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Apple announced on Monday that it’s rolling out visionOS 2.4, bringing Apple Intelligence-powered AI features to the Apple Vision Pro. The update also introduces new spatial experiences and the Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone. With Apple Intelligence on the Apple Vision Pro, users will get access to writing tools that allow them to rewrite, proofread, and summarize text with the help of AI. Users will also get access to Image Playground and Genmoji in order to create unique AI-generated images and emoji. In addition, users can leverage natural language search in the Photos app to find specific images by simply describing them. Vision Pro users can also create a “Memory Movie” based on their photos and videos around specific themes, thanks to a new Apple Intelligence feature that’s launching today. visionOS 2.4 also includes support for Priority Messages in Mail, Mail Summaries, Image Wand in Notes, Priority Notifications in Notification Center, and Notification Summaries. Image Credits:AppleThe first set of Apple Intelligence features is available to users with their device and Siri language set to U.S. English. As for the new spatial experiences, Apple is launching a new Spatial Gallery app that gives users access to a library of spatial content around art, culture, nature, sports, entertainment, and more. The app will be updated with new content regularly, Apple says. The new Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone allows users to do a variety of different things, including queuing apps to download, accessing information about their Vision Pro, and finding tips to enhance their experience. The app features a Discover page that surfaces recommendations for new experiences on Apple Vision Pro, such as popular apps and games. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Apple today also announced that it’s rolling out new Apple Intelligence features, including a “Priority Notifications” feature that aims to help users manage their notifications by prioritizing important alerts and minimizing distractions from less important ones on a user’s Lock Screen. Plus, the tech giant is expanding Apple Intelligence access to the EU and rolling out support for new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified).

Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker’s suite of AI-powered tools and features, is gaining new features. Most notably, the company on Monday announced that Apple device owners will now be able to take advantage of Priority Notifications, which allows Apple’s AI to highlight your most time-sensitive notifications in a new format. Other updates are coming to the Image Playground app and the Mac. Plus, Apple Intelligence is now available to iPhone and iPad users in the EU and on the Apple Vision Pro headset in U.S. English. The changes are rolling out with the release of Apple software, iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4. Apple notes that its AI features are also available in a number of new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified). Localized English has also been added for both Singapore and India. Though Apple Intelligence was introduced at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference last year as its new generative AI offering, the reality is that Apple was not prepared to release all its AI-powered features at once. That’s led to a slow and steady rollout of numerous AI updates since the release of iOS 18.1, where Apple Intelligence first went live. For instance, features like ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, and others didn’t arrive until iOS 18.2 (and iPadOS 18.2, macOS Sequoia 15.2) months later. Image Credits:AppleAmong the new additions coming Monday, Priority Notifications may be the most useful if successfully implemented. Now, instead of having to dig for important updates across all your notifications — which often include nonessential updates and other marketing messages from apps — you’ll see those that deserve attention appear at the top of the stack. Other Apple Intelligence improvements arriving today include the ability to create a “memory movie” on Mac by typing a description, and an added Sketch style in Apple’s AI image-generation app, Image Playground, for the creation of academic and detailed sketches. Apple had previously announced that its AI suite would arrive in the EU in April 2025 — a delay Apple blamed on EU tech regulations, like the Digital Markets Act. Meanwhile, Vision Pro users will be able to use AI features like Writing Tools, Image Playground, Genmoji, and more with the expansion of Apple Intelligence to the mixed reality platform. The update also includes a handful of new emojis, including a paint splatter, a face with bags under its eyes, a fingerprint, a root vegetable, and a shovel, among others. The recently announced recipe companion, Apple News+ Food, is arriving Monday as well, alongside new child safety features and other tweaks to the revamped Apple Photos app and other Apple services.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, whose company makes Fortnite and tools for other developers, including Unreal Engine, called out Apple and Google as “gangster-style businesses” engaged in illegal practices while speaking at a Y Combinator event on Wednesday. The executive also emphasized how the big tech companies’ practices directly affected his own business by scaring away users from installing Epic’s Games Store software and preventing Epic from attracting developers to its offerings. Notably, Epic Games has played a big role in the fight against Big Tech monopolies over the past several years. The company sued both Apple and Google for monopolistic practices over their respective app stores. Epic won its case with Google but not with Apple. However, the court did require Apple to open up to more competition by forcing a change to its App Store rules. The court said app developers should now be able to link to other purchasing mechanisms besides Apple’s own. (Unfortunately for app developers, Epic is still battling with Apple in the courts over this change, as it alleges that Apple violated the court order by allowing developers to process their own payments, but only with a small, 3% reduction in commission, which doesn’t make it worth their while.) Onstage, Sweeney again called out the big tech companies for their practices and their “malicious compliance” with the courts’ decisions. “The sad truth is that Apple and Google are no longer good-faith, law-abiding companies,” Sweeney said. “They’re run, in many ways, as gangster-style businesses that will do anything they think they can get away with. If they think that the fine is going to be cheaper than the lost revenue from an illegal practice, they always continue the illegal practice and pay the fine.” The gaming executive pointed to how the tech companies’ practices hurt his business. For instance, when users on Android try to install the Epic Games Store on their smartphone, Google warns them that the software is from an “unknown source” and might harm their device. This “scare screen,” as Sweeney calls it, is meant to warn users about the dangers of installing non-Play Store apps. But he says the screen results in 50-60% of users abandoning their attempt to install the software. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW A similar drop-off rate is found on iOS. In Europe, the Epic Games Store is allowed thanks to new regulations, but Apple displays a warning to users who try to install it. Again, this leads to drop-off rates of 50-60%, Sweeney said. He calls the use of these screens “textbook self-preferencing,” noting that the companies are “getting away with it.” “Crime pays for big tech companies,” he said. “Obviously, we shouldn’t expect that to change until enforcement becomes much, much more vigorous,” he told the audience. In addition, the Fortnite exec said that because of the friction and the associated fees with third-party app stores on iOS, no major game developer has been willing to distribute games through the Epic Game Store. Instead of its usual 30% fee, Apple reduces the fee but collects a “core technology fee” of 50 cents per install per year for any app with more than 1 million downloads. “Unless your app is enormously high grossing per user, any free-to-play game is largely dissuaded from that,” Sweeney explained. “It’s too expensive for them. Apple would bankrupt them if they did that.” He did note that the Epic Games Store on iOS has managed to attract some back-catalog games. Meanwhile, the store will open up to developer submissions later this year, which Sweeney hopes will boost the catalog further on both Android and iOS.

