Startups

TechCrunch+ roundup: Generative AI for proptech, cloud vendor shopping, cybersecurity fairy tales

Comment

Ocean beach sunset by the Giant Camera behind Cliff House
Image Credits: Sean Qiu (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Generative AI reminds me of ball bearings: The technology is relatively inexpensive and highly adaptable and is a proven way to reduce friction.

Investors have taken notice: CB Insights reports that VCs poured $49 billion into AI last year, a 40% jump from the year before.

The hype so far has largely centered on chatbots and avatars, but “AI’s emergence will cut through material use cases in real estate tech,” says Kunal Lunawat, co-founder and managing partner of Agya Ventures.


Full TechCrunch+ articles are only available to members
Use discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription


For TC+, Lunawat explores several examples, including the potential for layering AI into construction workflows, using ML data to optimize bidding and estimation, and automating processes like obtaining insurance and underwriting mortgages.

“The opportunity for entrepreneurs in real estate tech across search, listings, mortgage, insurance, construction and sustainability is the kind that shows up once a generation.”

Thanks for reading,

Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

Generative AI is building the foundation of proptech’s next wave

Choosing a cloud infrastructure provider: A beginner’s guide

Blank signpost with five arrows over partly cloudy blue sky - just add your text.
Image Credits: Antonio (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

At the risk of being dogmatic: All nontechnical founders need to hire a CTO.

Most eventually will, but like many aspects of startup operations, this gap won’t be filled until it’s absolutely necessary.

In the meantime, someone needs to make fundamental decisions regarding cloud infrastructure and strategy.

“It’s essential to analyze the tools available before you decide on a cloud infrastructure provider to keep application maturity and running costs in check,” says Sashank Purighalla, founder and CEO of BOS Framework.

In a guide that delves deeply into best practices for spinning up a cloud strategy, Purighalla examines the challenges and benefits of “cloud monogamy,” compares major providers and offers tactics that can help developers avoid “analysis paralysis.”

Choosing a cloud infrastructure provider: A beginner’s guide

What do investors need from your problem slide?

Image of question marks drawn on a chalkboard.
Image Credits: in future (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Early-stage investors usually understand verticals better than the aspiring entrepreneurs who pitch them.

In general, they’re seeking ideas that can scale and founders who can execute, which is why every pitch deck needs to describe “what could be better and how that gap in the market can be turned into an opportunity,” writes Haje Jan Kamps.

Using examples from presentations he’s analyzed in the past, Haje explains his framework to help first-timers articulate the value their startup creates and why it’s poised to grow:

  • Who has this problem?
  • How are they currently solving this problem?
  • What are they willing to sacrifice for their current solution?
  • What’s wrong with the way they are currently solving this problem?

What do investors need from your problem slide?

Cybersecurity teams, beware: The defender’s dilemma is a lie

Image of a group of yellow plastic toy soldiers pointing guns at each other on a blue background.
Image Credits: A. Martin UW Photography (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

The Defender’s Dilemma is one of cybersecurity’s touchstones: “Defenders have to be right every time. Attackers only need to be right once.”

It may sound authentic, but David J. Bianco, a staff security strategist at Splunk, says it’s actually a false narrative that leaves systems less secure.

“Defenders rightly expect attackers to lie and cheat to achieve their goals, but sometimes we forget that lying and cheating can work both ways.”

Cybersecurity teams, beware: The defender’s dilemma is a lie

To improve close rates for technical interviews, give applicants feedback (good or bad)

two people standing on edges of Frame with large space in between for copy or illustration
Image Credits: We Are (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

“White coat syndrome” occurs when patients register artificially higher blood pressure because they’re anxious about visiting the doctor.

Technical interviews are similar: In a survey that crunched data from 1,000 people who conducted 100,000 interviews, a quarter of the candidates who received passing grades initially thought they’d failed.

“Our research shows that 43% of all candidates consistently underrate their technical interview performance,” said Aline Lerner, founder and CEO of interviewing.io.

In a comprehensive TC+ post, she offers a playbook for gathering and sharing “honest (and sometimes harsh) feedback” and asking post-interview questions that create objective benchmarks.

“Only about 25% of candidates perform consistently from interview to interview,” writes Lerner. “This means a candidate you reject today might be someone you want to hire in six months.”

To improve close rates for technical interviews, give applicants feedback (good or bad)

More TechCrunch

Line Man Wongnai, an on-demand food delivery service in Thailand, is considering an initial public offering on a Thai exchange or the U.S. in 2025.

Thai food delivery app Line Man Wongnai weighs IPO in Thailand, US in 2025

The problem is not the media, but the message.

Apple’s ‘Crush’ ad is disgusting

Ever wonder why conversational AI like ChatGPT says “Sorry, I can’t do that” or some other polite refusal? OpenAI is offering a limited look at the reasoning behind its own…

OpenAI offers a peek behind the curtain of its AI’s secret instructions

The federal government agency responsible for granting patents and trademarks is alerting thousands of filers whose private addresses were exposed following a second data spill in as many years. The…

US Patent and Trademark Office confirms another leak of filers’ address data

As part of an investigation into people involved in the pro-independence movement in Catalonia, the Spanish police obtained information from the encrypted services Wire and Proton, which helped the authorities…

Encrypted services Apple, Proton and Wire helped Spanish police identify activist

Match Group, the company that owns several dating apps, including Tinder and Hinge, released its first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, which shows that Tinder’s paying user base has decreased for…

Match looks to Hinge as Tinder fails

Private social networking is making a comeback. Gratitude Plus, a startup that aims to shift social media in a more positive direction, is expanding its wellness-focused, personal reflections journal to…

Gratitude Plus makes social networking positive, private and personal

With venture totals slipping year-over-year in key markets like the United States, and concern that venture firms themselves are struggling to raise more capital, founders might be worried. After all,…

Can AI help founders fundraise more quickly and easily?

