Category: info1
LM Arena, the organization behind popular AI leaderboards, lands $100M
LM Arena, a crowdsourced benchmarking project that major AI labs rely on to test and market their AI models, has raised $100 million in a seed funding round that values the organization at $600 million, according to Bloomberg. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and UC Investments, which manages an investment portfolio for the University of California, led the…
Spotify says support for external payments on iOS has already boosted subscriptions
Spotify says its ability to direct its customers to external payment links in its iOS app has already had a positive impact on sales. In a newly filed amicus brief in support of Epic Games in its ongoing legal battle with Apple over external payments on the App Store, Spotify claims its internal data indicates…
Luminar kicks off another round of layoffs amid CEO’s sudden resignation
Luminar, the lidar company founded by recently replaced CEO Austin Russell, is going through another restructuring, according to a recent regulatory filing. This new round of layoffs, which the company did not provide figures for, follows extensive cuts to the workforce in 2024. Luminar cut about 30% of its workforce in 2024, a reduction that…
Fortnite returns to the US App Store after a five-year gap
Popular battle royale game Fortnite has finally returned to the U.S. App Store amid game maker Epic Games’ lengthy legal skirmish with Apple. As of Tuesday, Fortnite is also available on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the EU. It’ll show up in App Store searches soon, Epic said in a post on X.…
The latest Google Gemma AI model can run on phones
Google’s family of “open” AI models, Gemma, is growing. During Google I/O 2025 on Tuesday, Google took the wraps off Gemma 3n, a model designed to run “smoothly” on phones, laptops, and tablets. Available in preview starting Tuesday, Gemma 3n can handle audio, text, images, and videos, according to Google. Models efficient enough to run…
Last Week to exhibit your startup at Sessions: AI | TechCrunch
If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to showcase your newest innovation to a massive AI community, this is it! You have until this Friday, May 23 at 11:59 p.m. PT, to secure one of the few remaining exhibit tables at TechCrunch Sessions: AI and position your brand at the center of the conversation…
Sylndr, with fresh $15.7M, allows users to buy, sell, finance, and service used cars in Egypt
Cairo-based Sylndr has raised $15.7 million as it expands beyond online used car sales into auto financing, servicing, and tools for dealers. Development Partners International’s Nclude Fund led the round. The company, which operates in Egypt’s fast-growing but under-digitized vehicle market, said the latest round includes both fresh equity and previously unannounced seed financing. Sylndr…
Monzo’s pivot from cool to corporate: ‘freshness is not about gimmicks’
Monzo, Britain’s biggest digital bank, is still synonymous with its neon debit cards, extensive use of emojis, and free spending abroad. But it’s no longer just trying to be cool; it’s trying to become a major financial institution. That shift, from an upstart fintech beloved by millennials into a mature, sustainable business, is what makes…
Judge pressures Apple to approve Fortnite or return to court
A federal judge is asking Apple to approve Fortnite’s submission on the U.S. App Store or return to court to explain the legal basis as to why it has not done so. In a new filing, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers confirms the court has received Epic Games’ latest motion, where it demands that…
Trump signs bill criminalizing revenge porn and explicit deepfakes
President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act on Monday, a bipartisan law that enacts stricter penalties for distributing nonconsensual explicit images, including deepfakes and revenge porn. The bill criminalizes the publication of such images, whether they’re authentic or AI-generated. Whoever publishes the photos or videos can face criminal penalties, including fines, imprisonment, and…
