Anthropic warns investors against secondary platforms offering access to its shares

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  May 12, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Anthropic warns investors against secondary platforms offering access to its shares: "Any sale or transfer of Anthropic stock, or any interest in Anthropic stock, offered by these firms is void and will not be recognized on our books and records," the company's support page reads. Read More Musk mulled handing OpenAI to his children, Altman testifies: Altman said that Musk's focus on controlling the initial for-profit gave him pause because OpenAI was dedicated to keeping advanced AI out of the hands of a single person, and Altman, with his experience running the prominent startup accelerator Y Combinator, knew "founders who had control usually did not give it up." Read More Report: Google and SpaceX in talks to put data centers into orbit: Google and SpaceX are in talks to build data centers in orbit, pitching space as the future home for AI compute, even as costs today remain far higher than on the ground. Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Register Now! A message from Alumni Ventures Invest in High-Potential Startups Like Quince, Bluesky, and Daydream Alumni Ventures (AV) is offering readers early access to high-growth startup opportunities, including some of today’s most exciting Next Gen Consumer startups like Quince, Bluesky, and Daydream. AV co-invests alongside top VC firms including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Forerunner, & Khosla. No cost to see deals. No obligation to invest. Don’t miss your chance before access closes. Join Alumni Ventures Next Gen Consumer Syndicate Today! Register Free Here Afternoon Must-Reads Amazon launches 30-minute delivery across the US: This ultra-fast delivery option will allow customers to shop across "thousands" of items, Amazon says, including fresh groceries, household essentials, and other locally relevant items. Read More Spotify launches a Wrapped-style recap of your entire listening history: Spotify's new feature will show you the number of unique songs that you listened to until now Read More AI voice startup Vapi hits $500M valuation after winning Amazon Ring over 40 rivals: Vapi says its enterprise business has grown tenfold since early 2025 as companies shift customer support and sales calls to AI agents. Read More Everything Google announced at its Android Show, from Googlebooks to vibe-coded widgets: Google unveiled its new AI-first Googlebooks laptops, more agentic Gemini features, vibe-coded Android widgets, Gemini in Chrome, refreshed Android Auto, and more ahead of I/O. Read More Google unveils Googlebook, a new line of AI-native laptops: The company says Googlebooks, which are launching this fall, are the first laptops designed from the ground up for Gemini Intelligence to offer personal and proactive help. Read More Last but Not Least Former Tesla exec and Heron Power CEO Drew Baglino has founded a heat pump startup: Sadi Thermal Machines is Drew Baglino's second startup since leaving Tesla in 2024. 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 © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

AI voice startup Vapi hits $500M valuation after winning Amazon Ring over 40 rivals

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

View this email online in your browser  May 12, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 AI voice startup Vapi hits $500M valuation after winning Amazon Ring over 40 rivals: Vapi says its enterprise business has grown 10-fold since early 2025 as companies shift customer support and sales calls to AI agents. Read More Spotify's launches a Wrapped-style recap of your entire listening history: Spotify's new feature will show you the number of unique songs that you listened to until now Read More Amazon launches 30-minute delivery across the U.S.: Amazon says its new ultra-fast delivery option brings groceries, household essentials, and other items to customers’ doors in 30 minutes. Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Register Now! A message from Deck Agents for software with no API No API? No problem. Deck operates your software the way an employee would — logging in, clicking through, getting the job done. If a human can use it, Deck can too. Try It Free Morning Must-Reads Digg tries again, this time as an AI news aggregator: In an email to beta testers, the company said the site's goal is to "track the most influential voices in a space" and to surface the news that's actually worth "paying attention to." Read More Riding an AI rally, Robinhood preps second retail venture IPO: Robinhood files confidentially for its second venture fund, this time targeting growth and early-stage startups. Read More Finally, texts between Android and iPhone users can be end-to-end encrypted: Google had urged Apple for years to support RCS texting to make communication between each company's devices more seamless. Read More GM just laid off hundreds of IT workers to hire those with stronger AI skills: Some of the positions focus on AI-native development, data engineering and analytics, cloud-based engineering, and agent and model development as well as prompt engineering and new AI workflows. Read More Thinking Machines wants to build an AI that actually listens while it talks: Right now, every AI model you've ever used works the same way. You talk, it listens. It responds, you listen. Thinking Machines is trying to change that by building a model that processes your input and generates a response at the same time, so it's more like a phone call than a text chain. Read More A message from Fidelity Your Pitch Isn’t the Only Thing Investors Are Evaluating.   Investors don’t just listen to what you say - they look at how your company operates. Is ownership clear? Do your numbers match your story? Can you answer follow-up questions without digging through spreadsheets? The Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit equips founders with the materials investors expect to see, before pressure is on. Because confidence in the room doesn’t come from slides. It comes from preparation.  Learn More Last but Not Least Instructure strikes deal with hackers who breached it twice: The maker of the Canvas school software said it "reached an agreement" with the hackers, but provided no guarantees that the hackers would not release the data or keep their word. 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 © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107