Apple lost more than $250 billion in market value Thursday, with shares down as much as 8.5% as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariff spree. The iPhone maker took one of the biggest hits on Wall Street, where tech stocks dropped as investors shifted money away from volatile assets. Tesla, Nvidia, and Meta were down 6%, and Amazon shares fell by 7.2%. Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs Wednesday afternoon of at least 10% across the board, and even higher for some countries — China’s total tariff rate soared to 54% — that will go into effect April 5. Wedbush Securities analysts said the tariffs are “worse than a worst case scenario” for tech investors. The White House insists the tariffs aren’t a negotiation tactic but a necessity to boost domestic manufacturing. The president called them a move to “liberate” the American economy. Trump’s huge tariffs on imported goods to the U.S. affect all of Apple’s biggest suppliers and manufacturing hubs in Asia, from China to Taiwan, India to Vietnam, despite CEO Tim Cook’s efforts to court the administration. That means every model of iPhone, iPad, Mac, and accessory that Apple sells will be impacted. Cook will either choose to hike up the cost for consumers or have Apple take the losses, wiping out tens of billions in potential profits.

The British Broadcasting Corporation has filed a complaint with a U.K. antitrust regulator complaining that aggregators like Apple News and Google News minimize credit for the stories they feature. Apple Insider reports that the BBC is asking the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority to require Apple and Google to more prominently credit news sources. And while the CMA’s decision would theoretically apply only to U.K. publications, any change made by the aggregators would presumably affect other publishers too. “If audiences derive value from our content and services but attribute that value to gatekeepers instead of the BBC, then that undermines the perceived value of the BBC,” the broadcaster wrote in its complaint. That perceived value may be particularly important to the BBC because it derives the majority of its funding from a license fee paid by British households — so it’s important that the broadcaster’s work be visible and valued in order to maintain support for the fee. Apple recently paused AI news summaries after complaints of inaccuracy from the BBC and other publishers.

The U.K. government has lost its bid to keep secret the details of a surveillance order it brought against Apple, according to a newly released decision by the U.K. surveillance powers’ court. The decision, posted on Monday by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in London, means that parts of the legal case will be held in public, despite objections from the U.K. government. In its ruling on Monday, the tribunal’s judges said they “do not accept that the revelation of the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security.” This is the first public acknowledgement that the case exists, though specific details of the case were withheld. Much of the “bare details” of the case reportedly relate to a U.K. legal demand ordering Apple to let U.K. authorities access the encrypted cloud data of any Apple customer anywhere in the world. The Washington Post in February published leaked details of the legal demand, revealing the existence of the U.K.’s backdoor demand. Soon after, Apple said it could “no longer” offer Advanced Data Protection, which allows customers to encrypt their files in Apple’s cloud so that nobody other than the user can access them, to users in the United Kingdom. Neither Apple nor the Home Office, which initiated the demand on behalf of the U.K. government, have so far commented on the specific legal case as it remains subject to U.K. national security rules, preventing even the existence of the case itself. Following the order, Apple reportedly appealed the order to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. The U.K. government responded by telling the court that national security would suffer if the nature of the case were made public. Privacy and rights advocates, a coalition of news outlets, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, and senior intelligence officials in the Trump administration have all called for transparency around the legal hearings. When contacted by TechCrunch, a spokesperson for the U.K. Home Office did not comment. A spokesperson for Apple did not immediately return a request for comment. Apple previously told TechCrunch that the company has “never built a backdoor or master key” to any of its products or services and it “never will.”

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives slashed his price targets for Apple and Tesla over the weekend as President Trump’s tariffs threaten to disrupt both businesses. “The tariff economic Armageddon unleashed by Trump is a complete disaster for Apple given its massive China production exposure,” Ives said in a warning note over the weekend. “In our view, no U.S. tech company is more negatively impacted by these tariffs than Apple with 90% of iPhones produced and assembled in China.” Wedbush cut its price target for Apple stock by $75, down to $250 per share. Apple’s shares are down this afternoon by 4.3% and trading at $180. Ives also cut his price target for Tesla to $315 from $550, which is still well above Tesla’s current share price of $233.94 as of 2:10 p.m. ET. Ives said the affect of tariffs isn’t the only reason for the price cut. He also cited CEO Elon Musk’s politics, which has created a brand crisis for the automaker. Musk’s association with Trump and his tariffs policies are affecting sales in the U.S. and Europe and also threaten Tesla’s popularity in China, “further driv[ing] Chinese consumers to buy domestic such as BYD,” said Ives. “Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally,” he wrote. “It is time for Musk to step up, read the room, and be a leader in this time of uncertainty. Tesla shares were down nearly 10% compared to Friday’s closing price, but have rebounded somewhat as of Monday afternoon. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW

Apple is considering importing more iPhones from India to sidestep the 54% additional tariffs on goods imported from China that U.S. president Donald Trump announced last week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. The company sees this as a short-term measure while it seeks to negotiate with the Trump administration to get an exemption from the tariffs, as it doesn’t yet want to revamp its supply chain built around China, the report said. Compared to the new 54% tariffs on Chinese-made goods, the U.S. has proposed a 26% tariffs on goods imported from India. If the tariffs aren’t brought down and Apple continues to import iPhones from China, an iPhone 16 Pro that cost $550 to import before tariffs could cost an additional $300 now. Apple was on track to make 25 million iPhones in India this year, with 10 million units for the local market, the Wall Street Journal cited Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan as saying. He said that if Apple decided to import all 25 million iPhones to the U.S., it would satisfy about 50% of the demand in the U.S. market.

