Technology

If I had to describe the status of Subnautica 2 in just three words, it would be these: messy, messy, messy. That’s not to say the game itself is in terrible shape — this is actually a pivotal claim in the whole situation — but the relationship between Subnautica series developer Unknown Worlds and its

Samsung announced its newest devices during its Galaxy Unpacked event on July 9. That happened to fall on the second day of Amazon’s Prime Day event. Do big tech companies not know what the others are doing? Do they care? Do they like making the lives of tech reporters difficult? I didn’t have time to

Chinese President Xi Jinping has bluntly questioned a nationwide rush of investment into the AI and EV industries. As deflation anxiety grows and Trump’s trade war with China ramps up, the world’s second largest economy is turning to fast-growth tech industries to remain competitive. But Xi appears to think that the strategy is flawed. As

Few companies have grown as quickly as Tesla, especially just before and after the company launched the Model 3, its first affordable EV. “We scaled Tesla in 30 months from $2 billion in revenue to $20 billion in revenue,” Jon McNeil, the former president of Tesla who is now co-founder and CEO of DVx Ventures, told the crowd at TechCrunch’s All Stage event in Boston. It wasn’t McNeil’s first time scaling companies, nor would it be his last. Previously, he founded six different companies, and after Tesla, he joined Lyft as COO before starting his own venture firm, where he’s launched a dozen startups. Over the years, McNeil has developed a playbook that helps him identify when a company is ripe for scaling. He shared those insights last week with the audience at TechCrunch All Stage 2025. When assessing a company’s potential to scale, McNeil primarily judges them on two different measures, product-market fit and go-to-market fit. It’s not unusual for investors to focus on those concepts, but McNeil has distilled them into two objective measures. For product-market fit, he asks each startup, “do 40% of your customers say they cannot live without your product,” he said. If not, then the company isn’t ready.  “We keep adding, adding, adding and tweaking the product until we get to 40% and then we say, okay, boom, now we’ve got product market fit,” McNeil said. “It’s actually objective and measured. It’s not a feeling, it’s not a sense. It’s a metric.” Techcrunch event San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 McNeil added, “We did a study of businesses that actually achieved breakout, and those businesses achieved breakout at roughly that 40% acceptance level.” Second, McNeil looks at whether the company has a mature go-to-market strategy. Specifically, he’s interested in whether the amount a company spends to acquire customers, known as customer acquisition cost (CAC), is sufficiently below the total lifetime value (LTV) that the customer will bring the company.  When a company starts pulling in four times more money over the life of the customer than it spent to acquire them — an LTV to CAC ratio of four-to-one — that’s when he knows the company is ready. “Then we pour in the cash. But before then, we’re doling out cash $100,000 at a time just to get to different stage gates,” he said. Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor. De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College. View Bio Read More

