TechCrunch Startup News

Flapping Airplanes and the promise of research-driven AI; plus, Upwind raises $250M at $1.5B valuation to continue building ‘runtime’ cloud security

A new AI lab called Flapping Airplanes launched yesterday, and a Sequoia partner has an interesting take on why they stand out. Also, Upwind's $250 million Series B was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Tiny startup Arcee AI built a 400B-parameter open source LLM from scratch to best Meta’s Llama

30-person startup Arcee AI has released a 400B model called Trinity, which it says is one of the biggest open source foundation models from a U.S. company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Jennifer Garner’s Once Upon a Farm resumes IPO plans; plus, Fashion rental app By Rotation partners with Uber

Once Upon A Farm food company may debut as soon as next week. It has issued a price range for shares, an SEC filing shows. Also, By Rotation, one of the UK’s most popular peer-to-peer fashion rental platforms, is partnering with Uber to deliver ski clothes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Phia raises $35M to ‘make shopping fun again’; plus, Risotto raises $10M seed to use AI to make ticketing systems easier to use

Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni’s Phia raises $35M to ‘make shopping fun again’ Also, designed to autonomously resolve help desk tickets, Risotto has raised $10 million in seed funding in a round led by Bonfire Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Northwood Space secures a $100M Series B and a $50M Space Force contract; plus, AI chip startup Ricursive hits $4B valuation

This is the El Segundo, California-based startup's second raise in less than a year. Also, Ricursive joins Recursive and Unconventional AI in raising massive funds at multi-billion valuations out of the gate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]