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Battlefield alum DevAlly raises €2M to help companies with Europe’s feisty new accessibility law

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Many businesses that provide goods and services to the EU’s 450 million consumers must comply with new accessibility standards that took effect in June. Like the GDPR before it, this new act had companies scrambling to adjust their websites, e-commerce platforms, and banking apps. But despite similar standards existing in the U.S., many still have a long way to go. “One thing that surprised us was companies, even massive companies, coming to us two weeks before [the deadline] saying, ‘Oh we didn’t know anything about this,’” said Irish entrepreneur Cormac Chisholm. His startup, DevAlly, is among the first to leverage…

Novoloop’s upcycled plastic takes a step closer to production

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Plastic recycling startup Novoloop has inked a deal with a major manufacturer to produce its upcycled thermoplastic polyurethane at commercial scale, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The agreement helps nudge the Menlo Park-based Novoloop through the so-called “valley of death” that many climate tech startups must slog through. Startups that depend on hardware are particularly susceptible to stumbling in the valley, the dreaded moment when they’ve proven their initial technology and have not generated sufficient revenues from selling their product. Under the terms of the deal, Novoloop will supply Huide Science and Technology with a chemical building block used to make…

Sora’s downloads in its first week was nearly as big as ChatGPT’s launch

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After OpenAI’s video-generating app Sora surged to the No. 1 position on the U.S. App Store, it has now, technically, experienced a bigger first week than ChatGPT on iOS, according to new data from app intelligence provider Appfigures. Its estimates show that Sora saw 627,000 iOS downloads in its first seven days of availability, compared with ChatGPT’s 606,000 iOS downloads during its first week. This isn’t the fairest comparison, however, because ChatGPT was available only in the U.S. during its first week, while Sora is currently offered in the U.S. and Canada at launch. Still, Appfigures says that Canada contributed…

Even after Stargate, Oracle, Nvidia, and AMD, OpenAI has more big deals coming soon, Sam Altman says

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At nearly the same moment as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was expressing surprise over OpenAI’s multibillion-dollar deal with competitor AMD — shortly after his company agreed to invest up to $100 billion into the AI model maker — Sam Altman was saying that more such deals are in the works. Huang appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday. When asked if he knew about the AMD deal before it was announced, he answered, “Not really.” As TechCrunch previously reported, OpenAI’s deal with AMD is unusual. AMD has agreed to grant OpenAI large tranches of AMD stock — up to 10%…

Here’s what it’s really like to appear on billionaire VC Tim Draper’s ‘Meet the Drapers’ pitch show

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There was barely a breeze on the roof of the MCM studios building in Manhattan last week as six entrepreneurs graced a stage to pitch their businesses. At one point, it was April Wachtel’s turn. She stood and made the case for her company, Cheeky Cocktails, to a judging panel that included the billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper. Men holding TV cameras circled her as she pitched, capturing the moment live for Draper’s “Shark Tank”-style business competition show “Meet the Drapers.” The show is entering its eighth season, with past winners including the leadership platform Balloon and the food company…

OpenAI’s Nick Turley on transforming ChatGPT into an operating system

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When Nick Turley joined OpenAI in 2022 as the head of ChatGPT, he was tasked with commercializing the company’s research. He has made great strides toward that goal, growing the product to 800 million weekly active users. Now, Turley wants to take an even bigger swing: transforming ChatGPT into a new type of operating system full of third-party apps. I sat down with Turley this week on the outskirts of San Francisco’s Fort Mason, a former U.S. military post where OpenAI held its third annual developer conference, to discuss how he’s thinking about ChatGPT’s future. You can find a transcript…

Sora’s first week on iOS in the US was nearly as big as ChatGPT’s

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After OpenAI’s video-generating app Sora surged to the No. 1 position on the U.S. App Store, it has now, technically, experienced a bigger first week than ChatGPT on iOS, according to new data from app intelligence provider Appfigures. Its estimates show that Sora saw 627,000 iOS downloads in its first seven days of availability, compared with ChatGPT’s 606,000 iOS downloads during its first week. This isn’t the fairest comparison, however, because ChatGPT was available only in the U.S. during its first week, while Sora is currently offered in the U.S. and Canada at launch. Still, Appfigures says that Canada contributed…

Amazon Pharmacy is launching vending machines for prescription drugs

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Amazon announced on Wednesday that it’s debuting prescription vending machines at its One Medical clinics. The new in-office kiosks, which are operated by Amazon Pharmacy, let patients pick up their prescriptions immediately after their appointment. Amazon Pharmacy Kiosks will be available at One Medical locations in Los Angeles starting in December, and Amazon plans to expand to more locations soon after. After a provider writes a prescription, patients can choose to have it sent to Amazon Pharmacy for in-office kiosk pickup. Patients then use their phone to check out in the Amazon app, after which medications are typically “ready in minutes,” Amazon…

AST SpaceMobile lands key Verizon deal amid growing competition with SpaceX and T-Mobile

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AST SpaceMobile has inked a new deal with Verizon to bring space-based cellular broadband across the United States, marking its most significant partnership to date and its latest move to capture a larger share of the emerging space-to-cellular market. Under the agreement, Verizon will integrate AST’s satellite network with its terrestrial infrastructure, using Verizon’s 850 MHz spectrum to extend coverage in remote areas where towers can’t reach. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal builds on an earlier partnership between the two entities announced last year, in which Verizon made a $100 million commitment to support AST’s service…

A break down of the H-1B changes — and why more changes could come

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A few weeks ago, President Trump announced the application fee for an H-1B visa would increase to $10,000. The price tag sent shock waves through, especially the tech ecosystem, which heavily utilizes the visa to bring talent in from other countries. On this week’s Equity, we sat down with Jeremy Neufeld, the director of immigration policy at the Institute for Progress, to talk about the visa changes, what it means, and why it’s happening. He said the intention of the visa change makes sense, but the implementation of it has “left a lot to be desired.” “Some of the proposals…