A coalition of governments has published a list of legitimate-looking Android apps that were actually spyware and were used to target civil society that may oppose China’s state interests. On Tuesday, the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre, or NCSC, which is part of intelligence agency GCHQ, along with government agencies from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the United States, published separate advisories on two families of spyware, known as BadBazaar and Moonshine. These two spywares hid inside legitimate-looking Android apps, acting essentially as “Trojan” malware, with surveillance capabilities such as the ability to access the phone’s cameras, microphone, chats, photos, and location data, the NCSC wrote in a press release on Wednesday. BadBazaar and Moonshine, which have been previously analyzed by cybersecurity firms like Lookout, Trend Micro, and Volexity, as well as the digital rights nonprofit Citizen Lab, were used to target Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Taiwanese communities, as well as civil society groups, according to the NCSC. Uyghurs are a Muslim-minority group largely in China that has for years faced detention, surveillance, and discrimination from the Chinese government, and thus has frequently been the target of hacking campaigns. “The apps specifically target individuals internationally who are connected to topics that are considered by the Chinese state to pose a threat to its stability, with some designed to appeal directly to victims or imitate popular apps,” the NCSC said Wednesday. “The individuals most at risk include anyone connected to Taiwanese independence; Tibetan rights; Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in or from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; democracy advocacy, including Hong Kong, and the Falun Gong spiritual movement.” In one of the two documents published by the NCSC on Wednesday, there is a list of the malicious apps, which includes more than 100 Android apps masquerading as Muslim and Buddhist prayer apps; chat apps like Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp; other popular apps like Adobe Acrobat PDF reader; and utility apps. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW The NCSC also mentions one iOS app called TibetOne, which was listed on Apple’s App Store in 2021. Google and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration is carving out big tariff exemptions for the tech industry. While President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would delay many of the market-shaking tariffs that he’d announced the previous week, he kept a universal baseline 10% tariff in place, while also increasing tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% (on top of a 20% tariff that he’d already imposed on goods from China). There’s been plenty of speculation about what the tariffs will mean for the tech industry, which manufactures many consumer electronics in China and elsewhere abroad. One of Trump’s stated goals is to bring manufacturing back to the United States, but others believe the dream of an American-made iPhone is a fantasy. Those debates may be paused after Friday evening, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a list of product categories that are “excluded from the reciprocal tariffs imposed under Executive Order 14257,” with the exclusions backdated to April 5. Those categories appear to include smartphones, laptops, hard drives, and machines that make semiconductors. Those products will all be exempt from both the 125% tariff on goods from China and from the universal baseline tariff. (Other tariffs, such as the previous 20% tariff on Chinese goods, would presumably still apply.) Notable Silicon Valley figures led by Elon Musk have joined the Trump administration, while other tech CEOs have been courting Trump, most visibly with millions of dollars donated to his inauguration. Those efforts seemed to bear little fruit — until last night’s announcement, which Daniel Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, described as “a dream scenario for tech investors.” Tech giants like Apple and Nvidia are likely celebrating the news, as are U.S. consumers who will avoid a big markup on their next iPhone. But the industry could still be hit with more targeted tariffs and other restrictions. For example, The New York Times reports that the Trump administration is preparing a national security-related investigation into semiconductors. And indeed, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that these products would be included in “the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.” Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW This post has been updated with Howard Lutnick’s comments about the tariffs.

Today’s the day! The application to speak at TechCrunch All Stage closes tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT — this is your final chance to share real-world insights with 1,200+ startup founders and VCs attending the event. Whether you’ve built or backed startups, battled bottlenecks, or cracked the code on growth, the stage is yours. TC All Stage lands in Boston on July 15, and we’re giving the mic to those who’ve lived the scaling grind. Step-by-step: What to expect Make your voice count. Your experience could help the next generation of founders grow smarter and faster. Apply now and you might land a spot in our Audience Choice round — where TechCrunch readers choose who gets the spotlight. Here’s how the process works: Step 1: Submit your session proposal through the Call for Content form on the TC All Stage page. Step 2: Our events programming and editorial team will carefully review every submission to identify the strongest sessions and most compelling ideas. Step 3: Top-picked sessions will move on to the Audience Choice round, where TechCrunch readers vote for the ones they’re most excited to see at TC All Stage. Step 4: The three sessions with the most votes will be selected to lead their own roundtables — a highly interactive discussion designed for deep engagement. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW How roundtable sessions work Roundtables are 30-minute, small-group discussions led by you and up to two speakers of your choice. These informal sessions skip the slides and video, creating space for deep, focused conversations on niche topics with highly engaged attendees. Roundtable session at TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 at SoWa Power Station in Boston.Image Credits:Halo CreativeSpeaking perks When you take the stage at TC All Stage, you don’t just get the mic — you gain full access to the entire event. Participate in roundtables with founders and investors, engage in impactful breakout sessions, and forge valuable connections with startup leaders. Perks include: Full event access for you and your team. Spotlights across TechCrunch.com, the event page, and the event app. Promotion on our social channels. Direct engagement with founders and VCs. Don’t miss your chance to shape the conversation at TC All Stage Help founders scale with precision, speed, and resilience. Inspire innovation, ignite growth, and influence the future of startups. Take the stage at TC All Stage and share your scaling expertise with founders and VCs eager for actionable insights. Establish yourself as a trusted leader in the startup ecosystem. Apply before the day ends — the speaker application deadline is tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT! Image Credits:TechCrunch

Techstars, a nearly 20-year-old startup accelerator, announced new terms for startups that enter its three-month program. The organization will now invest $220,000, which is $100,000 more than it offered previously, in companies starting with its fall 2025 batch. The capital will be divided into two components. The group is offering companies $20,000 in exchange for 5% ownership in the business. Startups will also receive $200,000 in the form of an uncapped SAFE note with a “most favored nation” clause. Put more simply, Techstars’ percentage ownership of its $200,000 SAFE will depend on the company’s subsequent valuations. For example, if the startup’s next financing “prices” it at $10 million, Techstars will receive 2% equity on the SAFE component for a total of 7% ownership. Techstars’ new terms now closely mirror those of Y Combinator. The famed Silicon Valley accelerator increased its funding to startups three years ago by adding a $375,000 SAFE note to its standard deal of $125,000 for 7% of the startup’s equity. So, which accelerator is offering a better deal for startups? The answer largely depends on the company’s capital needs. Compared to Techstars, startups going through YC get more than double the funding but give up more equity.

