After eleven years as a co-founder of Sound Ventures, Ashton Kutcher is exiting the firm to launch a new venture capital outfit alongside former Meta executive Morgan Beller. The move marks a strategic shift for the actor-investor, who intends to pivot from established unicorns toward early-stage deep tech and energy infrastructure.
After nearly a decade of navigating hype cycles, pandemic lockdowns, and industry-wide bankruptcies, Lime has officially hit the Nasdaq. The micromobility company raised $167 million in its IPO, debuting at $25 per share and securing a valuation of approximately $1.66 billion as it seeks to stabilize its long-term financial future.
Starting September 15, 2026, Cloudflare will block mixed-use web crawlers from ad-supported sites by default. The move forces AI companies to distinguish between traditional search bots and those used for training or agentic services, aiming to protect publisher intellectual property from being scraped without compensation.
Three months after canceling its primary U.S. electric vehicle programs, Honda has launched production of batteries specifically for energy storage systems. By diverting cells originally intended for the Ohio joint venture with LG Energy Solution toward infrastructure projects, the automaker is recalibrating its strategy to capture a rapidly expanding stationary storage market.
After years of speculation and shifting timelines, micromobility leader Lime officially entered the public market on Wednesday. The company raised $167 million by selling 6.68 million shares at $25 each, hitting the midpoint of its target range and securing a valuation of approximately $1.66 billion for the nine-year-old operator.
Privacy-focused AI platform Venice AI has secured a $1 billion valuation following a $65 million Series A funding round. Led by Dragonfly, the investment signals growing market confidence in the startup’s model of providing uncensored access to artificial intelligence while maintaining strict user anonymity and data encryption.
Apple users can now access Gemini Spark directly on their desktops, as Google integrates its agentic AI into the existing Gemini app. Currently limited to U.S.-based AI Ultra subscribers, the beta launch positions the tool to compete directly with platforms like Claude Desktop and Microsoft Copilot by managing local files.
Sony will cease the production of physical game discs for all new PlayStation titles starting in January 2028, signaling a definitive shift toward a digital-only ecosystem. While existing physical libraries remain unaffected, the company is moving to consolidate its software distribution exclusively through the PlayStation Store and authorized online retailers.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 returns to San Francisco’s Moscone Center on October 13-15, gathering over 10,000 founders and investors. The event’s Builders Stage will host a series of deep-dive sessions focused on the practical mechanics of scaling, from early-stage fundraising to navigating the complexities of an AI-saturated market.
Following the path of SpaceX, Meta is preparing to monetize its sprawling data center footprint by selling raw computing power and model access to third parties. This strategic shift aims to recoup a portion of the $182.9 billion the company has committed to its aggressive AI infrastructure expansion.
Vinton Cerf, the co-architect of the internet’s core protocols, is stepping down from his long-standing role as Google’s chief internet evangelist. The announcement, confirmed during the Open Frontier conference by UC Berkeley professor Dave Patterson, marks the end of a career that fundamentally shaped modern digital infrastructure.
The US government has rescinded a licensing requirement that effectively blocked global access to Anthropic’s advanced Mythos and Fable AI models. Following weeks of intense negotiations, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick confirmed the shift, allowing the lab to resume international distribution of its flagship technology starting Wednesday, July 1.
London-based autonomous driving startup Wayve is offering employees a chance to cash out on their vested equity, launching an $85 million tender offer. This secondary sale arrives at an $8.5 billion valuation, reflecting the company's aggressive growth trajectory and its strategy to retain top talent in a competitive AI market.
With the July 6 deadline just days away, Australian founders have a narrow window to secure a spot at the upcoming TechCrunch Startup Battlefield in Sydney. The event, returning August 19, 2026, offers a proven launchpad for local ventures to bypass traditional hurdles and reach global capital markets.
The viral open-source AI agent OpenClaw has officially migrated from desktop fascination to mobile utility, launching as a dedicated application on both iOS and Android. Users can now link their smartphones to the OpenClaw Gateway to trigger automated tasks directly from their pockets, marking the latest expansion of agentic software.
