Technology

Jack Altman joins Benchmark as GP

Jack Altman joins Benchmark as GP

đź’Ą Discover this must-read post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Venture,Alt Capital,Benchmark,In Brief,Jack Altman đź’ˇ **What You’ll Learn**: Jack Altman and Benchmark announced today that he will join the firm as a general partner. This news is important, especially since Altman has been running his own firm, Alt Capital, since at least 2024. The fund raised a $150 million fund in early 2024, then last September announced a $274 million fund, raised in just one week. On LinkedIn, Altman called the past two years running Alt Capital as an investor “the most rewarding” of his life, adding that he loved…
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Research says Intellexa’s Predator spyware was used to hack journalist’s iPhone in Angola

Research says Intellexa’s Predator spyware was used to hack journalist’s iPhone in Angola

đź’Ą Explore this trending post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Security,privacy,Spyware,surveillance,Predator,cybersecurity,Amnesty International,Intellexa,Angola 📌 **What You’ll Learn**: A government agent of sanctioned spyware maker Intellexa has hacked into the phone of a prominent journalist in Angola, according to Amnesty International, in the latest case of someone in civil society being targeted with powerful phone-hacking software. The human rights organization published a new report on Tuesday analyzing several hacking attempts against local journalist and press freedom activist Teixeira Candido, in which a series of malicious links were sent via WhatsApp during 2024. Amnesty International found that Candido eventually clicked on one of…
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SpaceX vets raise $50M Series A for data center tie-ins

SpaceX vets raise $50M Series A for data center tie-ins

🔥 Check out this awesome post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Fundraising,Startups,Mesh Optical Technologies,SpaceX,Thrive Capital đź’ˇ **What You’ll Learn**: Travis Brashears, Cameron Ramos, and Serena Graun-Hyberle began collaborating at SpaceX, developing the optical communications links that keep thousands of Starlink Internet satellites always connected. Now, the three engineers are co-founders of Mesh Optical Technologies, a Los Angeles startup that announced a $50 million Series A led by Thrive Capital on Tuesday. Mesh aims to mass produce optical transceivers, devices that convert optical signals from fiber or lasers into electrical signals for computers. CEO Brashears, President Ramos, and VP of Product…
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Thrive is raising $10 billion for a new fund, its largest to date

Thrive is raising $10 billion for a new fund, its largest to date

đź’Ą Check out this awesome post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Venture,Startups,Thrive Capital,venture 📌 **What You’ll Learn**: Thrive Capital just raised $10 billion for a new fund, the largest it has ever raised and nearly double the size of its last fund. Of this amount, $1 billion is allocated to early-stage investments, while the rest is allocated to growth-stage investments, according to an announcement by the company. Thrive told Bloomberg that this latest fundraising was oversubscribed. This is the firm's 10th fund – called Thrive Some of the company's other notable investments include Databricks, Anduril, and Cursor. The company is…
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Meta’s own research has found that parental supervision doesn’t really help reduce teens’ compulsive social media use

Meta’s own research has found that parental supervision doesn’t really help reduce teens’ compulsive social media use

đź’Ą Read this awesome post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Social,Instagram,lawsuit,Meta,social media,Social media addiction âś… **What You’ll Learn**: An internal research study at Meta called “Project MYST” and created in partnership with the University of Chicago, found that parental supervision and controls — such as time limits and restricted access — had little effect on children’s compulsive social media use. The study also found that children who had been exposed to stressful life events were more likely to lack the ability to adequately control their social media use. This was one of the high-profile allegations revealed during testimony in the…
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Apple is said to be working on three wearable devices powered by artificial intelligence technology

Apple is said to be working on three wearable devices powered by artificial intelligence technology

🚀 Explore this awesome post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Apple,iPhone,wearables 📌 **What You’ll Learn**: Late last month, The Information reported that Apple was developing an AI wearable, an AirTag-sized necklace with cameras that could attach to a user's shirt. Now, Bloomberg writes, development of such a device — along with two other AI-powered components — is accelerating, as Apple looks to remain competitive with other tech giants racing to launch similar products. In addition to the AI ​​pin, Apple is also accelerating development of its upcoming AI-powered smart glasses, codenamed N50, the report claims. Apple clearly has competition in…
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Climactic launches hybrid fund to support startups across ‘Death Valley’

Climactic launches hybrid fund to support startups across ‘Death Valley’

đź’Ą Read this must-read post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Climate,Venture,Climactic,Exclusive,materials science,venture capital âś… **What You’ll Learn**: It's a challenge every startup faces: they've made a prototype and proven it works, but now they have to sell the product and produce enough to get through the "valley of death" that kills many companies. “They're stuck with chicken and eggs,” Josh Felser, co-founder and managing partner of early stage venture firm Climactic, told TechCrunch. The hurdle is particularly large for companies that manufacture physical goods. Felser notes that this is common among startups producing new materials. Fessler, who previously founded and…
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Human Versions Sonnet 4.6 | TechCrunch

Human Versions Sonnet 4.6 | TechCrunch

đź’Ą Read this insightful post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Anthropic,Sonnet 📌 **What You’ll Learn**: Anthropic has released a new version of its mid-range Sonnet model, to keep up with the company's four-month refresh cycle. In a post announcing the new model, Anthropic emphasized improvements in programming, following instructions, and computer use. Sonnet 4.6 will be the default model for Free and Pro plan users. The Sonnet 4.6 beta will include a contextual window with 1 million icons, twice the size of the largest window previously available for Sonnet. Anthropic described the new context window as "enough to accommodate entire…
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Mistral AI buys Koyeb in first acquisition to support its cloud ambitions

Mistral AI buys Koyeb in first acquisition to support its cloud ambitions

✨ Explore this must-read post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Startups,Koyeb,Mistral AI,serverless computing 📌 **What You’ll Learn**: Mistral AI, the French company recently valued at $13.8 billion, has made its first acquisition. OpenAI competitor has agreed to buy Koyeb, a Paris-based startup that simplifies the deployment of AI applications at scale and manages the infrastructure behind them. Mistral is primarily known for developing large language models (LLMs), but this deal underscores its ambitions to position itself as a full-fledged player. In June 2025, it announced Mistral Compute, a cloud AI infrastructure that Koyeb now hopes will accelerate. Founded in 2020…
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WordPress.com adds an AI assistant that can edit and adjust styles, create images, and more

WordPress.com adds an AI assistant that can edit and adjust styles, create images, and more

🔥 Explore this trending post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,TC,WordPress,wordpress.com đź’ˇ **What You’ll Learn**: WordPress.com, Automattic's website hosting platform, will now include a built-in WordPress AI assistant, the company announced Tuesday. The feature is designed to work within a website to understand its content and layout, allowing site owners to make changes using natural language commands. With the new tool, you can adjust a site's layout, style, or other styles by issuing commands to the AI ​​assistant, and then see the changes reflected in the site as you work. The company also points out that these instructions do not…
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