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Asia AI data center provider Firmus on Monday announced a fresh $505 million raise led by Coatue at a $5.5 billion post money valuation. With this round, Firmus has raised $1.35 billion in six months, it says. The Singapore-based data center company previously raised AU$330 million (approximately $215 million) at an AU$1.85 billion ($1.2 billion) valuation from investors, including Nvidia. Firmus is developing an energy-efficient “AI factory” network of data centers in Australia and Tasmania, a project it dubs Project Southgate. It is using Nvidia’s reference designs for building these efficient data centers. These new data centers will use Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform…
Following leaked revelations at the end of March that Anthropic had developed a powerful new Claude model, the company formally announced Mythos Preview on Tuesday along with news of an industry consortium it has convened, known as Project Glasswing, to grapple with the cybersecurity implications of the new model and advancing capabilities more generally across the AI field.The group includes Microsoft, Apple, and Google as well as Amazon Web Services, the Linux Foundation, Cisco, Nvidia, Broadcom, and more than 40 other tech, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and financial organizations that will have private access to the model, which is not yet…
Three key executives at The Trade Desk are exiting the company. On Tuesday, Chief marketer and executive vice president Ian Colley announced he is leaving the publicly traded demand-side platform (DSP) after seven years. Colley is being replaced by Anna Sayre, who has worked on marketing at the company for roughly the same amount of time.“I’m stepping down from TTD after more than 7 years, in order to pursue an exciting new opportunity that I’ll be able to talk about in a couple of weeks,” Colley told ADWEEK. “We’ve done some incredible marketing work at TTD in recent years, positioning the…
Apple’s first foldable iPhone is on track to debut in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The news follows a report from Nikkei Asia on Tuesday that raised concerns the company’s foldable iPhone could be delayed due to challenges during the phone’s engineering test phase. Gurman reports that while the device’s complexity may limit initial supply, Apple is still aiming to launch the phone at roughly the same time as or shortly after the non-foldable models. Given that the release is still six months away, the timing isn’t…
Chomps’ chicken sticks hit shelves this week.To support the meat snack brand’s foray into a new protein, Chomps is launching a campaign introducing people to its three flavors of chicken sticks: Original Chicken, Nashville Hot, and Savory Breakfast. The chicken line will live alongside its current array of beef and turkey snacks.The chicken sticks will be available only at Target and through Chomps’ website to start, explained Stacey Hartnett, svp of marketing at Chomps. In May, they’ll start rolling out to additional retailers including Costco, Aldi, Whole Foods, and Walmart.To support the launch, Chomps has designed a full-funnel retail ad…
A new movie and TV tracking app, Binge, hailing from the indie developer behind other creative apps like the social app, Mammoth, and AI news reader Bulletin, has a clever feature: it will warn you when the jump scares are coming. To do so, the app takes advantage of Apple’s Live Activities — the feature that brings real-time notifications to your device’s Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. You’ve seen other apps that track ongoing events use the feature for tracking things like food deliveries, Uber arrivals, sports scores, and more. But Binge taps into the feature to let you know…
How do you file taxes on prediction market profits? It seems like the type of straightforward question any halfway decent bookkeeper should be able to answer. Right now, though, it’s a conundrum for tax experts across the country. “You have a vacuum of guidance,” says Patrick Camuso, an accountant who specializes in digital assets. “It puts the taxpayer in a bad position.”Prediction markets have been around for decades, so this isn’t a new issue. But platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have exploded in popularity since last year, which means the question of how to properly account for prediction market gains…
On Tuesday, the NFL announced that it partnered with U.S. Bank in a multi-year partnership, making the financial institution the first brand to hold a standalone banking sponsorship with the NFL in 30 years.The deal helps fill a void left by Visa, whose sponsorship rights expired in March after three decades of partnership, the second-longest such relationship in league history behind only Gatorade, which first partnered with the NFL in 1983. Under the previous arrangement, Visa served as the financial services partner of the NFL, but it also owned all associated categories including peer-to-peer banking and retail banking, which Visa passed…
