Poor people do not need to apply for this dating app

Welcome to Startups Weekly – A weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up Here To get it in your inbox every Friday.

I’m having one of those weeks where I’m constantly, very slowly, shaking my head at people. As I sat down to read all the stories on TechCrunch and write the Startups Weekly newsletter, well, things didn’t get any better.

Just when you thought the dating scene couldn’t get any more exclusive, along comes Score, the app that says, “Love is in the air. , , But only if you’ve got the credit to breathe it in.” That’s right, folks, in a world where swiping right could mean finding your spouse or the next person who can annoy you, score. This ensures that at least they will not harass you because of your bad credit. Launched by a financial platform (of course – it smells like a marketing stunt), this app is for those who have managed to navigate the treacherous waters of adulthood with half-baked credit. Because nothing says true love better than a solid financial report, right? But wait, there’s a twist! The app isn’t just exclusive – it’s temporary. For those that don’t make the cut? Well, they’re sent to financial literacy boot camp, because nothing heals a bruised ego like being told You’re not financially savvy enough for love,

America, ladies and gentlemen.

still. somewhere In the land of unicorns. , ,

This week’s most interesting startup stories

In the latest episode of “How Not to Win Friends and Influence Government Agencies,” the Dawn Project, a security advocacy group that has been working on Tesla’s case for some time, tried to spice up their Super Bowl ad with an ad that Decided what was basically a call. Taking up arms against Tesla’s full self-driving software. This meant a mic drop. Instead, it changed the moment the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said, “Um, sorry, we didn’t sign up for this.” The NTSB is known for many things – appearances in Super Bowl commercials, not so much, and the organization was quick to issue the Dawn Project a “remove our stamp on your homework” order. He told that Dawn Project did not have permission to use the seal, and its inclusion falsely implied the NTSB’s endorsement of the campaign. Drama.

Oh, but there was a lot more drama where that came from:

Some smoke, some mirrors: Boston Dynamics’ secret sauce is a mix of advanced robotics and marketing genius, served with “don’t try this at home” warnings. But be careful, all that glitters is not gold in robot videos: Many robot demo videos are revealing the truth To varying degrees.

Everything’s fine, AI promises: In the latest episode of “Musical Chairs of AI”, AI maestro Andrzej Karpathy, who was one of the founding members of OpenAI, is once again out of the company. No, this isn’t some dramatic soap opera twist or secret AI rebellion; Carpathy insists it’s all been running smoothly, with no drama or hidden plot involved,

Shut your hole, AI: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially declared AI-voiced robocalls the latest public enemy, and outlawed them. If you were looking forward to a personal, albeit fake, call from one or two presidential candidates, you might want to adjust your expectations. The FCC’s message is clear: AI voice clone, you’re officially on the naughty list,

The most interesting fundraising this week

In a turn that has the venture capital world buzzing, Foundry Group, the Boulder-based VC firm known for hits like Fitbit and Zynga. Hanging up your investment top hat, After 18 years and approximately $3.5 billion under management, Foundry has decided that its latest $500 million fund, Foundry 2022, will be its swan song. The foundry still plans to lead Series A and B financing with the remaining third of its final fund, but the decision not to raise more money raises eyebrows and questions about the future for its portfolio companies.

This trick follows Similar unexpected announcement from Boston based Openview At the end of last year. Of course, closing down twice doesn’t mark a trend, but I’d bet you billions of dollars to millions of donuts that the TechCrunch team will be keeping a close eye on it.

Big hike for banking small companies: Phenom, a European challenger bank geared towards SMEs and freelancers Successfully secured $54 million In the Series B funding round. This funding round highlights the growing demand for specialized financial services for SMEs.

Salad raises some more money: Indoor farming, once the darling of the startup world with $3 billion to invest from 2012 to 2022, is facing a harsh reality check. Companies like AppHarvest and Fifth Season have gone bankrupt, while other companies have gone bankrupt Iron Ox has been forced into layoffs and valuation cuts, Despite these challenges, Hippo Harvest has emerged as a ray of hopeSecuring $21 million in Series B funding.

Well done – have a cookie: SocialCrowd, a performance management startup, has successfully raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Bread & Butter Ventures. Established in 2020, SocialCrowd offers a SaaS platform similar to a “Fitbit for work”. Enabling companies to set and reward employee goals.

This week’s big trend: Hardware

Okay, okay, so maybe I’m a little biased – I’ve shifted gears a bit in the last week, and I’m going to start writing a little more about hardware again (here it is). What do I cover and how do I pitch, The Hardware Desk has been punching well above its weight, especially in the last week – a lot of stuff has been happening in the atoms business.

The industrial robotics sector, after enjoying a surge in orders during the pandemic, Experiences a significant recession in 2023According to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), orders have declined by nearly one-third. This 30% decline highlights a cooling period for an industry that was once booming, although the decline was not entirely unexpected given record sales in previous years.

More Hardware Startup Nuggets:

Technically, all phones are foldable: and now, Rumor has it that Apple wants to do something like this after you fold them, as a protest Last time This was happening. we did Asking for folding iPhone Take a moment to think about it.

Dry Powder for Big Guns: Despite the controversial nature of firearms, BioFire has managed to attract institutional VC support, raised $7 million from notable investors. This funding achievement highlights the change in the venture capital landscape, where deep tech and defense tech startups are increasingly gaining attention.

Open this app with your face: Brian does a phenomenal job covering all things Apple Vision Pro. This week, He breaks down his favorite apps (so far),

Other unforgettable TechCrunch stories. , ,

Every week, there are always a few stories I want to share with you that somehow don’t fit into the above categories. It would be a shame if you forgot them, so here’s a random bag of goodies for you:

Dirty money, that cleaning fee: Airbnb’s recent earnings report reveals a significant shift toward more transparent pricing, with nearly 300,000 listings eliminating or reducing cleaning fees. The move affected approximately 40% of active listings, Resolves long-standing customer complaints regarding unexpected costs at checkout,

Perception, but the secret is: Notion has recently expanded its suite The purchase of Skiff, a privacy-focused acquisitionA platform known for end-to-end encrypted file storage, documents, calendar events, and email services.

Mozilla hits the brakes: Mozilla, the organization famous for the Firefox browser, is going through important strategic changes. company Planning to reduce your investment across multiple products, resulting in approximately 60 employees being affected.

Put down LSD, AI: Oh, the wonders of modern technology, where Google’s Gemini chatbot, once known as Bard, and Microsoft’s Copilot are now apparently time travelers. Before the 2024 Super Bowl, bots had stats and results, even before the game begins. Oops.

burning rubber. even more: A Waymo robotaxi found itself the target of a rampage attack in San Francisco. In this incident the crowd turned their boredom or perhaps technophobia into an act of vandalism Autonomous vehicle ends up in flames, To its credit, it didn’t try to defend itself, so I guess that’s the point.