Inflection founders find new home at Microsoft

Good afternoon, and welcome to TechCrunch PM! Today we’ve got Microsoft tapping into Inflection for a new consumer AI division and updates from Nvidia’s GTC 2024 event. Also, learn about what Honda is doing with its 2025 Honda CR-V e:FCEV, get poked by Facebook, feel some love tonight and see how Ramp’s Eric Glyman is finding longevity in fintech.

— Christine

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TechCrunch PM Top 3

Microsoft makes a deal: The enterprise giant hires Inflection’s founders to run a new consumer AI division. Not sure if this can be considered the gutting of a company, but here’s another take on how this came about.

Robotics, but open source: The Open Source Robotics Alliance has some new members in Nvidia and Qualcomm. Speaking of Nvidia, repeat after me: “AI factory.”

Which came first, the fuel cell or the battery?: In Honda’s case, both. The automaker says it will sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2040 with a fleet of battery electric and fuel cell vehicles. But wait, there’s more!

More top reads

Christine poked you: That’s right, dear TechCrunchers. Facebook is trying to make poking fun again.

If the Lion King had a company: It would be Nala. Learn how this Tanzanian consumer fintech company found that to gain a better foothold in the payments market, it would also need a B2B component.

Coming in with baggage: Read how crypto exchange Backpack climbed its way to success after its major investor FTX died.

New Linktree features: The link-in-bio startup now includes a featured layout to highlight your links better, the ability to fetch the latest posts from Instagram and support for a more prominent profile picture.

TigerEye helps businesses predict the future: Forget two-dimensional looks at your business — this startup, co-founded by a wife-and-husband team, believes simulations are the future of business.

Money, money, money: Ethos Fund secured $12 million for its first fund that invests in founders wanting to bridge the tech ecosystems between the United States and Vietnam.

Gitai in space: Los Angeles–based Gitai’s autonomous robot installed a panel outside the International Space Station, showing that it can make orbital repairs in action.

Around the web: Silicon Valley mainstay IVP raises $1.6 billion for its 18th fund. Fortune has more. Meanwhile, is there an upside to recessions? Business Insider found it might actually lengthen our life span. And if you enjoy Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, check out AP’s story on Unilever cutting 7,500 jobs and spinning off its ice cream business that includes this iconic brand.

TechCrunch Minute

EV makers are struggling, and Fisker’s in a particularly precarious position: Fisker’s finances are back in the news after the company warned back in February that it didn’t have enough cash to make it through its next year. The company said this week that it intends to halt production for six weeks to get its business back in order.

On the pods

On today’s Found, Becca and Dom speak with Ramp co-founder and CEO Eric Glyman about finding longevity in fintech. Of all the work tasks you could automate with AI, submitting expenses would probably be high on the list. Ramp, a spend management platform, is building AI tools to make financial workflows easier for employees and employers. They talk about what Glyman and his co-founder learned from their first startup and how they see AI changing fintech forever. Listen here or catch the summary.

• VP of Data Management at RetireeFirst (Mount Laurel, NJ, USA)
• Senior Policy Analyst / Senior Economist at Center for AI Policy (Washington D.C., DC, USA)
• Unified Technology Solutions Supervisor at Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA, United States)
• Principal Software Engineer/Developer at Health Research, Inc. (Menands, NY, USA)
• Systems Administrator II at City of Newport (Newport, Oregon, USA)

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