Ricursive Intelligence, a startup building an AI system to design and automatically improve AI chips, has raised $300 million at a $4 billion valuation. The company said Monday the round was led by Lightspeed. Ricursive says the system will be able to create its own silicon substrate layer and speed up AI chip improvements. Rinse and repeat to get to AGI, the founders say. The Series A comes just two months since the company formally launched with a seed investment led by Sequoia. It has raised $335 million total, reports The New York Times. Ricursive was founded by former Google…

People around the world now spend hours a day on their smartphones. On average, daily smartphone use exceeds three hours, and for many adults, total screen time climbs to six hours or more, according to research. This constant close-up screen exposure has been linked to a growing list of eye-health issues, including dry and irritated eyes, eye fatigue, blurred vision, headaches, and the worsening of nearsightedness, per reports. Edenlux, a South Korea–headquartered startup, has developed technology to address eye and ear health issues caused by screen-heavy digital lifestyles. The company’s mission is personal. Edenlux founder and CEO Sungyong Park knows…

As demand grows for privacy-first enterprise AI that can run without sending sensitive data to the cloud, SpotDraft has raised $8 million from Qualcomm Ventures in a strategic Series B extension to scale its on-device contract review tech for regulated legal workflows. The extension values SpotDraft at around $380 million, the startup told TechCrunch, nearly double its $190 million post-money valuation following its $56 million Series B in February of last year. Across regulated sectors, enterprises have moved quickly to test generative AI, but privacy, security, and data governance concerns continue to slow adoption for sensitive workflows — especially in…

Google agreed to pay $68 million to settle claims its voice assistant illegally spied on users to, among other things, serve them advertisements, Reuters reports. Google did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement of the class-action case, which accused the firm of “unlawful and intentional interception and recording of individuals’ confidential communications without their consent and subsequent unauthorized disclosure of those communications to third parties.” The suit further claimed that “information gleaned from these recordings was wrongly transmitted to third parties for targeted advertising and for other purposes.”  The case centered on “false accepts,” wherein Google Assistant is alleged to…

Meta plans to test new subscriptions that give people access to exclusive features on it apps, the company told TechCrunch on Monday. The tech giant said the new subscriptions will unlock more productivity and creativity, along with expanded AI capabilities. In the coming months, Meta said it will offer a premium experience on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp that gives users access to special features and more control over how they share and connect, while keeping the core experiences free. Meta doesn’t appear to be locked into one strategy, noting that it will test a variety of subscription features and bundles, and…

To understand the stance of an unwavering Trump loyalist after United States Custom and Enforcement shocked the nation this weekend by shooting another American citizen in Minneapolis, look no further than Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois. Rabois’ public support for ICE’s actions in the killing of Alex Pretti, made via posts on X, was so vehement that Khosla Ventures partner Ethan Choi and firm founder Vinod Khosla both publicly disavowed it. Rabois argued that Pretti was at fault, writing that the protester was committing a “felony.” One of Rabois’ posts said, “[N]o law enforcement has shot an innocent person. [I[llegals…

In the wake of TikTok’s U.S. ownership change last week, some users are seeking out alternative platforms. One app gaining traction is UpScrolled, a social network that pledges to remain impartial to political agendas. The app currently ranks 12th overall in Apple’s App Store and second in the social networking category. Upscrolled blends familiar features from Instagram and X, letting users share photos, videos, and text posts, discover new content, and send direct messages. The app was founded last year by Issam Hijazi, a Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian technologist, with the aim of giving users a place to “freely express thoughts, share moments,…

Industrial AI startup CVector built a brain and nervous system for big industry. Now, founders Richard Zhang and Tyler Ruggles are tasked with a bigger challenge: showing customers and investors how this AI-powered software layer translates to real savings on an industrial scale.  The New York-based startup has had some success following its pre-seed funding round last July. Its system is now running with real customers, including public utilities, advanced manufacturing facilities, and chemical producers. It’s given the duo more concrete examples of what problems they can solve — and money they can save — for their big industry clients…

Skylight, a TikTok alternative built on open source technology, is benefiting from concerns that arose over TikTok U.S.’s change in ownership last week. The startup, a maker of a short-form, vertical video app similar to TikTok, says it has now topped over 380,000 users and is continuing to grow after a busy weekend. Launched last year and backed by Mark Cuban and other investors, Skylight’s mobile app is built on the AT Protocol, the technology that also powers the decentralized X rival, Bluesky, which now has north of 42 million users. Skylight, co-founded by CEO Tori White and CTO Reed…

More than 450 tech workers from companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, and Salesforce have signed a letter urging their CEOs to call the White House and demand that United States Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) leave U.S. cities.  “For months now, Trump has sent federal agents to our cities to criminalize us, our neighbors, friends, colleagues, and family members,” reads the open letter from IceOut.Tech. “From Minneapolis to Los Angeles to Chicago, we’ve seen armed and masked thugs bring reckless violence, kidnapping, terror and cruelty with no end in sight.” Minneapolis has become the focal point of a large-scale…