Microsoft wants to bring generative AI to the forefront of Windows — and the PCs running it. At a keynote ahead of its annual Build developer conference this week, the company unveiled a new lineup of Windows machines it’s calling Copilot+ PCs, plus generative AI-powered features like Recall, which helps users find apps, files and […]
Rollup wants to be the hardware engineer’s workhorse
Hard tech startups generate a lot of buzz, but there’s a growing cohort of companies building digital tools squarely focused on making hard tech development faster, more efficient, and — well, a whole lot more like software development. California-based Rollup is the latest startup to come out as part of this ensemble. While the company […]
World Fund closes first €300M climate tech fund, seeking to follow-on and backing hardware
After a three-year fund-raise, World Fund has finally closed a €300 million first fund, €50 million short of it’s target in 2021, but still a considerable number given a background of war and economic uncertainty. The VC originally emerged from the founders of the Ecosia independent search engine, where search enquires funded the planting of […]
Democracies are fragile, and hardware is hard
W elcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s inspired by the daily TechCrunch+ column where it gets its name. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. Journalists and readers love scoops. But sometimes it’s important to state the obvious. This week, I’m reminded that democracies are fragile but that […]
PwC is acquiring Surfaceink, the hardware designer that was once a close partner of Apple’s
A lesser-known but significant player in the Silicon Valley tech world is getting acquired today — a move that underscores the changing economics in the world of hardware, and who wants to get more involved in that space. Surfaceink, a company that got its start as Apple’s key hardware engineering partner after the return of […]