• Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s startup triples to $100M valuation

    January 8, 2026

    Spangle, an AI e-commerce startup founded by former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla, has raised $15 million in a new funding round, valuing the company at $100 million after the investment. Led by NewRoad Capital Partners, the all-equity Series A round comes over a year after the Seattle-based startup raised a $6 million seed round at a $30 million pre-money valuation. Madrona, DNX Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, and strategic angel investors also participated, bringing total funding to $21 million, according to the startup. Retailers are facing changes in how consumers discover products online, as AI tools, social platforms, and recommendation engines increasingly…

  • Disney+ is launching vertical videos this year

    January 8, 2026

    Disney+ will add vertical videos to its service in the US sometime this year, in hopes that they can entice viewers to engage with its app every day. The company has made the announcement at its Tech + Data Showcase event at CES 2026. Disney first dabbled in vertical content with Verts, which launched for the ESPN app in August 2025, giving it the insight it needed on how its users respond to the video format. Erin Teague, Disney Entertainment’s EVP of Product Management, told Deadline that the company will use the format for all kinds of content. The service…

  • Google Classroom’s new tool uses Gemini to transform lessons into podcast episodes

    January 8, 2026

    Google has introduced a new way to grab the attention of students who are avid podcast listeners. Now available in Google Classroom, teachers can use a new Gemini-powered tool that generates podcast-style audio lessons, meant to promote deeper comprehension of educational material.  To begin, educators simply go to the Gemini tab within Google Classroom. There, they can select different customization options, such as selecting the appropriate grade level, defining topics, and setting clear learning objectives. They can then further personalize the audio experience by choosing the number of speakers or selecting different conversational styles, such as interviews, roundtable discussions, or…

  • You won’t be able to buy Samsung’s household Ballie robot after all

    January 8, 2026

    For years, we’ve been wondering when Samsung would actually bring Ballie, its cute household companion robot, to market and now we finally have our answer: it won’t. After the planned summer 2025 release window came and went, the company has opted not to release the gizmo as a consumer product, at least not for the foreseeable future. According to Bloomberg, Samsung has “indefinitely shelved” the robot. A spokesperson told the publication that the company will keep Ballie around as an “active innovation platform” internally. “After multiple years of real-world testing, it continues to inform how Samsung designs spatially aware, context-driven…

  • Anthropic reportedly raising $10B at $350B valuation

    January 8, 2026

    Anthropic is gearing up to raise a fresh $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation, according to The Wall Street Journal. TechCrunch has confirmed the raise and valuation, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Claude maker last raised a $13 billion Series F round at a $183 billion valuation three months ago, so this raise nearly doubles the AI firm’s value. In March, Anthropic secured $3.5 billion at a $61.5 billion valuation.  Coatue Management and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, will lead the new round, per the WSJ, which cited sources familiar with the deal. Anthropic is expected…

  • The best E Ink tablets for 2026

    January 8, 2026

    I’m a longtime lover of pen and paper, so E Ink tablets have been intriguing to me ever since they started becoming more widely available. After having hundreds of half-filled notebooks over the years, I, at some point, turned to digital tools instead because it was just easier to store everything on my phone or laptop so I always had my most important information at my fingertips. E-Ink tablets seem to provide the best of both worlds: the tactile satisfaction of regular notebooks with many of the conveniences found in digital tools, plus easy-on-the-eyes E-Ink screens. These devices have come…

  • Where VCs think AI startups can win, even with OpenAI in the game

    January 8, 2026

    Vanessa Larco, partner at Premise and former partner at NEA, thinks 2026 will finally be the year of consumer AI.  Larco, who’s been investing in consumer and prosumer for years, thinks we’re about to see a shift in how consumers spend time online, with AI powering “concierge-like” services. The question is, will legacy consumer products like WebMD and TripAdvisor continue to exist as standalone apps, or will they just get absorbed into ChatGPT or Meta AI? And where can startups carve out an AI-powered niche for themselves? Watch as TechCrunch’s ⁠Rebecca Bellan sat down with Larco on Equity to talk…

  • The Shine 2.0 is a compact wind turbine for your next camping trip

    January 8, 2026

    As power gets more dicey, personal energy generation only gets more appealing. Shine’s compact turbine isn’t going to power your house any time soon (though Rachel Carr, the company’s co-founder told me they have plans in that direction) but it can suck up the energy required to refill a smartphone in as little as 17 minutes. Of course, what it can generate depends on wind speed. That same charge could take as long as 11 hours if there’s only a slight breeze. That power curve, and its ability to operate at night, sets the turbine apart from solar panels. Of…

  • Shopify competitor Swap raises $100M six months after raising $40M

    January 8, 2026

    VC firms DST Global and Iconiq are piling into the London- and New York-based e-commerce startup Swap Commerce. On Wednesday the startup announced it raised a new $100 million round just six months after raising a $40 million Series B round led by Iconiq. Founded in 2022, Swap Commerce offers an AI-powered platform that helps brands build web storefronts and handle cross-border transactions, inventory management, and returns. The platform has become popular with luxury clothing brands, and the company particularly targets companies looking to sell their goods globally. The company declined to comment on its latest valuation. The fast, substantial…

  • HP’s new EliteBoard made me believe in keyboard computers again

    January 8, 2026

    A keyboard computer has always been on my wishlist — that is, a computer where the entire machine was stuffed into a keyboard. Perhaps I caught a glimpse of the Commodore 64 at an impressionable age, but regardless, the idea has always been intriguing to me. At CES 2026, HP is bringing that concept back with the new EliteBoard G1a, which is dubbed a “Next Gen AI PC.” It’s an IT administrator’s dream: It looks a typical desktop keyboard, but it has the full power of a Copilot+ AI PC inside. You can equip it with Ryzen 5 or 7…