TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Tesla

⚡️ Tesla overlooked again: The Department of Transportation announced another $636 million in funding for 49 applicants building EV charging infrastructure. Tesla was absent from that list, meaning its application for $100 million to fund a big rig charging corridor was passed over. Read more

🤳 TikTok transition: If TikTok does get shut down on January 19, where will its users go for short-form video? Xiaohongshu, another Chinese short-form video app, has skyrocketed to the top of app stores. Seems that although the U.S. has qualms about Chinese-owned social media, users sure don't. Read more

🚀 New Glenn gets grounded: Blue Origin had to postpone the inaugural launch of its first orbital rocket, New Glenn, early this morning. The rocket launch had initially been planned for January 12, but now it seems the company will likely need a few days. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Alexsl / Getty Images

🛍️ eBay goes shopping: The e-commerce giant eBay is looking to bolster its used car selling business. The company announced plans today to acquire Caramel, a startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final steps of a transaction online. Read more

🚫 No chips for you: The Biden administration announced today a number of rule changes that further restrict the export of advanced AI chips to certain countries. While these are meant to hurt U.S. adversaries like China and Russia, this latest batch of restrictions will have larger ramifications. Read more

🤑 Another acquisition: Clearwater Analytics, which develops accounting and compliance tools for asset managers, announced that it's entered a definitive agreement to acquire investment management platform Enfusion for $1.5 billion. Read more

💰 A SPAC for sore eyes: AI chip startup Blaize announced it will go public on Tuesday via a SPAC deal. The company launched in 2011 and has since raised more than $335 million in venture funding. I don't know what's more surprising: an exit or a SPAC in 2025? Read more

🧾 A second startup: Open Ledger is building embedded accounting tools, and it just raised $3 million in funding. The company's founder, Pryce Yebesi, is 24 years old and got the idea for Open Ledger while building his last startup Utopia Labs, which was acquired by Coinbase. Read more

Around the web

🚗 The future of EVs: The next four years could look very different than the last four years when it comes to electric vehicles. The Verge caught up with outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg about his thoughts on the next four years and on what he accomplished in office. Read more

👀 Writing on the walls: When Meta announced it would be changing its content moderation policies last week, U.S.-based fact checkers felt "blindsided" by the news. But Meta's content moderation teams outside the U.S. have heard rumors of the program shutting down for years. Read more