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[The Daily Crunch logo]( By [Christine Hall]( and [Haje Jan Kamps]( Monday, February 13, 2023 Helloooooo, Crunchers! Itâs Monday, and itâs time for premature lovers to celebrate Valentineâs Day (itâs tomorrow, you eager lovebirds). Lots of fun things are coming down the pike here at TC Towers: TechCrunch Disrupt is back in September, so nowâs the time to [grab the super-early-bird tickets at a ludicrous discount](. In connection with last yearâs Disrupt, we created [a podcast documentary called Inside Battlefield](, where we follow some of the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield hopefuls as they pitch their way through to the finals. You may even hear a familiar voice or two in there: Haje shared a bunch of his pitch expertise for the podcast! For our Black History Month entry today, we recommend [The Antiracist Deck](, a deck of 100 cards with discussion prompts and things to think about, presenting ways for everyone to fight back against racism in small and big ways in all aspects of life â at work, among friends, and out in the world. Okay, that was a lot for our usually pretty brief intro, but what can we say, thereâs a lot of things happening in the world of TechCrunch! Much love from your friendly hosts, [Christine]( and [Haje]( [ image] Image Credits: noipornpan / Getty Images The TechCrunch Top 3 - [Who asked for more ChatGPT?](: Neeva is getting its generative AI search engine out to a wider audience,[Paul]( writes. Unlike some of the other versions of ChatGPT we are seeing that have some factual and some not-so-factual responses, Paul notes that âthe onus is very much on NeevaAI to ensure that it understands the question, and gives an appropriate response. Or no response at all, which is what it will do with questions where itâs not confident of the answer.â
- [“Premature electrification”](: Come on, you know you chuckled when you heard that phrase during last nightâs Dodge Ram commercial. [Matt]( reports that the electric Ram 1500 REV is packed with screens and, surprisingly, buttons and knobs, but sadly wonât be available until 2024.
- [Another round of cuts](: Five months after [laying off 11%]( of its workforce, Twilio made an announcement today that it will let go of another 17% of its employees as it seeks to spend less, [Romain]( writes. The strategic move comes as the company forms two business units in an effort to do just that. [Disrupt Returns Sept. 19-21 | Save $1000+ Today]( Sponsored by [TechCrunch]( [Disrupt is back! With more content, more learnings, and more startups than ever before - Disrupt delivers the tools, knowledge, and connections to help you make your goals happen. Register now with a Super Early Bird pass and save $1000+ on select passes for a limited time.]( [Register Now]( Startups and VC Highbeam, a startup that provides banking features, credit and cash flow insights to e-commerce customers, today announced that it [raised $10 million in debt from TriplePoint]( as it looks to expand the reach of its digital product portfolio, [Kyle]( reports. Tesla got itself some high-profile criticism as safety advocacy group The Dawn Project took its campaign to ban Teslaâs Full Self-Driving (FSD) system to the Super Bowl, [Rebecca]( reports. [The 30-second ad, which was broadcast to millions of football fans, outlined several alleged critical safety defects of Tesla’s FSD](, the automakerâs advanced driver assistance system. Hereâs another handful: - A future as bright as the sun:[Clean tech Qotto embarks on a growth plan]( backed by $8 million in funding, [Annie]( reports.
- Oh great, more energy spritzes: [Christine]( reports how this startup pledges to [“deliver a cup of coffeeâs worth of energy in just three sprays.”](
- Deeper dating: [Lauren]( reports that matchmaking service [Tawkify picks up “anti-superficial” dating app SâMore]( in mobile expansion.
- Whoa, thatâs a hell of a valuation curve: [Rita]( tells the story of how Zeekr â the two-year-old luxury electric vehicle brand of Geely, Chinaâs largest private carmaker â [raises $750 million at $13 billion valuation](.
- Unsolicited dock pics: [Dockhunt is a new way to discover Mac apps by looking at other peopleâs docks](,[Ivan]( explores. [A Black YC alum explains how he raised $107M]( Black entrepreneurs face a unique set of challenges, but Captain founder Demetrius Gray raised $107 million after his Y Combinator experience. “People see the headline, â$107 million raised.â What they donât really understand is that it was a progressive process of building relationships over time that made that possible,â says Gray. In an interview for TC+, he broke down his fundraising strategy and shared several tactics for connecting with investors. “You gotta get social; you gotta get out in front of people and start building relationships.” Three more from the TC+ team: - The hype machine screeches to a halt: [Grant Easterbrook]( breaks down a decade of fintech failures, exploring [four innovations that didnât live up to the hype](.
- SF is spooling back up:[Cities, cycles and San Franciscoâs “return,”]( writes [Natasha M](.
- Diversity on the upswing: [Dominic-Madori]( asks, [“Whoâs afraid of diversity quotas?”]( [TechCrunch+]( is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack.[You can sign up here](. Use code âDCâ for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! [Read More]( [A Black YC alum explains how he raised $107M image] Image Credits: Andrew T. White / Getty Images Big Tech Inc. [Aisha]( reported today that [more job cuts are on the way for Meta](. She notes these new possible layoffs follow Meta CEO Mark Zuckerbergâs earnings call with analysts earlier this month where the company said it plans to continue to contain costs, [promising a âyear of efficiency.â]( Zuckerberg noted that Meta would be flattening its organization structure and âremoving some layers in middle management to make decisions faster.â Whether you are a Kansas City Chiefs fan (yay!) or a Philadelphia Eagles fan (sorry), there was a whole crop of new commercials from last nightâs Super Bowl to talk about. [Lauren]( has your look at all of the [cool movie trailers]( (Spoiler: Michael Keaton returns as Batman), while [Amanda]( takes us through the [tech industry commercials](, where fewer crypto commercials were noticeable. Oh, and if you didnât catch the Super Bowl Rakuten commercial with Alicia Silverstone reprising her role from âClueless,â [here it is](. Itâs Monday, so hereâs five more for you: - Picture this: For a while there, everyone was dolling up their photos AI style, but [Sarah]( writes that new data shows[the AI photo app trend has already fizzled](.
- Teeny, tiny headset:[Brian]( shows us how small[Bigscreenâs new VR headset]( is.
- Rollinâ with the homies:[Zoox autonomous robotaxis]( are now out on California public roads,[Kirsten]( reports.
- Greenlight: [Four of the European Unionâs biggest adtech companies]( were told their joint venture didnât violate antitrust, but theyâll have to see if it passes the data protection gauntlet,[Natasha L]( reports.
- Temperature check: If youâre tracking your fertility,[Samsung has an app for that](. Its Galaxy Watch5 now has temperature-based period tracking,[Sarah]( writes. [Read more stories on TechCrunch.com]( Newest Jobs from Crunchboard - [Director of Engineering at Reading Reimagined (Oakland, CA, USA)](
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