Monarch Tractor’s collapse ends with an acquisition by Caterpillar

Monarch Tractor’s collapse ends with an acquisition by Caterpillar

Monarch Tractor’s assets have been acquired by construction giant Caterpillar, after struggling to pivot to a software services business, according to filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The acquisition, first reported by Bloomberg, caps a few tough years for Monarch as it went through multiple rounds of layoffs, was sued by three…

Wait, could they still actually break up Live Nation?

Wait, could they still actually break up Live Nation?

A federal jury found Wednesday that Live Nation has been operating as an illegal monopoly — a verdict that could lead to the breakup of the entertainment giant and its ticketing subsidiary, Ticketmaster, and bring relief to concertgoers who are sick of dynamic pricing and inexplicable service fees. The ruling came as internal Slack messages…

Amazon-backed X-energy files to raise up to $800M in IPO

Amazon-backed X-energy files to raise up to $800M in IPO

Nuclear startup X-energy began its investor roadshow Wednesday as it works toward its IPO, setting its target price between $16 and $19 per share, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If it lists at the high end, the startup could net about $814 million. X-energy and its peers have been…

Ford EV and tech chief leaving automaker

Ford EV and tech chief leaving automaker

Doug Field, the high-profile executive who shaped Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) and technology strategies over the past five years, is leaving the automaker. Field’s departure was announced as part of a broader reorganization of the company’s leadership. Field joined Ford in 2021 with a robust resume from Silicon Valley that included leading Apple’s special projects…

Hightouch reaches $100M ARR fueled by marketing tools powered by AI

Hightouch reaches $100M ARR fueled by marketing tools powered by AI

Historically, marketers relied on designers and other creative professionals to develop images and videos for personalized online ad campaigns. In late 2024, seven-year-old startup Hightouch launched an AI-powered service that allows marketing professionals to create custom content for brands such as Domino’s, Chime, PetSmart, and Spotify without involving brand design teams or ad agencies. The…

OpenAI updates its Agents SDK to help enterprises build safer, more capable agents

OpenAI updates its Agents SDK to help enterprises build safer, more capable agents

Agentic AI is the tech industry’s newest success story, and companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are racing to give enterprises the tools they need to create these automated little helpers. To that end, OpenAI has now updated its agents software development toolkit (SDK), introducing a number of new features designed to help businesses create their…

AI learning app Gizmo levels up with 13M users and a $22M investment

AI learning app Gizmo levels up with 13M users and a $22M investment

Since its launch in 2021, Gizmo, an AI-powered learning platform that transforms students’ notes into interactive study materials, has attracted more than 13 million users across over 120 countries. This is a significant jump from the over 300,000 users the platform had when TechCrunch last covered it in 2023.  And, as user adoption increases, investor…

India’s vibe-coding startup Emergent enters OpenClaw-like AI agent space

India’s vibe-coding startup Emergent enters OpenClaw-like AI agent space

Emergent, an Indian startup known for its vibe-coding platform, has launched “Wingman,” a messaging-first autonomous AI agent, as it expands into a growing category of software that runs in the background to complete tasks — popularized by tools like OpenClaw and Claude from Anthropic. The Bengaluru-based startup initially gained attention for its so-called “vibe-coding” platform,…

Motorola sues social platforms and creators over posts, raising speech concerns in India

Motorola sues social platforms and creators over posts, raising speech concerns in India

Motorola has filed a lawsuit in India against social media platforms and content creators over posts it alleges are defamatory, raising concerns it could dampen critical coverage of the company, experts say. The lawsuit, filed in a Bengaluru court and obtained by TechCrunch, names platforms including X, YouTube, and Instagram along with dozens of content…

After sale of its shoe business, Allbirds pivots to AI

After sale of its shoe business, Allbirds pivots to AI

After selling its shoe brand and assets last month for $39 million, Allbirds is pivoting to AI. Of course, the company is also changing its name, since the footwear brand “Allbirds” was part of the sale. Introducing: NewBird AI, a “fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider,” the company announced via its investor relations…