of voice cloning with a brand new voice engine. The company insists it’s all about responsible innovation, while opening Pandora’s box to see how it will possibly be used and abused. We cannot consider a single downside.…
- B nixes AI: Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” has only been out for just a few days. However, in the middle of the “Cowboy Carter” press release, the singer made an unexpected statement against the growing presence of artificial intelligence in music.
Credit : techcrunch.com