Andreessen Horowitz’s hiring spree continues. On Monday, Erik Torenberg announced that the giant VC firm had acquired his Turpentine podcast, with him joining as a general partner. Torenberg’s podcast focuses mostly on interviewing VCs at a variety of firms about their approach to investing. Recent guests include Accel’s Andrew Braccia, Seven Seven Six’s Alexis Ohanian, and Benchmark’s Sarah Tavel and Eric Vishria. Torenberg said he plans to continue with his podcast, but we’ll see if it changes direction. A16z creates a lot of corporate content, including its own podcasts. But the focus tends to be on founders rather than other VCs. Torenberg makes sense as a hire for a16z, though. Beyond the pod, he was an early employee at Product Hunt and has been a successful angel investor and pro VC in the years since. He has spent the last seven years at firm Village Global. While there, he helped launch On Deck, a program that trains aspiring founders. His investments include Scale AI, Lattice, Figma, Perplexity, Replit, Flexport, and others, he says. The venture firm also recently hired former North Carolina congressman Patrick McHenry and, several months ago, former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny

In 2020, when open source database Supabase was founded, its New Zealand-based CEO, Paul Copplestone, couldn’t have imagined it would be sitting in the sweet spot for 2025’s biggest trend: vibe coding. But on Tuesday, the fruits of that became evident when it announced a $200 million Series D at a $2 billion post-money valuation led by Accel, with Coatue, Y Combinator, Craft Ventures, and longtime investor Felicis participating in the round, Fortune reported. This fresh $200 million comes just seven months after Supabase announced it raised $80 million led by Peak XV (a Sequoia spinoff) and David Sacks’ Craft Ventures. Supabase wouldn’t comment on the valuation at that time, but PitchBook put it at about $900 million. All told, the startup has now raised about $398 million. Supabase is another example of how commercially successful open source projects can be. It offers an open source version of Firebase, Google’s database AI app development platform, and hosts the apps for up to $600 a month, or more for enterprise users. Supabase combines the open source SQL database Postgres with other enterprise-grade open source tools for features like authentication, auto-generated APIs, file storage, and a vector toolkit (necessary for many AI apps). Essentially, it’s like vibe database management, easing the pesky parts of getting a SQL database set up as part of app development. Consequently, it has become a popular back end for the vibe coding tools like fast-growing Lovable. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW As a Y Combinator alum, Supabase has become a go-to tool for YC startups, Copplestone previously told TechCrunch. But it’s really coming into its own with independent and enterprise developers. The company has had “insane growth” especially in the last two years, Felicis managing partner Aydin Senkut tells TechCrunch. “Its biggest asset is the community of developers, which rocketed past 1 million and growing by thousands every day.” Indeed, Supabase now claims over 1.7 million developers and the project has over 81 thousand stars on GitHub, too. “It’s becoming the default back end for AI apps and myriad other categories of apps,” Senkut says. Because it’s based on Postgres, Supabase has street cred with developers that need to support thousands to millions of users. Postgres has long-been an open source database for enterprise developers when they don’t need the superpowers — and high price tag — of an Oracle or Microsoft database. Supabase goes so far as to have a marketing tagline of “build in a weekend: scale to millions.” While nothing will truly threaten Oracle’s current standing — it’s as deeply embedded in the tech of existing Fortune 1000 companies as possible — the rise of Supabase is interesting to watch. The next crop of billion-user apps will be AI-developed, AI-powered, AI-managed. And Supabase is already one of the go-to databases for that.

Anysphere, maker of AI coding assistant Cursor, is growing so quickly that it’s not in the market to be sold, even to OpenAI, a source close to the company tells TechCrunch. It’s been a hot target. Cursor is one of the most popular AI-powered coding tools, and its revenue has been growing astronomically — doubling on average every two months, according to another source. Anysphere’s current average annual recurring revenue is about $300 million, according to the two sources. The company previously walked away from early acquisition discussions with OpenAI, after the ChatGPT maker approached Cursor, the two sources close to the company confirmed, and CNBC previously reported. Anysphere has also received other acquisition offers that the company didn’t consider, according to one of these sources. Cursor turned down the offers because the startup wants to stay independent, said the two people close to the company. Instead, Anysphere has been in talks to raise capital at about a $10 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported last month. Although it didn’t nab Anysphere, OpenAI didn’t give up on buying an established AI coding tool startup. OpenAI talked with more than 20 others, CNBC reported. And then it got serious over the next-fastest-growing AI coding startup, Windsurf, with a $3 billion acquisition offer, Bloomberg reported last week. While Windsurf is a comparatively smaller company, its ARR is about $100 million, up from $40 million in ARR in February, according to a source. Windsurf has been gaining popularity with the developer community, too, and its coding product is designed to work with legacy enterprise systems. Windsurf did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. OpenAI declined to comment on its acquisition talks. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW OpenAI is likely shopping because it’s looking for its next growth areas as competitors such as Google’s Gemini and China’s DeepSeek put pricing pressure on access to foundational models. Moreover, Anthropic and Google have recently released AI models that outperform OpenAI’s models on coding benchmarks, increasingly making them a preferred choice for developers. While OpenAI could build its own AI coding assistant, buying a product that is already popular with developers means the ChatGPT-maker wouldn’t have to start from scratch to build this business. VCs who invest in developer tool startups are certainly watching. Speculating about OpenAI’s strategy, Chris Farmer, partner and CEO at SignalFire, told TechCrunch of the company, “They’ll be acquisitive at the app layer. It’s existential for them.”