Autonomous robotics startup Cartken, known for its four-wheeled robots that deliver food on college campuses and through Tokyo’s bustling streets, has found a new area of focus: industrials.  Cartken co-founder and CEO Christian Bersch told TechCrunch that applying its delivery robots to industrial settings was always in the back of his mind as they built the startup. When companies started reaching out about using their robots in factories and labs, Cartken took a closer look. “What we found is that actually there’s a real big need in industrial and onsite use cases,” said Bersch, who co-founded the startup along with other former Google engineers behind the Bookbot project. “Sometimes there have even [been] more direct value to companies optimizing their material flows or their production flows.” In 2023, the startup landed its first big industrial customer, German manufacturing company ZF Lifetec. Initially, ZF Lifetec used its existing delivery robots, called the Cartken Courier, which can hold 44 pounds and resembles an Igloo cooler on wheels.  “Our food delivery robot started moving production samples around, and it’s quickly turned into our busiest robot of all,” Bersch said. “That’s when we said, hey, there’s like real use cases and real market need behind it, and that’s when we started targeting that segment more and more.” At the time, Cartken was still pressing ahead on its delivery sidewalk business, including locking in partnerships with Uber Eats and GrubHub for its last-mile delivery operations across U.S. college campuses and in Japan. But that early success with ZF, encouraged the startup founders, which includes Jake Stelman, Jonas Witt and Anjali Naik, to expand its business model. Switching Cartken’s robots from food delivery to an industrial setting, wasn’t much of a challenge, Bersch said. The AI behind the robots is trained on years of food delivery data and the devices are designed to traverse various terrains and weather conditions.  Techcrunch event San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 This means the robots can travel between indoor and outdoor settings. And thanks to data collected from delivering food on Tokyo streets, the robots are able to react and maneuver around obstacles.  Image Credits:Cartken Cartken, which has raised more than $20 million from 468 Capital, Incubate Fund, Vela Partners, and other venture firms, has started to build out its robotic fleet to reflect its pivot to industrials. The company released the Cartken Hauler earlier this year, which is a larger version of the Cartken Courier and can hold up to 660 pounds. The company also released the Cartken Runner, designed for indoor deliveries, and is also working on something similar to a robotic forklift.  “We have a navigation stack that is parameterizable for different robot sizes,” Bersch said. “All the AI and machine learning and training that went into that is like transferring directly to the other robots.” Cartken recently announced that it was deepening its four-year relationship with Japanese automaker Mitsubishi, which originally helped the company get the needed certifications to operate their delivery robots on the streets of Tokyo.  Melco Mobility Solutions, a company under the Mitsubishi umbrella, just announced that it will be buying nearly 100 Cartken Hauler robots for use in Japanese industrial facilities.  “We’re definitely seeing a lot of traction across various industrial and corporate sites, from automotive companies to pharmaceutical to chemical,” he said. “All these companies typically have people moving stuff from one building to another, whether it’s being by hand, on a cart ,or a small forklift, and that is really what we’re targeting.” Cartken will still continue its food and consumer last-mile delivery business, but it won’t be expanding it, Bersch said, adding they still do a lot of testing for new capabilities on these existing last-mile delivery routes.  Becca is a senior writer at TechCrunch that covers venture capital trends and startups. She previously covered the same beat for Forbes and the Venture Capital Journal. View Bio Read More

