Also: Trump orders federal probe into former CISA head
Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got the Trump admin taking revenge; Google embracing of Anthropic's tech; and OpenAI hitting back at Elon Musk. We also have fresh VC funds across the pond; how an insurtech startup is benefiting from letting talent do their thing; Wayve's first big partnership; another fintech bankruptcy, and more. Let's go! | | | Image Credits: Jim Lo Scalzo / Pool / Getty Images | 1. Taking revenge: Trump has ordered a federal investigation into Chris Krebs, the former director of U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA, whom he fired during his first term after Krebs publicly debunked Trump's false claims of voting irregularities during the 2020 election. Read More 2. A win for Anthropic: Google is following in OpenAI's footsteps by adopting rival Anthropic's standard for connecting AI models to the systems where data resides. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said Anthropic's protocol is becoming "an open standard for the AI agentic era." Read More 3. Mud-slinging in AI Land: OpenAI is countersuing Elon Musk, calling for the courts to hold him back from "further unlawful and unfair action." Musk has sued OpenAI, a company he helped co-found, for making the switch from nonprofit to for-profit. Read More | | | Image Credits: AerialPerspective Images / Getty Images | 🧑💻 Give employes autonomy: Founder mode is cool, but what if you gave your employees the license to innovate as they see fit? That's how Polish startup Ominimo has not only retained talent in the mundane field of insurance, but also grown fast into a profitable company. Read More 🌳 Climate still matters: At least in Europe. VC firm Revent has closed a $109 million Fund II to invest in "planetary and societal health" startups. And it's got backing from LPs like Otto Group, Goldbeck, the European Investment Fund, and a handful of European tech founders. Read More 💰 There's always money for B2B SaaS: U.K. VC firm Dig Ventures has launched its second (and first institutional) fund closing out at $100 million to invest in B2B SaaS, AI, and cloud infrastructure startups. The firm is focused on pre-seed and seed-stage startups in Europe, but is also considering companies in Israel and the U.S. Read More 👾 XAI has made two flavors of its flagship Grok 3 model available via API: Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini with "reasoning" capabilities. The models aren't cheap when compared to the competition. It's actually costlier than Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro, which achieved higher scores than Grok 3 across popular AI benchmarks. Read More 🚗 Wayve, take the wheel: Self-driving tech startup Wayve is partnering with Nissan, which will use Wayve's autonomous driving software to beef up its advanced driver assistance systems, starting in 2027. Read More 👋 Another one bites the dust: Banking-as-a-Service startup Solid (formerly called Wise) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The fintech raised $81 million since its inception in 2018, and it now joins the ranks of other bankrupt startups, like Synapse. Read More | | | 🇨🇳 Conflict of interest? Intel's new CEO Lip-Bu Tan has invested in hundreds of Chinese tech firms, including at least eight with links to the People's Liberation Army, according to Reuters. That would raise some questions given Intel is one of the largest chip manufacturers for the U.S. DOD. Read More 💪 Oh, we're back at founder mode: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in an annual letter to shareholders that the e-commerce giant has to cut out bureaucracy and operate like "the world's largest startup" if it's going to compete in AI. Read More 💹 There's a fine line between stock manipulation and social media posting, but Trump walked it hard yesterday when he posted on Truth Social that it was "a great time to buy." A few hours later, he announced a tariff pause, which sent stocks flying, per NBC News. Read More | | | Image Credits: Mach Industries | | | 🔫 Moving fast and breaking things: In 2023, before defense tech startup Mach Industries secured seed funding from Sequoia, a hydrogen gun prototype exploded, injuring an employee. Mach's 21-year-old founder told TC that it happened due to lack of safety resources. Read More | | | Featured jobs from CrunchBoard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 680 Folsom Street,San Francisco,CA | | | | |
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