StrictlyVC is heading to London on May 13, uniting top investors and entrepreneurs to spark meaningful connections and drive forward innovation. We’re thrilled to welcome industry leaders like Nazo Moosa, general partner at Paladin Capital Group; Sonali De Rycker, partner at Accel; and TS Anil, CEO of Monzo Bank, to the stage. Paladin is proud to partner with TechCrunch to bring this exclusive StrictlyVC event to London. This is the room to ask your burning questions, share your perspective, and engage directly with some of the most influential voices shaping the future of tech and venture capital. Secure your spot for insider conversations with top names in tech and venture capital. Inside the StrictlyVC London agenda: Sessions + speakers Building Resilient Tech Ecosystems: Investing in Cybersecurity, AI, and Deep Tech Join Paladin’s Nazo Moosa as she shares how strategic investments in cybersecurity, AI, and resilience are powering the next generation of secure, sustainable innovation. Image Credits:Daniel Jones PhotographyNazo Moosa General Partner, Paladin Capital Group Backing the Breakouts: Finding Europe’s Next Global Tech Leaders Sonali De Rycker breaks down how she spots and scales standout startups — from early stage to global growth — and where she’s placing her next bets in a fast-moving tech landscape. Image Credits:AccelSonali De Rycker Partner, Accel Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Reimagining Banking: TS Anil on Monzo’s Journey from Startup to Powerhouse Hear how TS Anil turned Monzo into a fintech success story. From navigating tough beginnings to hitting profitability, he shares lessons in scaling, strategy, and staying customer-obsessed. Image Credits:Monzo BankTS Anil CEO, Monzo Bank Save your seat for exclusive VC insights from the top investors in Europe We rarely bring StrictlyVC to London. This one — presented with Paladin Capital Group — is your chance to join the inner circle of VCs and founders. Space is limited. The room will be full. Don’t miss it. Register your seat here.

StrictlyVC is turning up the heat in 2025 — and we’re going international! First stop: Athens, May 8. Get ready for sharp, unfiltered conversations onstage — and your chance to jump into the dialogue. This isn’t just an event; it’s a forum where every attendee has a voice with some of Europe’s most influential tech and VC leaders at the helm. Join the conversation — register now to be part of this can’t-miss event. Inside the agenda: StrictlyVC Greece lineup + big names in tech We’re excited to kick off this year’s global edition of the boutique VC event series with a deep dive into Europe’s hottest tech topics — featuring startup and venture leaders like the following: Why Europe, Why Now: Betting Big on the Continent’s Next Wave of Startups With Europe’s startup ecosystem evolving fast, where’s it headed? This session pairs founder insight from John Tsioris with investor perspective from Panos Papadopoulos to explore both opportunity and friction — especially in emerging hubs like Greece. Image Credits:Marathon Venture CapitalPanos Papadopoulos Partner Marathon Venture Capital Image Credits:RevotechJohn Tsioris Founder and CEO Revotech Building Europe’s Innovation Future: From Grassroots to Governance Europe’s rewriting the startup playbook. From AI to data privacy, policies are shifting fast. Factory founder Simon Schaefer breaks down what founders need to know — and how they can shape, not just follow, the future of EU regulation. Image Credits:FactorySimon Schaefer Founder / Co-Initiator Factory / The EU-Inc Petition Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Built in Europe: Scaling Ambition from the Ground Up They didn’t just launch — they broke through. Haris Pylarinos and Dimitrios Kottas reveal what it takes to scale globally from Europe, from hiring and funding to mindset and market fit. Image Credits:Delian Alliance IndustriesDimitrios Kottas Co-Founder and CEO Delian Alliance Industries Image Credits:Hack the BoxHaris Pylarinos Co-Founder and CEO Hack the Box Discover what it takes to scale from Europe to the world at StrictlyVC Greece The first international stop kicks off in Greece at the stunning Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center — and you won’t want to miss it. Gain sharp insights from Europe’s tech leaders and connect with the movers and shakers driving the industry forward. Book your seat now. Next StrictlyVC stop: London Can’t make it to Greece? We’ll be in London on May 13. Join us for deeper tech and VC discussions and networking with more of Europe’s top VC leaders. See the VC giants leading the conversations and book your ticket here.

A new venture firm aims to prove that the most successful startup ideas don’t have to be born or scaled in Silicon Valley. Fluent Ventures, a global early-stage fund, is backing founders replicating proven business models from Western markets in fintech, digital health, and commerce across emerging markets. The more cynical might describe this as a clone factory, but founder and managing partner Alexandre Lazarow calls the firm’s strategy “geographic alpha.” Fluent’s premise is that many of the world’s most valuable startups are not entirely new concepts that haven’t been tried before, but more simply, local adaptations of models that have already succeeded elsewhere. The San Francisco-based firm, founded in 2023, is deploying $40 million across a fund, an incubator, and a structured co-investment vehicle with limited partners. It is writing initial checks of $250,000 to $2 million, from pre-seed to Series A, and plans to make 22-25 investments, with follow-ons. “We are contrarians at heart,” said Lazarow, who previously invested at Omidyar Network and Cathay Innovation. “We believe the world’s best innovations are not the exclusive purview of Silicon Valley.” Fluent is not exactly working in a bubble: The last decade has seen a massive decentralization in the technology industry. In 2013, just four cities had produced a unicorn. Today, that number exceeds 150. And that has been on the back of rinse and repeat, with many of the top tech players in emerging markets mirroring successful startups that have been built elsewhere, such as Amazon clones in e-commerce, Stripe clones in payments, and neo-banking apps in fintech. The first breakout neo-bank was Tinkoff from Russia. “That movement scaled globally, and [it] was one of the insights that motivated my investments in Chime in the U.S. and Banco Neon in Brazil,” said Lazarow. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Lazarow insists Fluent doesn’t just copy-paste. “That rarely works, in our opinion. Local adaptation is critical,” he said. The firm points to ride-hailing as an example. Uber may have pioneered the category, but in Indonesia, Go-Jek localized it by incorporating motorcycle taxis and super app functionality similar to China’s WeChat. Now Uber Eats is essentially chasing that evolution, Lazarow argues. To that point, Fluent Ventures, in addition to finding adapted models, screens for local product-market fit and founder-market alignment. Saudi’s BRKZ closes $17M Series A for its construction tech platform While the firm passed on several construction marketplaces globally, it backed BRKZ in Saudi Arabia, a localized take on India’s Infra.Market. The founder, a former Careem executive, was a strong operator in a region with surging infrastructure demand, Lazarow noted. Despite calling itself a global fund, Lazarow says Fluent doesn’t aim for equal allocation across every geography. Instead, it goes deeper in the regions where it sees the most potential. Right now, that means a focus on Latin America, MENA, Africa, Southeast Asia, and selective U.S. markets. Its current portfolio includes Minu, a Mexican employee wellness platform; Sabi, a Nigerian B2B commerce startup; Prima, a Brazil-based industrial marketplace; and Baton, a U.S. M&A platform for SMBs. The firm says these companies have raised multiple follow-on rounds since Fluent’s early checks. Collectively, startups from Lazarow’s prior and current portfolios have generated over $30 billion in enterprise value, with seven reaching unicorn status. Skeptics still question the exit landscape in emerging markets, perhaps especially since valuations have gone up in these markets, with more unicorns than a decade ago. Yet Fluent sees momentum building. IPOs of startups like Nubank, UiPath, Swiggy, and Talabat prove that global outcomes can emerge outside the U.S. and Europe — and then, as in the case of Nubank and UiPath, those companies can still go public in the U.S. if they choose. “Exit markets are also maturing in these regions,” Lazarow remarks. “New secondary firms are rising. Stock markets are looking to build local listing capabilities. Yes, the U.S. has much more developed IPO and M&A markets. But under the hood, some of the largest and most profitable exits are already happening outside.” India’s Swiggy defies weak market in largest 2024 tech IPO globally Fluent has also built out a different kind of network around the kinds of founders it invests in. More than 75 unicorn founders and VCs back the fund, including David Vélez (Nubank), Nick Nash (Sea Group), Akshay Garg (Kredivo), and Sean Harper (Kin), alongside institutional LPs and family offices from around the world. According to Lazarow, many are active contributors, helping portfolio companies with talent, fundraising, and expansion. The firm also relies on a small group of venture partners from ZenBusiness, Terminal, Kin, and Dell, bringing both sector depth and geographic reach. In a world where venture capital might be rethinking overexposure to the U.S. and China, Fluent believes its approach offers LPs something few firms can: diversification. “We believe the best ideas come from anywhere and scale everywhere,” says the partner whose firm claims a spot on Kauffman Fellows’ top‑returner index, thanks to his earlier personal stakes in Chime, ZenBusiness, and Sidecar Health. Other global VCs with an emerging markets focus include Accion Venture Lab, Alter Global, Endeavor Catalyst, Flourish Ventures, Global Ventures, Quona Capital, and Speedinvest.

