Cauldron Ferm Has Turned Microbes Into Nonstop Assembly Lines
Cauldron Ferm, a biotech startup founded by David and Polly McLennan, has secured a $13.25 million Series A2 round led by Main Sequence Ventures to commercialize its "hyper fermentation" platform. The technology converts traditional batch fermenters into continuous, high‑productivity bioreactors that keep microbes in a maximally active state. CEO Michele Stansfield says the company will initially target fats, proteins and whey, leveraging customers’ own microbial strains. The funding builds on a $6.5 million seed round raised in 2024 and aims to deepen the company’s technical moat.
The SEC Drops Its Four-Year-Old Investigation Into EV Startup Faraday Future
The SEC closed its four‑year investigation into electric‑vehicle startup Faraday Future, despite staff having issued Wells Notices recommending enforcement. The probe had centered on alleged false statements during the 2021 SPAC merger and purportedly fabricated vehicle sales in 2023. The...
Do You Want to Build a Robot Snowman?
At Nvidia’s GTC keynote, CEO Jensen Huang unveiled an OpenClaw‑based open‑source initiative called NemoClaw and showcased a robot version of Disney’s Olaf to demonstrate the company’s robotics stack. The Olaf demo, presented as a potential Disney‑park attraction, ran into a...
Delve Accused of Misleading Customers with ‘Fake Compliance’
Compliance startup Delve, backed by Y Combinator and a $32 million Series A, faces accusations from an anonymous Substack author that it supplied fabricated evidence to claim customers were fully HIPAA and GDPR compliant. The post alleges Delve generated fake audit reports,...
How Fusion Power Works and the Startups Pursuing It
Fusion startups have collectively secured more than $10 billion, with over a dozen raising over $100 million each, accelerating the race to commercial reactors. Companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems aim to light their SPARC demo by late 2026 and begin building a...
Pinterest CEO Calls on Governments to Ban Social Media for Users Under 16
Pinterest CEO Bill Ready urged governments to ban social media for users under 16, citing mental‑health harms and the need for stronger safeguards. He highlighted Australia’s ban as a successful model and noted similar moves in Malaysia, Spain, Indonesia, France,...
WordPress.com Now Lets AI Agents Write and Publish Posts, and More
WordPress.com announced AI agents that can draft, edit, and publish posts, manage comments, and optimize metadata using natural‑language commands. The feature builds on the Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration that lets third‑party LLMs access site content and settings. All AI‑generated...
Pardoned Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Is Trying to Raise $1B for AI-Powered Planes
Trevor Milton, pardoned founder of the failed electric‑truck maker Nikola, is spearheading a bid to raise $1 billion to develop AI‑driven light jets. He and an investment group have acquired the struggling SyberJet Aircraft and are rebuilding it with dozens of...
Patreon CEO Calls AI Companies’ Fair Use Argument ‘Bogus,’ Says Creators Should Be Paid
Patreon CEO Jack Conte told SXSW that AI companies’ reliance on creator content under a "fair use" defense is "bogus" and should be compensated. He emphasized that while AI is an inevitable disruption, creators must receive direct payments for the...
Facebook Launches a New Monetization Program to Attract Popular Creators From TikTok, YouTube
Facebook unveiled the “Creator Fast Track” program, promising guaranteed monthly payments to high‑profile creators who migrate their audiences from TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. The initiative offers $1,000 per month for creators with at least 100,000 followers and $3,000 per month...
This Startup Wants to Make Enterprise Software Look More Like a Prompt
Eragon, a San‑Francisco startup founded by former Oracle and Salesforce executive Josh Sirota, closed a $12 million Series A round at a $100 million post‑money valuation. The company is building an agentic AI operating system that lets enterprise users run and orchestrate SaaS...
Microsoft Hires the Team of Sequoia-Backed AI Collaboration Platform, Cove
Microsoft announced that the entire team behind Cove, a Sequoia‑backed AI collaboration startup, will join the company as Cove shuts down on April 1. Cove, founded in late 2023, raised $6 million in seed funding and built an infinite whiteboard that lets...
Marquis Says over 672,000 People Had Personal and Financial Data Stolen in Ransomware Attack
Fintech firm Marquis disclosed that a ransomware attack in August 2025 exposed personal and financial data of 672,075 individuals, the most comprehensive figure released to date. The stolen information includes names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, and bank,...
Rivian’s RJ Scaringe Thinks We’re Doing Robots All Wrong
Rivian founder RJ Scaringe has launched Mind Robotics, a new venture focused on industrial robots that prioritize advanced hand dexterity over humanoid complexity. The company raised a $500 million Series A round led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz, bringing total funding to...
