timef 01/12/2026
- Luminar lines up $22 million bidder for its lidar business techcrunch.com2026-01-12 23:28:16
The bid comes from Quantum Computing Inc., which already lined up to buy Luminar's semiconductor division. Luminar founder Austin Russell has also expressed interest.
- Meta hires former Trump advisor Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chair techcrunch.com2026-01-12 22:58:19
Before joining Meta, Powell McCormick was working as deputy national security advisor to President Donald Trump.
- Harmattan AI raises $200M Series B led by Dassault Aviation, becomes defense unicorn techcrunch.com2026-01-12 22:00:44
French defense tech company Harmattan AI is now valued at $1.4 billion after raising a $200 million Series B round led by Dassault Aviation, which is best known for making the Rafale fighter jet.
- These Gen Zers just raised $11.75M to put Africa’s defense back in the hands of Africans techcrunch.com2026-01-12 16:00:00
African defense company Terra comes out of stealth with a $11.75M round led by Joe Lonsdale's 8VC.
- inDrive turns to ads and groceries to diversify revenue techcrunch.com2026-01-12 13:30:13
Advertising on inDrive is being rolled out across its top 20 markets following mid-2025 tests.
- Motional puts AI at center of robotaxi reboot as it targets 2026 for driverless service techcrunch.com2026-01-12 08:10:54
Motional says it will launch a driverless robotaxi service in Las Vegas before the end of 2026.
- Google co-founders may be leaving California techcrunch.com2026-01-12 06:56:58
Sergey Brin and Larry Page appear to be pulling back from the state where they co-founded Google.
- Instagram says there’s been ‘no breach’ despite password reset requests techcrunch.com2026-01-12 06:26:03
Instagram says that although some users received suspicious-looking password reset requests, it has not been breached.
- Google removes AI Overviews for certain medical queries techcrunch.com2026-01-12 01:56:41
This follows an investigation by the Guardian that found Google AI Overviews offering misleading information in response to some health-related queries.
- Nuclear startups are back in vogue with small reactors, and big challenges techcrunch.com2026-01-12 00:15:00
Small modular reactor startups are betting that mass manufacturing will help them bring costs down. But are they underestimating the challenge?
