Pickle Robot adds Tesla veteran as first CFO

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  December 18, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 Pickle Robot adds Tesla veteran as first CFO: Jeff Evanson recently joined Pickle Robot as the company's first CFO as the startup has allegedly expanded its partnership with UPS. Read More ChatGPT's mobile app hits new milestone of $3B in consumer spending: ChatGPT has reached $3B in lifetime mobile consumer spending in just 31 months, faster than TikTok and major streaming apps. Read More LinkedIn's profile verification push is accelerating — and India is leading the charge in 2025: LinkedIn profile verification adoption in India has risen about 80% in the past 12 months. Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from Fidelity Don't let a spreadsheet cost you your next round. Managing your equity in a spreadsheet might work, until you're raising your next round, onboarding new hires, or navigating your first SAFE. Fidelity Private Shares' free cap table template can provide you with a clean start. And when you're ready to ditch the manual updates, we'll help you scale with confidence. Download Now Afternoon Must-Reads Tech provider for NHS England confirms data breach: U.K.-based healthcare tech provider DXS International said it discovered and contained a data breach on Sunday. A ransomware gang took credit for the breach. Read More Trump Media is merging with fusion power company TAE Technologies in $6B+ deal: The merger would broaden Trump Media's holdings into the nascent fusion power space while data centers clamor for more electricity amid the ongoing AI boom. Read More Rivian rolls out new 'Universal Hands-Free' driving feature: The driver assistance software is available on Rivian's for Gen 2 R1 cars and works on 3.5 million miles of North American roads. But it doesn't slow or stop for traffic lights or stop signs. Read More Vibe-coding startup Lovable raises $330M at a $6.6B valuation: Lovable has seen its valuation more than triple just five months after the company's last funding round in July. Read More Luma releases a new AI model that lets users generate a video from a start and end frame: Luma AI's new model is available through the company's Dream Machine platform. Read More A message from LILT The AI Shift in Multilingual Translation Download the 2026 AI Translation Survey with responses from 400+ professionals to discover how leading brands achieve quality, speed, and consistent brand voice in multilingual content. Get actionable insights and stay ahead in today's fast-evolving translation landscape. Download My Report  You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least ChatGPT launches an app store, lets developers know it's open for business: OpenAI is looking to populate its flagship chatbot with a host of new user experiences. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

Vibe-coding startup Lovable raises $330M at a $6.6B valuation

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  December 18, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 Vibe-coding startup Lovable raises $330M at a $6.6B valuation: Lovable has seen its valuation more than triple just five months after the company's last funding round in July. Read More Trump Media is merging with fusion power company TAE Technologies in $6B+ deal: The merger would broaden Trump Media's holdings into the nascent fusion power space while data centers clamor for more electricity amid the ongoing AI boom. Read More Peripheral Labs taps into self-driving car sensors to bring sports fans right into the game: The startup has raised a $3.6 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures. Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from Chevron New Energies  Chevron uses AI to bring reliable energy to data centers.  Data centers need power now. That's why we're working to build multi-gigawatt power stations that generate reliable electricity, with fewer delays and no additional strain on the existing grid. Learn More Morning Must-Reads Meta is pausing its dream of sharing Quest's Horizon OS with third-party headset makers: The company said that it would revisit opportunities for third-party partnerships in the future. Read More Cisco says Chinese hackers are exploiting its customers with a new zero-day: Cisco said it discovered a Chinese hacking campaign targeting its customers by exploiting a zero-day in some of the company's most popular products. Read More YouTube to pull music data from Billboard's charts because it doesn't like its ranking formula: YouTube takes its ball and goes home by pulling Billboard's access to its music data. Read More Apple opens up its App Store to competition in Japan: Epic Games CEO says Fortnite won't return to Japan, though, because the new rules still require high fees. Read More Luma releases a new AI model that lets users generate a video from a start and end frame: Luma AI's new model is available through the company's Dream Machine platform. Read More A message from Persona Bad user onboarding is costing you customers. Clunky verification flows kill conversion rates. Persona creates smooth onboarding that verifies real users in seconds while blocking fraud, so your business can maximize signups without sacrificing security. Our Startup Program offers 12 months free with 500 monthly verifications, helping thousands of startups optimize their onboarding from day one. Learn more You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least Instacart's AI-driven pricing tool attracted attention -- now the FTC has questions: In an economy where everyone's feeling squeezed, AI-driven price testing of kitchen essentials was bound to attract attention. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107