July 01, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

Venice AI becomes a unicorn with $65M Series A as its privacy-first AI platform takes off: Venice AI is already profitable, with annualized run-rate revenues of over $70 million, CEO Erik Voorhees said. Read More

Meta, like SpaceX, looks to turn excess AI compute into cash: Meta is developing plans for a cloud infrastructure business, selling access to AI compute power and models. The move would pit it against the big cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Read More

The 'Father of the Internet' is finally retiring: Vinton Cerf, one of the creators of the protocols underlying the internet, will step down as Google's chief internet evangelist next week. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Nvidia competitor Etched hits $5B valuation, $1B in sales for AI chip: Nvidia AI chip competitor Etched says it has already booked $1 billion under contract for the inference systems powered by its chip. Read More

Gemini Spark, Google's agentic assistant, is now available on Mac: Google's 24/7 agentic assistant, Gemini Spark, comes to Mac alongside other improvements, like real-time tracking and support for more apps. Read More

Wayve launches $85M employee tender offer at $8.5B valuation: Wayve’s offering is part of a growing trend of AI startups using employee tenders as a strategic tool to attract and retain talent. Read More

Trump drops restrictions on Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models: The Trump administration's erratic approach to AI policymaking has left companies across the industry with little clarity about what will govern future model releases. Read More

The DeepMind trio who built a poker AI are now making money for quant hedge funds: EquiLibre Technologies, a Prague-based AI lab founded by three ex-DeepMind researchers, is now valued at more than $500 million. Read More

Last but Not Least

OpenClaw is finally available on Android and iOS: The free open source agentic program is finally invading your phone. Read More

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