Perhaps rely to 10 earlier than you tweet

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of the whole lot you’ll be able to’t miss from the world of startups. Join here to get it in your inbox each Friday.

Garry Tan heads up Y Combinator, probably the most highly effective startup program on this planet. On the tail finish of final week, he tweeted — I imply, X-ed — some fairly grim shit, telling politicians to “die slow.” He since deleted the tweet, however the drama was the speak of the city this week.

Nonetheless, Tan’s allegedly inebriated tirade served as a welcome distraction from one other surge of tech layoffs over the previous week (you’re not imagining things — it’s real). The layoffs hit fairly near dwelling this week, as a few of our TechCrunch colleagues had been laid off, together with some shut buddies of mine who I’ve identified and labored with for occurring a decade now. Our paths will cross once more, buddies!

Okay, so what else was taking place on this planet of startups? Let’s dive in.

Most attention-grabbing startup tales this week

Picture Credit: Plex

In a transfer that screams, “We’re almost there, promise!” Plex, the media streaming underdog, has scooped up $40 million in what feels like their umpteenth round of funding, in a confusingly named Collection C-3 spherical. The corporate remains to be chasing the profitability milestone, and with a method that appears to throw the whole lot on the wall to see what sticks — from ad-supported content material to social sharing options — Plex is betting large on turning into a significant participant within the streaming recreation. Whether or not they’ll cross the profitability end line or simply add extra options stays a cliffhanger worthy of its personal drama sequence. Perhaps Plex will fee that subsequent.

In a masterclass on how to not win buddies and affect regulators, Apple takes the crown with its dramatic response to regulatory compliance calls for. With the grace of a sulky teenager, the corporate begrudgingly launched modifications required by legal guidelines like Europe’s Digital Markets Act, all whereas scaremongering in regards to the potential dangers these modifications may pose to customers. Regardless of its huge assets, Apple chooses to play the victim, warning that these regulatory changes are detrimental to its consumer base, whom it apparently views as incapable of creating knowledgeable choices. This method not solely dangers burning bridges with builders, who’re rising more and more pissed off with Apple’s antics, but in addition threatens to tarnish its political goodwill.

Maintain the Fitbit, right here’s a sickbit: In a world obsessive about health monitoring, Seen says, “Hold my wearable” and introduces sickness monitoring, as a result of, what we actually want is a every day reminder of our continual illnesses. It’s like having a pocket-sized friend whispering, “Maybe just don’t today,” each morning.

Most attention-grabbing fundraises this week

Picture Credit: Chef Robotics

“The fundraising cycle, once you start it, takes twice as long and requires three times the conversations,” Jesse Randall, the founding father of the platform Sweater Ventures, tells Dominic-Madori in an interview. Here’s what to know to raise a Series A right now. (TC+)

Metronome, a startup keen on turning difficult billing into not-that-complicated, particularly for AI firms, has simply closed $43 million in Series B funding. With roots in Dropbox and a shopper record that reads like a who’s who of tech (assume OpenAI and Nvidia), they’re making the shift from subscription to usage-based billing quite a bit much less advanced. Their secret sauce? Metronome’s driving excessive on a 6x income improve, all whereas holding its valuation a coy thriller.

Seize the salsa, we’ve already received the chips: On the earth of AI chips, the place the norm is throwing cash at issues hoping one thing sticks, Rebellions just bagged a cool $124 million Series B to affix the fray. Nevertheless this shakes out, it’s an underdog story for the ages.

Are you able to smmmmmell what the ’bot is cooking?: In a world the place flipping burgers by hand is so very 2023, Chef Robotics has just bagged $15 million to persuade business kitchens that the longer term lies in meals meeting by robots, not people. Why chop onions when you’ll be able to have a robotic do it for you?

Reining within the robots: Throwing cash at generative AI safety is the brand new black — Aim Security just bagged a cool $10 million to make sure your ChatGPT doesn’t go rogue.

This week’s large pattern: Layoffs. Once more.

Aerial view of Silicon Valley from 30,000 ft. Picture Credit: Getty Photographs / Charles O’Rear

I do know, I do know. We thought that was all behind us, however  . . . alas.

Within the newest plot twist of the layoffs saga, giants like Microsoft and Alphabet are flaunting their revenue whereas concurrently thinning their worker ranks. In the meantime, within the scrappy underdog nook of startup land, enterprise capital is enjoying onerous to get, leaving many a startup stranded in a monetary no-man’s-land. It’s a basic case of company “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” proving as soon as once more that within the tech world, the extra issues change, the extra the layoff announcements stay eerily similar.

Gotta management that spend: In an ironic twist of company frugality, Brex, the spend administration startup, has shifted from inflating its worker roster to slashing it by nearly 20% in a determined try and cease burning by way of $17 million a month.

Elevating money whereas slashing employees: Flexport, having already made it rain with $2.7 billion in funding, is eyeing one other spherical of layoffs, proving that even with deep pockets, they’re not above trimming the workforce fats . . . once more, just weeks after bagging an extra $260 million from Shopify.

Gotta pay the piper: PayPal has determined to trim its workforce once more, this time axing 9% of its staff — or roughly 2,500 people. We will solely surmise that the technique relies on the little-known indisputable fact that one of the best ways to innovate is to ensure there are fewer innovators round.

Different unmissable TechCrunch tales . . .

Each week, there’s at all times a couple of tales I need to share with you that one way or the other don’t match into the classes above. It’d be a disgrace in case you missed ’em, so right here’s a random seize bag of goodies for ya:

Again to work, cog: In a world the place even AI can catch the “lazy bug,” OpenAI has determined to slash costs and revamp the work ethic of its GPT-4 model, guaranteeing it not shies away from finishing duties. It appears the AI was quietly embodying a digital type of quiet quitting, however concern not, the most recent replace guarantees a extra diligent and cost-effective digital colleague.

India’s first AI unicorn: Ola founder’s AI enterprise, Krutrim, grabs the title in file time with a cool $50 million funding round at a valuation north of a billion clams, claiming to be India’s first AI heavyweight with out even breaking a sweat.

You creep, cease looking that: X’s dealing with of the Taylor Swift deepfake saga proved simply how low the bar is ready for content material moderation. This incident highlighted the comical inadequacy of current safeguards, basically making the web’s Wild West seem like a playground for the digitally inept.

Extra like departure: Arrival, the business EV startup as soon as celebrated for its modern microfactory idea, has gone from a $13 billion valuation to doubtlessly being price pocket change, proving that not all that glitters in the SPAC world is gold. Now its shares are set to fade from the Nasdaq.

iGiveUp: Amazon’s grand plan to take over the world with robotic vacuums hit a snag, and their $1.4 billion deal with iRobot is now just a pile of dust. In the meantime, iRobot, going through a future with out Amazon’s pockets, begins reducing jobs and dreaming up the subsequent large factor in dwelling automation.