Marketing operating system Nectar Social raises $30M Series A led by Menlo

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this weekend

View this email online in your browser  May 17, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Marketing operating system Nectar Social raises $30M Series A led by Menlo: AI-powered marketing platform Nectar Social announced Thursday that it raised a $30 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures and its Anthology Fund, which was created alongside Anthropic. Read More $60B AI chip darling Cerebras almost died early on, burning $8M a month: Cerebras Systems was 2026's biggest tech IPO so far. But years ago, it burned through hundreds of millions working on a chip many believed impossible. Read More Users turn to jailbreaking their older Kindles as Amazon ends support: It may be possible to jailbreak an older, end-of-support Kindle and continue adding books to it. But doing so carries risks. Read More A message from TechCrunch Events StrictlyVC hits Los Angeles on June 18 Top space tech founders and VCs take the stage in sunny Los Angeles on June 18. Get in the room, make the connections that matter, and hear where the industry is headed. Grab your ticket early before your seat is gone. Register Now Sunday Must-Reads For Eclipse, the $2.5B Cerebras win is just the start of realizing its physical-world thesis: Investing in the real world was lonely for Lior Susan 10 years ago. Now his firm finds itself at the center of the tech world's action. Read More RJ Scaringe has raised more than $12B across three startups and investors still want more: Investors can't seem to get enough of RJ Scaringe or his ideas. Storytelling and communication are one of his superpowers, according to Jiten Behl, who joined Rivian when the company had just a handful of employees. Read More A hotel check-in system left a million passports and driver's licenses open for anyone to see: The tech company that maintains the hotel check-in system set its cloud storage to public, allowing anyone to access customers' data without a password. Read More Tesla reveals two Robotaxi crashes involving teleoperators: Newly unredacted crash reports reveal some of the troubles Tesla has had as it tries to scale its robotaxis. Read More General Catalyst posted VC rage bait and it worked, especially on a16z: Compulsive X user Marc Andreessen himself couldn't resist responding, many, many times. Read More A message from Ai4 America’s Largest AI Conference Returns to Las Vegas Ai4 2026 unites 12,000+ executives, technologists, and AI leaders to explore the latest in enterprise AI. Meet 400+ carefully selected vendors, learn practical use cases from 1,000+ speakers, and hear from pioneers like Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Andrew Ng, and more. Register for Ai4 2026, August 4-6 in Las Vegas, and save $1,200+ before May 28. Learn More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Register Now! Last but Not Least The haves and have nots of the AI gold rush: The vibes around the current AI boom aren't great, even in the tech industry. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here 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. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

Tesla reveals two Robotaxi crashes involving teleoperators

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  May 15, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Tesla reveals two Robotaxi crashes involving teleoperators: Newly unredacted crash reports reveal some of the troubles Tesla has had as it tries to scale its robotaxis. Read More A hotel check-in system left a million passports and driver's licenses open for anyone to see: The tech company that maintains the hotel check-in system set its cloud storage to public, allowing anyone to access customers' data without a password. Read More Silicon Valley’s vacationland needs a new energy provider just as AI is driving prices up: Lake Tahoe, Silicon Valley's favorite vacation spot, is about to get hit with higher energy prices as AI drives demand for electricity. Read More A message from Alumni Ventures StrictlyVC Exclusive: You Could Be an Investor in High-Potential Startups Like These Don’t miss out! This week only, Alumni Ventures is offering readers early access to high-potential startup opportunities, including some of today’s most exciting AI, Deep Tech, Quantum Computing, Cybersecurity, and Space companies co-invested alongside top VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Sequoia, & Y Combinator. You get: Curated deal flow of high-potential startups AV is already investing alongside elite lead venture firms in these deals No cost to see deals No obligation to invest Don’t miss your chance before access closes. Join Alumni Ventures Syndicate Today → Afternoon Must-Reads US orders travelers on Air Force One to throw away gifts, pins, and burner phones after China trip: While the summit appeared cordial, China remains a key adversary of the United States, given its advanced intelligence and espionage capabilities. Read More RJ Scaringe has raised more than $12B across three startups and investors still want more: Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has a knack for raising money. So far, his three startups have raised more than $12.3 billion. Read More Runway started by helping filmmakers — now it wants to beat Google at AI: AI video-generation startup Runway is betting that video generation is the path to world models. And that being an AI outsider is an advantage, not a liability. Read More OpenAI launches ChatGPT for personal finance, will let you connect bank accounts: Once users connect their accounts, they will see a dashboard of their portfolio performance, spending, subscriptions, and upcoming payments. Read More Even GoPro is pivoting to defense: The action camera maker, like so many other companies these days, is looking to defense applications as it evaluates a possible sale. Read More Last but Not Least General Catalyst posted VC rage bait and it worked, especially on a16z: Compulsive X user Marc Andreessen himself couldn't resist responding, many, many times. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here 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. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107