A billionaire launches into space

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 Posted by bloggerdaddy

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Welcome to TC PM! Today we're diving into the Polaris Dawn mission, which finally launched this morning after much delay; a recent take-private deal involving a company that went public in the SPAC craze; and Apple's approach to AI. Blast off!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: SpaceX

🚀 Liftoff: The Polaris Dawn mission blasted off this morning from NASA's Kennedy Space Center after multiple delays. The folks on board will attempt to conduct the first commercial space walk and complete some research on their five-day journey. Read more

🌎 SPAC down to earth: MariaDB, a database business, has started its journey to leave the public market. The company went public via a SPAC in 2022 but has since been acquired by K1 Investment Management. Read more

🍏 Apple AI: One of the most exciting things about iOS 18 is that it will include Apple Intelligence, the company's version of artificial intelligence. Tim Cook says its "breakthrough capabilities" will have "an incredible impact," but as of now, Devin wonders if it's really doing anything revolutionary at all. Read more

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Lucid Group

🩺 Women's health: Mira looked to revolutionize the fertility sector with the release of its at-home hormone tracker in 2017. Mira co-founder and CEO Sylvia Kang came on TechCrunch's Found podcast to talk about what the company has been up to and how the women's health category has changed. Read more

🔌 Tesla tech: Lucid Motors announced this morning that its Gravity SUVs will come equipped with Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS). This is likely welcome news to potential Lucid customers, as Tesla has yet to open up its charging network as it said it would. Read more

🛰️ Space delivery: If drone delivery makes you feel like you are living in "Back to the Future," wait until you hear about goods being delivered through space. Inversion Space is working on the capability and just landed a $71 million contract. Read more

🚌 Accessible ride: While public transportation is great, its functionality is lacking for many people who have a disability. Spare is a startup that works with cities to improve their paratransit options and make these departments run more efficiently. Read more

💶 Embedded insurance: Neat is a Paris-based startup that helps companies sell insurance to their existing customers, like offering insurance for a concert ticket. The startup just raised a €50 million round that includes debt and equity. Read more

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Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

✏️ Transcribe AI: AI can't perfectly replace human translators, but it can produce accurate translations that fit the needs of enterprises. That's the thesis behind Smartcat, which just raised $43 million. Read more

💊 Safe supply chain: Pharmaceutical supply chains are complex and hard to keep track of. Qualifyze looks to make it easier with its database of providers and quality assurance experts that can help companies keep track. The company just raised $54 million. Read more

🔍 Spotter spotted: Spotter, a startup that underwrites creators and offers them AI features, has raised $7.4 million in funding. The company declined to offer further details about the round, which is considerably less than the company's previous $200 million raise. Read more

Around the web

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Social media: A coalition of more than 40 state attorneys general descended on Congress in support of adding labels to social media sites to warn of their potential impacts on kids. Read more

🕶️ Vision police: While cops have been using virtual-reality headsets for training for some time, they are now looking to utilize the tech more. Police departments are testing Apple Vision Pro headsets for things like surveillance and more. Forbes has more