Lightspeed backs Indian home services startup Snabbit as the next big consumer trend

Home services in India — whether it is cleaning, dishwashing, or laundry — have traditionally been offline and informally run. This has often resulted in delays and uncertainties for consumers, as well as inconsistent pay and job insecurity for workers. Recently, however, startups have begun viewing this area as ripe for transformation, leveraging technology to … Read more

Meta wants to open more retail stores

Meta wants to grow its retail footprint, Business Insider reported on Wednesday. As Meta continues to invest in wearables, these stores would ideally help Meta boost the sales of hardware like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and the Meta Quest VR headsets. These products may be easier to sell if customers can try them out at … Read more

SpaceX’s ninth test flight of Starship launches into space, ends in a spin

SpaceX’s Starship successfully separated from its Super Heavy rocket booster and reached orbit Tuesday evening, but later began spinning and made an uncontrolled re-entry into the Indian Ocean. SpaceX had cleared the surrounding airspace where Starship was coming down, according to the company. The ninth test flight provided a mix of successes and failures for … Read more

Anthropic launches a voice mode for Claude

Anthropic has begun to roll out a “voice mode” for its Claude chatbot apps. The voice mode (in beta for now) allows Claude mobile app users to have “complete spoken conversations with Claude,” and will arrive in English over the next few weeks, according to Anthropic’s official account on X and updated documentation on the … Read more

Report: TuSimple sent sensitive self-driving data to China after US national security agreement

Self-driving truck startup TuSimple (now CreateAI) sent a trove of sensitive data – effectively the blueprint of an American-made autonomous vehicle system – to a Beijing-owned firm after committing to the U.S. government that it would cease such transfers under a national security agreement, according to The Wall Street Journal.  The transfers to Chinese truck … Read more

Samsung may invest in $100M round for medical imaging startup Exo

Samsung’s venture investment unit is looking to invest in California-based medical device startup, Exo, in a round that could climb to $100 million, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. The round is being led by Sands Capital, Bold Capital and Qubit Health Capital, the report said, adding that Qubit’s chairman, Imar Ishrak, would join Exo’s board. … Read more