Tesla opened the doors to its first showroom in India this week, and among the first visitors was Vishal Gondal — a longtime Tesla and Elon Musk loyalist who pre-booked a Model 3 in April 2016, just hours after reservations went live. But despite showing up on day one, Gondal says he has no plans to buy a Tesla now. “I felt a little bit underwhelmed,” said Gondal, founder and CEO of fitness-tech startup GOQii, after visiting the maiden Tesla showroom in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex. Over the better part of a decade, Gondal held out hope for Tesla’s debut in India. But his excitement soured when he had to chase the company for a refund in 2023 — sending multiple emails just to get his $1,000 reservation fee. “Trying to get the money back was a problem,” he told TechCrunch. “And the joke was, had we invested that money in Tesla IPO stock, we would have made more money.” Gondal is among the earliest backers of Tesla in India — someone who pre-booked a vehicle long before there were any guarantees. But nine years on, it seems many of those early believers are not celebrating the launch and have instead made up their mind not to go with Tesla, at least on its debut. Those backers never got their Model 3s, for which they paid the reservation fee soon after Musk promised to launch the car in the country. And some, like Gondal, even waited and tried hard for years to get the refund, while some got it in May, just a couple of months before Tesla’s formal debut. “It is frustrating to see Tesla take so long. I mean, our government and processes and red carpet are hard, but it’s hilarious that even Starlink has gotten approval in a shorter period,” said Varun Krishnan, who runs tech blog FoneArena from Chennai and is also one of Tesla’s early backers in India. Techcrunch event San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 Tesla did not invite these loyalists to visit its Mumbai showroom, nor did it give them an update on the launch. The 6,000-square-foot Tesla showroom is located in Maker Maxity Mall, near Apple’s first store in the country. Nonetheless, Gondal said Tesla’s store was nowhere near similar to that of the Apple store launch. “When Apple launched their showroom in the same place, the buzz that Apple was able to create versus the buzz that Tesla was able to create, there is a world of difference,” he said. Gondal went to the Tesla showroom in his Audi e-Tron, which he had bought the previous year, after waiting a long time for the Model 3. Image Credits:Vishal Gondal / X “This felt like the coldest launch,” said Amit Bhawani, founder of tech blog Phoneradar, who also pre-reserved the Model 3 in 2016. Bhawani eventually got the $1,000 refund after criticizing Tesla in a video released on YouTube in 2020. The video received comments from dozens of people who had also reserved the Model 3 in India and were waiting for a refund, he said. “That’s when I felt that the whole love for Tesla became a real hatred for Tesla,” he told TechCrunch. “The least Tesla could have done was email all the people who reserved the car earlier and said, ‘Guys, we are going to have a special event for you’,” Gondal said. “Those people really went out of their way, and even though let’s say it’s not a big amount, it was saying that we support Tesla.” Some others, like Kawaljit Singh Bedi, said they have no regrets about supporting Tesla, although they received the refund just before the launch this year. Nevertheless, they are also not looking to buy a Tesla soon. “After all these years I have waited, I’m in no hurry to buy it now and become the first one to have it, because what’s the point? I waited nine years? I can wait nine years and six months more,” said Bedi, co-founder and CTO of Frammer AI. “Most of them who had put in their early vote of confidence are disappointed, including, I know, Vishal and Vijay [Shekhar Sharma of Paytm],” said Krishnan. “People like Vishal or Vijay, they are taken with a lot of authority. So, if they are buying something, there would be 100 people going by their word.” Sharma, founder and CEO of Indian fintech giant Paytm, echoed comments from other early backers, telling TechCrunch that he would not go with Tesla and would rather wait for a larger portfolio of cars. “It may be a bit too late,” he said. “There are so many other options with price-value math more suited for India.” The years-long delay in Tesla’s launch — along with not being invited to the showroom opening — has left some of the brand’s earliest Indian loyalists feeling let down, said Arun Bhatt, founder of Tesla Club India, who also pre-booked a Model 3 in 2016 “You paid something and you ardently waited for 10 years, and then out of the blue, they just tell you, we’ll cancel it and we’ll refund, then what happens — 10 years having waited for something, will we be given preferential treatment?” he questioned. “There’s zero communication regarding that. So, eight out of 10 reservation holders are frustrated.” Bhatt started the club with another Tesla enthusiast and Delhi University student, Nikhil Chaudhary, in 2019 as an informal group for people having an interest in the EV carmaker. However, he told TechCrunch that due to the delay in Tesla’s launch in the country, the club has slowly changed from a Tesla awareness club to an EV and clean energy awareness club. No clarity on after-sales and local Supercharger network One of the concerns that many Tesla early backers have is the lack of clarity on how Tesla will set up the Supercharger network in the country and handle after-sales care. The company announced that it would establish eight charging stations, equally distributed across

Following a Pro Publica report that Microsoft was using engineers in China to help maintain cloud computing systems for the U.S. Department of Defense, the company said it’s made changes to ensure this will no longer happen. The existing system reportedly relied on “digital escorts” to supervise the China-based engineers. But according to Pro Publica, those escorts — U.S. citizens with security clearances — sometimes lacked the technical expertise to properly monitor the engineers. In response to the report, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X, “Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems.” On Friday, Microsoft’s chief communications officer Frank X. Shaw responded: “In response to concerns raised earlier this week about US-supervised foreign engineers, Microsoft has made changes to our support for US Government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for DoD Government cloud and related services.”  Read More

Andy Byron, the startup executive at the center of an extraordinary social media furor, has resigned as CEO of data operations startup Astronomer.  Byron, who is married, was captured on a Coldplay concert “kiss cam” with his arms around the company’s chief people officer Kristin Cabot. After Byron and Cabot quickly tried to hide from the camera, Coldplay singer Chris Martin joked, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” Video of the awkward incident soon went spectacularly viral — Axios, citing Muck Rack data, reported on Friday that over the preceding 24 hours, 22,000 news articles had been published about the startup, including 9,000 about Byron himself. (Amidst the many jokes and memes, 404 Media argued that the incident is “emblematic of our social media surveillance dystopia.”) Astronomer, which announced in May that it had raised a $93 million Series D, said Friday that Byron had been placed on leave, with cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy becoming interim CEO. Cabot has reportedly been placed on leave as well. Now, the company has released a longer statement announcing that Byron has resigned. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” Astronomer said. “Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” the company added. “While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.” Techcrunch event San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 DeJoy will continue to serve as interim CEO as the board searches for a permanent replacement. Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor. Previously, he worked as a tech reporter at Adweek, a senior editor at VentureBeat, a local government reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, and vice president of content at a VC firm. He lives in New York City. View Bio Read More

SkazovD/Shutterstock If you are an avid PC gamer, chances are you might have heard of MSI, the Taiwanese PC brand popular for its gaming laptops, desktop PCs, and PC components. MSI, which is short for Micro-Star International, was founded in 1986, with the company initially focusing on components like motherboards and graphics cards. Today, however, MSI is a familiar name among gamers, thanks to its extensive range of gaming-focused products, which include laptops, desktops, and handhelds. MSI also dabbles with a variety of PC components and accessories. It was only after the gaming industry exploded in the 2000s that MSI began its evolution into a maker of computers. One of MSI’s first standalone products was the MSI Mega PC, a unique product that combined the functionalities of a full-fledged desktop PC and a well-equipped audio center. The MegaPC featured a front end that resembled a mini component system — complete with an LCD panel and a volume dial — but a rear end that featured PC-like ports. MSI’s first-ever laptop — the MSI Megabook M510c — was released in 2004. This was a $2,500 machine that was then described by Engadget as “reasonably well equipped.” Fast forward two decades; today, MSI produces a wide range of products, including gaming laptops for every budget, desktops, monitors, gaming peripherals, cooling systems, and even streaming gear. Despite being around for nearly 40 years, MSI is still considered a niche player in the world of laptops and desktop PCs, with a market share considerably less than players like HP, Dell, Asus, and Lenovo. MSI’s low market share can be attributed to the fact that the company primarily focuses on the gaming space, although of late, the company has a lineup of products that target the non-gaming crowd. MSI and its long association with gamers tinhkhuong/Shutterstock For gamers, MSI’s familiar red-and-black dragon logo has become a common sight at some of the world’s premier esports tournaments. For several years, MSI has had a deep-rooted involvement in the global gaming ecosystem, which has helped it become a well-established player in the competitive gaming space. MSI’s popularity among gamers stems in part from its strategic sponsorship of high-profile esports tournaments such as ESL One, DreamHack, and the PUBG Global Championship 2023. These events attract millions of viewers and serve as a showcase for MSI’s hardware. The brand also sponsors regional competitions in Dota 2 and CS: GO, particularly in Asia and Europe, reinforcing its global presence. Aside from popular tournaments, MSI makes a notable presence at major gaming expos, such as Computex, Gamescom, and CES, where it unveils new hardware and hosts live matches and influencer demonstrations. MSI has also sponsored professional teams like Fnatic, Flash Wolves, and Cloud9, boosting its brand visibility. If that wasn’t enough, MSI even runs its own global tournament series, the Masters Gaming Arena (MGA), which claims to provide a platform for rising talent. This strategy gives MSI a strong presence in spaces where its core audience hangs out — Twitch, Discord, Reddit, and YouTube. MSI also runs its own bulletin board/online forum, which lets its users have an interactive space to discuss MSI products, exchange technical insights, troubleshoot and solve common problems. MSI’s strong lineup of gaming-focused products Beyond sponsoring major gaming events and supporting gifted gamers, MSI has developed a comprehensive ecosystem of high-end computing products, several of which feature the brand’s most advanced and premium-tier (and expensive) hardware. Its gaming laptops, including the “Raider”, “Stealth,” and “Titan” series, are purpose-built with the latest Intel or AMD processors and paired with high-end NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards. Many of these laptops come with high refresh rate displays, advanced thermal solutions like Cooler Boost technology, and support for fast PCIe Gen 4 SSDs. These are the kind of specs competitive gamers drool over. As for desktops, MSI has a comprehensive range of products with the MEG series positioned as the highest-tier, followed by MPG series in the mid-range tier, and MAG lineup catering to the entry-level crowd. All these machines feature gamer-friedy features, are overclocking-friendly and are easy to upgrade. The company also has its own software suite called the MSI Center that allows users to adjust fan speeds, lighting, overclocking profiles, and game-specific optimizations. And then there’s the aesthetics. MSI machines look the part. With aggressive designs, RGB lighting zones, and aluminum chassis, MSI gear fits perfectly into a gaming setup, whether it’s in a dorm room, or a tournament booth. Ultimately, MSI’s popularity amidst gamers stems the company’s relentless focus on the gaming vertical and the fact that it understands the needs of its target audience. Read More

It may be hard to believe, but self-flying military helicopters already exist and are undergoing real-world testing. We’re not talking about theoretical concepts or something exciting happening in the near future, as major aerospace players have flown helicopters without anyone at the controls. For example, Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky division showed a Black Hawk taking off, maneuvering an environment filled with obstacles, and even landing all by itself. Making it possible are its advanced sensors, artificial intelligence, and flight systems that can deal with everything from normal route planning to tricky emergency situations. These autonomous rotorcraft are predominantly under the control of defense contractors and research programs for now. Still, they offer a compelling look at where both military and civilian aviation might be heading over the next decade. The results of these tests extend beyond military use into emergency medical services, search and rescue operations, and commercial cargo delivery. These systems could operate in dangerous conditions where human pilots face unacceptable risks, while maintaining the operational safety and reliability needed for critical missions. Inside the tech that makes autonomous helicopters possible A concept as intricate as self-flying helicopters must be precise and have safety as its main priority. The technology relies on a fusion of cutting-edge systems to keep it stable, safe, and aware of its surroundings. A common system uses a combination of lidar, radar, optical cameras, GPS, and inertial navigation units to create a detailed, constantly updated map of the world around it. The data that’s collected is filtered into powerful onboard computers operating AI-driven flight software that can plot courses, adjust to weather changes, avoid obstacles, and even communicate with air traffic controllers. Sikorsky’s MATRIX technology is one of the most advanced examples. It allows a UH-60 Black Hawk to execute fully autonomous missions. Simultaneously, the DARPA-backed Aurora Flight Sciences ALIAS program is designed to be a flexible kit that can be installed in existing aircraft like the UH-1 Huey. It can automate important flight duties and execute complex emergency procedures. This dramatically cuts down the workload on human pilots to serve as a safeguard if they become debilitated. Why you won’t see them at your local dealer anytime soon Dustin Satloff – Fifa/Getty Images Regardless of impressive leaps in autonomous technology, these systems won’t be making an appearance in civilian hangars just yet. Most are tied to military contracts or are highly controlled by demonstration programs. Developers are still working through the kinks to prove long-term reliability under all operational situations. Regulatory roadblocks remain a huge barrier, also. Trying to get certification for an unmanned helicopter for commercial use overpopulated areas is a challenge that goes well beyond the engineering itself. Still, these advances lay the foundation for a future where fully autonomous rotorcraft could become part of daily life. As air taxi developers enhance self-flying systems and pilot-assist technologies continue to advance, it may not be long before civilian helicopters start to incorporate these capabilities. For now, they show exactly how fast aviation technology is changing, and give us a glimpse of a future where helicopters might not need pilots at all. Read More