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Earlier today, we talked with Phil Haslett, the cofounder and now chief strategy officer of EquityZen, a 10-year-old, New York-based secondary marketplace that connects accredited buyers with privately held company shares that their owners — including founders, employees, and VCs — are looking to sell. It’s a tough business to be running right now, competing […] This secondary market pro thinks we haven’t hit bottom, but he sees price drops slowing by Connie Loizos originally published on TechCrunch... →

Boundary Layer, which was gunning for local air freight, and announced a slew of launch partners earlier this year, today announced a shift in strategy, with some high-performance foiling personal watercraft. Think low-flying SeaDoo, and you’ve got the right idea. The new product is called Valo, and will be able to carry a couple of […] Boundary Layer pivots from container ships to hydrofoiling personal watercraft by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch... →

Menstrual cups (sometimes known as “moon cups”) have been around since the 1930s, and it’s been a bloody long period since we’ve seen much innovation in that category. Emm just closed a $1 million round of funding to add some smarts. The company adds an applicator and an app tracking feature to help keep an […] To da moon: Emm aims to innovate on the menstrual cup by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch... →

Launch provider Rocket Lab is establishing a subsidiary to handle its sensitive U.S. government business, like launching spysats and experimental military spacecraft. Rocket Lab National Security LLC will handle most of the Defense Department stuff going forward to save the rest of the company a bit of grief. The main arm of Rocket Lab, or […] Rocket Lab carves off defense-focused subsidiary for national security customers by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch... →

In the older days of the web, an app called Trillian emerged to solve the problem of allowing users to connect to their friends across multiple messaging services, like AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC and others. Lately, I’ve been longing for a Trillian-like service that would allow me to keep up with Twitter’s fleeing user […] What’s a Twitter user to do? by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch... →

Released two years ago, OpenAI’s remarkably capable, if flawed, GPT-3 was perhaps the first to demonstrate that AI can write convincingly — if not perfectly — like a human. The successor to GPT-3, most likely called GPT-4, is expected to be unveiled in the near future. But in the meantime, OpenAI has quietly rolled out […] While anticipation builds for GPT-4, OpenAI quietly releases GPT-3.5 by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch... →

The technological advances happening within the space industry are nothing short of dramatic — from propulsion systems, heavy-lift rockets and increased payload capabilities to building commercial space stations to fill the gap when the International Space Station ceases operations in 2030. These are thrilling times, and TC Sessions: Space 2022, which takes place on December […] Meet the early-stage startups exhibiting at TC Sessions: Space by Lauren Simonds originally published on TechCrunch... →

While artificial intelligence long ago surpassed human capability in Chess, and more recently Go — and let us not forget Doom — other more complex board games still present a challenge to computer systems. Until very recently, Stratego and Diplomacy were two of those games, but now AI has become table-flipping good at the former […] Now AI can outmaneuver you at both Stratego and Diplomacy by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch... →

Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package. Daily Crunch: SBF says he’s ‘had a bad month,’ but is he really giving us the full story? by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch... →

Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture developing autonomous vehicle technology, cut its workforce this week — the latest example of layoffs in the AV industry and more broadly in the tech sector. Employees were told of the layoffs Wednesday, according to sources who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak for […] Hyundai-backed AV startup Motional cuts workforce by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch... →

Monarch Tractor this morning announced the delivery of its first MK-V unit. The “smart tractor” is electric and what the Bay Area-based company refers to as “driver optional” (terms like “autonomous” and “self-driving” come with their own unique baggage). We’ll just refer to it as a “robot tractor” from here on. The system was unveiled […] Monarch delivers its first robot tractor by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch... →

Tesla is offering Model 3 and Model Y buyers in the U.S. a $3,750 credit if they have their vehicle delivered in December 2022, according to an update on the company’s inventory page and several posts on Reddit. Tesla didn’t share the reason for such generosity or publish the news widely — customers received the […] Tesla offers $3,750 discount for Model 3, Model Y deliveries in December by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch... →

Disney announced today The Mandalorian’s long-awaited third season will debut on March 1st on Disney+. The company had previously said that the third season would debut in February, so fans will have to wait a little longer than expected to see the upcoming season. The third season will take place following the events of “The […] ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 will premiere on March 1 by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch... →

After launching as a pilot late last year, Discord will allow more servers to offer paid memberships in exchange for special server-specific perks. Plenty of Discord communities were already using third-party services like Patreon to offer access to premium content, but the expanded feature will allow Discord-centric communities to manage that process from within the […] Discord opens up paid subscriptions so servers can sell premium perks by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch... →

Some startups saw their valuations decline in 2021's bull market, some were in line with the public market, and some haven't declined at all. Startup valuations are declining — but not consistently by Rebecca Szkutak originally published on TechCrunch... →

Despite a joint statement between Ye (fka Kanye West) and Parler in October noting that the two had reached an agreement for the rapper to buy the social network, that will not come to pass, Parler owner Parliament Techonologies said today. Parler’s owner and Ye have “mutually” parted ways without closing the deal, the company […] Kanye West isn’t buying Parler after all by Darrell Etherington originally published on TechCrunch... →

A little over a year after buzzy coding bootcamp Lambda School rebranded as Bloom Institute of Technology, the venture-backed startup is conducting massive layoffs, according to sources. The workforce reduction, per people familiar with the matter, has impacted half of the company’s staff across content, product, data and engineering teams. The layoff is expected to […] BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch... →

It might seem like Lensa AI sprung up over night when suddenly, your friends are all posting artistic renditions of themselves that they generated on the app. But while the Lensa AI app itself has been around since 2018, its viral “magic avatars” feature launched in late November, boosting the app to the #1 spot […] Lensa AI climbs the App Store charts as its ‘magic avatars’ go viral by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch... →

Apple iPhone users with iOS 16.1 software can now share car keys in their Wallet with non-iPhone users, starting with Google Pixel devices. In the future, that capability will extend to other devices with Android 12+, according to Apple. Apple says it has been working with the Internet Engineering Task Force and other industry players […] iPhone users can share car keys in Wallet with non-iPhone users by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch... →

The cybercriminals behind the Medibank ransomware attack have published what appears to be the rest of the data stolen from the Australian health insurance giant. The attackers, which are believed to be linked to the Russian-backed REvil ransomware gang, posted an update to its dark web blog in the early hours of Thursday morning, saying: […] Medibank hackers declare ‘case closed’ as trove of stolen data is released by Carly Page originally published on TechCrunch... →