Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Hi, I’ll be guest-writing this newsletter today while Rebecca is out. This morning, we have news on billion-dollar startups and billion-dollar acquisitions, what we can expect at Apple’s developer conference next week, and a startup that’s adding AI to stethoscopes. Let’s dive into some tech, shall we? — Dom

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: WalkMe

1. SAP acquires digital platform WalkMe for $1.5 billion: Founded in 2011, WalkMe sought to make website navigation easier, and has lately started using AI to provide contextual in-app support — like at points where a user is bound to exit an app. That focus has now attracted SAP, which is paying a 45% premium for the company’s shares. Read More

2. Modi’s victory in India signals more of the same: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has won India’s general election, meaning Narendra Modi will once again serve as the nation’s prime minister. A victory for NDA means a continuation of policy for businesses and startups, though spending cuts might also be on the plan. Read More

3. U.S. wants to make anti-surveillance tech cooler: The U.S.’ DARPA has tasked the startup Slingshot Aerospace with developing tools to locate nefarious satellites launched by “bad actors” into mega-constellations. Slingshot researchers apparently generated 60 years’ worth of synthetic constellation data with which to train their system to detect minute differences in satellite behavior. How cool is that?! Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: Eko Health

Bringing the stethoscope into the 21st century: Eko Health has raised a $41 million Series D in a bid to add (what else?) AI to the stethoscope, of all things. The health startup received FDA clearance in April for its AI-powered stethoscope, which “combines heart sounds with cardiac rhythm assessment” to detect heart failures. Read More

Alphabet hires a new CFO: Alphabet is bringing on longtime Eli Lilly CFO, Anat Ashkenazi, as its own finance head. Ashkenazi spent 23 years at Eli Lilly, and will start at Alphabet on July 31, replacing its current CFO, Ruth Porat. Read More

Asana wants you to be teammates with AI: Asana has launched a feature that it’s calling ‘AI teammates’ — essentially bots that will work alongside human employees. Asana’s head of AI told TechCrunch the company believes that the future of work “is not just humans working with humans, but humans also working with AI.” Yeah, no one saw that coming. Read More

One thing washing machines and gearboxes have in common is fluid dynamics, and that’s exactly what Dive, a spin-out from Bosch, realized when it started licensing its computational fluid dynamics simulation service and carmakers flocked to buy its product. The company combines modern mathematical approaches and cloud computing to change how manufacturers use computer simulations. It’s now raised a $10 million Series A to continue building. Read More

Insurers hate nothing more than natural disasters, so if you have a wealth of data about weather and catastrophes, why not sell that data to insurance companies? Well, for one thing, Understory thought it could do better by becoming an insurer itself. The company has done well, seeing 500% year-over-year growth, and has now raised a $15 million Series A to focus on renewable energy, helping solar farms and the like mitigate risk related to bad weather. Read More

Around the Web

Nvidia’s stock is the hottest thing in town: Bloomberg looked into the $2.9 trillion powerhouse that is Nvidia. In the past year, the company’s valuation has skyrocketed, with analysts predicting a jump in net income and profit margins this year, too. Though many investors can’t stop buying shares, a few naysayers have emerged. Read More

X loses a top executive: The WSJ reports that Joe Benarroch, in charge of business operations at X, is now leaving the company. He was said to be one of X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s trusted advisors, the two having worked together at Comcast NBCUniversal. He isn’t the first top executive to leave so soon after joining X, which is still struggling to woo advertisers. He probably won’t be the last, either. Read More

Elon Musk might get another big pay day: CNBC reports that one of Tesla’s largest shareholders supports Musk’s request for a $56 billion pay package. In an open letter, billionaire Ron Baron said that without Musk’s “relentless drive,” there “would be no Tesla.” The pay package has been quite controversial, and would be the largest pay package for a CEO ever if it is passed. Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Apple

Apple’s annual developer conference is near: Apple is expected to reveal more of its generative AI plans at WWDC, its annual developer conference, on June 10. iOS 18 is also expected to steal the show at the event, in what is rumored to be the company’s biggest iOS update in its history. TechCrunch has the deets on what you can expect. Read More