Founders, the battlefield is open. And the bold are stepping forward. Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 is now accepting startups to compete in the ultimate pitch showdown in front of more than 10,000 tech leaders from around the globe to witness. This is no ordinary pitch. This is the fight for visibility, capital, and legacy. If your startup has the fire, now is the time to step into the spotlight. Take your place in the battlefield — apply now. Salva Health Co-Founder & CEO Valentina Agudelo Vargas, winner of the Startup Battlefield 2024, poses onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Day 3 at Moscone Center on October 30, 2024 in San Francisco, California.Image Credits:Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunchEnter the arena: Submit your application Thousands will apply. 200 will be chosen. 20 will pitch onstage. Only one will claim the crown and win a $100,000 equity-free prize. You want to rise above the noise? Move fast. Apply early. Startup Battlefield benefits include: Free 3-day exhibit space at Disrupt 4 complimentary tickets Placement in the Disrupt app Press list access Quality leads Access to investor-led masterclasses A shot to pitch on the biggest global stage in tech And more — get the details here. This is the launchpad for legends: Trello, Mint, Getaround, Dropbox, Discord, and thousands more — They began their battles here. What it takes to join the battle We’re scouting pre-Series A startups with MVPs and massive potential. Bootstrapped or backed, if your startup is bold, you’re in the fight. Some capital-intensive Series A companies may also qualify. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Make your first move Gear up for the startup battle of the year. Applications close June 9. Step up. Stand out. Apply today.

TechCrunch Disrupt returns October 27-29 to Moscone West in San Francisco — and we’re inviting thought leaders, founders, VCs, and tech experts to apply for a chance to take the stage at one of the most anticipated tech events of the year. Applications are now open to speak at Disrupt 2025, where over 10,000+ tech leaders, investors, and startup experts come together to shape the future of innovation. The application deadline is May 16 — Apply here and don’t miss your chance to lead the conversation. Pick your session format We’re looking for high-impact speakers to lead one of two session types: Breakout Sessions — A 30-minute talk (up to four speakers, including a moderator) with a 20-minute audience Q&A. Capacity: 100 attendees. Roundtables — A 30-minute speaker-led group discussion, designed for up to 40 participants. No slides or AV — just insight and conversation. Breakout Session at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 at Moscone West in San Francisco.Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography Roundtable session led by Mike Seckler, President and CEO from Justworks. TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, October 28-30, 2024 at Moscone West in San Francisco.Image Credits:Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch How the application process works Each application will be carefully reviewed by our editorial team. Finalists will be selected for the Audience Choice vote — where TechCrunch readers choose which sessions make it to the Disrupt stage. Learn more about speaking on Disrupt’s Call for Content page. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Lead the conversation at Disrupt 2025 If you have actionable insights, real-world experience, and a desire to contribute meaningfully to the tech ecosystem — we want to hear from you. Submit your application today before the May 16 deadline. Image Credits:TechCrunch

