U.S. autonomous drone delivery and logistics startup Zipline said Wednesday it will set up operations in Houston and Phoenix early this year, as part of an expansion that will be propelled by $600 million in fresh investment.  The round, which values the company at $7.6 billion, will be used to expand to at least four U.S. states in 2026, the company said. Several existing and new investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners and Tiger Global participated in the funding round. Founded in 2014, Zipline developed its own drone delivery ecosystem, including the logistics software,…

Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has just announced a satellite internet network called TeraWave which will be capable of offering data speeds up to 6Tbps, and geared towards enterprise, data center, and government customers. The TeraWave constellation will use a mix of 5,280 satellites in low-Earth orbit and 128 in medium-Earth orbit, and Blue Origin plans to deploy the first ones in late 2027. It’s not immediately clear how long Blue Origin expects it will take to build out the whole network. The low-Earth orbit satellites Blue Origin is building will use RF connectivity and have a max data…

Meta on Wednesday announced it’s expanding ads on Threads to all users globally. The expansion, which starts next week, will be gradual, the company says, noting it may take months for the full rollout to complete. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly praised the social app and X rival, which has now grown to over 400 million monthly active users, as the company’s next big hit. Shortly after the app’s debut, the exec told investors that Threads had a good chance of reaching 1 billion users in a few years’ time. The app has rapidly grown since its July 2023…

YouTube TV has been slowly expanding its multiview feature over the past few years, which initially allowed sports fans to watch up to four channels simultaneously on one screen. Soon, viewers will finally have the chance to watch any content they choose.  ​In his annual letter published on Wednesday, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan revealed that the platform will soon introduce a “fully customizable multiview” experience. This upgrade aims to provide greater personalization by letting viewers create their own multiview layouts, tailoring their screens to their individual interests across sports, news, entertainment, and more. ​YouTube TV first rolled out the multiview…

We’re kicking things off earlier than ever this year! TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 tickets are officially on sale. Lock in the lowest rates of the year with the Super Early Bird pricing — available through February 27 — and be among the first 500 registrants to score a plus one pass at 50% off. Once either limit is hit, these deals disappear. Register now to save up to $680 on your pass and get 50% off a +1 pass. Don’t miss these one-time, limited-time deals. Immerse yourself in the epicenter of tech innovation at Disrupt 2026. From October 13–15, San Francisco’s Moscone West transforms into a global hub for technology and venture capital. Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty…

It all began in sales. That’s where Cam Badger got his start, at a pharmaceutical company. He expected to find structure and mentorship on the job but instead found “fragmented training, inconsistent coaching, and no real way to scale learning in a meaningful way,” he told TechCrunch.  He spent four years as a sales rep, then a sales trainer, and then worked for a medical startup where he met Bhrugu Giri. The two lamented about how awful many sales reps were at life science companies like pharma businesses, medical device startups, and so forth. The duo decided to try and…

The ground beneath our feet holds so much energy that experts at the Department of Energy think geothermal power could generate 60 gigawatts — or nearly 10% of U.S. electricity — by 2050.  Zanskar co-founder and CEO Carl Holland thinks that lofty number is too low, mostly because it’s discounting conventional geothermal’s potential. The DOE’s figures assume advances in enhanced geothermal, which uses fracking techniques to access hot rock deep underground. Companies like Fervo and Sage Geosystems have been pursuing that angle, and experts agree it has tremendous potential. By contrast, conventional geothermal, which taps naturally fractured hotspots, has been stagnant,…

In 2025, consumers spent more money on non-game mobile apps than they did on games for the first time, according to the findings from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower’s annual “State of Mobile” report. While this milestone had been seen in particular markets, like the U.S., or during certain quarters, 2025 marked the first time it occurred globally. Worldwide, consumers spent approximately $85 billion on apps last year, representing a 21% year-over-year increase. The figure was also nearly 2.8x the amount spent just five years ago. Image Credits:Sensor Tower Generative AI, a defining trend over the past year, led the…

Online mentoring site UStrive has resolved a security lapse that exposed the personal information of its users, including children.  The exposed data included the full names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other non-public and user-provided information of UStrive users, which was accessible to any other logged-in user. The nonprofit, previously known as Strive for College, provides online mentorship to high school and college students through its platform. The organization would not say whether it plans to inform users about the security incident.  Last week, a person who asked not to be named alerted TechCrunch to the security flaw on UStrive’s…

Serve Robotics, the sidewalk delivery robot company backed by Nvidia and Uber, is expanding into a new category with its latest acquisition: healthcare. Los Angeles-based Serve Robotics announced Tuesday it was acquiring Diligent Robotics, a startup that builds robots named Moxi designed to assist in hospitals by delivering lab samples, supplies, and other tasks. The deal values Diligent’s common stock at $29 million. Diligent Robotics was founded in 2017 by Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu and has raised more than $75 million in venture capital — most recently raising a $25 million funding round in 2023. The acquisition marks Serve’s…