TechCrunch Industry News

Finom, an Amsterdam-based challenger bank for SMBs that claims to have doubled its revenue in 2024, closed a €115 million Series C equity round (around $133 million). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If becoming a corporate spy sounds exciting, let this newest affidavit from confessed Rippling spy Keith O’Brien serve as a warning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Baiju Bhatt is building something the space industry has largely dismissed, and it might be more groundbreaking than anyone realizes. When Baiju Bhatt stepped away from his role as Chief Creative Officer at Robinhood last year, only those close to him could have predicted his next move: launching a space company built around tech Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Frederik Hjelm, CEO of shared micromobility startup Voi, said he sees a path to acquiring the scooter and bike operations of Bolt, the European mobility super-app best known for ride-hailing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Across hundreds of thousands of years of human existence, an impossible question has befuddled our species: why is the baby crying?! Sam Altman, who is both the father of a three-month-old and CEO of OpenAI, hopped on OpenAI’s new podcast today to talk about how his company is impacting his experience with fatherhood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on something of a hiring spree lately, trying to staff up Meta’s new superintelligence team with top-tier AI researchers from competing labs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The contract could put the model maker in competition with the OpenAI services that Microsoft wants to sell to the DoD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The digital health startup says it secured the fresh capital to update its valuation and finance acquisitions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify's Daniel Ek just led a €600 million investment in Helsing, a four-year-old, Munich-based defense tech company that is now valued at €12 billion, according to the Financial Times. The deal makes it one of Europe's most valuable privately held companies; it also highlights Europe's scramble to build its own military muscle as the world grows messier and the U.S. turns inward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patreon is bumping its take fee from creators from 8% to 10%, but only for new signups; ChatGPT seems to have pushed some users towards delusional or conspiratorial thinking, according to a recent feature in The New York Times; Meta’s massive investment in Scale AI may be giving some of the startup’s biggest customers pause. Reuters reports that Google had planned to pay Scale AI $200 million this year but is now planning to cut ties with the startup and is having conversations with its competitors; Pornainen recently turned on a 100 MWh thermal battery filled with ground up soapstone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices