Telegram ban in India sparks a rush to VPNs, rival apps

by News Feed Editor | Jun 18, 2026 | Technology

As India cut off access to messaging app Telegram for a week over concerns about exam-related fraud, users turned to virtual private networks (VPNs) and alternative messaging apps in unusually large numbers. App intelligence firm Appfigures told TechCrunch that...

Source: Elastic agrees to buy CRV-backed DeductiveAI for up to $85M

by News Feed Editor | Jun 18, 2026 | Technology

DeductiveAI, a startup that uses AI to catch and resolve bugs in software, has agreed to be sold to enterprise software company Elastic for up to $85 million, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. Deductive, which was founded in 2023, came out stealth last...

Anthropic’s Claude Code Artifacts update brings live, shared dashboards and interactive workspaces to enterprises

by News Feed Editor | Jun 18, 2026 | Technology

Anthropic announced a potentially game-changing new feature for users of Claude Code on the Claude Team and Enterprise subscription plans: Artifacts. This update turns a Claude Code session’s work into a live, interactive, and shareable, custom HTML webpage,...

AI inference startup Baseten reportedly raising $1.5B months after its last mega round

by News Feed Editor | Jun 18, 2026 | Technology

AI inference company Baseten is close to finalizing a stunning $1.5 billion funding round at a $13 billion valuation, the WSJ reports. Just five months ago, the startup announced that it had raised a $300 million Series E at a $5 billion valuation. And that round was...

Snap spins off AI video team into new company, Dotmo, due to costs

by News Feed Editor | Jun 18, 2026 | Technology

Snap will be spinning off an internal generative AI video team into a separate company. The new company — dubbed Dotmo — will focus on developing AI models that can create interactive gaming experiences, Snap told TechCrunch. Snap cited the high costs of conducting...

OpenAI is bringing on some big guns in the lead-up to its IPO 

by News Feed Editor | Jun 18, 2026 | Technology

OpenAI is bringing on some big names to the team in the lead-up to its public debut: Google DeepMind AI legend Noam Shazeer and former Trump White House AI policy official Dean Ball.  Shazeer, a co-lead at Gemini and the founder of AI role-playing startup Character...