A raft of voice-based hardware devices have emerged, aimed at companionship, productivity, or personal growth. These include card-shaped devices from Plaud and Pocket; pendants from Friend, Limitless, and Taya; and a wristband from Bee, which is now part of Amazon. Now, two former Meta employees who worked on interface design have launched Sandbar, a startup…
Netflix is reportedly in talks to license video podcasts distributed by iHeartMedia, according to Bloomberg. iHeartMedia’s podcast portfolio includes shows like “The Breakfast Club,” “Las Culturistas,” “Jay Shetty Podcast,” and “Stuff You Should Know.” Netflix is looking for exclusivity, which means video podcasts that it licenses from iHeartMedia could no longer be uploaded to YouTube….
E-commerce software provider Shopify is bullish on AI-powered shopping agents, citing AI as an “incredible tool” to enable more entrepreneurs and calling it the “biggest shift in technology since the internet” during its third-quarter earnings call. The company, which partnered with ChatGPT maker OpenAI in September, reported that traffic from AI tools to its online…
Just over three years after taking the reins as the top leader of Sequoia Capital, Roelof Botha is stepping down as senior steward of the storied VC firm. The firm announced Tuesday that partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady will succeed him as co-stewards. Lin joined the storied firm in 2010, where he has led…
MoEngage, a customer engagement platform that works with consumer brands across 75 countries, says it has raised new funding led by its existing investor, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, to ramp up global growth and infuse more AI into its platform. All told, $100 million in shares just traded hands, split roughly 60% primary and 40% secondary,…
Google announced on Tuesday that it’s launching new agentic capabilities in AI Mode, its feature that allows users to ask complex questions and follow-ups to dig deeper on a topic directly within Search. Users can now get help with booking event tickets and beauty and wellness appointments in AI Mode. For example, you can say,…
NVIDIA and Qualcomm Ventures have joined a growing coalition of U.S. and Indian investors backing India’s deep tech startups. The group launched in September with more than $1 billion in commitments, timing that aligns with India’s new ₹1 trillion (around $12 billion) research and development initiative. NVIDIA has joined the coalition as a strategic technical…
Shares of electric aviation startup Beta Technologies took flight Tuesday as the company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange with an outsized raise of $1 billion and a stock price that closed up. The Vermont-based company priced shares in its IPO at $34, above its predicted range of $27 to $33. Beta…
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that he is re-nominating Shift4 founder Jared Isaacman to lead the NASA, the nation’s space agency, months after withdrawing the nomination. The reversal comes after weeks of online sniping from Elon Musk and others directed at Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who…
Amazon has told Perplexity to get its agentic browser out of its online store, the companies both confirmed publicly on Tuesday. After warning Perplexity multiple times that Comet, its AI-powered shopping assistant, was violating Amazon’s terms of service by not identifying itself as an agent, the e-commerce giant sent the AI search engine startup a…
