VC-backed startups commit more fraud, and researchers think they know why

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  July 31, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 VC-backed startups commit more fraud, and researchers think they know why: New research from the U.K.’s Imperial College and France’s Emlyon Business School mapped out how Silicon Valley founders commit fraud — and the role investors play. Read More Google nixes its Earth AI feature one day after launch, amid criticism it would spread misinformation: A tool that allowed anyone to generate fake AI-generated imagery and superimpose it over real Google Earth maps quickly spurred backlash. Read More Snapchat no longer rewards fully AI-generated Spotlight content: Snapchat has adjusted its recommendation systems to ensure that only videos created by real people are eligible for Spotlight recommendations, taking a stance against AI slop. Read More Afternoon Must-Reads Tesla reportedly might sell its China business ahead of a SpaceX merger: Tesla had already reportedly prepped for the idea in the event that Beijing invades Taiwan. Read More Reddit is testing a new way to watch — and listen to — its viral posts: Reddit is developing a new video experience that lets users watch — or simply listen to — its most popular posts, taking inspiration from the viral TikTok videos that pair Reddit stories with gameplay or other footage. CEO Steve Huffman said the feature is already in the works and could begin testing later this year. Read More SpaceX won’t remove all of xAI’s unpermitted turbines for another year: SpaceX is building a new power plant for xAI's Colossus data centers, but it won't remove existing, unpermitted turbines for many more months. Read More Fresh off its Wiz payout, Index Ventures raises $2B across three funds: The new funding brings Index's total available investing capital to $3.5 billion. Read More Smallest.ai raises $13M to build ultra-fast voice AI that sounds genuinely human: The startup is building voice models designed to make AI phone calls pass the Turing test. Read More A message from ThoughtSpot Who’s leading analytics and BI in 2026? Gartner evaluated every analytics platform so you don't have to. See why ThoughtSpot was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and BI. Read full report Last but Not Least GM and Ford are talking less and less about EVs: The leading U.S. automakers are mentioning EVs on their investor calls at pre-pandemic rates, according to new data from TechCrunch and Hudson Labs. 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

Tesla reportedly might sell its China business ahead of a SpaceX merger

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

View this email online in your browser  July 31, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Tesla reportedly might sell its China business ahead of a SpaceX merger: Tesla had already reportedly prepped for the idea in the event that Beijing invades Taiwan. Read More Reddit is testing a new way to watch — and listen to — its viral posts: Reddit is developing a new video experience that lets users watch — or simply listen to — its most popular posts, taking inspiration from the viral TikTok videos that pair Reddit stories with gameplay or other footage. CEO Steve Huffman said the feature is already in the works and could begin testing later this year. Read More Smallest.ai raises $13M to build ultra-fast voice AI that sounds genuinely human: The startup is building voice models designed to make AI phone calls pass the Turing test. Read More A message from General Compute General Compute is making a $300m bet against the GPU General Compute raised $15m to build the world's first ASIC cloud. By removing the GPU bottleneck, it runs frontier LLMs up to 16x faster than standard GPU clouds. ASIC silicon is also far more energy efficient, so it deploys in air-cooled data centers, making growth and expansion dramatically easier. Learn more here Morning Must-Reads Investors love AI, as long as you’re a cloud host: Amazon isn't slowing down on data center spending — but investors don't seem to mind. Read More Judge says Trump admin still lacks evidence for Anthropic ‘supply-chain risk’ label: A federal judge said the Trump administration has not presented enough evidence to justify labeling Anthropic a supply-chain risk, casting doubt on the government's ban on its AI technology. Read More Anthropic says its own AI models breached three companies during security tests: After OpenAI's models broke into Hugging Face, Anthropic checked its own history and found three similar incidents Read More WhatsApp is testing a new folder for messages from large businesses: WhatsApp will automatically move messages from large businesses to a new folder a few hours after you receive them Read More AI hedge fund Situational Awareness may have sold its public portfolio, but it still has its Anthropic shares: The former OpenAI researcher’s fund was forced to unwind public equities after leveraged public bets plummeted. But he still has cards to play. Read More Last but Not Least Repeat founder Ryan Williams raises $10M seed for an AI startup for private credit managers: Ellis AI announced Thursday its emergence from stealth with $10 million in seed funding. 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