TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Orca AI

1. AI at the helm: The Automate Everything movement is affecting use cases far beyond the cities. Just take a look at Orca AI, an autonomous shipping company that relies on a Starlink connection to access real-time data for navigating ships. The startup just closed a $72.5 million Series B led by Brighton Park Capital. Read More

2. Too big to escape notice: The DOJ wants Google to sell two of its advertising products to help restore competition in ad tech: its ad exchange product, AdX, and its ad server for web publishers, DoubleClick for Publishers. Read More

3. Emptying the war chest: DoorDash is on a buying spree — it's buying U.K. rival Deliveroo for about $3.88 billion, giving it access to nine new markets in Europe, and it's acquiring SevenRooms, a startup that provides CRM software to restaurants and hotels. The Deliveroo deal in particular is a bold move, considering Uber is currently suing DoorDash for anticompetitive behavior across the pond. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

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🎨 Stealth mode: TC got the scoop that Recraft, the startup behind a mysterious image model that crushed OpenAI's DALL-E and Midjourney last year, has raised $30 million in a Series B round led by Accel. Recraft says it builds its own models from scratch, and it excels at generating images for brands. Read More

💥 Built for shocks: Anduril's acquiring one of its vendors, Dublin-based Klas, which makes ruggedized edge computing equipment for military and first responders. Klas's tech will go hand-in-fist with Anduril's latest product, Menace-T, a compact, portable command system for off-grid computing and communications. Read More

🤝 Deals all around: Employer.com has acquired MainStreet.com, making it the latest fintech to be purchased by a workforce management company. Employer.com says the merger would help "simplify business back office solutions" into a single platform. Read More

🚕 More robotaxis! Waymo is ramping up production at a new facility in Arizona as part of a multi-million-dollar investment with Magna to build over 2,000 autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles. The factory's location is strategic – the Phoenix suburb of Mesa is close to Waymo's core market, making it easier to go from factory floor to picking up passengers. Read More

😞 Womp: General Fusion has laid off 25% of its staff just days after hitting a key milestone for its latest fusion demo device. The company has raised $440 million, but that hasn't been enough to attract more capital for this expensive, experimental technology. Read More

🩺 PSA: Here's your regular reminder that AI chatbots are flawed. A recent Oxford-led study found that people who use chatbots for health advice don't make better decisions than participants who rely on traditional search or their own judgement. Read More

Around the Web

🏆 The Pulitzers are in, and you ought to take a look at The Wall Street Journal's winning work, which chronicles the political and personal shifts of Elon Musk – everything from his use of illegal drugs to his secret conversations with Putin. Read More

🍔 Big money: Wonder, the food hall company that owns Grubhub and Blue Apron, has raised $600 million, bringing its total valuation up to more than $7 billion, Bloomberg reports. The deal brings the company closer to creating what CEO Marc Lore calls "a super app for mealtime." Read More

Before You Go

🧑‍🍳 Made with computer vision: Meet Posha, a startup that builds countertop robots that can cook meals for you using – what else? – AI. Users can scroll through recipes, select what they want, add the right amounts of required ingredients and then, double double toil and trouble, watch as the machine takes it from there. Read More