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Well, friends, it seems The drama of the Techstars I just received a new twist. CEO Maëlle Gavet is leaving, leaving co-founder David Cohen to come back and save the day – or at least try to. Gavet's three-and-a-half-year tenure was a rollercoaster of controversies, from employee exodus to stop acceleration programs faster than you can say “pivot”. Despite an $80 million deal with JPMorgan Turning into a Titanic disaster and losing $7 million in 2023, she insists she wouldn't trade the experience for anything. As for Cohen? He is excited about his return as CEO.
Most interesting startup stories of the week
Linktree just reached 50 million users, proving that everyone and their grandmother now have a connection in bio. From a modest 2.7 million in 2019 to this astronomical number, they're basically the popular kid in school that everyone wants to sit with. Linktree is rolling out social commerce features so creators can feature storefronts on their pages and earn commissions from big brands like Adidas and Sephora. With over $300 million in monthly sales already flowing through these links, it's clear they're not kidding.
- Human looking for a house: Humane, the brainchild of former Apple executives and creator of the $700 Ai Pin that no one asked for, is now reportedly looking for a buyer. Apparently, it hopes to bring in between $750 million and $1 billionjust in case anyone wants to add a wearable gadget to their product portfolio that is essentially a smartphone with engagement issues.
- Sonos squeezes your head: Sonos has finally answered your prayers and dropped its “most requested product ever.” No, it's not a speaker who does your taxes, it's Ace headphones. For $449, you'll soon be able to flaunt these over-ear beauties.
- Coming soon to a roundabout near you: The UK has officially waved the checkered flag for “driverless cars” – that’s what they call autonomous driving there. How picturesque! Thanks to the automated vehicle law, you could find yourself share the road with robotic cars by 2026.
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240501_ABatz_Sonos_Rooftop_Pool_0871.jpg?w=680)
Trending this week: AI Drama
Looks like OpenAI's latest chatbot, Sky, has done its best Scarlett Johansson impersonation and I got my face broken! The AI voice flirted too closely with ScarJo's iconic voice. OpenAI swears it wasn't trying to recreate her sultry tones from “Elle,” but the internet couldn't help but notice the uncanny resemblance. CEO Sam Altman even tweeted “she” because, well, why wouldn’t you, really? Now that Johansson has made the case faster than you can say “deepfake,” OpenAI has removed Sky's voice from its product, while the legal machinations rumble on to find a solution to this mess.
OpenAI, for its part, does not seem to be suffering too much. ChatGPT's mobile app just hit a revenue jackpot with the launch of GPT-4o. Despite promising free access on the web, OpenAI decided to incentivize mobile users towards a monthly subscription of $19.99 if they wanted in on the action. Twist: People are spending more than their Netflix subscriptions on this. In the first week alone, net revenue soared 22%, generating as much as $900,000 per day and totaling a whopping $4.2 million from May 13-17.
- Don't ScarJo, me, bro: The Hollywood elite can now hide their digital doubles in the CAA's high-tech “theCAAvault”, as if it were a Fort Knox for AI clones.
- The Whitest Sausage Party in Town: Despite years of complaints from women and people of color complaining about being marginalized in the field of AI, Meta has apparently decided that diversity is overrated. So he assembled a team of business brothers to guide its AI strategy. Cool, cool, cool.
- Hit the road, Jack: The latest news from Expedia reads like a soap opera scenario: CTO Rathi Murthy and SVP Sreenivas Rachamadugu have been unceremoniously thrown to the curb for violating a mysterious company policy. The travel booking giant is keeping mum on the juicy details, citing confidentiality. Murthy was I'm just praising the new AI features days before its sudden release – talk about bad timing!
![General view of the atmosphere at the launch of the new Citi and Expedia travel credit cards on September 17, 2014 in New York](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/gettyimages-455626474.jpg?w=680)
The most interesting fundraisers this week
Good morning! In the latest episode of “How much money can we throw at AI”, the French startup H comes Landed a Nice $220 Million Seed Funding. Yes, you read that right – startup financing. With a founding team that includes more former Google DeepMind employees than a Silicon Valley meeting, H aims to revolutionize productivity with its “frontier action models.” Translation: They build robots to do our jobs better than us. Remind me why I'm sitting here typing this newsletter with my real fingers? What is the 1920s?
- The material is less hard:Forget what you know about hardware engineering because Rollup is here. The startup has been hiding in the shadows for three years, quietly raise $5.6 million big names like Andreessen Horowitz and Thiel Capital.
- Multiple layers: QuickBooks may be the daddy of accounting software, but it seems there's a new kid on the block: Layer. Fresh off a $2.3 million raise, this startup promises to make accounting less painful for small and medium-sized businesses with its sophisticated built-in features.
- We don't need steep roads: Forget robotaxis stuck in city traffic — the latest craze is autonomous vehicles who laugh at the roadmaps. Overland AI and Potential are leading this off-road autonomy revolution, backed by venture capital firms and Uncle Sam's Department of Defense.
![An ATV drives autonomously in an off-road environment](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0T6A8025.jpg?w=680)
Other must-read TechCrunch stories…
Welcome to the job market in 2023, where instead of flipping burgers, you could program a robot to do it for you. Brian made a list of 81 robotics companies recruiting faster than you can say “artificial intelligence.” From humanoids that could steal your job (or make your coffee) to drones ensuring your Amazon packages arrive before you've even clicked “order,” there's never been a more exciting — or terrifying — time to dive into the robotics. So don't hesitate any longer, apply now and secure your place in the brave new world of the lords of mechanics 🤖.
- More money, more passengers?: Buckle up, Minnesota! Uber and Lyft drivers get a raise thanks to a new deal with the state, but don't get too comfortable in the back seat. Starting in 2025, drivers will earn more money – rates that have left Uber complaining of higher costs.
- Soz, kid, no bank for you: Teenage fintech startup Copper Banking is having a tough week. Its banking and debit products are finished thanks to Synapse's epic implosion. The middleware provider crashed and burned in Chapter 11, then directly into the liquidation of Chapter 7.
- Won't you be my friend: Bumble, the dating app that now feels confined by the broader decline of its core market, has decided to take on Geneva directly — a community development platform. Apparently aware that “Netflix and chill” doesn't always translate into lifelong partnerships, Bumble aims to broaden its scope from one-on-one relationships to group hugs and friendship bracelets.
- VinFast horror: In a tragic twist that seems like it was ripped from the script of an automotive horror movie, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into April crash where a VinFast VF 8 SUV decided to play “kiss the oak” in California, resulting in the fiery death of a family of four.
- Don't worry, we already have all your contact details: Welcome to the digital age, where even your hotel check-in could be the star of a spyware drama! At least three Wyndham hotels in the United States have been caught in the act with pcTattletalea consumer spyware app that sneakily takes screenshots of guest details and customer information.