TechCrunch

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创业

一周一更
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一周一更

4月17日

Tokenmaxxing, OpenAI's shopping spree, and the AI Anxiety Gap

The gap between AI insiders and everyone else is widening, and the spending, suspicion, and even new vocabulary are starting to show it. While OpenAI is busy buying up everything from finance apps to talk shows, a certain shoe company just rebranded as an AI infrastructure play, and Anthropic unveiled a model it says is too powerful to release publicly ...but apparently not too powerful to demo to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into what's actually being built in AI infrastructure, who's winning the enterprise battle between OpenAI and Anthropic, and more of the week's headlines. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why chipmakers AMD, Arm, and Qualcomm just piled $60M into UK self-driving startup Wayve, and what Uber's $300M milestone bid says about who's winning the AV race How data center startup Fluidstack is positioning itself for the frontier labs, including a reported $50B agreement with Anthropic What Claude Code's moment at the HumanX conference reveals about where the OpenAI vs. Anthropic rivalry is actually playing out Why tokenmaxxing, and Meta's leaked internal leaderboard, might say more about optics than actual productivity Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:25 Allbirds is now an AI company, apparently 04:48 Why chipmakers are betting on Wayve 12:01 Fluidstack wants $1B to build AI data centers 16:24 OpenAI buys a finance app and a talk show 21:27 Anthropic vs. OpenAI in enterprise 24:15 The Anthropic model they won't release to the public 26:47 Why AI feels so distant to everyone else 30:47 What even is tokenmaxxing? 34:49 Parasail's $32M bet on cheaper AI inference 36:39 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月17日

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39 分钟
2天前

Fusion doesn't have a normal startup timeline, and investors are fine with that

Fusion energy has been "20 years away" for decades, but has the science finally caught up? Private investment in fusion companies surged from $10 billion to $15 billion in just months, and the money is coming from places you wouldn't expect. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan and guest host Tim De Chant sit down with Rachel Slaybaugh, general partner at DCVC, to break down why serious investors are finally treating fusion as a real asset class, and what the return thesis actually looks like when no one expects a power plant in their fund lifetime. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why the investment thesis for fusion looks less like traditional VC and more like biotech or SpaceX, and what "fusion euphoria" has to do with it What the Q value milestone actually means, and how close leading startups are to hitting the number that could trigger a public market opening How superconducting tape and AI-assisted plasma physics are quietly doing as much work as the big headline science breakthroughs Why one fusion company merging with Trump Media and Technology Group had Tim doing a double-take at his inbox Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2天前

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34 分钟
4月10日

Luma AI's Amit Jain on why most world model companies are getting it completely wrong

LLMs may have kicked off this AI boom, but the ceiling is closer than the hype suggests. As models run out of text data to train on, the companies and investors paying attention are already moving on. The next wave isn't better chatbots; it's machines that can understand the physical world. Luma AI, the Bay Area lab that raised over $1.4 billion from a16z, Nvidia, and Amazon, is betting on exactly that. On episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, we’re bringing you a conversation Rebecca Bellan sat down with Amit Jain, co-founder and CEO of Luma AI, at Web Summit Qatar. Together, the pair dug into where the next trillion-dollar AI opportunity actually gets built, and whether the companies chasing it even know what they're building yet. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why video, audio, and images are the real frontier for AI training data, not text What an "intelligent world model" actually is, and why Jain thinks most companies building them are getting it completely wrong The case for why AI won't kill creative jobs, and why Jain thinks studio heads are the real problem How the path from video generation to robotics to AGI is simpler than anyone's making it sound Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:13 Why LLMs are hitting a ceiling 02:43 The data problem & what comes after LLMs 04:30 What actually makes a world model a world model 06:05 Why 3D data is a dead end 07:39 What Luma is building next 09:08 How much humans stay in the loop 10:00 Near-term use cases for agentic video 11:22 Will AI kill jobs in film & production? 13:30 Why the entertainment industry is already dying 15:27 Why we actually need more content, not less 17:46 Luma's roadmap: generation, understanding, and robotics 19:54 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月10日

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22 分钟
4月15日

The musician-turned-biotech-founder waiting to fundraise

When Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc got COVID despite being vaccinated and boosted, he tried to fund research for a better solution. What he quickly found out? You can't just write a check in biotech. Regulators require a commercialization plan, and philanthropy doesn't move science through clinical trials or get you a license on university IP. Now, he's bootstrapping a cancer drug platform targeting pancreatic cancer, a disease that kills 90% of its patients, and intentionally waiting to raise from his network until peer-reviewed papers can make his case. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Aloe Blacc to talk about what happens when a creator decides to build instead of just invest, how Aloe is watching AI reshape both the biotech and music industries in real time, and his thoughts on who actually wins. Listen to the full episode to hear: How he’s navigating a world where credibility is earned in data, not fame How a University of Houston molecule discovery platform could cut years off drug development timelines Why he thinks record labels, not artists or AI companies, will ultimately control the economics of AI-generated music What Suno taught him about prototyping, and why his next album will still be recorded with live musicians Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月15日

