Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! There’s rarely a day when the news isn’t about AI these days, but I’m sure some of you actually love that. In addition to the usual boatload of AI headlines, today we have a big investment from Uber in a food-delivery company in Taiwan, a review of Apple’s new iPads, a new bot startup from Cruise’s former CEO, and even a fresh climate fund. Let’s dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: STR/NurPhoto / Getty Images

1. Uber bags Foodpanda Taiwan: Uber is spending $950 million to buy out the Taiwan unit of Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda as the ride-hailing and delivery giant aims to expand in Asia. The deal also underscores Delivery Hero’s ongoing retreat from that market. Uber is also buying $300 million worth of new shares in Delivery Hero as part of the deal. Read More

2. Bonjour, Claude: Anthropic, OpenAI’s biggest genAI rival, is making its AI assistant, Claude, available in Europe. Claude speaks multiple languages, including French, German, Italian and Spanish. Anthropic’s co-founder and president Daniela Amodei has confirmed the company is also in the process of raising more capital to top off its total $8 billion raised. Read More

3. Cruise’s former CEO is back with a new startup: Kyle Vogt, the founder and former CEO of self-driving car company Cruise, has launched a new startup that’s building robots to do household chores, “so you don’t have to.” The Bot Company has already raised $150 million from heavy hitters like former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. Read More

A MESSAGE FROM CANVA

Generate your draft with Magic Write
in Canva Docs

Here’s a weird writing tip for work: don’t. Generate text with Magic Write, an AI writing tool in Canva Docs. Generate product descriptions, marketing plans, sales proposals…anything you want for work. Tweak your draft and finish your doc faster.

Start designing today

Morning Must Reads

Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch

Waymo under the microscope: Alphabet’s robotaxi unit Waymo is under investigation after the feds received 22 reports of its autonomous vehicles crashing or potentially violating traffic safety laws by driving into wrong lanes or construction zones. Waymo probably thought it was in the clear after its main competitor, Cruise, had to take a backseat, but this new investigation just goes to show that the spotlight illuminates flaws just as much as it does strengths. Read More

Climate funds are trending: Paris-based VC firm Blisce is the latest to launch a dedicated climate tech fund, for which it hopes to raise €150 million (about $162 million). It’s pretty on-brand for Blisce’s founder, Alexandre Mars, the entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist who also started Epic, a non-profit that finances organizations that reduce childhood inequality. Read More

Accel raises $650M to back early-stage startups: Accel has raised a boatload of money to put into startups from seed to Series A stages across the U.K., Europe and Israel. It’s a huge vote of confidence in Europe’s tech scene, which has often suffered from lack of funding since the heydays of 2021. Read More

Reviewing Apple’s new iPads: Misguided iPad ad aside, Apple is going big on its tablet products: the new Pro M4 and Air M2. Hardware editor Brian Heater has a detailed review of Apple’s newest tablets, and he says: While the Air is kind of worth the price, the Pro M4’s price tag is verging on territory that may be better served by a Macbook Pro instead. Read More

OpenAI wants to invest more in startups: The OpenAI Startup Fund has raised an additional $5 million for its special purpose vehicle dedicated to investing in startups: The OpenAI Startup Fund SPV III, LP. The Startup Fund has backed at least 16 other startups, according to PitchBook. Read More

Maad logistics in Africa: As you might imagine, logistics is a nightmare in middle- and lower-income countries around the planet because the infrastructure often isn't up to the mark. Maad, a B2B e-commerce startup from Senegal, has just raised $2.3 million to help mom and pop stores source fast-moving consumer goods from suppliers in Africa’s Francophone region. Ventures Platform led the round. Read More

VC for GenZ: Terry Burns, a former GV partner, is launching her own VC firm called Type Capital with which she wants to support Gen Z founders. The firm will also invest in digital consumer companies, developer tools and AI at the seed stage so it can get in early. Read More

Managing the frontlines: With more than two-thirds of the U.S. workforce in frontline jobs, there’s clearly room to help companies manage all that headcount. U.K.-based Sona clearly sees an opportunity for its workforce management platform, and it just raised $27.5 million to expand Stateside. The startup helps companies manage everything from scheduling nurses and soliciting feedback on customer service reps to filling out timesheets for retail workers. Read More

Around the Web

David Sacks goes all-in on AI: Sometimes, startups are named just right. David Sacks, one of the original members of the PayPal Mafia, is launching a new AI company for businesses called Glue, Bloomberg reports. Glue presents an AI bot that can be invited to join chats in apps like Google Meet and Zoom, and it will automatically bounce between using the LLMs behind ChatGPT and Claude, depending on what you ask of it. Read More

Google’s AI answers to no one: Google has been rolling out AI-generated answers which, while convenient for the average user, threaten to displace links to human-written websites and harm millions of creators who had just gotten used to gaming the SEO machine, reports The Washington Post. No, they totally did not see that coming. Read More

NYC wants to use tech to detect guns in subways: NYC Mayor Eric Adams wants to use Evolv’s gun-detection tech in subway stations, even though the company has said it’s not designed for that environment and can be inaccurate. Wired tracked down some emails that show how the company still found a way in. What could go wrong? Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: OpenAI

The black hole that is ChatGPT: One of OpenAI’s latest updates to ChatGPT is a new app and interface, starring an oblique user-facing personality: A giant black dot. It’s minimalist chic, it’s neutral and versatile, and it’s at least honest about what ChatGPT does: absorbs all knowledge into a black hole and spits it back out at you. Read More