Margaux MacColl, Author at TechCrunch

Las Vegas sheriff tells a16z partners what’s next on his wish list: AI for bodycams

Sean O'Kane, Margaux MacColl — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 18:35:28 +0000

Vegas police received funding for tech like drones and license plate readers from Ben Horowitz. Now it wants AI to go through police footage.

‘I went to Greenland to try to buy it’: Meet the founder who wants to recreate Mars on Earth

Margaux MacColl — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 19:01:40 +0000

Praxis co-founder Dryden Brown wants to build a city in Greenland that emulates what a community on Mars could be like.

Drone manufacturer Skydio raises $170 million extension round

Margaux MacColl, Sean O'Kane — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 18:05:31 +0000

American drone manufacturer Skydio has raised an extension round of $170 million, adding onto the $230 million Series E it closed early last year.

How two brothers went from growing up on a sailboat to making underwater military vehicles

Margaux MacColl — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Vatn Systems founders Nelson and Freddie Mills spent their childhood cruising over turquoise waters, doing their homework on a sailboat off the coast of Caribbean islands. While their surroundings were idyllic, their vessel of choice was decidedly not. “The first boat I remember, I think our parents bought it for like five, 10 grand,” Freddie […]

Ben Horowitz’s cozy relationship with the Las Vegas Police Department aided a16z portfolio company Skydio

Margaux MacColl, Sean O'Kane — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 22:07:03 +0000

When Skydio, a young maker of drones in San Mateo, California, sent a customer proposal in 2023 to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, its chief of staff, Mike Gennaro, forwarded the email to VC Ben Horowitz. “Which deployment are you looking to do?” Horowitz wrote back. “Whatever you want, Ben,” Gennaro replied, according to […]

Trump’s election throws tech regulation a curveball

Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl, Theresa Loconsolo — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 16:07:23 +0000

President-elect Donald Trump has made a slew of “day one” pledges, including dismantling President Biden’s AI policies. While we’re not sure exactly if Trump will take action the first day he takes office in January, it’s clear that a tech regulation shakeup is on the way. Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin […]

AI-powered parenting is here and a16z is ready to back it

Margaux MacColl — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 22:31:07 +0000

AI wants to help us drive better, write better and diagnose diseases faster. Now imagine AI helping you be a better parent.

Flock Safety paid over $300M for 17-month-old drone startup Aerodome

Margaux MacColl — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 17:31:31 +0000

Police surveillance startup Flock Safety announced that it had bought drone software startup Aerodome for over $300 million.

Investor FOMO returns, and what happened with WordPress and WP Engine?

Margaux MacColl, Anthony Ha, Devin Coldewey — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 14:46:16 +0000

Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl and Anthony Ha are rounding up the week’s startup and venture news, kicking things off with a look at the $400 million raised by Lightmatter, and the importance of fast networking within the fast growing data center industry today — not just in years to come […]

Stripe in talks to acquire Bridge for $1 billion

Margaux MacColl — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 21:52:01 +0000

Stripe is in talks to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge for a whopping $1 billion, according to Forbes. The talks are reportedly in advanced stages, although nothing has been finalized. Bridge, co-founded by Coinbase alumni Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, has built an API that helps companies accept stablecoins. The pair raised $58 million from investors […]

From Elon Musk to cop car chases, how a software engineer launched a police AI startup

Margaux MacColl — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Abel creates AI that uses body cam footage and other data to fill out consuming police reports. For research, founder Daniel Francis shadowed the police.

Silicon Valley is debating if AI weapons should be allowed to decide to kill

Margaux MacColl — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 16:09:40 +0000

Silicon Valley founders like Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale have been grappling with fully autonomous weapons.

AI ‘no one wants’ and Google’s potential breakup

Margaux MacColl, Devin Coldewey, Anthony Ha — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 15:49:37 +0000

Did OpenAI really ask its investors to avoid backing rivals like Anthropic and xAI? That’s what hosts Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl and special guest Anthony Ha wanted to know on today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. The team kicked off the show with a look at OpenAI’s $6.6 billion round, which is being called the […]

Shield AI’s founder on death, drones in Ukraine, and the AI weapon ‘no one wants’

Margaux MacColl — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 18:38:12 +0000

Shield AI cofounder Brandon Tseng has raised over $1 billion to create AI pilots. Here's what he's learned in Ukraine and the future of AI-powered weapons.

YC takes a bite out of PearAI, and French startups have a new home

Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:37:20 +0000

Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, and Margaux MacColl are unpacking another busy week in the tech world, kicking things off with Governor Newsom’s veto of SB 1047, the controversial AI bill aimed at stopping real-world disasters caused by AI systems before they happen. This may not be the last we’ll see of the bill, however, as […]

Palmer Luckey: Every country needs a ‘warrior class’ excited to enact ‘violence on others in pursuit of good aims’

Margaux MacColl — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 21:43:13 +0000

Palmer Luckey raged against America’s adversaries, endorsed completely autonomous weapons, and hinted at an Anduril IPO.

Palmer Luckey tried to crush aeronautics startup Salient Motion. But Anduril backer a16z invested.

Margaux MacColl — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Anduril sued defense tech startup Salient Motion. It still raised $12 million with participation from Anduril investor a16z.

Green flags for defense tech and Silicon Valley’s longevity obsession

Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 17:50:13 +0000

This episode of Equity had so many themes: VC karaoke, the SpaceX economy, no moats for AI, OpenAI versus open source. You know it’s going to be good when the conversation between host Kirsten Korosec and fellow TCers Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl starts with the evergreen question: Is it ever OK to use a […]

Former Brex COO who now heads unicorn fintech Figure says GPT is already upending the mortgage industry

Margaux MacColl — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:30:00 +0000

Lending startup Figure will be launching an AI tool powered by GPT-4 to help catch errors in lending documents.

How one female VC is teaching kids about startups and women in tech

Margaux MacColl — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 18:29:24 +0000

Lux Capital's Deena Shakir wrote a picture book to explain startups to children.