Welcome to Startups Weekly<\/i> \u2014 your weekly recap of everything you can\u2019t miss from the world of startups. <\/i>Sign up <\/i>here<\/i><\/a> to get it in your inbox every Friday.<\/i><\/p>\n Ticktock, TikTok: <\/strong>It\u2019s been a wild week for TikTok. Even as the company starts testing its Twitter competitor in certain markets<\/a>\u00a0and launches its luxury secondhand shop in the U.K.<\/a>, it\u2019s finding a lot of friction in the land of the free and the home of the brave: In an episode of \u201cAs the TikTok Turns,\u201d the U.S.\u2019s esteemed House of Representatives, in a rare show of bipartisanship, has passed a bill to give TikTok\u2019s parent company a nine-month ultimatum: Sell or face extinction in the U.S.<\/a> This is like giving your teenager an extra three months to clean their room before grounding them \u2026 forever!<\/p>\n The bill also comes with a magic \u201c90-day extension\u201d button for the president\u2019s use only. How thoughtful! It seems this move has appeased some Senate skeptics, and even President Biden is on board. Critics argue this ban could infringe free speech rights and hurt businesses. (Who knew viral dances were so crucial to our economy?) On the flip side, as one lawmaker puts it \u2014 consider it less entertainment app ban and more spy balloon deflation.<\/p>\n How powerful are<\/em> influencers?: <\/strong>The weirdest curveball we saw this week was a reminder that people don\u2019t really understand how journalism or product reviews work. To wit: Humane Ai raised $230 million before the product even left the factory. The hype was real until the Ai Pin dropped at a hefty $699 plus monthly fees, and folks realized it\u2019s a lot of ado about not-a-lot. Don\u2019t shoot the messenger \u2014 in this case popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee aka MKBHD, whose crime was <checks notes> \u201cTelling it like it is\u201d with his review<\/a> titled \u201cThe Worst Product I\u2019ve Ever Reviewed \u2026 For Now.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, this YouTuber has more subscribers than some countries have people (18 million to be exact; in fact, if his YouTube channel was a country, it would be roughly the 69th most populated country. Nice.). Apparently, being honest equates to \u201cpotentially killing someone else\u2019s nascent project,\u201d according to ex-AWS engineer Daniel Vassallo<\/a>. Funny how an underdog worth $800 million can get its feelings hurt so easily! And by the way, this isn\u2019t a first; MKBHD was also accused of causing Fisker\u2019s downfall with another truth-bomb review last month: \u201cThis Is the Worst Car I\u2019ve Ever Reviewed.\u201d Dom and Amanda think it\u2019s notable that a YouTuber is perceived as having the power to make or break a company<\/a>.<\/p>\n Poetry Camera takes a photo and prints a poem. Image Credits:<\/strong> Poetry Camera<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The next time you\u2019re missing the good ol\u2019 days of squinting through a tiny viewfinder and praying your shot turns out okay, remember Mood.camera. It\u2019s an iOS app that gives you all the uncertainty of analogue photography\u00a0sans<\/em> trips to the photo lab<\/a>. Created by developer Alex Fox, this app says \u201cno thank you\u201d to live previews and editing features, instead focusing on vintage filters and letting fate decide how your photos turn out. Because who doesn\u2019t love a little mystery in their life? Just don\u2019t forget to hold still for three minutes or so while it \u201cdevelops.\u201d For $1.99\/month (or $14.99 one-time fee), you too can experience the thrill of accidentally overexposing every picture on your beach vacation like it\u2019s 1995.<\/p>\n Ever snap a pic of a tree and wish it was poetry? Well, Joyce Kilmer didn\u2019t either. But in the age of AI tech, Kelin Carolyn Zhang and Ryan Mather have decided to bless us with their intriguing spawn \u2014 the Poetry Camera! This ain\u2019t your average Insta click-creator; instead of capturing duck faces and dinner plates, it generates thought-provoking (or as thought-provoking as AI can manage) poetry based on its visual encounters. A Raspberry Pi serves as its brain while OpenAI\u2019s GPT-4 spins out verses worthy of Wordsworth (or maybe not). And here\u2019s the kicker: This camera prints out your poetic masterpiece on paper \u2014 yes, paper. No digital saving for that extra touch of nostalgia or is it just an easy way to avoid privacy concerns? The jury\u2019s still out. But hey, if you\u2019ve been yearning for a physical memento from your digital existence \u2026 snap away<\/a>!<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Betty Laura Zapata\/Bloomberg \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Breaking news in the world of bling: Pascal, the lab-grown diamond startup, is making it rain with nearly $10 million in VC funding and a hefty revenue forecast. Who needs Drake\u2019s $400,000 diamond-encrusted iPhone case when you can have affordable ice? These cultured gems are so shiny they\u2019ll make your TikTok videos sparkle like a disco ball. Even Andreessen Horowitz couldn\u2019t resist throwing some money at this gem of an idea<\/a>!<\/p>\n Well, well, well! Last week we got wind that Rippling was about to close a $200 million funding round<\/a> at a jaw-dropping $13.4 billion valuation. Now founder Parker Conrad has confirmed the news and spilled some juicy details<\/a>. They were looking for a way to give early employees some liquidity (read: cash money), but investor interest was so high they had to expand their plans. As for going public? That\u2019s somewhere over the rainbow, suggests Conrad.<\/p>\n Oh, Tesla. With profits dropping faster than a Cybertruck with a stuck accelerator<\/a> and EV sales feeling the pressure, it seems the automaker is in a bit of a pickle. A 55% dip in profits? Ouch<\/a>! It appears that slashing EV prices like they\u2019re Black Friday deals<\/a> hasn\u2019t worked out quite so well for them. Between wars, arson attacks on factories, high-profile layoffs<\/a>, and new models rolling off the assembly line slower than LA traffic, it seems Tesla has a long list of challenges. Let\u2019s just hope Musk\u2019s plans work out better than the Tesla semi-truck production timeline.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another handful of stories you might otherwise have missed:<\/p>\nMost interesting startup stories from the week<\/h2>\n
![\"Poetry](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Poetry-Camera.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
Most interesting fundraises this week<\/h2>\n
![\"Parker](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1258478709-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOther unmissable TechCrunch stories \u2026<\/h2>\n
\n