The MacBook Neo Is ‘the Most Repairable MacBook’ in Years, According to iFixit
Apple’s newly launched MacBook Neo has been hailed by iFixit as the most repairable MacBook in roughly fourteen years, earning a 6‑out of‑10 repairability score. The standout feature is its battery, which is mounted on a tray secured with 18...
Spotify Will Let You Edit Your Taste Profile to Control Your Recommendations
Spotify announced a beta feature that lets Premium users edit their Taste Profile, the algorithmic model behind Discover Weekly, Made For You playlists and Wrapped. The rollout begins in New Zealand, displaying listening data across music, podcasts and audiobooks in a...
When Startups Become a Family Business
The latest Build Mode episode examines the unique dynamics of family‑run startups, featuring AI procurement firm Rivio and event‑planning platform Nowadays. Both shows illustrate how built‑in trust and shared values can speed decisions, but also highlight the danger of concentrating...
Google Is Using Old News Reports and AI to Predict Flash Floods
Google researchers used its Gemini large language model to scan 5 million news articles, extracting 2.6 million flood reports and building the geo‑tagged “Groundsource” dataset. Leveraging this baseline, they trained an LSTM network that ingests global weather forecasts to produce flash‑flood probability...
Chinese Brain Interface Startup Gestala Raises $21M Just Two Months After Launch
Chinese entrepreneur Phoenix Peng’s startup Gestala has closed a $21.6 million Series A just two months after its launch, valuing the company between $100 million and $200 million. The round, led by Guosheng Capital and Dalton Venture, was heavily oversubscribed, with commitments exceeding...
Nuro Is Testing Its Autonomous Vehicle Tech on Tokyo’s Streets
Nuro, the Silicon Valley startup known for low‑speed delivery bots, is testing its autonomous‑driving software on Tokyo’s public roads using Toyota Prius vehicles with human safety operators. The trial marks Nuro’s first overseas deployment and reflects its recent pivot from...
Google Play Is Adding New Paid and PC Games, Game Trials, Community Posts, and More
Google announced a suite of gaming upgrades for Google Play at GDC 2026, expanding the store with paid indie titles that run on both mobile and Windows PCs. The platform will debut game trials, allowing users to play a portion before...
Ride-Hailing inDrive Acquires Pakistan’s Krave Mart to Bolster Grocery Delivery
Global ride‑hailing platform inDrive has finalized an all‑stock acquisition of Pakistan quick‑commerce startup Krave Mart, following approval from the Competition Commission of Pakistan. Krave Mart, founded in 2021, provides 30‑minute grocery deliveries via dark‑store networks in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore....
India Neobank Fi Winds Down Banking Services on Its Platform
India’s neobank Fi is winding down the banking layer of its platform after four years of partnership with Federal Bank. The move forces its 3.5 million customers to access their savings accounts via Federal Bank’s FedMobile app instead of Fi’s interface....
AgentMail Raises $6M to Build an Email Service for AI Agents
AgentMail, a San Francisco startup, raised a $6 million seed round led by General Catalyst to launch an API‑driven email service built for AI agents. The platform lets agents create and manage dedicated inboxes with threading, labeling, search and reply capabilities,...
Ring’s Jamie Siminoff Is Still Trying to Calm Privacy Fears, but His Answers May Not Help
Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff defended the company’s new Search Party feature, an AI‑driven tool that asks nearby Ring owners to review footage for missing pets, after a Super Bowl ad sparked a privacy outcry. He argued the service is opt‑out...
Will the Pentagon’s Anthropic Controversy Scare Startups Away From Defense Work?
In early March, negotiations for the Pentagon’s use of Anthropic’s Claude collapsed, and the Trump administration designated Anthropic a supply‑chain risk, prompting the company to sue. OpenAI quickly closed a separate defense contract, triggering a wave of ChatGPT uninstalls and...
US Reportedly Considering Sweeping New Chip Export Controls
U.S. Commerce Department is drafting rules that would require government approval for any export of AI‑focused semiconductors such as those made by AMD and Nvidia. The proposal differentiates review intensity based on order size, with small shipments getting a basic...
Spotify Rolls Out AI-Powered Prompted Playlists to the UK and Other Markets
Spotify is extending its AI‑powered Prompted Playlists to Premium users in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Sweden after earlier tests in New Zealand, the U.S. and Canada. The feature lets listeners generate custom playlists by typing natural‑language prompts that describe...
TechCrunch Mobility: Waymo Makes Its Defense
Waymo defended its remote‑assistance model after Senate Commerce Committee questioning, clarifying that 70 agents in the U.S. and Philippines support, but do not drive, its 3,000‑vehicle fleet. The company highlighted that Event Response Teams handle complex incidents from U.S. locations...
