Thursday, February 13, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! Today we have more on the spat between Elon Musk and OpenAI; we dig into some interesting startup funding rounds; and we learn that there will be an iPhone drop next week. Let's do it.

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

👀 ClosedAI: OpenAI has eliminated a page on its website that expressed the company's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The link now redirects to a page that talks about people with "different backgrounds" that makes no reference to diversity. Read more

🤔 Speaking of OpenAI: There has been a lot of hubbub around Elon Musk's unsolicited bid to buy OpenAI. Now that the bid's letter of intent has been made public, we've got a look at the five most important aspects of the proposal. Read more

🫢 Swallow your pride: The $60 billion merger between Nissan and Honda has fallen apart. Nissan reportedly called off the merger due to "pride and insufficient alarm about its predicament." Yeesh. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Phase

💰Funds for Phase: Phase is a startup that built a no-code platform that helps UI/UX designers design fully interactive prototypes. The company just raised $13 million in fresh funds and was started by Nick Budden, a serial entrepreneur who used to work as a UI/UX designer. Read more

🚫 Another AI lawsuit: A group of 14 publishers — which includes The Atlantic, Forbes, and Condé Nast — filed a lawsuit against Canadian AI startup Cohere that alleges the company is using at least 4,000 copyrighted works to train its models. Whoops. Read more

🏎️ More models: Yesterday I wrote that maybe AI companies are slowing down in their race to release new models. I was wrong! AI startup Anthropic is apparently gearing up to release its latest model within the next few weeks. Read more

🍴 Tofu time: Tofu stands for "top of funnel" in marketing speak. It's also the name of a marketing tech startup that uses AI to help enterprise marketing teams consolidate their efforts on one platform. Read more

🍎Tim Cook tease: Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a teaser on X today about the release of a new iPhone next week. The industry predicts it will be the latest version of the SE, the smaller equivalent of the regular iPhones. This means I may actually get to replace my iPhone. Read more

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Around the web

🛰️ Starlink smuggle: Some countries, like Canada and South Africa, have soured on Elon Musk's Starlink, while others have banned the internet provider outright. Bolivia banned Starlink last August, but its citizens are smuggling Starlink kits over the border. Read more

🤝 Slow strategy: Slow Ventures has been cutting seed checks from its flagship fund to creators who have authority around niche subject areas. This strategy must have been successful because now the firm raised a dedicated fund for it. Read more