July 17, 2025

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we have notes on Lovable's blazing fast growth to unicorn status; Uber spending big bucks on its robotaxi dreams; and Roblox's latest attempt to mollify concerns about child security. We've also got a bunch more stories lined up for you, so let's get to work!

TechCrunch Top 3

Lovable becomes a unicorn with $200M Series A: Only eight months after its launch, Sweden's Lovable has raised a $200 million Series A round led by Accel at a $1.8 billion valuation. Read More

Uber invests hundreds of millions to build a premium robotaxi service: Uber is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Lucid and autonomous vehicle technology startup Nuro in a bid to launch its own robotaxi service. Read More

Roblox introduces new safeguards for teens, including age estimation tech: The move comes as Roblox has come under fire in recent years over child safety concerns. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Ex-Waymo engineers launch Bedrock Robotics with $80M to automate construction: Former Waymo engineers have launched an autonomous vehicle startup with $80 million in venture funds. Read More

UAE's deal to buy Nvidia AI chips reportedly on hold: The U.S. is reportedly holding up the deal due to concerns that AI chips could be smuggled to China from the UAE. Read More

Call of Duty cheaters complain after Activision launches new wave of mass-bans: The video game giant banned an unknown number of cheaters that were using one of the oldest-running cheats. Read More

OpenAI and Anthropic researchers decry 'reckless' safety culture at Elon Musk's xAI: The criticisms follow weeks of scandals at xAI that have overshadowed the company's technological advances. Read More

GMC Hummer EV outsold the Tesla Cybertruck last quarter: As Elon Musk once said, "we dug our own grave with Cybertruck." Read More

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Last but Not Least

Slack bolsters search with AI, adds transcriptions and summaries for huddles: Slack is bolstering search on its app with AI features, adding transcription and summaries for huddles, and a way to see recaps of channels and threads. Read More