News Headline: Nvidia’s head expects AI to outpace humans in 5 years

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Today we have IPO news (at last), a massive venture round for consumer audio, a biking boom, and even what lessons one startup hopes to learn from cancer survivors.

– Alex

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TechCrunch Top 3

Astera Labs prices IPO above previous range: Astera Labs has priced its offering at $36 per share, above its final estimated price range. The question now is whether the market is betting more on the company's improving profitability and quick growth, or the AI story its S-1 filing tells.
Nvidia's CEO predicts better-than-human AI timeline: While discussing the question of when we'll develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), the chipmaking giant's CEO Jensen Huang expects that day to arrive in about 5 years. That is provided you define AGI as a "set of tests where a software program can do very well — or maybe 8% better than most people." Past that, and the answer becomes heavily dependent on how you define AGI.
Pocket FM bags $103M: The India-based audio service has raised a nine-figure Series D, and is now valued at $750 million. After tackling the United States, the service has its eyes on Europe and Latin America. Notably, Pocket FM runs a "pay as you go" model instead of a subscription, which helps it stand out from its competitors.

Image Credits: Mikhail Konoplev / Getty Images

Morning must-reads

Who is evil enough to hack Pokémon? Really, kids love that stuff. I mean, me too, but come on. The Pokémon Company found out that some of its users' accounts were getting hacked, and so has asked those folks to reset their passwords. The company had previously let its users know that it "proactively locked the accounts of fans who might have been affected," which is more disclosure than we usually get from companies that get hacked. Still, hackers, go do something more fun — like playing Pokemon Crystal.

White House pitches $8.5B for Intel, domestic chip manufacturing: This morning, the United States' Department of Commerce said it would give Intel a truckload of capital to shore up U.S.-based production of chips. The backdrop to the massive deal are an uneasy geopolitical tussle between the U.S. and China for chip supremacy, and Taiwan's massive chip business putting the sovereign island nation in the middle of the larger conflict.

Carevoice raises $10M for 'embedded health:' Insurtech has had a rough few years, but embedded insurance products have seen some market and investor momentum. Now there's another sub-category of insurtech to pay attention to, embedded health. The service-type "integrates health functionalities, like fitness and wellness, into a single platform run by service providers, especially insurers." The new sub-sector is hot enough that Carevoice just closed a $10 million Series B for its work in the area, across 15 markets today.

Who survives cancer, and what can they teach us? That's the question Cure51 wants to answer. It's the flip of cancer mortality statistics, and a pretty cool idea. The company just landed €15 million in a large seed round. Paris-based Sofinnova Partners led the investment.

Image Credits: The Pokémon Company

Around the Web

The Verge reports that an update to popular gaming title Stardew Valley has sent its concurrent player count to more than 146,000, which is massive for the indie title. Given the troubles in the gaming world lately, it's nice to see some good news.

Bloomberg has a cool piece on how web traffic is being routed around the world after subsea cables took a beating due to a landslide in West Africa. It makes you realize just how fragile our global Internet infrastructure is.

And Ars Technica reports that Glassdoor is shedding users after it started using their "real names without consent." Given the service's dependence on employees to review their employers honestly, you can imagine why users are upset.

TechCrunch also has a report on the massive surge in the number of two-wheeled electric vehicle startups in India. Government incentives seem to be driving a founding wave, even if more companies than are likely needed are being built.

Meta's Threads is rolling out trending topics more broadly, which is good news for people who don't want to use X anymore.

Cowboy has launched a new electric, all-road bike, which is targeting a different demographic of people than the young-ish commuters the company's current bikes are popular with. The launch is welcome given that we have seen some e-bike companies fold in recent quarters.

PocketHealth has wrangled $33 million for its "medical image exchange platform," in a win for healthtech startups everywhere.

Smart ring leader Oura is being challenged by India's Ultrahuman. Which will become the one ring to rule them all? I don't know, but do love to see competition in neat categories.

Image Credits: Stardew Valley

Before you go

Keeping up with AI news is hard: Reading TechCrunch's coverage of Nvidia's recent AI keynote, I can't help but feel dazed by the mountain of artificial intelligence news out there today. New chips, new models, new integrations, new use cases, the list goes on and on and on… It's odd to see one sector booming while the larger venture capital market remains depressed. At least we get to live through history, right?