Hello friends, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s newsletter that recaps notable tech happenings (and changes) from the past few days.
The famous startup accelerator Y Combinator had its Demo Days, and the venture desk took it all with an appropriately skeptical eye. You can read their day one and Day two coverage, along with a AI Overview from you truly and analysis parts from the rest of the tenacious editing team.
But the world did not stop turning towards YC. Also this week, Microsoft and Quantinuum, a quantum computing startup, made a scientific discovery – or so they say. The companies say they were able to run thousands of experiments on a quantum computer without a single error, a feat that has long eluded the industry.
Elsewhere, Apple could be dabbling in home robots. The company, which just made the decision to cancel its long-running autonomous electric vehicle, has reportedly put Apple Home and AI executives on some kind of home robotics project, although many of the Details have not yet been finalized.
Many more things happened. We summarize it all in this edition of WiR, but first, a reminder to register to receive the WiR newsletter in your inbox every Saturday.
News
Canoo paid for its CEO’s jet: Kirsten reports that electric vehicle startup Canoo paid the lease for the CEO’s private jet ($1.7 million) in 2023. That’s double the amount of revenue the company generated that year.
AT&T Leak: Phone giant AT&T has reset millions of account passwords after a massive cache of data containing customer records was posted online earlier this month, Zack reports.
No ChatGPT account required: OpenAI is making its flagship conversational AI, ChatGPT, accessible to everyone, even people who haven’t bothered to create an account. But it won’t be exactly the same experience. Devin has the story.
Microsoft disaggregates: Microsoft has introduced new versions of its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscription services that exclude Teams, its enterprise collaboration chat offering, following scrutiny from European Union regulators and complaints from rival Slack.
Money
Ghost ghosts: Ghost Autonomy, a startup working on autonomous driving software for automaker partners, closed after raising nearly $220 million.
Analysis
Alphabet and HubSpot: Reuters reported Thursday that Google parent company Alphabet is exploring the possibility of buying Boston-based HubSpot, a marketing automation and CRM company with a market capitalization of more than $33 billion. Ron explains why that would make them strange bedfellows.
Podcasts
this week in EquityAlex talked about BlaBlaCar’s new line of credit (and how it managed to get it), and discusses how PipeDreams could become a smart startup-building model, the rebound and profitability of GoStudent, Hailo’s chip business, and the two new brands that GGV considers home while dividing. their operations on opposite sides of the Pacific.
And later Found, Nick Green, co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, was the featured guest. Thrive is a membership-based online grocery store that focuses on natural and organic foods and household products. Green talked about how Thrive is not only focused on offering healthy options, but also wants to ensure everyone has access to them, including those with SNAP and EBT benefits.
Bonus round
NSFW on X: The social media company has confirmed that authorized users on the platform can create NSFW communities, ahead of a change that will see all NSFW content on X filtered by default.