India’s Snabbit valuation doubled to $180M in 5 months on its quick house-help bet

Snabbit has raised its third funding round in nine months.

WhatsApp adds passkey protection to end-to-end encrypted backups

WhatsApp is enabling users to encrypt their backup using passkeys

IntrCity SmartBus lands $30M at $140M valuation to deepen its grip on India’s intercity travel market

IntrCity SmartBus grew revenue by 67% last year and is targeting full profitability this year, as intercity travel booms across India.

Figma acquires AI-powered media generation company Weavy

Figma said today that it has acquired AI-powered image and video generation company Weavy.

The Prompting Company snags $6.5M to help products get mentioned in ChatGPT and other AI apps

People are increasingly asking AI, not Google, to help them discover products. A recent shopping report says Americans, this holiday season, will likely turn to large language models this season to find gifts, deals, and sales instead of traditional search. Retailers could see up to a 520% increase in traffic from chatbots and AI prompts… Continua a leggere The Prompting Company snags $6.5M to help products get mentioned in ChatGPT and other AI apps

Startups should rethink how they pursue sales and traction, according to VC Tim Chen

After a small startup exit and being turned down by every VC firm he applied to, Tim Chen began angel investing and eventually stumbled into raising his own fund.   Now, as the solo investor behind Essence VC, he just closed his fourth fund at $41 million “without even trying.” Chen’s secret weapon? Being technical enough… Continua a leggere Startups should rethink how they pursue sales and traction, according to VC Tim Chen

Former L3Harris Trenchant boss pleads guilty to selling zero-day exploits to Russian broker

Prosecutors confirmed Peter Williams, the former Trenchant boss, sold eight exploits to a Russian buyer. TechCrunch exclusively reported that the Trenchant division was investigating a leak of its hacking tools, after another employee was accused of involvement.

ElevenLabs CEO says AI audio models will be ‘commoditized’ over time

ElevenLabs’ founder Mati Staniszewski said that, in the short term, AI audio models were still the “biggest advantage and the biggest step change you can have today.”

How AI labs use Mercor to get the data companies won’t share

Mercor CEO Brendan Foody has built a $10 billion empire freeing up valuable data from legacy industries and making it available to AI labs.

How AI labs use Mercor to get the data companies won’t share

Mercor CEO Brendan Foody has built a $10 billion empire freeing up valuable data from legacy industries and making it available to AI labs.