Exclusive: LangChain is set to become a unicorn

Also: How to protect yourself from SIM-swapping attacks

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Bellan Wednesday, July 9, 2025 Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we're reading about an AI startup that's potentially going from open-source to unicorn in 3 years; a startup solving LLMs' retrieval problem; Apple's executive changes; and a cool how-to on protecting yourself from SIM swapping. We have a ton more stories, of course, so let's dive in! TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: monsitj / Getty Images 1. From free to a billion: TechCrunch got the scoop that AI infrastructure startup LangChain is raising a new round that will give it unicorn status a mere three years after it started as an open-source project. That's quite the feat for a startup which has had its core features cannibalized by the leading LLM providers. Read More 2. Fetch, boy! YC-backed Moroccan startup ZeroEntropy is hoping to make its mark in the next layer of AI search: retrieval. After all, LLMs are only as accurate as the information they retrieve. ZeroEntropy hopes to solve that, and has raised $4.2 million in seed funding to do so. Read More 3. Musical chairs: Apple's COO Jeff Williams is stepping down later this month. Sabih Khan, the current SVP of operations, will take over the role. Williams played a big role in introducing the iPod and iPhone programs and led development on the Apple Watch. Read More   A Message from Fidelity It's not 2021 anymore. Understanding the 2025 VC landscape. The latest report from Fidelity Private Shares, Navigating the VC Playbook in 2025, breaks down where capital is flowing, why AI is skewing the data, and how M&A is becoming the top exit path. Whether you're fundraising or planning ahead, this is a must read for growing companies. Download Here   Morning Must-Reads Image Credits: Hugging Face 🤗 Hugging Bot: Hugging Face is accepting orders for its Reachy Mini desktop robots. Rather than a fun consumer product, this is meant to be a tool that helps developers start tinkering and testing. There are two versions at $449 and $299. Read More 🚀 All in on war: One of the biggest side effects of the Trump admin for Europe will be a push towards investing in defense. The latest example? Estonian VC firm Darkstar, which has broken the taboo by investing in pure defense tech straight out of Ukraine's war zones. Read More 🧓 That crazy uncle: Grok is becoming increasingly reminiscent of that crazy uncle everyone has who spouts conspiracy theories and racist jokes. Most recently, the chatbot has taken to posting antisemitism, using neo-Nazi terms like "every damn time," implying conspiracy and dehumanizing jewish folk. Read More 💰 Get those sales: We're in the thick of Amazon's Prime Day sale, and some shoppers are worried they won't have time to get all the best deals. Not if AI has anything to say about it. Adobe forecasts that Prime Day spending will shoot up as shopping assistants become more popular. Read More 🛴 Rivian's micromobility spinoff, Also, has reportedly raised $200 million from Greenoaks Capital to build e-bikes and other small electric vehicles. I'm curious to see how the company does — even though Trump's tariffs could create a market for smaller EVs, and we've seen what happens to overhyped venture-backed micromobility businesses. Read More   A Message from HSBC The HSBC 2025 Fintech report is here Discover where Fintech is headed. Unpack key industry shifts and how they're shaping the global financial ecosystem. Download the report   Around the Web 📈 Line goes up: The world's biggest GPU maker has become the world's most valuable public company, hitting a market value of $4 trillion, CNBC reports. The company has been the one to benefit the most from the demand for all things AI, as businesses across the world scramble to build data centers to train large language models. Read More  ⌘ Believe it or not, the Command key symbol on Apple keyboards came from a Swedish road sign, per the BRND Studio blog. Seeking to differentiate an app that would let users enter keyboard shortcuts inside apps, Apple graphic designer Susan Kare thought of using the looped square, which is typically used in Nordic countries to indicate tourist sites. Read More  Before You Go 📳 New fear unlocked: SIM swapping is a fresh facet of the modern hell that involves hackers deceiving telecom operators into porting away your cell phone number to gain access to your online accounts and even steal your identity. The good news is, it's relatively easy to protect yourself against this. TC's Zack Whittaker runs us through it. Read More Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Software Engineer, Revive Health (Boston, MA) IT Finance Assistant, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) Technical Business Systems Analyst, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) Partnerships Manager, Clearscope (Remote) Sr. IT Security Engineer - Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch AI TechCrunch Mobility 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. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. TechCrunch Media LLC. 9720 Wilshire Boulevard, 6th floor, Beverly Hills, CA Privacy Policy

