<p>Nerdio, a platform designed to simplify how companies deploy and manage Microsoft cloud technologies, has raised $500 million in a Series C round of funding. The Chicago-based startup says its valuation has now quadrupled since its Series B round two years ago and is now firmly in unicorn territory &#8212; though the company wouldn&#8217;t reveal [&hellip;]</p>

<p>We’ve been blown away by the overwhelming response to speak at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 in Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley. After thorough consideration, we’ve selected six standout finalists. The power to choose who will take the stage and share their AI expertise with 1,200 AI leaders and enthusiasts is now in your [&hellip;]</p>

<p>TechCrunch All Stage (formerly Early Stage) returns to Boston on July 15, and the agenda for our tentpole East Coast founder event is almost complete. We’re excited to share this sneak peek at some of the fantastic speakers and sessions we have on tap.&nbsp; For builders who are just starting on their founder journey, our [&hellip;]</p>

<p>After reporting in January that Apple is adding an “Air” option to its iPhone lineup, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is offering more details about the upcoming slimmer iPhone. The iPhone 17 Air will launch this fall, Gurman says — and like the MacBook Air, it will be thinner than standard models, while combining high-end and low-end [&hellip;]</p>

<p>We’ve all experienced that moment of frustration when the GPS glitches and you miss an exit on the highway. The team at Tern AI, which is building a low-cost GPS alternative, says that’s because the current technology is limited by its reliance on satellite positioning.&nbsp; Tern AI says it has figured out how to locate [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Less than three months until TechCrunch’s biggest AI event yet! If you’re shaping the future of AI, investing in the next game-changing innovation, or simply eager to dive deep into what’s next, TechCrunch Sessions: AI is the place to be. On June 5, Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley will be buzzing with 1,200 AI experts, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Back in 2010, Rackspace and NASA launched a project called OpenStack, which was meant to become an open source option for running an AWS-style cloud inside of private data centers. The two companies then moved OpenStack to the OpenStack Foundation, which has steadfastly shepherded the project through its many ups and downs. Right now, with [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Back in 2019, Microsoft open sourced Dapr, a new runtime for making building distributed microservice-based applications easier. At the time, nobody was talking about AI agents yet, but as it turns out, Dapr had some of the fundamental building blocks for supporting AI agents built-in from the outset. That&#8217;s because one of Dapr&#8217;s core features [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Cybersecurity firm Lookout found several samples of a North Korean spyware it calls KoSpy.</p>

<p>The flaw was in the browser engine WebKit, used by Safari and other apps.</p>

<p>It’s no secret that AI has eaten the lion’s share of funding over the past couple of years, with investments into the sector surging 62% to $110 billion in 2024 alone, while startup funding overall declined 12%.&nbsp; Startups may think that just adding “AI” to their company’s name might help them secure that funding. But [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Faced with an aging population and labor shortages, Japanese businesses are increasingly relying on service robots to supplement their workforce, according to Bloomberg. Research firm Fuji Keizai projects the country’s service robot market to nearly triple by 2030, to ¥400 billion ($2.7 billion). Potentially driving that growth: The Recruit Works Institute projects that the country [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The CEO of Colossal, a startup that aims to use genetic editing techniques to bring back extinct species, including the wooly mammoth, assured audiences at SXSW that the company has no plans to create a real-life Jurassic Park — lest there was any doubt. &#8220;Modern conservation isn&#8217;t working [&#8230;] and we&#8217;re gonna need a &#8216;de-extinction&#8217; [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Creatopy, a startup that uses AI to automate the creation of digital ads, has brought on a new CEO: Tammy Nam. Nam was previously COO and CMO at photo-editing startup Picsart, and before that the CEO of video streamer Viki. She told TechCrunch via email that Creatopy was looking for a U.S.-based executive who knows [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The U.S. Department of Justice is still calling for Google to sell its web browser Chrome, according to a Friday court filing.  The DOJ first proposed that Google should sell Chrome last year, under then-President Joe Biden, and it seems to be sticking with that plan under the second Trump administration. The department is, however, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Google has quietly updated the web page for its Responsible AI and Human Centered Technology (RAI-HCT) team, the team charged with conducting research into AI safety, fairness, and explainability, to scrub mentions of &#8220;diversity&#8221; and &#8220;equity.&#8221; A previous version of the page used language such as &#8220;marginalized communities,&#8221; &#8220;diverse,&#8221; &#8220;underrepresented groups,&#8221; and &#8220;equity&#8221; to describe [&hellip;]</p>

<p>A federal judge is allowing an AI-related copyright lawsuit against Meta to move forward, although he dismissed part of the suit. In Kadrey vs. Meta, authors — including Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman, and Ta-Nehisi Coates — have alleged that Meta has violated their intellectual property rights by using their books to train its Llama AI [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Discord is in early stage discussions with bankers to IPO.</p>

<p>On June 5, TechCrunch Sessions: AI will kick off — and you can be part of the industry-changing conversations that will be taking place. We have an open invitation for members of the AI community to lead breakout sessions and discussions with over 1,200 startup founders, VC leaders, and AI aficionados attending our newest event, which [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Faireez, which aims to bring “5-star hotel-style housekeeping” to multifamily buildings, is emerging from stealth with $7.5 million in seed funding, the startup told TechCrunch exclusively. Founded in 2023, New York-based Faireez’s goal is to make the cleaning services it offers as customized as possible. It offers a subscription model where each building is assigned [&hellip;]</p>