Startups

TechCrunch+ roundup: Space tech predictions, startup IP strategy, finding feasible funding

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aerial photo looking down at early morning traffic on the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
Image Credits: JasonDoiy (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

I once aspired to own San Francisco real estate. Now, I’m only interested in acquiring intellectual property.

Case in point: “Scooby-Doo” aired on TV before I was born, but the spin-off “Velma” just premiered on HBO Max.

It’s getting ripped to shreds on social media, which means people watched, so we can expect more to come.


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Hollywood studios are adept at wringing every ounce of value from their IP. Similarly, cost-effective IP management strategies can fortify startup valuations over the long term, according to Kyle Graves, counsel at Snell & Wilmer, but only if founders are vigilant.

Do you have IP counsel? Does your app have a UX protection strategy? Have you ever conducted an audit?

“There are a thousand little oopsies that can become big oopsies when word gets out that a big payday may be coming.”

Thanks for reading,

Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

Cost-effective IP strategies can lead to massive exit valuations

7 space tech predictions for 2023

The crowd cheers at Playalinda Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, during the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, on Feb. 6, 2018. Playalinda is one of closest public viewing spots to see the launch, about 3 miles from the SpaceX launchpad 39-A. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Image Credits: Orlando Sentinel (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

As of January 17, Wikipedia notes that there have been eight successful spaceflight launches so far this year.

New spaceports are entering operation, cell phone users will soon have connectivity from space and the Artemis program backed by NASA is one of several ventures that will bring robots (and eventually human crews) to the moon.

“Despite the economic uncertainty, we believe new records will be established in space tech as giant commercial projects get funded,” says Mark Boggett, CEO and co-founder of Seraphim Space Manager LLP.

7 space tech predictions for 2023

4 tips to find the funding that fits your business

A row of sphere trying to get through an opening of wall to another side. A bigger sphere stuck, not able to get through due to it's size causes the rest of the smaller sphere behind not able to get through as well.
Image Credits: Getty Images

Raising money without a detailed business plan is a proven way for losing value.

Before seeking capital, founders need a firm plan for ramping up hiring, going to market and expanding into new areas. Otherwise, they may be “mistaking funding for validation,” writes Carlos Antequera, CEO and co-founder of Novel Capital.

“Not all capital providers are equal, so seeking financing isn’t just about securing capital. It’s a matter of finding the right source of funding that matches both your business and your roadmap.”

4 tips to find the funding that fits your business

More TechCrunch

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing business, has confirmed further details of its European “sovereign cloud” which is designed to enable greater data residency across the region. The company…

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Go Digit, an Indian insurance startup, has raised $141 million from investors including Goldman Sachs, ADIA, and Morgan Stanley as part of its IPO.

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Peakbridge intends to invest in between 16 and 20 companies, investing around $10 million in each company. It has made eight investments so far.

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For over six decades, the nonprofit has been active in the financial services sector.

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Meta’s newest social network, Threads is starting its own fact-checking program after piggybacking on Instagram and Facebook’s network for a few months. Instagram head Adam Mosseri noted that the company…

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Looking Glass makes trippy-looking mixed-reality screens that make things look 3D without the need of special glasses. Today, it launches a pair of new displays, including a 16-inch mode that…

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Replacing Sutskever is Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI’s director of research.

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Intuitive Machines made history when it became the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon, so it makes sense to adapt that tech for Mars.

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As Google revamps itself for the AI era, offering AI overviews within its search results, the company is introducing a new way to filter for just text-based links. With the…

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Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket will take a crew to suborbital space for the first time in nearly two years later this month, the company announced on Tuesday.  The NS-25…

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This will enable developers to use the on-device model to power their own AI features.

Google is building its Gemini Nano AI model into Chrome on the desktop

It ran 110 minutes, but Google managed to reference AI a whopping 121 times during Google I/O 2024 (by its own count). CEO Sundar Pichai referenced the figure to wrap…

Google mentioned ‘AI’ 120+ times during its I/O keynote

Firebase Genkit is an open source framework that enables developers to quickly build AI into new and existing applications.

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In the coming months, Google says it will open up the Gemini Nano model to more developers.

Patreon and Grammarly are already experimenting with Gemini Nano, says Google

As part of the update, Reddit also launched a dedicated AMA tab within the web post composer.

Reddit introduces new tools for ‘Ask Me Anything,’ its Q&A feature

Here are quick hits of the biggest news from the keynote as they are announced.

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LearnLM is already powering features across Google products, including in YouTube, Google’s Gemini apps, Google Search and Google Classroom.

LearnLM is Google’s new family of AI models for education

The official launch comes almost a year after YouTube began experimenting with AI-generated quizzes on its mobile app. 

Google is bringing AI-generated quizzes to academic videos on YouTube

Around 550 employees across autonomous vehicle company Motional have been laid off, according to information taken from WARN notice filings and sources at the company.  Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported…

Motional cut about 550 employees, around 40%, in recent restructuring, sources say

The keynote kicks off at 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday and will offer glimpses into the latest versions of Android, Wear OS and Android TV.

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Google Play has a new discovery feature for apps, new ways to acquire users, updates to Play Points, and other enhancements to developer-facing tools.

Google Play preps a new full-screen app discovery feature and adds more developer tools

Soon, Android users will be able to drag and drop AI-generated images directly into their Gmail, Google Messages and other apps.

Gemini on Android becomes more capable and works with Gmail, Messages, YouTube and more

Veo can capture different visual and cinematic styles, including shots of landscapes and timelapses, and make edits and adjustments to already-generated footage.

Google Veo, a serious swing at AI-generated video, debuts at Google I/O 2024

In addition to the body of the emails themselves, the feature will also be able to analyze attachments, like PDFs.

Gemini comes to Gmail to summarize, draft emails, and more

The summaries are created based on Gemini’s analysis of insights from Google Maps’ community of more than 300 million contributors.

Google is bringing Gemini capabilities to Google Maps Platform

Google says that over 100,000 developers already tried the service.

Project IDX, Google’s next-gen IDE, is now in open beta

The system effectively listens for “conversation patterns commonly associated with scams” in-real time. 

Google will use Gemini to detect scams during calls

The standard Gemma models were only available in 2 billion and 7 billion parameter versions, making this quite a step up.

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This is a great example of a company using generative AI to open its software to more users.

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