Supporting early-stage entrepreneurs seems to be suddenly in vogue in Europe. Back in March, podcaster and venture investor Harry Stebbings launched Project Europe to great fanfare, aiming to back founders aged 25 and under with a small $10 million fund — riffing on the “Peter Thiel Fellowship” model of yore. Now, a new fund hopes to go one better, this time with $68 million. EWOR (entrepreneurship without risk) has launched its own “founder fellowship,” committing €60 million. The fund will offer selected founders €500,000 in capital for a 7% stake (in comparison, Project Europe offers €200,000 for a 6.66% stake). EWOR claims that, on average, its alumni have gone on to raise €1 million to €11 million during the fellowship. Each year, the money will go to 35 entrepreneurs who fit EWOR’s mold of “visionaries, technical prodigies, deeply driven operators, and serial entrepreneurs.” Fellows will get virtual-first support, with 1:1 mentorship (including 1 to 5 hours per week with a “unicorn founder”) and access to 2,000 mentors, VCs, and subject matter experts. The €500,000 investment would comprise €110,000 from EWOR GmbH and an additional €390,000 from the investment fund via an uncapped convertible note or similar instrument. Founded in 2021, EWOR is run by six entrepreneurs — Daniel Dippold, Alexander Grots, Florian Huber, Petter Made, Quinten Selhorst, and Paul Müller. They previously worked at companies like SumUp, Adjust, ProGlove and United-Domains. In an interview with TechCrunch, Dippold contrasted EWOR’s fellowship offering with Project Europe, saying while the latter touted backing entrepreneurs with “just an idea,” EWOR could easily match that offering. “We do two fellowships: ideation and traction. You can literally — like we had a year ago with the youngest machine learning researcher from Cambridge — have no co-founder, no idea. You can start at inception, no problem.” “We run EWOR like a software company — build, measure, learn … The only thing that matters is it needs to be the most useful thing any founder can possibly do,” he added. Ten founders have so far been accepted into this year’s cohort. One of these is U.K.-based Mark Golab, a 3D-printing specialist applying the technology to organ transplants with Cambridge Surgical Models, after surviving a life-threatening infection himself. Another is Vienna-based Viktoria Izdebska, who is working on lead generation with Salesy. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Previous EWOR fellows include Ricky Knox, who achieved two 9-figure exits with Azimo and Tandem Bank; and Tim Seithe, who bootstrapped and led Tillhub to an exit worth almost €100 million.

Last month, Brett Adcock, founder of robotics startup Figure AI, claimed in a post on X that his company “is now # 1 most sought-after private stock in the secondary market.” But the company has sent cease-and-desist letters to at least two brokers who run secondary marketplaces, those brokers told TechCrunch. These people said Figure AI’s cease-and-desist letters demanded that they stop marketing the company’s stock. Both brokers said they received the letters for the first time after Bloomberg reported in mid-February that Figure was seeking a $1.5 billion round at a $39.5 billion valuation — a fifteenfold increase from the $2.6 billion valuation it achieved in February 2024. A spokesperson for Figure AI told TechCrunch that the company sends such letters when it hasn’t authorized the broker to sell its stock, suggesting that it has a long history of sending such letters. “This year, when we discovered an unauthorized third-party broker was marketing Figure shares without approval from the Figure Board of Directors, the company sent a cease and desist asking the unauthorized broker to stop, as it has done previously when other unauthorized brokers were discovered,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch in a written statement. “We do not allow secondary market trading in our shares without board authorization and the company will continue to protect itself against unwanted third-party brokers in the market.” Because Figure is a private company, not a public one, its stock cannot be easily sold at will by its investors, particularly without a company-authorized event. This restriction is why secondary markets have emerged at all, including ones that offer investors alternative ways to get cash from shares ahead of an IPO, such as loans secured by their startup shares that become repayable when a company goes public. The secondary markets on the receiving end of Figure’s letters told TechCrunch that they have other theories about why some CEOs dislike share sales on their markets. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Existing shareholders were trying to sell their stock at a price that was below the new hoped-for $39.5 billion valuation, these brokers said. Both brokers told TechCrunch that some companies chafe at the prospect that lower-priced secondary shares could compete with the new round. Without commenting on Figure’s case specifically, Sim Desai, founder and CEO of secondary shares marketplace Hiive, told TechCrunch that companies sometimes block direct secondary sales because they believe “it’s a zero-sum game.” Desai, naturally, argues that the reverse could be true: Active secondary market trading could attract more interest for primary shares in a new raise. But if secondary market activity fails to drive interest in the primary round, the issue may lie with the valuation itself. “If someone is having a hard time selling something, it’s merely a function of price and valuation rather than availability of capital,” Desai said. Figure has also lately been the subject of several news articles, describing Figure’s progress with its marquee customer, BMW. Figure has responded, in at least one case, by saying the article had so many inaccuracies that it’s threatening to sue. As for how much Figure AI raises next — and at what valuation, that remains to be seen. Whether existing investors will be able to cash out early in secondary transactions is also to be determined.

Eight years after joining Benchmark as the firm’s first woman general partner, Sarah Tavel announced on X that she is transitioning to a more limited role at the storied venture firm. In her new position as a venture partner, Tavel will continue to make investments and serve on existing company boards, but she will have more time to explore “AI tools at the edge” and reflect on the direction of AI, she wrote. Tavel joined Benchmark in 2017 after spending one and a half years as a partner at Greylock and three years as a product manager at Pinterest. Before Pinterest, Tavel was an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, where she helped source Pinterest and GitHub. Since its founding in 1995, Benchmark has deliberately maintained a small team of six or fewer general partners. Unlike most VC firms, where senior partners typically receive a greater share of management fees and profits, Benchmark operates as an equal partnership, with all general partners dividing fees and returns equally. During her tenure as Benchmark’s general partner, Tavel invested in the campsite marketplace Hipcamp, the cryptocurrency intelligence startup Chainalysis, and the beauty platform Supergreat, which was acquired by Whatnot in 2023. Tavel also backed the photo-sharing app Paparazzi, which shut down two years ago, and the AI sales platform 11x, about which TechCrunch wrote recently.