Three former DeepMind researchers who once mastered Texas hold’em are now applying reinforcement learning to Wall Street. Their Prague-based startup, EquiLibre Technologies, has reached a $500 million valuation after a major Series A led by Creandum, signaling a shift in how automated algorithms navigate complex financial markets.
Wisconsin-based startup Realta Fusion has successfully harvested electricity directly from a fusion reaction to power a lightbulb, a technical milestone that could redefine the economics of nuclear energy. The June 19 experiment using its WHAM device marks a potential shift away from traditional, less efficient steam-turbine power generation.
Priced at $0.034 per 1,000 images, Google’s new Nano Banana 2 Lite aims to corner the high-volume content market. The model promises four-second latency, positioning itself as a streamlined, budget-friendly alternative to the company’s more complex, premium generative tools currently used for rapid creative iteration.
A physical keyboard is making a comeback as Clicks Technology showcases its new Communicator, a device designed for users who prioritize efficiency over the endless scroll of modern touchscreens. Revealed in a new hands-on video, the phone aims to bridge the gap between retro tactile feel and contemporary functionality.
Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 5, a midsize model designed to execute autonomous agentic tasks at a fraction of the cost previously required for such capabilities. By prioritizing lower price points and improved reliability, the lab aims to set a new competitive baseline for developers and enterprise users.
A $5 billion valuation and $1 billion in contract orders have thrust AI chip startup Etched into the spotlight, marking a dramatic reversal for a company that struggled to secure any venture funding just two years ago. The firm is now moving to deploy its custom hardware to major enterprise customers.
Singapore-based startup Acti has launched an agentic keyboard for iOS and Android designed to perform tasks across apps rather than simply suggesting text. By integrating AI directly into the typing interface, the tool aims to eliminate the friction of switching between chatbots to retrieve information or execute commands.
Anthropic has launched Claude Science, a specialized research workbench designed to consolidate computational workflows rather than introduce a new underlying AI model. By integrating over 60 scientific databases and multi-agent management tools, the platform aims to streamline the research process for scientists currently navigating fragmented digital environments.
Meta is broadening access to its Live Chats feature while introducing granular moderation controls for creators. By allowing Community Champions to host sessions and enabling co-host support, the platform is attempting to refine its real-time engagement tools to better compete with established social networks.
The May 28 explosion of a New Glenn rocket remains a mystery, as Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp admits the company has yet to identify the root cause. While initial assessments point toward the first stage’s aft section, the firm is racing to clear the wreckage and restore its sole launchpad in Florida.
A two-seat Cybercab prototype, stripped of both steering wheel and pedals, has appeared on public roads in Austin, Texas. The testing, captured in video footage shared on X, marks a transition from controlled environments to real-world conditions for Tesla’s vision of a fully autonomous robotaxi network.
Developers can now connect AI tools like Claude and Cursor directly to X via a new hosted Model Context Protocol server. By removing the need for custom infrastructure, the platform aims to transform its real-time data flow into a primary resource for automated analysis and intelligent application development.
Riverside is expanding its recording platform to include newsletter publishing, leveraging artificial intelligence to convert spoken content into written articles. By bypassing the blank-page struggle of traditional platforms like Substack, the company aims to help creators repackage existing video and audio recordings into new distribution formats without starting from scratch.
By 2050, the world must mine more copper than in all of human history to satisfy the energy transition. The California-based startup Arcturus is betting on a material science breakthrough, using laser-infused carbon nanomaterials to boost conductivity and potentially cut electrical grid energy losses by half.
Amazon Web Services is embedding specialized engineers directly into client companies to accelerate AI integration, mirroring a strategy recently adopted by OpenAI and Anthropic. The new organization, backed by $1 billion in internal resources, focuses on deploying agentic systems while simultaneously training clients to maintain their own infrastructure independently.
