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elcome to the TechCrunch Alternate, a weekly startups-and-markets e-newsletter. It’s impressed by the daily TechCrunch+ column the place it will get its identify. Need it in your inbox each Saturday? Enroll here.
Journalists and readers love scoops. However generally it’s essential to state the apparent. This week, I’m reminded that democracies are fragile however that expertise may also help. And likewise that crowdfunding isn’t all the time one of the best ways to launch an revolutionary product.
On a facet word, this article might be taking a break till January 6 subsequent 12 months, so wishing you all completely happy holidays. — Anna
Why agentic tech?
After I learn {that a} new enterprise agency referred to as ex/ante had raised $33 million to spend money on “agentic tech,” I acquired curious: What did that imply, and why had been LPs reminiscent of Marc Andreessen and Union Sq. Ventures keen to again an rising fund supervisor specializing in this class?
I already had one thing to go on: Forbes’ Alex Konrad famous that ex/ante would spend money on on-line privateness and safety, and described agentic tech as “a fledgling term that the fund defines as technology that relates to human agency and rights in the digital age.” However I nonetheless wished to know extra, so I had a chat with its founder, 32-year-old Zoe Weinberg.
