TechKhel

There’s plenty of uncertainty to go around this year, including a global trade war, shifting policy priorities, and an economy that’s starting to stumble. Breakthrough Energy, a climate tech organization founded by Bill Gates, has also been shifting in response. The group always placed long bets, though it appears to be reappraising some of them….

Investors hear hundreds of pitches — but only a few break through. On the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, a candid panel of seasoned operators and investors will reveal what captures their attention, what turns them off, and the subtle signals founders often miss. Register here to take advantage of regular pricing with up…

After blocking its service in Mississippi over its new age-assurance law, the social networking startup is taking a different approach to comply with laws in South Dakota and Wyoming. Instead of requiring Bluesky to restrict access to all unverified users, users in South Dakota and Wyoming can verify their ages through the Kids Web Services’…

Replit has raised a $250 million round, valuing the company at $3 billion. Unlike other fast-growing vibe coders, Replit has not been running to VCs every few months, though we’ll see if that changes. Its last raise was in 2023 when it raised about $100 million that valued the company at $1.16 billion post-money. Replit…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 hits Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27 to 29, bringing together 10,000+ startup and VC leaders for three days of bold ideas, groundbreaking tech, and future-shaping conversations. One of the most highly anticipated sessions happening on one of the two AI Stages will spotlight where AI hardware is heading next,…

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on Wednesday that it’s launching a dedicated parental controls app called “PlayStation Family” on iOS and Android. The new app features a series of new tools that allow parents to manage their children’s activity on the console, including an activity report, greater visibility into what their children are playing, and the…

The California State Assembly took a big step toward regulating AI on Wednesday night, passing SB 243 — a bill that regulate AI companion chatbots in order to protect minors and vulnerable users. The legislation passed with bipartisan support and now heads to the state Senate for a final vote Friday. If Governor Gavin Newsom…

Perplexity, the AI-powered search startup that competes with Google by providing conversational answers to user queries, has secured $200 million in new capital at a $20 billion valuation, The Information reported. The fresh funding comes just two months after the company raised $100 million at an $18 billion valuation, according to a July report in…

Anthropic reported a service outage impacting APIs, Console, and Claude earlier this afternoon.  Users on GitHub and Hacker News noted issues with Claude at around 12:20 p.m. ET, with Anthropic releasing a status update eight minutes later, noting that its APIs, Console, and Claude AI were down. At press time, the company said it had…

Meta is introducing a few new features for its crowdsourced fact-checking program, Community Notes, launched in the U.S. earlier this year. Now users will be notified when they’ve interacted with a post on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads that receives a Community Note. Plus, anyone can now request a note or rate a note if it’s…