Plus: Mistral gets in on the coding fun
Welcome to TC PM! Today we have the details on OpenAI's decision to buy device startup io; we learn about a new program at Meta to lure startups to use the company's AI; and we meet a fun company helping with tax prep. Punch it! | | | 🪆Dealception: OpenAI is acquiring io, the device startup that OpenAI's Sam Altman has been working on with famed Apple designer Jony Ive. The deal values io at $6.5 billion. As part of the deal, Ive and his design firm, LoveForm, will lead creative and design work at the AI company. 🧱More models: Mistral is the latest AI company to announce a model that is designed for coding. The French AI company announced Devstral, which was developed in a partnership with AI company All Hands AI and can be used commercially without limits. 🦙Lure to Llama: Meta launched a new program meant to incentivize startups to use its Llama AI model family. The program, Llama for Startups, is taking applications through May 30 and is looking for U.S.-based startup teams that are building in AI and have less than $10 million in funding. | | | Image Credits: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/ Getty Images | | | 🍪Chip chat: China's government isn't happy with the Trump administration's recent guidelines that says using Huawei's Ascend AI chips "anywhere in the world" would violate U.S. export rules. Now, China is threatening legal action against anyone who enforces that. 🧮Automated accounting: Filed is a startup that just raised $17.2 million to automate the grunt work in tax prep. The company isn't just looking to help accountants move faster but rather help fill in the tax industry's growing labor shortage as CPAs retire and fewer people enter the field. 🌊Selling the sea: The U.S. Department of the Interior announced that it is beginning the process of selling deep-sea mining leases. While announcements like these — those involving initiatives that could harm natural ecosystems — aren't uncommon these days, what is is that this one comes at the request of a startup. 🗣️TEDtok: Ahead of the potential TikTok ban, if that is still even a thing, nonprofit TED Talks released its own short-form video feature called TED Shorts. This feature will include short snippets of existing TED talks in addition to original content. 📈Success for Scribble: The fundraising market remains tough for emerging managers, but some are still finding success. Elizabeth Weil's Scribble Ventures just raised $80 million for its third fund, surpassing its $75 million hard cap. | | | 🚜Scam farms: There is a growing, troubling trend in Southeast Asia where people are applying to what appear to be normal job postings for digital-focused office jobs and are then trafficked to work at scam farms that use AI tools to con people out of their money. 🛡️An interesting defense: WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton took to the stand yesterday to defend Meta's acquisition of the messaging service. Acton, who left Meta on messy terms in 2018, said WhatsApp wouldn't have competed with Facebook. He's likely right. | | | 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 © 2025 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. Yahoo Inc.. 680 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA | | | | |
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