The head of Apple's Siri unit reportedly told staffers during an all-hands meeting that the delays in updating the company's virtual assistant with AI features were particularly embarrassing because the company went so public with them before they were ready. Bloomberg has more here. 

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Silicon Valley is bullish on AI agents. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said agents will “join the workforce” this year. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicted that agents will replace certain knowledge work. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that Salesforce’s goal is to be “the number one provider of digital labor in the world” via the company’s various “agentic” services.

But no one can seem to agree on what an AI agent is, exactly.

In the last few years, the tech industry has boldly proclaimed that AI “agents” — the latest buzzword — are going to change everything. In the same way that AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT gave us new ways to surface information, agents will fundamentally change how we approach work, claim CEOs like Altman and Nadella.

That may be true. But it also depends on how one defines “agents,” which is no easy task. Much like other AI-related jargon (e.g. “multimodal,” “AGI,” and “AI” itself), the terms “agent” and “agentic” are becoming diluted to the point of meaninglessness.

That threatens to leave OpenAI, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon, Google, and the countless other companies building entire product lineups around agents in an awkward place. An agent from Amazon isn’t the same as an agent from Google or any other vendor, and that’s leading to confusion — and customer frustration.

Ryan Salva, senior director of product at Google and an ex-GitHub Copilot leader, said he’s come to “hate” the word “agents.”

“I think that our industry overuses the term ‘agent’ to the point where it is almost nonsensical,” Salva told TechCrunch in an interview. “[It is] one of my pet peeves.”

More here.

Plata, a three-year-old Mexico City digital bank that offers credit cards and other financial services to consumers, raised a $160 million Series A round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The deal lead was Kora, with additional participation from Moore Strategic Ventures. The company has raised a total of $750 million in debt and equity, More here.

Terabase Energy, a six-year-old Berkeley startup that uses robots to streamline the construction of large solar power plants, raised a $130 million Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The company has raised a total of $200 million. PV Tech has more here.

Alloyed, an eight-year-old UK startup that designs advanced metal alloys and manufactures high-performance metal components using 3D printing for industries such as aerospace, automotive, defense, data centers, and wearable electronics, raised a $47.9 million Series B round co-led by SPARX and the Development Bank of Japan, with Aviva Investors and Future Industry Ventures also participating. Tech.eu has more here.

Curve, a 10-year-old London company that enables users to combine multiple bank cards into a single smart card and mobile app, raised a $47.9 million round led by Hanaco Ventures, with previous investors Fuel Ventures, IDC, and Outward VC also taking part. More here.

RedotPay, a two-year-old Hong Kong startup that seeks to enable users to conduct everyday transactions using cryptocurrencies, raised a $40 million Series A funding round. Lightspeed Venture Partners was the deal lead, with participation from HSG and Galaxy Ventures. Cointelegraph has more here. 

Town, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides small businesses with dedicated tax advisors and an AI-powered platform to manage tax compliance and planning, raised an $18 million seed round led by First Round Capital, with Conviction, Alt Capital, Mischief, and WndrCo also contributing. More here.

Human Computer, a year-old company that operates an independent video game studio focused on creating innovative, story-driven games with high production values, raised a $5.7 million seed round led by Makers Fund and including Andreessen Horowitz. The company has raised a total of $7.7 million. VentureBeat has more here.

OptimHire, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that has built an AI-driven recruitment platform to automate the hiring process, raised a $5 million round. Mucker Capital led the transaction, with with SparkLabs, Citta Capital, Pitbull Ventures, and VSC Ventures also pitching in. More here.

When AI startups reach billion-dollar valuations in months and market conditions can shift overnight, traditional due diligence approaches are pushed to their limits. VCs are challenged to validate complex technologies, assess business model sustainability, and pick out the highest quality deals amid the hype.

Join this webinar to see how Vanessa Larco, former Partner at New Enterprise Associates has evolved her due diligence process and the investments she’s considering to support the next generation of innovative companies.

Daybreak Ventures, a venture firm founded by Rex Woodbury, a veteran of TPG Growth and Index Ventures who writes a popular Substack called Digital Native about "about how people and technology intersect," has raised a $33 million fund that will invest $500,000 to $1 million in consumer and enterprise startups. Fortune has more here. 

Klarna, a 19-year-old Stockholm-based payments company, finally filed to go public today. It's looking to raise at least $1 billion at a $15 billion valuation despite having just $21 million in net income on $2.81 billion of revenue for 2024. TechCrunch has more here. 

David Sacks, the former VC turned White House crypto and AI czar, sold $200 million of his crypto stake before taking on his new job. CNBC has more here. 

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan has sent letters to 16 American technology firms, including Google and OpenAI, asking for past communications with the Biden administration that might suggest the former president “coerced or colluded” with companies to “censor lawful speech” in AI products. TechCrunch has more here.

According to a report in The Information, some DeepSeek employees have been required by the Chinese government to turn over their passports to the company, presumably because Chinese authorities are worried that they might share important info with the outside world. TechCrunch has more here. 

On an earnings call today, Young Liu, the CEO of giant contract manufacturer Foxconn, said that the Trump administration's tariff policy "is giving the CEOs of our customers a big headache now." Foxconn's major customers include Apple, Amazon, and Google. The Financial Times has more here. 

Cursor, the coding assistant from red-hot startup Anysphere, told a user that he should write the code himself rather than rely on Cursor to do his work for him. TechCrunch has more here.

Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and Peacock are increasingly turning to YouTube influencers like MrBeast and Dude Perfect for new show ideas. The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

Did a former F1 engineer just create the world's best croissant?

This new Netflix crime drama has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Why your house needs a listening room.

A $16,000 robot that can do a a 720-degree spinning kick.