September 11, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

Nuclear startup Bluecore Energy raises $50M seed round, just two months after launch: Bluecore Energy announced Tuesday an oversubscribed $50 million seed round — just months after raising a $10 million pre-seed and coming out of stealth. Read More

Cognition hits $48B valuation, signaling investors believe AI coding is far from a winner-take-all market: Cognition's valuation multiple is higher than Cursor's was before selling to SpaceX. Read More

Travis Kalanick’s Atoms might be getting into the robotaxi business: The Uber founder has said that Atoms will allow him to complete "unfinished business." Read More

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Must-Reads

Bending Spoons to buy collaboration tools maker Miro for $1.36B, 90% less than its 2022 valuation: Bending Spoons is buying Miro for $1.36 billion, a huge dip in valuation for the workplace collaboration startup, which was valued at $17.5 billion in late 2021. Read More

Harvey hits $15.5B valuation, months after reaching $11B: The legal AI startup and VC darling has nearly doubled its valuation in nine months. Read More

Defense tech Mach Industries doubles valuation to $3.7B in 3 months: The buzzy startup raised another $600 million in a Series C extension round, bringing the total of the round to $900 million. Read More

Maven Robotics wants to steal your robot deployment deal: Maven Robotics emerged from stealth today with a $100 million Series A and active deployments. Read More

Google signs its biggest rice-methane carbon credit deal with Indian startup Mitti Labs: The four-year agreement will cover rice farms across three Indian states, reaching about 100,000 hectares at peak delivery. Read More

Last but Not Least

Furo's founders left Silicon Valley — and it's paying off: The three 28-year-old founders behind energy startup Furo moved from Silicon Valley and back to Germany, and yet secured $4 million in funding from mostly U.S. backers. Read More

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September 04, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

India's Unacademy sells to rival upGrad for $206M, about 94% less than its peak valuation: "We raised at a peak, but sold at a fraction of that," Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal wrote. "I'm not going to dress these facts up." Read More

Lachy Groom backs Indian startup aiming to keep aircraft aloft for a year: Founded by a 20-year-old, Alteon is developing autonomous aircraft that hopes to harvest wind energy to stay aloft for several months. Read More

Liux's Big microcar bets on sustainability to take on Chinese rivals: The Liux Big microcar is made in Spain. The startup thinks it can compete in a crowded market with its tiny electric car built around sustainability. Read More

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Must-Reads

Qualcomm backs Ultrahuman in $70M round on bet to turn smart rings into computers: Ultrahuman is targeting a $200 million annual revenue run rate by January 2027 as it builds a new Qualcomm-powered smart ring. Read More

Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation: The high-profile startup's annual revenue run rate stands at over $100 million. Read More

Krafton doubles down on India with another $250M bet beyond gaming: Krafton's planned investment in India is set to surpass $500 million with its latest commitment. Read More

The Builders Stage brings practical strategies for scaling startups to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: The Builders Stage is returning to TechCrunch Disrupt, bringing together founders, startup operators, and investors for practical conversations on what it takes to build and scale. Read More

Ryan Breslow is raising up to $27M in pay-to-play bridge funding to save Bolt: The controversial founder of the checkout startup once valued at $11 billion is putting in $5 million of his own money. Read More

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