Google has found a way to bring a variation of its clever “Circle to Search” gesture to iPhone users. The new interaction, launched in January, allows Android users to search…

Google brings a variation on ‘Circle to Search’ to iPhone users

A new sculpture going live on Wednesday in the Flatiron South Public Plaza in New York is not your typical artwork. It combines technology, sociology, anthropology and art to let…

Always-on video portal lets people in NYC and Dublin interact in real time

Apple’s iPad event had a lot to like. New iPads with new chips and new sizes, a new Apple Pencil, and even some software updates. If you are a big…

TechCrunch Minute: When did iPads get as expensive as MacBooks?

Autonomous, AI-based players are coming to a gaming experience near you, and a new startup, Altera, is joining the fray to build this new guard of AI agents. The company announced…

Bye-bye bots: Altera’s game-playing AI agents get backing from Eric Schmidt

Google DeepMind has taken the wraps off a new version of AlphaFold, their transformative machine learning model that predicts the shape and behavior of proteins. AlphaFold 3 is not only…

Google DeepMind debuts huge AlphaFold update and free proteomics-as-a-service web app

Uber plans to deliver more perks to Uber One members, like member-exclusive events, in a bid to gain more revenue through subscriptions.  “You will see more member-exclusives coming up where…

Uber promises member exclusives as Uber One passes $1B run-rate

We’ve all seen them. The inspector with a clipboard, walking around a building, ticking off the last time the fire extinguishers were checked, or if all the lights are working.…

Checkfirst raises $1.5M pre-seed to apply AI to remote inspections and audits

Close to a decade ago, brothers Aviv and Matteo Shapira co-founded a company, Replay, that created a video format for 360-degree replays — the sorts of replays that have become…

Controversial drone company Xtend leans into defense with new $40 million round

Usually, when something starts to rot, it gets pitched in the trash. But Joanne Rodriguez wants to turn the concept of rot on its head by growing fungus on trash…

Mycocycle uses mushrooms to upcycle old tires and construction waste

Monzo has raised another £150 million ($190 million), as the challenger bank looks to expand its presence internationally — particularly in the U.S. The new round comes just two months…

UK challenger bank Monzo nabs another $190M as US expansion beckons

iRobot has announced the successor to longtime CEO, Colin Angle. Gary Cohen, who previous held chief executive role at Timex and Qualitor Automotive, will be heading up the company, marking a major…

iRobot names former Timex head Gary Cohen as CEO

Reddit — now a publicly-traded company with more scrutiny on revenue growth — is putting a big focus on boosting its international audience, starting with francophones. In their first-ever earnings…

Reddit tests automatic, whole-site translation into French using LLM-based AI

Mushrooms continue to be a big area for alternative proteins. Canada-based Maia Farms recently raised $1.7 million to develop a blend of mushroom and plant-based protein using biomass fermentation. There’s…

Meati Foods bites into another $100M amid growth to 7,000 retail locations

Cleaning the outside of buildings is a dirty job, and it’s also dangerous. Lucid Bots came on the scene in 2018 with its Sherpa line of drones to clean windows…

Lucid Bots secures $9M for drones to clean more than your windows

High interest rates and financial pressures make it more important than ever for finance teams to have a better handle on their cash flow, and several startups are hoping to…

Israeli startup Panax raises a $10M Series A for its AI-driven cash flow management platform

The European Union has deepened the investigation of Elon Musk-owned social network, X, that it opened back in December under the bloc’s online governance and content moderation rulebook, the Digital Services Act…

EU grills Elon Musk’s X about content moderation and deepfake risks

For the founders of Atlan, a data governance startup, data has always been at the heart of what they do, even before they launched the company. In fact, co-founders Prukalpa…

Atlan scores $105M for its data control plane, as LLMs boost importance of data

It is estimated that about 2 billion people, especially those in lower and middle-income countries, lack access to quality and affordable essential medicines. The situation is exacerbated by low-quality or even killer…

Axmed raises $2M from Founderful to streamline drug supply chains in underserved markets

For decades, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has maintained a de facto monopoly on positioning, navigation and timing, because it’s cheap and already integrated into billions of devices around the…

Xona Space Systems closes $19M Series A to build out ultra-accurate GPS alternative

Bankruptcy lawyers representing customers impacted by the dramatic crash of cryptocurrency exchange FTX 17 months ago say that the vast majority of victims will receive their money back — plus interest. The…

FTX crypto fraud victims to get their money back — plus interest

On Wednesday, Google launched its digital wallet in India with local integrations, nearly two years after the app was relaunched as a digital wallet platform in the U.S. As TechCrunch exclusively reported last month,…

Google Wallet is now available in India

Bluesky has launched a new product roadmap for the coming months. The decentralized social network said on Tuesday that it is planning to introduce direct messages, support for videos, improved…

Bluesky to add DMs, video support and in-app custom feed curation