AI-powered search engine Perplexity has reportedly closed a $500 million funding round, valuing the startup at $9 billion. Bloomberg, citing sources familiar, reports that the round was led by Institutional Venture Partners and that it closed earlier in December. In an email to TechCrunch, a Perplexity spokesperson declined to comment. The mammoth tranche comes as […]
Accounting firms are struggling to adopt high-tech solutions. That’s according to a survey earlier this year from Rightsworks, which found that, while 88% of firms believe tech has had a positive impact on their efficiency, 60% are suffering from disconnected systems, inconsistent processes, and a lack of standardized workflows. Startups like Aiwyn are trying to […]
Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch, is launching a new AI startup, TechCrunch has learned. The startup, called Stem AI, is currently in stealth. But public documents show it was incorporated in June 2023, and filed for a trademark in August 2023. Shear is listed as CEO on an incorporation document filed with the […]
Republicans tanked a government funding bill after Elon Musk led a campaign against it.
Democrats have been insinuating that Musk is now the real leader of the GOP.
In a statement to BI, a Trump spokeswoman forcefully pushed back.
President-elect Donald Trump's team is making clear that he's the one in charge of the Republican Party — not Elon Musk.
In a statement to Business Insider for a story about how Musk helped tank a government funding bill (otherwise known as a continuing resolution, or "CR") this week, Karoline Leavitt, the Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman, pushed back on statements made by Democrats that Musk is actually calling the shots, rather than the president-elect himself.
"As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view," Leavitt said. "President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop."
Musk has also rebuffed the idea he's calling the shots, writing on X: "All I can do is bring things to the attention of the people, so they may voice their support if they so choose."
That post came after scores of Democrats baited Trump with social media posts accusing Musk of being the actual president-elect, the "shadow president," or the "co-president."
It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump.
Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead. pic.twitter.com/feDiAXe8yp
While a statement from Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance late Wednesday marked the final straw for the ill-fated government funding bill, Republican opposition had reached a fever pitch on Capitol Hill long before either of them weighed in.
Several Republicans even cited arguments put forward by Musk or his DOGE co-lead, Vivek Ramaswamy, in explaining why they would oppose what they characterized as wasteful spending in the bill.
Trump and Vance also took a different stance on the bill than Musk, who endorsed the idea of simply allowing the government to shut down until January 20, when Trump is set to take office again.
Instead, Trump and Vance called on lawmakers to pass a more narrowly tailored bill while simultaneously raising the debt ceiling — a request that likely won't go over well with many of the same hardline Republicans who cheered Musk's opposition to the bill.
As of Thursday afternoon, it remains unclear how lawmakers will proceed, and whether they'll be able to pass any bill through the House and Senate before government funding runs out at midnight on Friday.
If Congress does not pass a bill by then, the federal government will shut down, likely leading to flight delays, the closure of National Parks, and delayed paychecks for some federal workers and members of the military.
Smart ring maker Oura announced on Thursday that it has closed a $200 million Series D funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $5.2 billion. The round included participation from Fidelity Management and glucose device maker Dexcom. Oura says the new capital will allow it to expand its product offerings and further invest in product, science, […]
Indian startups raised 32% fewer funding rounds in 2024 compared to last year, according to data intelligence platform Tracxn, signaling that investors are being more selective when striking deals. The number of startup funding rounds fell to 1,448 compared to 2,114 last year, but overall funding rose 6% to $11.3 billion ($10.7 billion in 2023) […]
Odyssey, a startup founded by self-driving pioneers Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke, is developing an AI-powered tool that can transform text or an image into a 3D rendering. The tool, dubbed Explorer, is similar in some ways to the so-called world models recently demoed by DeepMind, World Labs, and Israeli upstart Decart. Given a caption like “a […]
Much of what we know about cloud software today comes from early innovators like Facebook, Google, and Netflix. While these companies helped shape the consumer cloud, modern B2B software faces an entirely different set of challenges. Traditional SaaS models often […]
Lawmakers could get as high as a $6,600 pay raise as part of a short-term government funding bill that's set to get a vote this week.
Allison Robbert / AFP via Getty Images
Members of Congress may be getting an up to $6,600 raise this year.
That's due to a provision in a must-pass funding bill that's set to get a vote this week.
Rank-and-file lawmakers have been making $174,000 since 2009.
