TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: SignalFire

🔥 SignalFire on fire: Venture firm SignalFire said it has raised more than $1 billion in new capital, a substantial increase from the $900 million it raised just two years ago. The firm nabbed new LPs, including the largest pension fund in the U.S., and some banks.

💼 Risky business: The markets today are still reeling from President Trump's tariffs in a tumble the internet is calling "Orange Monday." Some analysts are saying Apple and Tesla have the biggest exposures to the risk and have started cutting stock prices.

🛒 Shopify's CEO is bullish on AI: In a memo sent to employees, CEO Tobi Lütke said teams should demonstrate first whether AI can do a job before asking to increase headcount. And he's just one of many CEOs starting to think this way.

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Ingrid Lunden / Krea.ai under a CC BY 2.0 license

🏪 A one-stop shop: Krea, which provides generative AI tools for designers and visual creatives, has raised $83 million in funding, with a current valuation of $500 million. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Abstract Ventures.

💰 Speaking of AI fundraises: Moonvalley, which creates AI tools for video creation, has raised $43 million, according to SEC filings. A spokesperson told us that the filing doesn't reflect the true number of the raise, which will be formalized in the upcoming weeks.

🤨 Private no longer: The U.K. government just lost its request to keep the details of its surveillance order against Apple secret. This means that the public will be privy to parts of the case in the first public acknowledgment that the case even exists.

🔎 Google has yet another AI update: This time, people with access to AI Mode can ask complex questions about uploaded or taken photos. Users can ask follow-up questions and dive deeper into a topic.

👀 Here's looking at you, kid: Waymo may start using data, including video from interior cameras tied to rider identities, to train GenAI models, per an unreleased version of its privacy policy. The draft also revealed that Waymo might share this data to make personalized ads.

🛍️ IBM goes shopping: The company has purchased Hakkoda, a data and AI consultancy. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Around the web

🏗️ Building out: Nvidia is going to help build Africa's first AI factory, Bloomberg reports. The factory will receive as much as $720 million from Cassava Technologies, founded by Zimbabwean tycoon Strive Masiyiwa, and hopes to deploy AI and computing software throughout Africa.

🍎 Easy as apple pie: Analysts knew that Apple would get hit hard by the tariffs, and The Wall Street Journal has the scoop on what the company's response might be. The outlet reports that Apple is planning to source more iPhones from India as the tariff situation around China remains volatile.

Before you go

Image Credits: imaginima / Getty Images

⚡️ It's electrifying: Drew Baglino, a former exec at Tesla, has a new startup. He's building a company called Heron Power and is looking to raise up to $50 million to develop transformers for the electric grid.