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29 分钟
13小时前

Apple's new CEO, and why Elon Musk wants to buy Cursor for $60B

A new era is on the way for Apple as Tim Cook plans to step down from his CEO role in September, handing the reins to hardware chief John Ternus. Ternus may be inheriting one of the most durable businesses in tech, but he’s also stepping into a very different ecosystem than the one Cook spent decades shaping. The App Store’s 30% cut is under pressure, the behind-the-scenes power Apple once held over developers is being challenged, and AI-native apps are changing what it means to build on Apple’s platform. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into what this transition means for startups and a closer look at some of the week’s biggest deals — including SpaceX's $60B option on Cursor. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why Anthropic’s Mythos model is raising questions about both safety and marketing The $5 billion Amazon-Anthropic deal that looks a lot like every other circular AI infrastructure play What the SpaceX-Cursor agreement (and that $10 billion breakup fee) says about Elon Musk's AI strategy post-xAI merger Why fintech Revolut and AI chip startup Cerebras' public market plans have us wondering whether this is actually the year the IPO market reopens Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:26 Anthropic's Mythos accessed by “unauthorized groups” 04:28 Is Amazon's $5B Anthropic investment just another circular deal? 09:53 SpaceX and Cursor’s $60B option 18:25 Is this finally the year of the IPO? 21:38 SpaceX, Revolut, and Cerebras: the IPOs to watch 26:41 Tim Cook's retirement plans 29:15 What a new Apple CEO means for startups and the App Store 35:59 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13小时前

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38 分钟
4月8日

Snowflake’s transition from storing data to shipping with it

Snowflake is betting that the future of AI isn’t just analyzing data, it’s acting on it. That means a shift away from chatbots and toward autonomous agents that can actually get work done. And Snowflake is reorganizing fast to keep up, from shipping hundreds of AI features to restructuring teams along the way.On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy to unpack the company’s transformation and what it signals about where AI is headed next. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why Ramaswamy believes the chatbot era is ending and the agentic era is beginning. How Snowflake is evolving from a data warehouse into an AI and applications platform. What “shipping with your data” actually looks like in practice. Why the company is making big internal changes to support its AI push. Subscribe to Equity on ⁠YouTube⁠,⁠ Apple Podcasts⁠,⁠ Overcast⁠,⁠ Spotify⁠ and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on⁠ X⁠ and⁠ Threads⁠, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:17 Snowflake’s AI shift and agentic future 01:45 Why 2026 marks the end of chatbots 04:09 Cortex Code, Snowflake Intelligence, and new products 06:09 Who benefits: non-technical users & enterprises 07:35 Adoption challenges and why AI pilots fail 12:11 How AI is reshaping jobs and skills 14:39 Layoffs, automation, and the future of documentation 18:37 Snowflake’s evolution into an AI platform 21:04 Competition: Databricks, hyperscalers, and AI giants 25:01 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月8日

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27 分钟
4月3日

Space: the final frontier of AI infrastructure

Tech companies are racing to build data centers in space, pitching orbital compute as the next frontier for AI infrastructure, even as the technical and economic realities remain far from clear. Add in OpenAI’s massive $122 billion round and Bluesky’s latest AI backlash, and the message is clear: The future of AI is being shaped as much by ambition and hype as it is by real-world constraints. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane unpack these massive capital bets, user backlash, and off-world compute plans along with Whoop’s major valuation and the literal downfall of robot Olaf. Listen to the full episode to hear about: OpenAI’s $122 billion fundraise and what its near-trillion-dollar valuation says about expectations for AI. Whoop’s $575 million raise and the shift toward “wearables 2.0” (and what happens to all that data). Bluesky’s AI-powered feed builder and why it triggered a major user backlash. The rise of data centers in space and whether they are financially or physically feasible. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:20 A humanoid Olaf robot collapses at Disneyland Paris 03:30 OpenAI raises $122B at an $852B valuation 11:30 Whoop lands $575M and bets big on wearable data 18:50 The risks (and value) of personal health data 23:00 Bluesky’s AI feed builder sparks backlash 30:00 Can Bluesky keep growing — and compete with X? 36:30 The race to build data centers in space 44:30 SpaceX, Starlink, and the business of orbital compute 49:30 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月3日