For the first time since 2009, members of Congress may be about to get a raise.
Under a provision tucked into a new bill to fund the government through March 14, lawmakers would be given a cost of living adjustment to their salaries — something that Congress has blocked every year for a decade and a half.
That could result in up to a $6,600 raise for rank-and-file members of Congress next year, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service.
Currently, most members of the House and Senate make $174,000 each year. Some congressional leaders make more than that, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, who makes a $223,500 annual salary.
Though that $174,000 sum is well above the average household income, it hasn't kept place with inflation, and lawmakers in both parties have argued that it's not enough to keep up with the demands and responsibilities of the job, which can include maintaining two residences.
"If we want working class people who don't rely on independent wealth, to represent people in Congress, we have to make it work," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told Business Insider earlier this year.
"You have quite a number of members of Congress that sleep in their offices," Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told BI earlier this year. "In this day and age, it makes sense to have people that feel that they can serve, and still be able to sleep in a home at night."
If Congress hadn't blocked annual cost of living adjustments since 2009, rank-and-file lawmakers would be making $217,900 this year, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Earlier this year, a group of current and former lawmakers filed a class-action lawsuit to recover money that they would have made if their wages hadn't, in their view, been "unconstitutionally suppressed."
Increasing lawmakers' salaries has long been politically unpopular, and the inclusion of the provision is already leading to some opposition from more politically vulnerable members.
Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat who represents a GOP-leaning district in Maine, said in a statement on Wednesday that he wouldn't vote for the government funding bill unless a pay freeze was reinstated.
"Members of Congress earn more than 90 percent of Americans," Golden said. "If any of my colleagues can't afford to live on that income, they should find another line of work."
If Congress fails to pass the bill by Friday, the federal government will shut down due to a lack of funding.
Once, not long ago, booking a table at a hot new restaurant didn’t entail a midnight dash to Resy. Truly, we didn’t know how good we had it then. Hours-long lines out the door are now the norm, not the exception, in major cities from New York to Los Angeles. One reason is that restaurants […]
Suki, a healthcare startup founded seven years ago by former Google and Flipkart executive Punit Soni, recently announced a major partnership with Google Cloud to broaden its AI-powered tools for clinicians. This comes shortly after Suki raised $70 million in […]
The Oman Investment Authority (OIA), the sovereign wealth fund of Oman, has taken a stake in xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. OIA, which already holds shares in Musk’s SpaceX, announced the deal through the Omani state news agency on […]
Bureau, a cybersecurity startup focused on user identity fraud prevention, has secured $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Sorenson Capital. The round also included participation from PayPal Ventures, Commerce Ventures, GMO Venture Partners, Village Global, Quona […]
London-based tech startup TG0 has raised £4.5M in Series B funding to push its AI-driven physical products to new markets. The round was led by AI-focused investor NetMind.AI, with additional backing from WP Health. The new funding will help TG0 […]
Databricks announced on Tuesday that it has hit a $62 billion valuation following a $10 billion Series J funding round. Thrive Capital led the round, with Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners, and WCM Investment Management joining as co-leads. […]
Databricks, the data analytics platform, has raised $10 billion in a funding round that values the company at $62 billion (up from $43 billion). Backers include Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, and Iconiq Growth. The round is one of the largest venture rounds in history, and will drive future mergers and acquisitions, stock […]
Jon Morehouse launched PowerTools in 2019 to help companies ship static sites and serverless apps to their cloud accounts on providers like AWS and Azure. When a customer asked him if they could use PowerTools to deploy their software into one of their customer’s cloud accounts, Morehouse was skeptical. Morehouse told TechCrunch that after that […]
Colin Angle, one of the co-founders of Roomba maker iRobot, is raising cash for a home robotics venture. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that Angle’s new company, Familiar Machines & Magic, is trying to raise $30 million. So far, it has raised $15 million from a group of eight investors. […]
SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son agreed on Monday to double the company’s planned $100 billion investment in the United States to $200 billion. The decision came during an unexpected exchange with President-elect Donald Trump, showcasing Son’s willingness to respond […]
Industrial AI startup Haber has raised $44 million in its Series C funding round, with $38 million in equity and $6 million in debt. The round included participation from Creaegis, BEENEXT, and Accel, reflecting strong investor confidence in the company’s […]
