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Hey, folks. You\u2019ve made it to the end of the week \u2014 congrats, by the way \u2014 and to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch\u2019s regular newsletter covering the week that was in tech. Here, in this humble little column of ours, we do our best to curate the top stories that emerged over the past five days. Hope you find it useful.<\/p>\n
Just a few PSAs before we get on with the news. On May 24, TechCrunch Live<\/a>, TC\u2019s podcast about founder stories, will host Romi Gubes, the co-founder of Sensi.AI, in a discussion about how the company uses audio-based software to monitor patients and assist medical staff and family members with care. (Register for it here \u2014 it\u2019s free<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Meanwhile, TechCrunch City Spotlight will go virtual<\/a> on June 7 with a focus on Atlanta, where speakers will present about building businesses in the exploding metro and startups will apply to participate in TC\u2019s famed Battlefield 200.<\/p>\n Last but not least, Disrupt, TC\u2019s flagship conference, will return September (September 19\u201321) in San Francisco. Expect six stages of presenters, including a new AI-focused stage, and plenty of surprises. Learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, without further ado, on to the news.<\/p>\n Young billionaire buys Forbes:<\/strong><\/a> Austin Russell, the 28-year-old founder and CEO of Luminar<\/a>, which develops vision-based lidar and machine perception technologies primarily for self-driving cars, told\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/a> this week that he\u2019s buying an 82% stake in Forbes Global Media Holdings in a deal that values the company at nearly $800 million.<\/p>\n New Teslas on the way:<\/strong><\/a> Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased two new electric vehicles Tuesday at the\u00a0automaker\u2019s 2023 annual shareholder\u2019s meeting<\/a>. Tesla previously hinted at new models during its Investor Day in March<\/a>, displaying a photo with the company\u2019s entire lineup and several unveiled car outlines. One of the vehicles looked to be the size of a van, roughly, and the other similar in appearance to a sedan or hatchback. Both are expected to be more affordable vehicles that sell at far higher volumes.<\/p>\n Free TV, but with a catch:<\/strong><\/a> Telly<\/a>, a hardware startup led by Pluto TV co-founder Ilya Pozin,\u00a0announced<\/a> Monday that it\u2019s giving away 500,000 of its new smart TVs for free. (Yes, we said free.) There\u2019s a catch, though. Users must watch 24\/7 ads while simultaneously streaming TV shows and movies.<\/p>\n ChatGPT goes mobile: <\/strong><\/a>\u00a0This week, OpenAI announced<\/a>\u00a0the launch of an\u00a0official iOS app<\/a> that lets users access its popular AI chatbot on the go \u2014 months after the App Store was filled with dubious, unofficial services<\/a>. The new ChatGPT app will be free to use and free from ads and will allow for voice input, the company says, but will initially be limited to U.S. users at launch.<\/p>\n Holmes headed to prison:<\/strong><\/a> After years of high-profile court proceedings, Elizabeth Holmes could actually be headed to prison \u2014 for real this time. The former Theranos founder and CEO was found guilty of defrauding investors<\/a> last January, but has consistently delayed<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0appealed<\/a> her sentencing to remain out of incarceration. Though the infamous biotech entrepreneur is still appealing her 11-year sentence, a panel of Ninth Circuit judges ruled that Holmes\u2019 legal team has not raised enough of a \u201csubstantial question\u201d to keep her out of prison.<\/p>\n Kustomer leaves Meta, raises money:<\/strong><\/a> Meta\u2019s grand experiment in building an enterprise-ready customer service platform has come to a close. The parent of Facebook has officially spun out Kustomer<\/a>, the CRM startup it acquired last year\u00a0for around $1 billion<\/a>. The new entity is starting life with an infusion of $60 million from backers Battery, Redpoint and boldstart, plus a major chop into its previous valuation \u2014 it\u2019s now reportedly at $250 million.<\/p>\n Lock and hide:<\/strong><\/a> WhatsApp announced<\/a> today that it\u2019s introducing a new \u201cChat Lock\u201d feature designed to give users an additional layer of security for their most intimate conversations. As the name suggests, the feature lets you \u201clock\u201d a chat, which takes that thread out of the inbox and puts it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with your device password or biometric, like a fingerprint.<\/p>\n Humanoid robots FTW:<\/strong><\/a> Vancouver, British Columbia\u2013based Sanctuary AI this week unveiled Phoenix, its stab at the humanoid robot form factor. The bipedal bot stands 5\u20197\u2033 and weighs 155 pounds \u2014 not dissimilar from the humans it plans to augment (or replace, depending on who you ask). The system is capable of lifting payloads up to 55 pounds and traveling up to three miles per hour. No word on pricing \u2014 yet.<\/p>\n Need listening material for the weekend? Not to worry \u2014 TechCrunch has you covered (and then some). This week on Equity<\/a>, the crew covered Vice going bankrupt, Twitter\u2019s first acquisition with Elon Musk at the helm and what the future of venture debt could look like. Found<\/a> featured Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, the co-founder and CEO at Samooha, a startup creating key infrastructure needed for data collaboration. Over on Chain Reaction<\/a>, Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, talked about Chainlink\u2019s protocol that provides an oracle network to power smart contracts. The TechCrunch Podcast<\/a> did a deep dive on Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the Nintendo Switch. And TechCrunch Live profiled Richard Song, one of the co-founders of Persona, which built and offers a large suite of identity verification solutions, alongside Persona investor and Index Ventures lead Mark Goldberg.<\/p>\n TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys \u2014 which you know if you\u2019re already a subscriber. If you\u2019re not,\u00a0consider signing up<\/a>. Here are a few highlights from this week:<\/em><\/p>\n The new rules of venture debt:<\/a> <\/strong>The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was not the end of venture debt, but it was likely the end of companies raising debt with the same ease many were accustomed to. Rebecca writes about the state of venture debt in the wake of SVB and then First Republic Bank\u2019s collapse and how it might change in the future.<\/p>\n Alibaba, in the clouds:<\/strong><\/a> Chinese tech giant Alibaba is shaking up its corporate structure in a series of moves that will allow large pieces of its business to raise capital and potentially even go public. That\u00a0may not be a bad idea, when you consider that the conglomerate\u2019s revenue rose a middling 2% in Q1 2023 and its profitability is trending downward (operating income declined 9%) from a year earlier.<\/p>\n AI in retail, maturing:<\/strong><\/a> As the retail sector grows increasingly reliant and focused on data and AI, it\u2019s essential that retailers understand exactly how first-party data analysis can be crystalized into insights on customer behavior \u2014 and, in turn, a tangible competitive advantage. Hugh Cameron, head of data for Zitcha, looks at the three most important milestones along the road to predictive analysis in the retail media context.<\/p>\n Calling all early-stage startups! Apply to join the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. All finalists get expert training, VC networking, a booth at Disrupt, and the chance to compete for $100,000 in equity-free funds. Applications close May 31. Apply today<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nmost read<\/h2>\n
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