We’re down to 4 days left to save up to $482 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass. These low rates will disappear on April 10 at 11:59 p.m. PT. If you’ve been mapping out your 2026 tech event calendar, this isn’t the moment to wait. Register now to lock in your savings before prices increase. What to expect at Disrupt Each year, Disrupt brings together 10,000+ founders, tech leaders, and VCs at San Francisco’s Moscone West. From October 13–15, you’ll gain valuable takeaways and curated networking opportunities designed to elevate your startup trajectory, accelerate your career, or strengthen your portfolio. Key insights from today’s tech heavyweights Last year, Disrupt featured 200+ on-stage conversations with 250+ top voices…
What to Look for in a Laptop StandAccordionItemContainerButtonWhen shopping for a laptop stand, think about how and where you’ll use it, and how much you’re willing to spend. Here’s what you need to consider:Do you need portability? If you commute or like to work from a coffee shop, opt for a foldable laptop stand that fits in your bag. Some models even double as cases, like Moft’s Carry Sleeve.Material preferences? Laptop stands come in a variety of materials—aluminum, steel, plastic, wood, etc. Aluminum models are generally lightweight and excellent for heat dissipation. Steel stands are sturdier but heavier, and plastic…
In March, the WNBA Board of Governors unanimously ratified the terms of a new seven-year CBA for the league, which will increase pay and benefits and create a revenue-sharing model for players. The news comes just in time for the league’s Season 30 campaign, which will incorporate three decades of history while looking forward and welcoming new fans.According to Phil Cook, the WNBA’s CMO, the Season 30 campaign was planned for months in advance based on the confidence that a deal would get done.
I cannot say with 100% certainty that nineteen-year-old Justin Jin is not pulling an elaborate prank on me. In my defense, Jin’s company Giggles – which he describes as “putting a trading app and TikTok together” – started as a joke. “This was around 2023, when TikTok was rumored to get banned and whatnot, and people were trying to find a new social media platform,” Jin told TechCrunch. “So I started this meme about an app called Giggles, and it wasn’t real at the time, but it went viral on TikTok.” The name is a riff on an existing joke…
If you haven’t heard of UpScrolled before, a brief primer: It’s a social media platform not too different from, say, Instagram or TikTok. You can share photos or short videos, follow accounts, comment on posts, and amass a following of your own. Nothing too earth-shattering, right?UpScrolled founder Issam Hijazi would beg to differ. Indeed, his nascent company diverges from most Big Tech platforms in a few notable ways: UpScrolled offers an old-fashioned chronological feed, rather than one dictated by an algorithm ostensibly serving up content you’ll latch onto; the platform also promises not to share user data with marketing firms…
On Tuesday, Cloudflare and GoDaddy announced a partnership that will give website owners more visibility and control over how AI agents crawl their websites. The partnership brings Cloudflare’s AI traffic controls to GoDaddy’s small-business customers, allowing them to decide which bots can access their sites and how their content is used, according to Stephanie Cohen, chief strategy officer at Cloudflare.It also expands Cloudflare’s Web Bot Auth system, introduced last year, which uses cryptographic verification to allow bots to prove their identity—helping site owners distinguish legitimate agents from impersonators.As traffic from AI agents increase, small and large publishers alike have had…
In 2022, California announced that it wanted to install 6 million heat pumps by 2030. So far, it’s only installed about 2.3 million, which means to make that goal, it would need to average about 2,000 installs per day for the next five years. Hitting that target could be difficult considering a typical mini split can take around a day to install and cost around $4,000 to $6,000 per zone, according to EnergySage. “We’ve got to do something different,” Mary-Ann Rau, co-founder and CEO of Merino Energy, told TechCrunch. Merino Energy, which has been operating in stealth, wants to change…
I’ve discovered the secret to a happy life in this era of constant connection: ignoring everyone that I know and love. Well, at least ignoring their push notifications on my smartphone by living in “Do Not Disturb” mode.With Do Not Disturb switched on, you still receive each new notification, but your phone doesn’t ping, buzz, or blip to tell you about it. It’s a trendy yet divisive pivot away from the always-on norm. Tongue-in-cheek fancams celebrating Do Not Disturb mode rack up millions of views on TikTok, alongside viral videos calling out users of the feature as rude.For one week,…