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Once worth over $1B, Microsoft-backed Builder.ai is running out of money

AI software company Builder.ai is entering insolvency proceedings, a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. The Microsoft-backed unicorn, which has raised more than $450 million in funding, rose to prominence for its AI-based platform that aimed to simplify the process of building apps and websites. According to the spokesperson, Builder.ai, also known as Engineer.ai Corporation, is […]

Keep raises $12M in increasingly competitive Canadian corporate spend market

In the U.S., a number of startups aim to be the corporate spend manager of choice for small and large businesses. Brex, Ramp, and Mercury are among those companies, just to name a few. Moving north of the border to Canada, the options are fewer, but growing. Keep is a startup that has built a […]

Amazon’s Zoox to start testing AVs in Atlanta, following Waymo

Amazon’s autonomous vehicle unit Zoox is about to start mapping and gathering data in Atlanta, Georgia, a precursor to testing its self-driving vehicles and eventually offering public rides in the city. Atlanta will become the seventh city in the U.S. where Zoox is testing its vehicles. The company announced its testing plans just one day […]

Google DeepMind’s Logan Kilpatrick is coming to TechCrunch Sessions: AI

Google DeepMind is at the forefront of AI innovation, and no one is more poised to speak to this than Senior Product Manager Logan Kilpatrick. We are pleased to announce he will be joining us on the main stage at TechCrunch Sessions: AI, happening June 5th at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. TC Sessions: AI is […]

Amazon Music tests an AI-powered search experience for fans to learn more about their favorite artists

Amazon Music announced Tuesday that it’s testing a new AI-powered search feature called “Explore,” designed to help fans learn more about their favorite artists.  To use this feature, users can tap the “Find” button at the bottom of the screen and enter an artist’s name in the search bar. Then, by selecting the “Explore” tab […]

Adaptation Ventures is a new angel investor group focused on disability and accessibility tech

The global assistive technology market was valued at more than $22 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow substantially by 2030. Despite the potential market size, many founders building tech to help people with disabilities struggle to secure the kind of early funding needed to get their companies off the ground in the first […]

South Loop Ventures closes $21M fund in Houston to build up local tech ecosystem

South Loop Ventures, a Houston-based venture firm, announced a $21 million Fund I, with Rice Management Company and Chevron Technology Ventures serving as anchor investors.  The firm, which launched in 2022, focuses on seed and pre-seed companies, with $400,000 as the average check size. It also primarily hopes to focus on backing founders of color.  […]

Brex partners with former competitor Zip, with an eye on reducing cash burn to get to an IPO

Brex has once again made the surprising, but perhaps realistic, decision to partner with another one-time competitor. This time Zip, the CEOs of both companies told TechCrunch exclusively.  In April 2022, fintech Brex announced it was making “a big push” into both the enterprise and software. The news was notable considering that Brex originally was […]

OpenAI’s Codex is part of a new cohort of agentic coding tools

Last Friday, OpenAI introduced a new coding system called Codex, designed to perform complex programming tasks from natural language commands. Codex moves OpenAI into a new cohort of agentic coding tools that is just beginning to take shape. From GitHub’s early Copilot to contemporary tools like Cursor and Windsurf, most AI coding assistants operate as […]

Gravitee, a platform that helps companies manage APIs, raises $60M

Gravitee, a platform designed to help companies manage their APIs and other digital traffic pipelines, has raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by Sixth Street Growth with participation from Riverside Acceleration Capital and Albion VC. The new capital, which brings Gravitee’s total raised to just over $125 million, will be used […]

Monzo’s pivot from cool to corporate: ‘freshness is not about gimmicks’

Monzo, Britain’s biggest digital bank, is still synonymous with its neon debit cards, extensive use of emojis, and free spending abroad. But it’s no longer just trying to be cool; it’s trying to become a major financial institution. That shift, from an upstart fintech beloved by millennials into a mature, sustainable business, is what makes […]

Sylndr, with fresh $15.7M, allows users to buy, sell, finance, and service used cars in Egypt

Cairo-based Sylndr has raised $15.7 million as it expands beyond online used car sales into auto financing, servicing, and tools for dealers. Development Partners International’s Nclude Fund led the round. The company, which operates in Egypt’s fast-growing but under-digitized vehicle market, said the latest round includes both fresh equity and previously unannounced seed financing. Sylndr […]

Klarna’s revenue per employee soars to nearly $1M thanks to AI efficiency push

Last year, Klarna announced a significant initiative to leverage its internally developed AI systems, powered by OpenAI, across its operations. This wasn’t empty talk for the buy now, pay later giant. The company not only ended its pricey contract with Salesforce CRM, but also curtailed its hiring efforts, allowing AI to do some of the […]
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