Inception, a new Palo Alto-based company started by Stanford computer science professor Stefano Ermon, claims to have developed a novel AI model based on “diffusion” technology. Inception calls it a diffusion-based large language model, or a “DLM” for short. The generative AI models receiving the most attention now can be broadly divided into two types: […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Perplexity, the developer of an AI-powered search engine, is raising a $50 million seed and pre-seed investment fund, CNBC reported. Although the majority of the capital is coming from limited partners, Perplexity is using some of the capital it raised for the company’s growth to anchor the fund. Perplexity reportedly raised $500 million at a […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Khosla Ventures, a firm known for early investments in OpenAI, is raising $3.5 billion across three funds, The Wall Street Journal reported. That target is 17% larger than the firm’s previous 2023 fund haul of $3 billion.   About half of the new capital will be allocated to its ninth core venture fund. The remaining money will […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Afore Capital, a firm that claims to be the largest dedicated pre-seed investor, was founded on the idea that the first check into a new startup should be larger than what most accelerators and early-stage investors were offering. When Afore raised its third $150 million fund in 2022, the firm wrote checks ranging from $1 […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup, is raising a new round of funding at a $2.85 billion valuation, including fresh capital, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal.  The round is being led by returning investor Kleiner Perkins, the people said. The new round comes just six months after Silicon Valley-based Codeium announced that […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to impose limits on specific types of funding it provides to research institutions. Although a federal judge has temporarily blocked the policy change, government grants to early-stage biotech startups could still face delays or be eliminated entirely, said Chris Gibson, co-founder and […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Many venture industry observers have wondered whether Andreessen Horowitz, a firm that manages $45 billion, has its sights on eventually becoming a publicly traded company. Co-founder Marc Andreessen said he isn’t “chomping at the bit to take the firm public,” on this week’s Invest Like the Best podcast. But he discussed his goal of building […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

While large corporations like Google and Meta are curbing their DEI programs, Ulu Ventures, which just raised a fourth fund at $208 million, doesn’t plan to change its strategy of investing in diverse founders, the firm told The Wall Street Journal. Co-founded by Miriam Rivera, a Latina and former vice president and deputy general counsel […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

With over 1,000 insurance companies in the U.S., figuring out how to get paid by each company is a complex challenge for doctors and hospitals. Each insurance may require slightly different information on medical claims, even for the same procedure. Incorrectly filed claims can lead to denied coverage, requiring manual resubmission and delayed payments. According […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Founders Fund is on track to conclude fundraising of its third growth fund at the end of March, according to people close to the firm. The Peter Thiel-founded outfit is raising $3 billion, a source told TechCrunch and Axios also reported. The fund, which is intended primarily for additional investments in its successful late-stage portfolio companies, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Plaid, a company that connects bank accounts to financial applications, is working with Goldman Sachs on a deal to allow early-stage investors and employees to sell existing shares, which will raise between $300 million and $400 million, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. The tender offer, as such deals are called, will likely value the company lower […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Rapyd Financial Network is reportedly looking to raise $300 million in a new funding at a steep valuation cut from its 2021 high.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

On Thursday, President Trump asked Republican lawmakers to end tax breaks on carried interest.  The tax break allows private equity and venture fund managers to treat their earnings from investments at a lower capital gains rate, rather than as ordinary income.  The removal of the tax break would be a big hit to the VC […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

For decades, the U.S. healthcare system has struggled to address the diet-related chronic illnesses affecting nearly half of all adults. That changed in recent years with the discovery of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs that help people lose weight. While insurance covers these medications, doctors frequently require patients to see a nutritionist as part of […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As a university student, Dalton Signor was troubled by how many people around him smoked or vaped, including his grandmother and 14-year-old sister. Signor (pictured center) felt that existing smoking-cessation medicines, whether patches, gums, or lozenges, are not very effective because they take too long to start working. “They take about 30 minutes to provide […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

When accounting startup Bench abruptly failed last month, the shutdown was forced when the company’s lenders called in the startup’s loan. In late 2023, the digital freight company Convoy faced financial challenges, leading venture lending firm Hercules Capital to assume control of the company to recover its investments. Divvy Homes, which sold for about $1 […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

When in mid-2022 Sarah Guo left Greylock to launch her own AI-focused fund, Conviction Partners, she indicated that she was tagging the word “Partners” to the firm’s name because she would eventually bring on other GPs. Now, more than two years later, Guo is being joined by Mike Vernal, who was a partner at Sequoia […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Talk to many architects, and they’ll likely tell you that Autodesk’s software, including AutoCAD and Revit, has been indispensable to their work for decades. But despite their widespread use, Autodesk’s former co-CEO and chief product officer Amar Hanspal says that the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is using 20th century tools to design 21st […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

8VC, a venture firm led by Palantir founder Joe Lonsdale, is seeking nearly $1 billion for its sixth fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Austin-based firm’s latest fund aims to raise nearly 14% more than its previous $880 million flagship vehicle, which closed in February 2023. TechCrunch has reached out to the firm for […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

SoftBank is negotiating a $500 million investment in Skild AI, a software company building a foundational model for robotics at a $4 billion valuation, Bloomberg and Financial Times reported. The two-year-old company raised its previous funding round of $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation last July from investors including Jeff Bezos, Lightspeed Venture Partners, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.