Replit partners with Microsoft

Plus: Mistral is raising funds

View this email online in your browser By Rebecca Szkutak Tuesday, July 8, 2025 Welcome to TC PM! Today we have the details on a partnership between vibe coding platform Replit and Microsoft; we learn of a new Gmail feature that sounds promising; and we hear of a gaming hack. Enjoy! TechCrunch Top 3 Image Credits: Stephen Brashear / Getty Images 🤝 Partnering up: Vibe coding platform Replit announced a strategic partnership deal with Microsoft today. This means Replit's software will be available through Microsoft's enterprise cloud store and integrated into numerous Microsoft cloud services.  💰 More money for Mistral: French AI startup Mistral is reportedly looking to raise up to $1 billion in new equity. Mistral has raised significantly less capital than its U.S. peers thus far, so if it raises that $1 billion, it will essentially only double its total funds raised.  📧 Something good: Google is launching a new Gmail feature that allows people to better manage their email subscriptions. Users can view all their email subscriptions in one place, see how many emails they received from each one, and unsubscribe from any they don't want anymore.    A Message from Persona Onboard new users faster while deterring fraud Verify users at onboarding to prevent fraud, stay compliant, and build customer trust. Persona's low-code identity verification platform dynamically responds to risk signals — adding friction for fraudsters while delivering a painless experience for good users so you can maximize conversion and minimize risk. Learn More   Afternoon must-reads Image Credits: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP / Getty Images 🛒 A slippery slope: OneText, which just raised $4.5 million, is a startup building a "text-to-buy network." It lets shoppers complete purchases over text message and even lets them repurchase products by simply replying to text messages. Dangerous!  🪞 A mockery: Amazon's annual Prime Day shopping event starts today. Bookshop.org, an e-commerce site that connects shoppers to local independent booksellers, is hosting a sale of its own. It posted an invitation to the sale that looks pretty similar to a recent wedding invitation from a certain somebody.   🙋 Questions remain: U.K. retail giant Marks & Spencer is refusing to disclose whether it paid a hacking group after a cyberattack earlier this year. The company said it doesn't see any public interest in its disclosure of interactions with the cyber criminals.  🕹️ A hack! Gaming giant Activision took down Call of Duty: WWII, the 2017 version of its popular first-person shooter game, because hackers were exploiting a flaw in a specific PC version of the game.  🚙 Teen time: Robotaxi company Waymo is launching teen accounts for the youth in Phoenix so teenagers older than 14 can hail their own autonomous rides. Like Uber's teen accounts, these are linked to their parents' accounts.    A Message from Head Head AI replaces your entire marketing team The arrival of Head, the world's first true AI marketer, isn't just sparking debate — it's signaling a reckoning. As AI like Head takes over your influencer, affiliate marketing, and more, it is rapidly outpacing human capabilities. Is this the end of marketing careers as we know them? The FOMO is real, the urgency undeniable. Face the AI Future   Around the web ⛏️ Mining the mines: The need for lithium in the age of electric vehicles has led many Chinese companies to set up mines in Zimbabwe. But the locals feel left out of the rare metal gold rush and are saying this trend is hurting their local communities more than it's helping.  📱 Early bird: Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is tomorrow, but the news it was going to bring may have already dropped today. A reliable leaker posted that it looks as though Samsung is dropping support for the S Pen on its reported new Z Fold 7 smartphone.  Featured jobs from CrunchBoard Software Engineer, Revive Health (Boston, MA) IT Finance Assistant, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Middletown, PA) Technical Business Systems Analyst, Air Line Pilots Association (Tysons, VA) Partnerships Manager, Clearscope (Remote) Sr. IT Security Engineer - Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $349 per month.   Check out some of our other newsletters: Startups Weekly TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility 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. Update your preferences here at any time Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. TechCrunch Media LLC. 9720 Wilshire Boulevard, 6th floor, Beverly Hills, CA Privacy Policy