Monday, March 24, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! Today we've got a little of everything, from EV charging stations, to the latest on DOGE, to AI-generated home decor. We also get an update on the Tesla diner. Dig in!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Revel

🧃 New juice: Brooklyn-based EV ridesharing and charging infrastructure company Revel launched its first fast-charging station in San Francisco today in the Mission District. The company plans to build 125 chargers in the Bay Area over the next year.

🚪 No transparency: The Department of Energy told its employees that documents used by DOGE to assess the agency's grants should be marked with "legal privilege" to prevent them from being revealed by Freedom of Information requests. But I thought DOGE was about transparency?

💰 Big bucks: N8n pivoted its workflow automation platform to include more AI back in 2022, and it seems the bet paid off: The company says it has 3,000 enterprise customers and around 200,000 active users, and it just raised €55 million ($60 million) in funding on a valuation of around €250 million ($270 million).

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Samuil Levich / Getty Images

🌪️ Lifting sanctions: Tornado Cash is a crypto mixer that was previously tied to North Korean money laundering. The U.S. has decided to lift sanctions on the platform, which allows users to conceal where their crypto came from.

🛋️ More AI-generated goods: Arcade, a generative AI marketplace known for creating jewelry, is expanding into home goods, starting with rugs. Arcade just raised a $25 million Series A round, bringing its total funding to $42 million.

🚂 A hack! Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine's state-owned railway operator, said it was hit by a cyberattack, affecting online ticket sales, including through the operator's app. The attack isn't affecting any actual trains, however.

🎧 More audio: Apple announced today that it is bringing lossless audio and ultra-low audio to AirPods Max when using the included USB-C cable. This is good news for everyone, but especially for gamers: This update will reduce lag time.

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Around the web

🎙️ Internet legend: NPR's latest Close All Tabs podcast episode takes a deep dive into the Internet Archive, what role it plays in documenting everything online, and why it may be under threat of extinction due to lawsuits. A fascinating listen!

🍽️ Meals with Musk: In 2023, Elon Musk announced that Tesla would build a diner in Los Angeles where people could charge their cars while enjoying a meal. But a lot has happened since then. The New York Times' Pete Wells checks in on what's up with the Tesla diner now.