Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! Today we have all the news out of Google I/O 2025 that you should care about; we meet a new angel group focused on accessibility tech; and we learn that an AI company that once held unicorn status is running out of money.

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Getty Images / Jaque Silva / NurPhoto

🤖 Conference coverage: Google I/O 2025, the tech company's biggest developer conference of the year, is underway. We've got everything you need to stay on top of the news, including a roundup of everything announced so far.

🐴 Losing its horn: Microsoft-backed Builder.ai, a startup that rose to prominence for its platform that helps users build apps and websites, is entering insolvency proceedings. The company raised more than $450 million in venture money and was once valued over $1 billion.

🍎 Speaking of developer conferences: Apple has started sending out invites to its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. The event will be held from June 9 to 13 and is expected to bring announcements regarding new operating systems and Apple Intelligence features.

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Adaptation Ventures

😇 Angels for accessibility: Adaptation Ventures is a new angel investor group that is focused on backing accessibility tech and companies that can benefit persons with disabilities. The group was founded by two angel investors and former startup founders who realized that VCs didn't understand this category at all.

📈 AI agent acquisition: Data intelligence platform Alation acquired workflow automation platform Numbers Station today for an undisclosed sum. Alation hopes Numbers Station's tech will help its customers be able to better utilize AI agents without security risks or hallucinations.

🚗 Test time: Amazon's autonomous vehicle unit, Zoox, just got the green light to start testing its self-driving cars in Atlanta. This news comes one day after Waymo said it would start offering rides in Atlanta to early-access users ahead of a larger launch this summer.

👀 Eyes on the enterprise: Fintech Brex continues to boost its offerings for enterprise customers. Today the company announced a partnership with procurement startup Zip. It will embed its virtual cards into Zip's platform to give enterprises a more substantial procurement and payment workflow.

🌳 Fresh funds: South Loop Ventures is a new emerging VC that raised a $21 million debut fund to back pre-seed and seed-stage companies. The firm hopes to primarily focus on founders of color and write checks around $400,000, on average.

Around the web

🤦 Oops! The Chicago Sun and Philadelphia Inquirer both ran a "Heat Index" summer guide that included AI-generated slop and a reading list that contained book titles that didn't exist. The AI-generated insert came from Hearst-owned King Features.

⚡️ AI's energy use: It's no secret that AI is a total energy suck. But just how much and how bad it could get remains unclear. MIT Technology Review has a monster-sized package out today about the technology's impact on the energy sector, what aspects of AI use the most energy, and more.