It’s Thursday, May 29, 2025—and we’re back with your daily funding rundown, charting the capital flows, emerging startups, and strategic bets that signal where tech is headed next. Today’s batch is nothing short of diverse, both in geography and ambition. […]
The post Top Startup and Tech Funding News – May 28, 2025 first appeared on Tech Startups.
Grammarly just landed a massive $1 billion in non-dilutive financing from General Catalyst. The deal gives the writing assistant company fresh firepower to grow its AI offerings, expand into new products, and ramp up marketing—all without giving up equity. The […]
The post Grammarly raises $1 billion from General Catalyst to expand AI platform and accelerate growth toward IPO first appeared on Tech Startups.
Scuf is adding drift-resistant Hall effect sticks to updated versions of its wireless Envision and Reflex controllers. The revised models include the $149.99 Envision and $199.99 Envision Pro for PC as well as the $249.99 Reflex Pro and $279.99 Reflex FPS for PlayStation 5 and PC. Those are all starting prices, of course, as the Corsair-owned brand offers a wide variety of customization options that can take each model to even higher prices.
The Hall effect upgrade brings Scuf’s wireless offerings in line with its wired-only Valor Pro and Nomad mobile controllers, replacing the original Reflex and Envision pads that first debuted in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Scuf is getting with the program on Hall effect sticks at a time when the magnetic, drift-resistant sensing option has become commonplace in other brands like 8BitDo, Razer, and GameSir, but hasn’t appeared in controllers from Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft yet. But some controller makers are already moving on to a more power-efficient drift-resistant technology: TMR sticks.
Scuf controllers may be even pricier than premium controller options from Microsoft and Sony like the Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and DualSense Edge, but in my experience they’re nice for those willing to spend the money. They’re some of the few native wireless options for Xbox Series X / S and PS5, and Scuf’s rear paddles and clicky hair-trigger options are some of the best feeling “pro” upgrades around. The lack of drift resistant sticks has made it a little more challenging to recommend them, though. Take, for example, our Xbox controller buying guide where the Razer Wolverine Pro V3 knocked off the Scuf Instinct Pro I used to personally love.
Better late than never, Scuf.
For the past several months, it seemed like President Donald Trump and Elon Musk were inseparable. The tech billionaire and "First Buddy" championed Trump on his reelection campaign trail, slept at the White House, attended deal-making dinners at Mar-a-Lago, and chainsawed a giant hole in the government with firings and spending cuts through DOGE.
Now, Musk is saying he's had a change of heart. On May 28th, Musk announced that he's officially stepping away from DOGE as his "scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end." And in the days leading up to this update, Musk has held a flurry of interviews in which he's tried to convince his audience that he's done with politics.
"I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics," Musk said during an interview with Ars Technica. "It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks." For reasons we've explained, the idea he's leaving politics is suspect - but he's got good reasons to say he is.
Musk's time as a special government employee always had a legal 130-day deadline that was up at the end of May. He isn …
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With the launch of iOS 14, Apple introduced a bold new privacy feature: App Tracking Transparency. This new feature would require third party apps to ask for user permission to track across apps before they’d gain access to your advertising ID (IDFA).
Apple begun enforcing this in April 2021 with the launch of iOS 14.5, which is when non-complying apps would no longer be able to submit updates to the App Store.
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With streaming providers frequently raising prices, subscribers often feel like they’re paying more for the same service—or a lesser version, depending on what’s available to watch that month. In a unique move, Disney is introducing a small, potential financial benefit to Disney+ and Hulu subscribers in the form of some third-party discounts, freebies, trials, and contests.
As of today, Disney+ subscribers can log into Disney’s Disney+ Perks website with their streaming credentials to get access to a revolving selection of discounts and freebies. When I logged in today, I was met with options for several free trials, including a six-month one to DoorDash’s premium subscription offering, a three-month trial to Clear+, and a two-month trial to Duolingo’s premium subscription.
Disney+ subscribers can also get discounts, including to Adidas’ online marketplaces and “select” Disney Resorts Collection hotels (if you stay at least two nights, with most availability occurring between June 29 and July 31). There are also some free virtual rewards for Disney-owned games and the ability to enter sweepstakes, like for going to the premiere of the movie Freakier Friday.
© Star Wars/YouTube
Google has announced that Lens is coming to YouTube Shorts, starting with a beta that’s going live now.
more…I love Mark Gurman’s scoop that Apple plans to introduce iOS 26, not iOS 19, alongside version 26 of macOS, visionOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It’s a different flavor of the same solution I thought about a few months ago but thought might be too much of a reach to share.
more…This week brought a surprising report saying Apple plans to rebrand all its software platforms with year-based naming. So, iOS 26 will launch this fall (think car models) rather than iOS 19. Could iPhone hardware be the next subject of change? Apple’s leaked roadmap may offer a clue.
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The Apple Research team has published a pretty interesting study that investigated whether AI models can estimate heart rate from stethoscope recordings, even though they weren’t specifically trained with that purpose in mind. The short answer is: yes. And this is great news. Here’s why.
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