Meet the VC fund backing the Bluesky ecosystem

Plus, we round up Hollywood's most notable angel investors

View this email online in your browser By Anthony Ha Sunday, December 22, 2024 Image Credits: Peter Wang Peter Wang is betting on Bluesky, having recently announced Skyseed, an incubator and fund for projects built on top of Bluesky's AT Protocol. The hope is not just to back some cool startups, but also to nurture an open ecosystem that's very different from our current social media paradigm of walled, ad-filled gardens. As Wang told Paul Sawers, "There are people who have been in the decentralized web community for a long time, who have really waited for this moment." And while Skyseed launched with an initial funding commitment of $1 million, Wang said it continues growing and could eventually reach $5 million to $10 million. Keep reading to see what else we're covering this weekend Weekend news and opinion Image Credits: Bryce Durbin Celebrities who are also star VCs: While this isn't exactly a new phenomenon, Hollywood seems to have more big names than ever looking to get into angel investing — and having some real success, too. Dominic-Madori Davis rounds up the most notable examples, from Snoop Dogg to Jay-Z. Read more What comes after climate tech? While the need for climate tech is arguably greater than ever, Tim De Chant writes that the term itself has become a bit outdated and unwieldy (and maybe just plain taboo in the next presidential administration). Other options? Planetary health, frontier tech, or growth tech. Read more NHTSA clears the way for robotaxis without steering wheels: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a new national framework that would make it easier to deploy autonomous vehicles without traditional manual controls like steering wheels, pedals, or mirrors. As Rebecca Bellan reports, this would also require AV companies to share more safety data with the government. Read more What else we're reading 📚 It used to be a cliché that the internet was forever — but in reality, the web has proven to be quite ephemeral. The Verge discusses a recent Pew Research Study showing that 38% of websites accessible in 2013 are no longer accessible, and it ponders what that means for our culture. Read more And The New York Times writes about how the organization behind the Encyclopedia Britannica is, yes, an AI company now. Read more Before you go ❄️ This is TechCrunch's last weekend newsletter of 2024 — thank you for reading, and I'll see you in 2025! Also: Superman!!! Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Vice President of Infrastructure and Operations, Parsons Corporation (Remote) Systems Integrator & DBA, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) Startup Backend Engineer, Athlete To Athlete (Santa Monica, CA) Senior Network Operations Engineer, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) Manager of Unified Technology Solutions, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch Events TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy

OpenAI announces its next 'reasoning' model

Plus: Lerer Hippeau is back with a new fund

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Friday, December 20, 2024 Welcome to TC PM! We got some good stuff for you today: OpenAI's o3 "reasoning" model was announced today; we learn of four previously unreported harassment suits against Rivian; and we ask ourselves, has AI gone too far?  Before we dive in, a quick housekeeping note — this newsletter will be on break after today until January 6. Have a happy holiday, and we'll see you in the new year! TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Carol Yepes / Getty Images 🧠 OpenAI o3: It's the final day of OpenAI's 12-day "shipmas" event, which the company ended with a bang. OpenAI announced its o3 family of models, which are successors to its o1 "reasoning" models. The company claims the new models approach artificial general intelligence — but with caveats. Read more ⛔️ Hit the brakes: Electric vehicle company Rivian was hit with multiple unreported harassment lawsuits this year. Multiple suits were brought against the company's chief designer, Jeff Hammoud; one suit was against the company's COO, Frank Klein; and one was against a fellow colleague. Read more 😞 A hack! Ascension, a U.S. healthcare company with 140 hospitals and dozens of senior care facilities, was hit with a ransomware attack in May. Now we know that this breach allowed the Black Basta group to steal information on 5.6 million patients. Read more   A Message from Carta Last chance to save big on Carta Don't miss out on Carta's biggest discount of the year. There's only a few days left to get 25% off cap table, 30% off Carta Total Compensation and QSBS, or bundle and save 35% off them all. Schedule a demo to learn more. Offer ends December 31. Schedule a Demo   Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: Andriy Onufriyenko / Getty Images 🎙️ When did AI mean defense? This week on Equity, the gang talks about a trend they've been noticing: AI companies being described as defense tech. They also talk about a new VC fund, how Cohere isn't like its AI peers, and more. Listen here 💰 Fresh funds: Swizzle Ventures is a VC firm founded by Jessica Kamada that's focused on early-stage investments into areas that concern women, including caretaking, health and wellness, and finances. The fund has raised $5 million. Read more 🌎 Gemini goes global: Google is expanding its Gemini in-depth research mode to 40 more languages. The new languages include Arabic, Italian, and Danish. Read more 🤝 One down, one to go: Nvidia announced its intent to acquire Run:ai in April. Today, the European Union cleared the transaction, but the deal isn't out of the woods yet. The U.S. Department of Justice's probe into the deal is ongoing. Read more 👋 Hello again, Lerer Hippeau: Lerer Hippeau, known for backing consumer companies, including Allbirds, BarkBox, and Casper, is back to raise its ninth fund. The target hasn't been disclosed. Read more   A Message from Comprehensive.io FREE real-time salary data from 5,000 startups Want to see what other companies are paying for a given role? Comprehensive.io offers salary data from 5,000 tech companies and startups, giving you insight into how pay is trending in the job market right now. View Free Data   Around the web 🧍Second Life forever: I'm infinitely interested in Second Life as someone who has always been a little too into The Sims. VentureBeat caught up with the virtual world's founder and discovered the company has paid out more than $1.1 billion to its creators and still has 600,000 players. Read more 🚪Who is at the door? The Verge makes the argument that 2025 will be the year of front door hardware after a lot of technical advances in 2024 with more expected next year. I'd never put a surveillance device on my door, so I'll just have to take their word for it. Read more Before you go Image Credits: Malte Mueller / Getty Images 📚 Is this hell? Another day, another reason to ask myself, "Has AI gone too far?" Today's moment of panic is brought by the news that there will be an online charter school opening in Arizona where everything will be taught by AI. What are we doing here? Read more Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Vice President of Infrastructure and Operations, Parsons Corporation (Remote) Systems Integrator & DBA, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) Startup Backend Engineer, Athlete To Athlete (Santa Monica, CA) Senior Network Operations Engineer, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) Manager of Unified Technology Solutions, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA Privacy Policy