TechCrunch Startup News · Chai Podcast

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Episodes · 25

Seedcamp raises $320M for its new fund to expand its US footprint

Jun 23, 2026 · 3m

He made your free video player run smoothly. Now he’s doing that for robots.

Jun 22, 2026 · 5m

World model maker Odyssey nabs $1.45B valuation backed by Amazon and other big names; plus, General Intuition in talks to raise $300M at around $2B valuation

Jun 19, 2026 · 5m

SpaceX alum nabs $22M to turn rocket engines into geothermal power plants

Jun 18, 2026 · 4m

Startup Foundation Alloy developed a new alloying technique; plus, Probably raises $9M to build a more reliable kind of AI

Jun 17, 2026 · 8m

Jeff Bezos’s Prometheus raises $12B to build an ‘artificial general engineer’ for the physical world; plus, Theker building a factory robot that doesn’t specialize in anything

Jun 15, 2026 · 6m

Endurance Energy raises $54M to harness a massive untapped energy source; Jedify raises $24M to help companies arm AI agents with context on their businessplus,

Jun 12, 2026 · 12m

Datadog veterans launch AI coding startup Niteshift on a bet against Big AI lock-in; plus, Zest launches a restaurant discovery app

Jun 11, 2026 · 10m

Evotrex raises $30M to build the RV that doesn’t need a charging station; plus, so long FAANG and hello to MANGOS

Jun 10, 2026 · 6m

Helion, the Sam Altman-backed fusion startup, raises $465M to build a power plant for Microsoft

Jun 8, 2026 · 4m

Is Silicon Valley ready to put robots in people’s homes? Hello Robot is.

Jun 5, 2026 · 9m

Brynn Putnam's Board raised $20M; plus, ZeroDrift raises $10M to protect AI models from themselves

Jun 4, 2026 · 6m

Pacific Fusion’s latest prototype packs 440 gigawatts into an 80-nanosecond burst; plus, Rocket engine startup Impulse raises $500 million to hire people, not AI

Jun 3, 2026 · 8m

Snap alums unveil Ghost Angels fund; Defense tech darling Mach Industries hits $1.8B valuation

Jun 2, 2026 · 8m

This chip startup just raised $135M on a bet that AI’s biggest bottleneck isn’t compute — it’s memory; plus, Glean’s top line crosses $300M as AI budget-cutting becomes its major selling point

Jun 1, 2026 · 9m

Corgi doubled in value in 3 weeks; plus, Anthropic raises $65 Billion, nears $1T valuation ahead of IPO

May 29, 2026 · 8m

SOND, a sleep tech startup, exits stealth with $7M; plus, Airbnb-backed WeRoad raises $58M

May 28, 2026 · 11m

Amazon fulfillment competitor Stord raises $250M at $3B valuation; OpenRouter more than doubles valuation to $1.3B in a year

May 27, 2026 · 4m

Maka Kids is redefining kids’ screen time with a streaming app; also, Peec, one of Berlin’s rising startups, more than doubled ARR

May 26, 2026 · 9m

This young startup is taking on a fragrance industry that hasn’t changed in almost half a century

May 25, 2026 · 6m

Imperagen raises £5 million to use quantum physics, AI on enzyme engineering; plus, Beauty booking startup Fresha hits $1 billion valuation

May 22, 2026 · 6m

Quartermaster is building a maritime hive mind; plus, NanoClaw creator turns down $20M buyout offer

May 21, 2026 · 10m

Status AI raises $17M to turn social media into interactive entertainment; plus, Stilta helps companies rediscover the patents they forgot they had

May 20, 2026 · 8m

South Korea’s LetinAR is building optics behind AI glasses; plus, Marketing operating system Nectar Social raises $30M Series A led by Menlo

May 19, 2026 · 8m

Lovable just backed a company that’s looking to bring vibe coding to hardware; plus, Meridian Ventures launched $35M fund to back MBA-deferred founders

May 18, 2026 · 5m