Startups Weekly: Wiz’s bet paid off in an M&A-rich week

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. It’s rare to report on an 11-figure startup acquisition, let alone multiple high-value deals in a single week. And there are more subtle signs that things are […]Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. It’s rare to report on an 11-figure startup acquisition, let alone multiple high-value deals in a single week. And there are more subtle signs that things are[#item_full_content]

Wayve CEO shares his key ingredients for scaling autonomous driving tech 

Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall sees promise in bringing his autonomous vehicle startup’s tech to market. That is, if Wayve sticks to its strategy of ensuring its automated driving software is cheap to run, hardware agnostic, and can be applied to advanced driver assistance systems, robotaxis, and even robotics.  The strategy, which Kendall laid […]Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall sees promise in bringing his autonomous vehicle startup’s tech to market. That is, if Wayve sticks to its strategy of ensuring its automated driving software is cheap to run, hardware agnostic, and can be applied to advanced driver assistance systems, robotaxis, and even robotics.  The strategy, which Kendall laid[#item_full_content]

1X will test humanoid robots in ‘a few hundred’ homes in 2025

Norwegian robotics startup 1X plans to start early tests of its humanoid robot, Neo Gamma, in “a few hundred to a few thousand” homes by the end of 2025, according to the company’s CEO, Bernt Børnich. “Neo Gamma is going into homes this year,” Børnich told TechCrunch in an interview at Nvidia GTC 2025. “We […]Norwegian robotics startup 1X plans to start early tests of its humanoid robot, Neo Gamma, in “a few hundred to a few thousand” homes by the end of 2025, according to the company’s CEO, Bernt Børnich. “Neo Gamma is going into homes this year,” Børnich told TechCrunch in an interview at Nvidia GTC 2025. “We[#item_full_content]

Inside the Google-Wiz acquisition and the deal’s biggest winners

It was on, then off, and welp, now it’s on again — and this time for a lot more money. Yep, the Equity podcast dug into Google’s $32 billion acquisition of cloud security startup Wiz. There was a lot to unpack: the why, the how, what it means. And of course, there was the “who […]It was on, then off, and welp, now it’s on again — and this time for a lot more money. Yep, the Equity podcast dug into Google’s $32 billion acquisition of cloud security startup Wiz. There was a lot to unpack: the why, the how, what it means. And of course, there was the “who[#item_full_content]

Next Insurance gets scooped up by Munich Re for $2.6B

Germany’s Munich Re has signed a definitive agreement to acquire digital insurance company Next Insurance for $2.6 billion, the firms announced on Thursday. Founded in 2016, Palo Alto-based Next Insurance is focused on providing insurance to small-to-medium-sized businesses. It was last valued at $2.5 billion in late 2023 when it raised $265 million. Next Insurance’s […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Germany’s Munich Re has signed a definitive agreement to acquire digital insurance company Next Insurance for $2.6 billion, the firms announced on Thursday. Founded in 2016, Palo Alto-based Next Insurance is focused on providing insurance to small-to-medium-sized businesses. It was last valued at $2.5 billion in late 2023 when it raised $265 million. Next Insurance’s
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.[#item_full_content]

CoreWeave prices its IPO to raise at least $2.2 billion. And now the games begin.

CoreWeave said on Wednesday that it hopes to sell its initial public shares between $47 and $55 per share, putting the money it may raise between about $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion. Word on the street is that CoreWeave wanted to raise at least $3 billion and possibly over $4 billion. But price range announcements […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

CoreWeave said on Wednesday that it hopes to sell its initial public shares between $47 and $55 per share, putting the money it may raise between about $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion. Word on the street is that CoreWeave wanted to raise at least $3 billion and possibly over $4 billion. But price range announcements
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.[#item_full_content]

Airbyte launches new connectors to help companies better leverage their data

Open-source data movement company Airbyte is launching additional connectors to help enterprises better utilize their data in the age of AI without compromising data sovereignty. The San Francisco-based startup announced on Thursday that it’s releasing a host of new capabilities designed to enable customers to securely move corporate data without tapping SaaS applications. The new […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Open-source data movement company Airbyte is launching additional connectors to help enterprises better utilize their data in the age of AI without compromising data sovereignty. The San Francisco-based startup announced on Thursday that it’s releasing a host of new capabilities designed to enable customers to securely move corporate data without tapping SaaS applications. The new
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.[#item_full_content]

Time is ticking! Vote for the TechCrunch Sessions: AI speaker you want to see

TechCrunch Sessions: AI kicks off on June 5 at Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley — and you have the power to decide who you want to see lead an impactful breakout session. We have narrowed down the impressive number of speaker applications to six incredible finalists. Now, it’s up to you to choose who you […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

TechCrunch Sessions: AI kicks off on June 5 at Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley — and you have the power to decide who you want to see lead an impactful breakout session. We have narrowed down the impressive number of speaker applications to six incredible finalists. Now, it’s up to you to choose who you
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.[#item_full_content]

Make waves in 2025: Exhibit at TechCrunch events

If you’re reading this, you already know: It’s time to amplify your brand. Get in front of thousands of TechCrunch event attendees, readers, and decision-makers who can take your business further this year by exhibiting at a TechCrunch event. The perks of exhibiting: What’s in it for you Exhibiting doesn’t just elevate your brand — […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

If you’re reading this, you already know: It’s time to amplify your brand. Get in front of thousands of TechCrunch event attendees, readers, and decision-makers who can take your business further this year by exhibiting at a TechCrunch event. The perks of exhibiting: What’s in it for you Exhibiting doesn’t just elevate your brand —
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.[#item_full_content]

Pruna AI open sources its AI model optimization framework

Pruna AI, a European startup that has been working on compression algorithms for AI models, is making its optimization framework open source on Thursday. Pruna AI has been creating a framework that applies several efficiency methods, such as caching, pruning, quantization and distillation, to a given AI model. “We also standardize saving and loading the […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Pruna AI, a European startup that has been working on compression algorithms for AI models, is making its optimization framework open source on Thursday. Pruna AI has been creating a framework that applies several efficiency methods, such as caching, pruning, quantization and distillation, to a given AI model. “We also standardize saving and loading the
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.[#item_full_content]