Not so long ago, the idea of public tech companies emerging from Latin America seemed far-fetched, and Mercado Libre once appeared as rare and mythical as a true unicorn. Today, however, the region is home to several startups that have reached billion-dollar valuations. Some of these startups, propelled into the spotlight by cross-border expansion, are now recognized beyond their home countries, with Nubank notably going public in the U.S. Yet, there is a broader cohort of Latin American scale-ups that deserve attention; many in fintech, but not exclusively. Other important sectors include e-commerce, health tech, logistics, proptech, and SaaS. Some homegrown unicorns may currently hold “paper valuations” from rounds that were raised during the 2021 peak, but the point still stands: They are worth knowing, and many could recover alongside the market, as VC investment in Latin America demonstrated resilience in 2024. As a group, these unicorns also reflect Latin America’s multiple startup hubs. While Brazil and Mexico remain leaders in numbers, unicorns have also emerged from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay, further strengthening these ecosystems. Let’s take a closer look at the top Latin American unicorns by valuation — although the oldest price tags often need to be taken with a grain of salt. Rappi (2015): Valued at $5.25 billion in July 2021 Coming out of Colombia, Rappi is an on-demand delivery platform that became a super app and expanded into multiple countries. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW Its rise solidified before the pandemic: In 2019, it raised a $1 billion investment from SoftBank. But its $5.25 billion valuation was attached to the round of more than $500 million it secured in July 2021. Since then, Rappi has operated in a more challenging environment, conducting multiple rounds of layoffs and facing changing gig economy legislation in Mexico, where it now plans to invest $110 million to boost its operations. However, the company still very much hopes to IPO and hired a CFO to prepare for that endeavor after reaching break-even for the first time in late 2023. QuintoAndar (2012): Valued at $5.1 billion in August 2021 QuintoAndar is a Brazilian proptech company focused on the rental and sale of residential real estate. With commercial activities in six Latin American countries and a tech hub in Europe, it made several acquisitions and grew into a group with a headcount of more than 3,500 people. In 2021, the startup was busy on the fundraising front: Less than three months after announcing a $300 million Series E at a $4 billion valuation, QuintoAndar raised an additional $120 million at a $5.1 billion valuation. With $755 million raised to date, its cap table includes Kaszek, General Atlantic, SoftBank, and Tencent. Creditas (2012): Valued at $4.8 billion in January 2022 Creditas is a Brazilian fintech player specializing in loans, including consumer credit. Its latest round of funding was a $260 million Series F in January 2022 valuing the Brazilian lender at $4.8 billion, up from $1.75 billion in December 2020. The Series F was led by Fidelity, with participation from new and existing backers, including Kaszek Ventures, QED Investors, and SoftBank. It was extended in July 2022 at the same valuation, allowing Creditas to buy the Brazilian license of Andorran bank Andbank for some $93 million. Nuvemshop (2011): Valued at $3.1 billion in August 2021 Branded as Tiendanube in Spanish-speaking markets, Nuvemshop is a Brazilian e-commerce platform designed for SMEs and entrepreneurs to sell products and services online — or in short, “Latin America’s answer to Shopify.” Its latest known valuation of $3.1 billion comes from the $500 million Series E mega-round co-led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global Management that it raised in August 2021, only a few months after its Accel-led $90 million Series D. Wildlife Studios (2011): Valued at ~$3 billion in August 2020 Wildlife Studios is a Brazilian mobile gaming company. It was co-founded by Victor Lazarte, now also a general partner at Benchmark, the VC firm that led Wildlife Studios’ $60 million Series A in 2019 at a $1.3 billion valuation. Less than a year later, the startup reached a nearly $3 billion valuation from its Series B round. In a candid conversation onstage at Slush 2023, Lazarte said that, in retrospect, raising too much capital at too high a valuation so fast was a “mistake.” In June 2023, the company announced that former Amazon executive Peter Hill would replace Lazarte as CEO. It also conducted several rounds of layoffs. Loft (2018): Valued at $2.9 billion in April 2021 Loft is a Brazilian proptech company supported by big Silicon Valley names since its genesis in 2018. Loft’s $175 million Series C was co-led by a16z and Vulcan Capital in 2020. A $425 million Series D led by New York-based D1 Capital Partners followed in March 2021, and its extension in April 2021 valued the company at $2.9 billion. The digital real estate platform wasn’t immune to the market turn. It conducted two rounds of layoffs in 2022 but denied having raised a down round in November 2022. In 2023, after fresh funding from a sovereign fund in the Middle East” at an undisclosed valuation and another round of layoffs, it claimed to have reached break-even. Unico (2007): Valued at $2.6 billion in April 2022 Unico is a Brazilian ID tech startup, and one of Latin America’s largest SaaS companies. Its $2.6 billion valuation is more recent than many on this list. It came from the $100 million Series D the company raised in April 2022. The round was led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from existing investors General Atlantic and SoftBank Latin America Fund. C6 Bank (2018): Valued at $2.28 billion in December 2020 C6 Bank is a Brazilian digital bank. Unlike some competitors, it hasn’t expanded beyond Brazil, where it has more than 35 million clients. C6 was valued at $2.28 billion in December 2020, six months before JPMorgan Chase acquired 40% ownership of the neobank in 2021. After increasing its stake in 2023, it now owns 46% of C6, which had its first-ever profitable year in 2024. Kavak (2016): Valued at $2.2 billion in April 2025 With backers including General Catalyst and SoftBank, Kavak is a Mexico-based e-commerce platform to buy and sell used cars online. Once valued at $8.7 billion after a Series E round that doubled its valuation in 2021, Kavak saw its valuation slashed by $6.5 billion following expansion difficulties and layoffs. After raising a $127 million equity round and securing two $200 million debt facilities in March 2025, the company aims to position itself for a potential IPO within the next three to five years. Bitso (2014): Valued at $2.2 billion in May 2021 Bitso is a Latin American cryptocurrency exchange that also facilitates cross-border payments. In May 2021, it secured a $250 million Series C round valuing the company at $2.2 billion and co-led by Tiger Global and Coatue, with participation from new and existing investors, including Kaszek and QED. CloudWalk (2013): Valued at $2.15 billion in November 2021 Known for its InfinitePay and Jim.com brands, CloudWalk is a Brazilian payment infrastructure company (not to be confused with the Chinese facial-recognition software company by the same name). CloudWalk’s $2.15 billion valuation resulted from a $150 million Series C led by Coatue in November 2021. Since then, CloudWalk achieved its first full year of profitability in 2023 and closed 2024 with $497 million in revenue. Clip (2012): Valued at $2 billion in June 2024 Briefly known as BlitzPay and founded by former PayPal employees, Clip is the Square of Latin America, with POS devices and fintech solutions for businesses. Clip became a unicorn in 2021 following a $250 million round led by SoftBank and Viking, and maintained this status since then. The $100 million round it raised in June 2024 confirmed its $2 billion valuation as the company was “on the brink of profitability,” its CEO told Bloomberg. Loggi (2013): Valued at ~$2 billion in March 2021 Loggi is a Brazil-based logistics company known for its focus on last-mile delivery. Its backers include Monashees, Qualcomm Ventures, and SoftBank. Its latest funding round was a $205 million Series F led by CapSur Capital in March 2021 at a valuation close to $2 billion. Bets are still open on who may join the list and how the rankings might be reordered, so we’ll make sure to keep it updated.