playground global
The new fund invests across the computing, automation, infrastructure, logistics, decarbonization and engineered biology industries.
I love a good pivot story. It’s something most startups will confront at some point or other, if they’re going to make it long term. In a category where luck,…
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Two days in the Bay
It was genuinely a bit surreal seeing deep green hills in the South Bay last week. Growing up in Fremont, I know the change from brown to green is about as close as we get to having seasons, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen them, I’d genuinely forgotten…
The biotech industry is experiencing a rush of AI-powered tools for many aspects of the complex drug discovery process. But one that has flown under the radar, increasingly thought to…
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Investing in the future of robotics
A short one this week, as I’m taking some time off. I didn’t want to leave you hanging, so I’ve spoken with some leading names in the field to keep Actuator chugging along. Last week, we spoke to MassRobotics’ chief of operations, Joyce Sidopoulos. Next week, we’ll be talking to…
The startup’s technology promises to significantly slash some of the the time and expense of mineral exploration while also allowing mining companies to be more targeted in their extraction efforts.
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Here’s everything you missed at TC Sessions: Robotics 2022
In case you missed it, robots took over TechCrunch on Thursday, July 21. We played host to the robotic industry’s leading startups, researchers and academics at TC Sessions: Robotics. The event was a blockbuster success, and we hope you enjoyed the show. All the features, panels, interviews and podcasts are…
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Robotics scene continues to be bullish, but layoffs are looming
“In an economic downturn, the customers will be less willing to be experimental, so they’re thinking about cutting costs and then economics just becomes so much more important.”
Yesterday, Amazon announced that Agility Robotics is one of the five initial startups benefitting from the company’s $1 billion innovation fund. If I had to guess, I’d say that meant…
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As the worm turns
Here’s something for you to mull over this fine Thursday morning: Do agtech robotics need a reset? Granted, we’re dealing with a small sample size here, but a string of news items over the past year have left me wondering why the category is — thus far — failing to…
Growth is good, but like the James Brown song, Klarna is paying the cost to be the boss.
Hello friends and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
In a recent episode of TechCrunch Live, Agility’s Jonathan Hurst and Playground Global’s Bruce Leak joined us to discuss the robotic company’s journey from the lab to the commercial sector.
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Putting the autonomous cart before the robotic horse
I’m writing this fresh off hosting TechCrunch Live this week with Jonathan Hurst of Agility Robotics and Bruce Leak of Playground Global. I’ll be posting more about the session later this week, but in the meantime, it’s got me thinking about carts, horses and the inherent ordering system therein. Specifically,…
Agility Robotics and Playground Global join TechCrunch Live to speak on robotics fundraising
Warehouse logistics one of the fastest growing verticals for robotics investments amid pandemic-related shutdowns. There’s been plenty of interest in the category over the years, but COVID-19 has accelerated interest…
TechCrunch Live has an exciting slate of episodes scheduled for March. The speakers come from a variety of disciplines, backgrounds and locations. Like always, each episode features an entrepreneur presenting…
Extra Crunch Live gives you the chance to hear live from entrepreneurs who have successfully raised significant rounds of venture capital — and from the investors who believed in them.
The online chat platform Discord is buying Sentropy, a company that makes AI-powered software to detect and remove online harassment and hate. Discord currently uses a “multilevel” approach to moderation,…
The race to decarbonize aviation got a boost this Earth Day with the announcement of a $20.5 million Series A round by Universal Hydrogen, a Los Angeles-based startup aiming to…
E-commerce is booming, but among the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs of online businesses are finding a place to store the items they are selling and dealing with the logistics of…
10 investors predict MaaS, on-demand delivery and EVs will dominate mobility’s post-pandemic future
“Transportation is important to basically all people and is a real mess, so it will likely continue to be a hot topic and a source of investor interest for years…
Agility, the Oregon State University spin-off behind Digit and Cassie, announced this morning that it has raised $20 million in funding. The latest round, led by DCVC and Playground Global,…
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How one moonshot VC approaches investing in the COVID-19 era
“If you only draw upon 20% of the population for that talent, you’re missing out on people who are going to create these watershed things that do have a different perspective.”
Playground Global has an eye on the future. A quick glance at the investment firm’s portfolio showcases a wide-ranging list of investments, covering robotics, autonomous driving, neural network, quantum computing,…
Peter Barrett might be best known today as co-founder and CTO of Playground Global. But his experience in the technology world stretches back to when he was a teenager. Barrett’s…
Hi and welcome back to The Station, a weekly newsletter dedicated to the future (and present) of transportation. I’m your host, Kirsten Korosec, senior transportation reporter at TechCrunch. What you’re…
The Valley’s affinity for robotics shows no signs of cooling. Technical enhancements through innovations like AI/ML, compute power and big data utilization continue to drive new performance milestones, efficiencies and…
There weren’t many scenarios where consumer were deciding between buying the original Skydio R1 autonomous drone and something from DJI. The R1 was the second drone in your arsenal, it…
The future of rocket manufacturing has touched down in Mississippi. At NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center, nestled in Hancock County, Miss., right on the border of Louisiana, the Los…
Despite the seemingly fantastical demonstration of walking and jumping robots, today’s robots are often stupid, brittle and inflexible, only capable of working in carefully engineered environments, and unable to respond…
