Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly roundup of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get the Startups Weekly newsletter in your inbox.
It’s the most wonderful tiiiiiiime of yeaaaaaaar… That’s right, we’re back with all the can’t-miss companies from Y Combinator’s current batch of startups. AI was, unsurprisingly, the biggest topic, with 86 of the 247 companies calling themselves AI startups, but we’re reaching bubble territory given that 187 mention AI in their offerings. We’ve got some roundups for you, including the 18 most interesting and TechCrunch staff favorites.
Meanwhile, I wrote an in-depth interview with the founder of hot-mug company Ember about (among other things) how he split his company in half so he could attract MedTech and life-science investors.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
Image Credits: PM images (opens in new window) / Getty Images
Startups that lose money are nothing new, but this week, Devin summarizes why Trump’s Truth Social is different in a few key ways. In short, the whole thing plays out like a bad reality TV show, where the plot revolves around bleeding money and the suspense is whether they’ll run out of cash before viewers change the channel. With a Nasdaq debut as $DJT, thanks to a merger with the financial world’s desperate darling, a SPAC, Trump Media & Technology Group’s (TMTG) financial reveal reveals a $58 million loss on meager $4 million in revenue . This is not your typical Silicon Valley “burn cash now, profit later” saga. It’s more of a “burn cash now, and that’s it” kind of story. Unlike startups that thrive on VC life support while disrupting industries, TMTG’s lifelines wear out, with no explosive user growth, no VC sugar daddies, and the unenviable position of being publicly accountable while trying to juggle a business model that seems to repel advertisers as it is made of antimatter. As the stock flops The reality in this TMTG story may be less about cutting-edge digital media and more about how to lose friends and alienate advertisers, while the headlines swing for what could be the most expensive episode of “The Apprentice” yet. that has ever been created.
- IPOs picking up steam… maybe?: Cybersecurity darling Rubrik, which has been gobbling up venture capital like it’s going out of fashion, has decided it’s time to venture to the public markets and file for an IPO. With a history of hemorrhaging money, Rubrik’s story is one of subdued revenue growth, impressive losses, and a shift to subscription models that are as groundbreaking as the decision to sell software as a service in the tech world.
- Accel rethinks India: Accel, the venture capital firm that collects Indian unicorns like they’re going out of style, faces an existential crisis with its Atoms accelerator program, realizing that in the eyes of founders, all VC money is eventually starting to look the same — just a bunch cash with strings attached.
- Is Crypto Back?: If the crypto venture landscape of 2023 was a frozen pot of water, the first quarter of 2024 is where the bubbles start to form just before the water boils, Tom Schmidt, partner at Dragonfly Capital, told TechCrunch in an overview by Jacquelyn. of the VC investment space for crypto.
Chaos in car startup country
Tesla’s cyberspace exists now. That’s the best thing your friendly correspondent has to say about this monstrosity of design. Image Credits: Darrell Etherington/Getty
Stormy weather continues to be the theme for the startup world’s movers and shakers: Transportation.
Canoo’s 2023 earnings report looks like a tragic comedy. The star of the show? CEO Tony Aquila’s private jet, which cost the company double its revenue for the year. In a year where Canoo managed to raise a paltry $890,000 by delivering just 22 vehicles, it simultaneously paid $1.7 million to ensure the Aquila could jet-set in style. I guess in the fast-paced world of electric vehicles, nothing says “fiscal responsibility” like a private jet tab that eclipses your sales, even when the company chooses to clean the bones of its failed competitors.
Meanwhile, back in Fisker land, the company misplaced millions in customer payments amid a frantic scramble to restructure its business model. This financial game of hide-and-seek, which diverts critical resources from sales to sleuthing, underscores the company’s rather casual approach to tracking transactions, including, in some cases, delivering vehicles to the price system. Fisker’s attempt to cover up red tape not only strained its relationship with PwC during the preparation of the annual report, but also left the company in the dark about its true revenue while teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. So, if you’ve ever felt bad about losing your car keys, at least take comfort in knowing you didn’t misplace the equivalent of an entire SUV full of dollar bills, or put yourself through an investigation into why the doors on the cars you build won’t open.
- Self-driving… into the abyss: Ghost Autonomy, a startup that once dreamed of making highways safer with self-driving software, has raised a specter in the auto world, shutting down despite nearly $220 million in investor funding.
- Immersive reading by Rivian: Rivian’s latest report card sounds more like a cry for help than a victory lap. The EV underdog started 2024 by building fewer cars and delivering even fewer. With every EV sold last quarter costing the equivalent of a luxury sedan in losses, Rivian’s journey to profitability looks… interesting.
- Tesla takes a dive: The latest figures on Tesla’s deliveries are so-so, as the company blames everything from arsonists with a vendetta against German factories to naval chaos thanks to Houthi rebels for its first annual sales decline in three years. As if the transition to the new Model 3 wasn’t enough, Tesla is juggling production of the Cybertruck and a mystery low-cost EV, all while trying to invent a revolutionary manufacturing process on the go.
The most interesting fundraisers this week
Kidsy’s catalog attracted the interest of investors. Image Credits: Child
Kidsy is the latest brainchild to emerge from the startup nursery. The company is essentially the TJ Maxx of baby gear, seeking to rescue parents from the financial black hole of raising children by offering discounted, overstocked and gently used items that were once destined for the landfill. Founded by a former business journalist and a software engineer, Kidsy quickly became the circular economy superhero for baby products, managing to charm investors into an “oversubscribed” pre-funding faster than a toddler can tantrum.
- A sticky startup indeed: Payments behemoth Stripe has snapped up a four-person startup called Supaglue, formerly known as Supergrain, in a classic takeover romance story. Supaglue somehow caught Stripe’s eye—perhaps through the technological equivalent of a love potion mixed with mutual acquaintances and peaceful encounters.
- Google blesses nonprofits with $20 million: Google.org is throwing $20 million at nonprofits to play fairy godmother to their AI dreams. Twenty-one lucky nonprofits become the guinea pigs in a six-month tech boot camp, with AI coaches and Googlers, all in the name of making the world a better place — one automated task at a time.
- Blah blah blah something something cars: From its humble beginnings as an online hitchhiking platform to becoming a unicorn with a penchant for raising millions and dealing with buses, BlaBlaCar has been pretty good. Now armed with a $108 million line of credit and a new taste for profitability, it is on a buying spree for smaller companies.
Other Unmissable TechCrunch Stories…
Each week, there are always a few stories I want to share with you that somehow don’t fit into the above categories. It would be a shame if you missed them, so here’s a random goodie bag for you:
- No account required: OpenAI, in a move that screams “data is the new gold,” now allows anyone to chat with ChatGPT without an account, ensuring that even your grandma’s questions about knitting patterns can help educate her of their AI, while vaguely implying “more restrictive content policies” that are clear as mud.
- We just rock together: Bumble, once the leader of the IPO ball, now finds itself struggling with the modern dating dilemma of being ghosted by users for TikTok love stories. New CEO Lidiane Jones is on a mission to reignite the flame, rethinking the women-first-mover mantra and flirting with artificial intelligence, all while trying to make dating fun again without actually changing swipe-right culture .
- Well, that’s a good impression for me: OpenAI is basically saying “hold my beer” as it dives head first into the ethical quagmire of voice cloning with its new Voice Engine. The company insists it’s about responsible innovation while simultaneously opening Pandora’s box to see how it can be used and abused. We can’t think of a single downside.…
- B nixes AI: Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” has only been out for a few days. But in the middle of the press release for “Cowboy Carter,” the singer made an unexpected statement against the growing presence of artificial intelligence in music.
