Category: Startups

Startups are clamping down on internal AI slop: ‘You’re losing so much’ Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/startups-ai-slop-internal-communications/

Cognition CEO denies report that SpaceX tried to acquire the startup SpaceX was reportedly in talks to buy AI coding startup Cognition. SpaceX has already acquired Cursor as it races to catch up to rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in enterprise AI. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/cognition-ceo-denies-report-that-spacex-tried-to-acquire-the-startup/

OpenAI seeks to one-up Anthropic with new customer privacy protections A competition is developing between OpenAI and Anthropic over who can provide the best privacy protections for enterprise customer data. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/openai-seeks-to-one-up-anthropic-with-new-customer-privacy-protections/

Waymo’s cheaper, next-gen robotaxi is now open to all riders in these three cities The next-generation robotaxi, called the Waymo Ojai, is central to the company’s push towards mass scale, and eventually, profitability. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/waymos-cheaper-next-gen-robotaxi-is-now-open-to-all-riders-in-these-three-cities/

Stripe didn’t really buy OpenRouter because of the ‘singularity’ What does a payments giant want with a startup that routes prompts between different AI models? Stripe says it’s because of “the singularity” but it’s really for a far more real and powerful reason. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/stripe-didnt-really-buy-openrouter-because-of-the-singularity/

Travis Kalanick kicks off another round of VC bashing: ‘1% are helpful’ After raising $1.7 billion for his new robotics company Atoms, Travis Kalanick is introspective about the role VCs have played in his career. Powered by WPeMatico https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/travis-kalanick-kicks-off-another-round-of-vc-bashing-1-are-helpful/

Bootstrapped and profitable: Taimi and Hily set their sights on IPO readiness Jake Vygnan and his fellow Kyiv co-founders made an unusual bet when they moved into mobile dating: rather than build one app, they built two in 2017. Hily targets the mainstream dating market, while Taimi is a fully

Lithuania’s LITILIT lands €8M to take femtosecond lasers into mass manufacturing Vilnius-based femtosecond laser manufacturer LITILIT has received an €8 million loan from the Lithuanian National Development Bank ILTE.  The company manufactures lasers based on patented technology that enables scalable production and facilitates integration into industrial systems. By bringing femtosecond

Computomics raises €6.3M to scale climate-smart plant breeding German agritech company Computomics has raised €6.3 million in Series B funding to scale the commercial deployment of its climate-smart breeding platform. The round was led by Convent Capital Agri Food Fund, which invested €5 million, with participation from existing investors High-Tech

UK government under pressure to change non-compete rules Powered by WPeMatico https://sifted.eu/articles/non-compete-law-uk-government/