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TechCrunch

• Tesla profits drop 55%, company says EV sales ‘under pressure’ from hybrids 2024-04-23
  Tesla profits fell 55% to $1.13 billion in the first quarter from the same year-ago period as a protracted EV price-cutting strategy and “several unforeseen challenges” cut into the automaker’s bottom line. Tesla reported revenue of $21.3 billion in the first quarter, a 9% drop from the first quarter of 2023. Analysts polled by Yahoo Finance […]
  Kirsten Korosec
• Tesla launches new Model 3 Performance variant to rev up demand 2024-04-23
  Tesla has officially revealed a new Performance variant of the recently refreshed Model 3 sedan as the company looks to fight off receding demand. The new version of the Model 3, which starts at $52,990, has a new active damping system and adaptive suspension for better handling and comfort, 296 miles of battery range and […]
  Sean O'Kane
• Tesla earnings week spotlights EV price cuts, ‘balls to the wall’ autonomy push 2024-04-23
  Tesla investors, still digesting a 43% drop in share price since the beginning of the year, are gearing up for what will likely be unimpressive financial results for the first quarter and a shift in priorities for CEO Elon Musk, who is making more moves to go “balls to the wall for autonomy.” Tesla is expected to […]
  Rebecca Bellan
• X is launching a TV app for videos ‘soon’ 2024-04-23
  X, the company formerly known as Twitter, is launching a dedicated TV app for videos uploaded to the social network soon. X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on Tuesday that the new app will bring “real-time, engaging content to your smart TVs.” The app’s interface looks quite similar to YouTube’s, as seen in a teaser video […]
  Aisha Malik
• TechCrunch Minute: How HeadSpin’s founder fraudster almost got away with lying to investors 2024-04-23
  News that the former founder of HeadSpin is headed to prison for fraud was further evidence that the last boom in the paired worlds of startup and venture capital led to more than just a little bit of fraud. Manish Lachwani, founder in question, is getting prison time and a massive fine for lying to […]
  Alex Wilhelm
• Bringing down skyscrapers’ sky-high carbon footprint with Joselyn Lai from Bedrock 2024-04-23
  Jocelyn Lai appeared on TechCrunch’s Found to discuss her company and its hopes of driving down the cost of a proven technology to address the climate crisis. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
  Dominic-Madori Davis
• Perplexity is raising $250M+ at a $2.5B-$3B valuation for its AI search platform, sources say 2024-04-23
  Perplexity, the AI search engine startup, is a hot property at the moment. TechCrunch has learned that the company is currently raising at least $250 million more at a valuation of between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. The news comes on the heels of two other big fundraises that have seen the company’s valuation leapfrog […]
  Ingrid Lunden
• Fisker plans more layoffs as cash dwindles and bankruptcy looms 2024-04-23
  Fisker says it’s planning more layoffs less than two months after cutting 15% of its workforce, as the EV startup scrambles to raise cash to stay alive. Fisker expects to seek bankruptcy protection within the next 30 days if it can’t come up with that money, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory […]
  Sean O'Kane
• Apple’s next iPad event is May 7 2024-04-23
  Apple just dropped an invite for its next event. Scheduled for May 7, the “Let Loose” presentation appears to be happening exclusively online — something that became standard fare for the company during the pandemic. Over the last couple of years, however, Apple has returned to in-person events, including WWDC, which kicks off in Cupertino […]
  Brian Heater
• Campus, a community college startup, receives $23M Series A extension led by Founders Fund 2024-04-23
  Although many students in the United States enter community colleges intending to transfer to four-year universities, only 16% of those students receive bachelor’s degrees within six years. But Campus, an online alternative to traditional community colleges, has an approach that aims to change that.  Many adjunct professors at the nation’s top universities, including UCLA, Princeton […]
  Marina Temkin
• Framework’s repairability philosophy is set to expand beyond the laptop 2024-04-23
  Framework Computer was ahead of the curve. The company was founded in 2019, as 20 U.S. states began exploring potential right to repair bills. It delivered its first product, the Framework 13, in 2021, a year before New York enacted its landmark (if flawed) Digital Fair Repair Act. Today, the company sells its repairable laptops […]
  Brian Heater
• Y Combinator alum Matterport is being bought by real estate juggernaut CoStar at a 212% premium 2024-04-23
  The transaction represents a premium of a whopping 212% over Matterport’s last closing share price before the deal was announced on April 22. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
  Anna Heim
• Fintech Fundid was shut down over interest rates and a strained cap table 2024-04-23
  To keep going, Fundid “needed to put up a lot more collateral because of the changing environment,” Stefanie Sample said. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
  Christine Hall
• Texture makes a bid to become the world’s go-to platform of the energy transition 2024-04-23
  The startup, founded by an Arcadia alumnus, seeks to become a common data collection and sharing platform for renewable power sources like wind, solar, and batteries. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
  Tim De Chant
• With Easel, ex-Snap researchers are building the next-generation Bitmoji thanks to AI 2024-04-23
  Easel is a new startup that sits at the intersection of the generative AI and social trends, founded by two former employees at Snap. The company has been working on an app that lets you create images of yourself and your friends doing cool things directly from your favorite iMessage conversations. There’s a reason why […]
  Romain Dillet
• Two widow founders launch DayNew, a social platform for people dealing with grief and trauma 2024-04-23
  After losing their husbands in devastating and unexpected ways, Karine Nissim and Eloise Bune discovered there were no suitable places where people could go to face all the challenges that surface during the grieving process, including daunting tasks such as organizing a funeral ceremony and donating belongings, as well as scouring the internet for support […]
  Lauren Forristal
• Amazon wants to host companies’ custom generative AI models 2024-04-23
  AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing business, wants to become the go-to place companies host and fine-tune their custom generative AI models. Today, AWS announced the launch of Custom Model Import (in preview), a new feature in Bedrock, AWS’ enterprise-focused suite of generative AI services. The feature lets organizations import and access their in-house generative AI models […]
  Kyle Wiggers
• Bump raises $3M seed to help creators manage finances 2024-04-23
  Bump allows creators to track income and market value, which can help them negotiate better deals and see how much money they are owed from partners. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
  Dominic-Madori Davis
• Amazon launches a new grocery delivery subscription in the US 2024-04-23
  Amazon said Tuesday that it has launched a new unlimited grocery delivery subscription for Prime members and customers with an EBT card (Electronic Benefit Transfer) in the U.S. if you’re living in one of the 3,500 eligible cities and towns. The company started testing grocery delivery in three locations last year: Denver; Sacramento, California; and […]
  Ivan Mehta
• Mozilla finds that most dating apps are not great guardians of user data 2024-04-23
  Dating apps are not following great privacy practices and are collecting more data than ever in order to woo Gen Z users, a new study by Mozilla pointed out. Researchers reviewed dating apps in terms of privacy in 2021. In the latest report, they noted that dating apps have become more data-hungry and intrusive. The organization […]
  Ivan Mehta