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Polestar, Volvo Car Group’s standalone electric performance brand, will manufacture its first all-electric SUV in the United States. The automaker said Wednesday that the Polestar 3 will be assembled at a plant shared with Volvo Cars at a factory in Ridgeville, South Carolina. The Polestar 3 follows the all-electric Polestar 2 sedan and the hybrid […]

Templafy, a Denmark-born B2B SaaS platform that does business document creation, has raised a $60 million D round of funding led by Blue Cloud Ventures. All previous investors also participated, including Insight Partners, Seed Capital, Dawn Capital and Damgaard Company. Templafy has now raised a total of $125 million. To some extent, Templafy competes with […]

While Amazon continues to expand its self-service, computer-vision-based grocery checkout technology by bringing it to bigger stores, an AI startup out of Israel that’s built something to rival it has picked up funding and a new strategic investor as a customer. Trigo, which has produced a computer vision system that includes both camera hardware and […]

The Fund, the early-stage investment firm focused on pre-seed and seed startups, is going Down Under for its latest expansion. The Fund was founded in New York in 2018, before launching in Los Angeles, London, the Rockies and the Midwest, too. Co-founder Jenny Fielding, who is also managing director at Techstars New York, said The […]

EV battery swapping startup Ample has locked in two partnerships this month that will help fuel an expansion into Japan and New York City after years of working on the technology. The startup, which was founded in 2014 and came out of stealth in March, said Tuesday it has partnered with Japanese petroleum and energy […]

Indian cities are home to hundreds of millions of low-skilled workers who hail from villages in search of work. Many of them have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic that has slowed several economic activities in the world’s second-largest internet market. Apna, a startup by an Apple alum, is helping millions of such blue […]

Lordstown Motors has enough “binding orders” from customers to fund limited production of its electric pickup truck through May 2022, executives at the company said Tuesday, just a day after an executive shakeup that included the resignation of the company’s CEO and CFO. Reaching that goal will come at a cost. The company is putting […]

As so-called neobanks continue to gain more traction in the market with their more modern takes on banking and other financial services, a startup that’s building technology to help incumbent players better compete is announcing a big round of funding. 10x Future Technologies, a London-based fintech that helps larger, established banks build both next-generation services […]

The Biden administration is outlining new plans to combat domestic terrorism in light of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and social media companies have their own part to play. The White House released on Tuesday a new national strategy on countering domestic terrorism. The plan acknowledges the key role that online platforms […]

How big is the market in India for a neobank aimed at teenagers? Scores of high-profile investors are backing a startup to find out. Bangalore-based FamPay said on Wednesday it has raised $38 million in its Series A round led by Elevation Capital. General Catalyst, Rocketship VC, Greenoaks Capital and existing investors Sequoia Capital India, […]

“If you’re not going to an Ivy League, which is most of the world, you need better support than just going to a website.”

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Scale CEO Alex Wang joined us at TechCrunch Sessions: Mobility 2021 to discuss his company's role in the autonomous driving industry and how it's changed in the five years since its founding.

Location-based services may have had their day as a salient category for hot apps or innovative tech leveraging the arrival of smartphones, but that’s largely because they are now part of the unspoken fabric of how we interact with digital services every day: We rely on location-specific information when we are on search engines, when […]

What, exactly, are investors looking for?

Pony.ai, the robotaxi startup that operates in China and the United States, has started testing driverless vehicles on public roads in California ahead of plans to launch a commercial service there in 2022. The company said the driverless vehicle testing, which means the autonomous vehicles operate without human safety drivers behind the wheel, is happening […]

Mental health startup Ksana Health has received $2 million in seed funding led by re:Mind Capital, the mental health VC arm of Christian Angermayer and Apeiron Investment Group. It’s a move informed by two trends: passive data collection, and a burgeoning mental health crisis in teens and young adults.  Ksana Health is an Oregon-based company […]

EV sales are driving demand for services and startups that fulfill the new needs of drivers, charging station operators and others.

Subscribers of MTN, the largest telecom provider in Nigeria, may soon face service disruption in the West African nation, according to a notice seen by some journalists and outlets.  A rise in insecurity challenges in Nigeria is likely to disrupt MTN’s service, Reuters and others said, citing an alert from customer service reps. Throughout this […]

The easiest traits to recognize as an investor is the founder’s ability to ace the fundraising process, crucial to which is the ability to think strategically and influence, inspire and persuade.

Entrepreneur James Altucher has used everything from Star Wars to Isaac Asimov's <em>Foundation</em> series in his work. The post What Sci-Fi Can Teach You About Running a Business appeared first on WIRED.

In his new book, political reporter Matthew Yglesias imagines a future America that's revitalized itself by tripling its population. The post Sci-Fi About Overpopulation Was Way Off appeared first on WIRED.

Sci-fi author F. Brett Cox loves stories with mysterious spacecraft but is a firm skeptic when it comes to actual alien visitors. The post Why Do People Love UFOs So Much? appeared first on WIRED.

Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 novel, about a society with no government or laws, remains a thoughtful exploration of politics and economics decades later. The post 'The Dispossessed' Is Still One of Sci-Fi's Smartest Books appeared first on WIRED.

Ursula K. Le Guin's 1969 novel is one of the genre's most important explorations of gender. The post 'The Left Hand of Darkness' Is a Sci-Fi Classic appeared first on WIRED.

The Netflix series can still feel like a boy's club, but the second season eclipses the first. The post 'Love, Death & Robots' Is Growing Up appeared first on WIRED.

The story-driven genre is enjoying an indie renaissance, thanks to new tools that are making the coding process simpler than ever. The post It's Never Been Easier to Make an Adventure Game appeared first on WIRED.

The HBO show, from 'Veep' creator Armando Iannucci, has all of that show's comedy, but not as many of its layers. The post 'Avenue 5' Is Funny but Needs More Variety appeared first on WIRED.

In his new book, legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein argues that there may be reasons to not worry about the hereafter. The post Maybe Future Generations Will Be Just Fine appeared first on WIRED.

It's time the work of sci-fi writer Roger Zelazny got its own adaptations. The post The World Needs a 'Chronicles of Amber' TV Show appeared first on WIRED.