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34 分钟
4月1日

Why private wealth is cutting out the VC middleman

The VC middleman is getting cut out faster than anyone expected. Family offices and private wealth firms are going direct: writing checks, taking board seats, even incubating companies from scratch. And more founders are starting to notice. In February alone, family offices made 41 direct investments, including one Midwest-based firm that led a $230 million Series B into an AI chip startup. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Mitch Stein and Ari Schottenstein, founder and head of alternatives at ARENA Private Wealth, to find out what this shift means for founders, cap tables, and the future of AI investment. Listen to the full episode to hear: How Arena landed the lead on Positron's $230 million Series B, and why the CEO specifically wanted them on his cap table How Arena does due diligence on technical companies What "tourist capital" actually looks like, and the red flags founders should watch for as family offices flood into AI deals Why some VCs are quietly unhappy about this trend (and why Arena thinks that's their problem) Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:13 Why family offices are going direct now 06:03 The gen 2 & gen 3 family office shift 07:22 Is this strategic or just AI FOMO? 10:17 How Arena got into the Positron deal 14:30 Why founders want private wealth on their cap table 18:31 Due diligence on technical companies 21:56 Red flags founders should watch for 25:04 Are VCs threatened by this trend? 27:47 Taking board seats & level of involvement 34:17 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月1日

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32 分钟
3月27日

VCs are betting billions on AI's next wave, so why is OpenAI killing Sora?

When an 82-year-old Kentucky woman was offered $26 million from an AI company that wanted to build a data center on her land, she said no. Sure, that same company can try to rezone 2,000 acres nearby anyway, but as AI infrastructure stretches further into the real world, the real world is starting to push back. That tension is everywhere this week, from OpenAI shutting down its Sora app to courts finally starting to hold social platforms accountable. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into what it looks like when the AI hype cycle meets reality. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why rival prediction market CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket are co-investing in a $35M VC fund How drone startups like Zipline, Lucid Bots, and Brinc are finding real traction where other robotics plays have stalled What Kleiner Perkins' $3.5B raise says about where the biggest VC firms think the next AI wave is going Why two separate court verdicts against Meta in the same week could be the “tobacco moment” for social media Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:30 Would you turn down $26M for your farm? 03:56 Rivals Kalshi & Polymarket CEOs are investing together 10:28 Deals for drones: Zipline, Brinc & Lucid Bots 18:17 Kleiner Perkins goes all-in on AI with $3.5B raise 22:52 OpenAI shuts down Sora 28:04 Meta gets hit with dual verdicts 34:56 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3月27日

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37 分钟
1天前

Don't stop hiring humans. Stop hiring the wrong humans with Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, Artisan

Surviving the early days as an AI startup isn’t just about making the technology work, it’s about hiring the right people, avoiding costly mistakes, and standing out in a crowded market. This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, founder and CEO of Artisan, a fast-growing AI startup building AI employees for sales. Best known for its viral “Stop Hiring Humans” campaign, Artisan is rethinking outbound sales with AI, while still betting on hiring exceptional human talent. In this episode, they break down what it really takes to build and scale a venture-backed AI company, from Y Combinator to rapid growth. This conversation covers: Startup hiring mistakes every founder should avoid Lessons on firing, team building, and company culture in early-stage startups The strategy behind bold, controversial marketing that drives growth How AI is transforming sales, hiring, and the future of work What founders get wrong about the necessary roles needed for a scaling startup This conversation gets to the heart of building a startup: making the right hires early or paying for it later. Subscribe to Build Mode on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, or ⁠wherever you like to listen⁠. And watch the full videos on ⁠YouTube⁠. Apply to Startup Battlefield: We are looking for early-stage companies that have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or yourself): techcrunch.com/apply. Be sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Build Mode podcast. TechCrunch Disrupt: If you're thinking about applying to Startup Battlefield, then October 13 to 15 in San Francisco, we're back for TechCrunch Disrupt, where the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you want to cheer them on, or just network with 1000s of founders, VCs, and tech enthusiasts, then grab your tickets. Use code buildmode15 for 15% off any ticket type. New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday. Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.

1天前

•

37 分钟

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Tokenmaxxing, OpenAI's shopping spree, and the AI Anxiety Gap

Fusion doesn't have a normal startup timeline, and investors are fine with that

Luma AI's Amit Jain on why most world model companies are getting it completely wrong

The musician-turned-biotech-founder waiting to fundraise

Apple's new CEO, and why Elon Musk wants to buy Cursor for $60B

Snowflake’s transition from storing data to shipping with it

Space: the final frontier of AI infrastructure

Why private wealth is cutting out the VC middleman

VCs are betting billions on AI's next wave, so why is OpenAI killing Sora?

Don't stop hiring humans. Stop hiring the wrong humans with Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, Artisan

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