Sunday, August 18, 2024

Image Credits: Inka Group/Verity

Ingka Group, which owns and operates hundreds of Ikea locations, has a fleet of around 100 drones. They even have Ikea's familiar blue-and-yellow color scheme.

Brian Heater outlines how the fleet is actually being used, with drones flying to heights humans can't reach and providing around-the-clock updates on warehouse inventory. The initiative started in 2021, in Switzerland, but has since expanded to 16 locations.

The drones come from a startup called Verity, which has leveraged its Ikea partnership to raise more than $40 million in funding.

Read on to see what else TechCrunch is covering this weekend.

Weekend news and opinion

Image Credits: Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

Parker Conrad tells founders to "go all the way to the ground": On the latest episode of the Found podcast, Rippling's co-founder and CEO says that even though the HR software company has more than 3,200 employees, he still approves every expense report over $10, because he sees value in remaining "the main user of Rippling at Rippling." Read more

What you need to know about Microsoft Copilot: Microsoft is betting big on AI, offering a potentially overwhelming lineup of a dozen products (so far) with Copilot branding. Kyle Wiggers walks readers through the basics of Microsoft's generative AI tech and acknowledges its current shortcomings. Read more

Keychain's new approach to manufacturing: I spoke to Oisin Hanrahan, former CEO of Handy and ANGI Homeservices, about the progress his startup Keychain has made since launching in February. His ultimate goal? To connect the entire manufacturing supply chain for consumer packaged goods. Read more

What else we're reading 📖

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that hundreds of Apple employees are working to develop a tabletop robot consisting of a robotic arm connected to a large, iPad-like screen. The goal is reportedly to create a device that combines smart home controls, videoconferencing and home security. Read more

Meanwhile, The New York Times looks at the promises that crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce made about revitalizing the local economy in Puerto Rico and how he seems to have become entangled in legal disputes instead. Read more