April 17, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch signals IPO readiness as AI agents fuel revenue surge: While many startups founded prior to the emergence of ChatGPT are struggling to position themselves for the AI era, Vercel, a 10-year-old dev tool and website hosting platform, is benefiting from the explosion of AI-generated apps and agents. Read More

Financial risk management platform Pillar raises $20M seed in round led by a16z: Pillar hopes to offer sophisticated, institutional-grade tools to small and medium-sized enterprises. "Our goal is to make hedging as accessible and ubiquitous as payments or accounting software," he said. Read More

From the Startup Battlefield stage to the International Space Station: geCKo Materials built a sticky product: This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen speaks with Capella Kerst, founder and CEO of geCKo Materials. Read More

A message from Cannes Lions

This June, be in the room where progress happens.

The Classic Start-Up Pass at Cannes Lions 2026 will put your new business in front of the global creative industry. Specifically designed for companies started within the last five years – this is your entry point to the Festival, and your moment to build a powerful growth-focused network. Join us 22–26 June 2026 in Cannes, France.

Learn more

Must-Reads

Slash, a Ramp competitor founded by teenagers, raises $100M at $1.4B valuation: Five years later the founders, now 24 years old, say their startup has achieved $300 million in annualized revenue. Read More

TechCrunch is heading to Tokyo — and bringing the Startup Battlefield with it: SusHi Tech 2026 is zeroing in on four technology domains reshaping society: AI, Robotics, Resilience, and Entertainment. Expect live demos of humanoid robots, sessions on autonomous driving's software revolution, deep dives into cyber defense and climate tech, and candid conversations about how AI is rewriting the global music and anime industries. Read More

Airwallex is about to take on Stripe and the rest of the payments industry — in the physical world: Airwallex, valued at $8 billion, is launching a point-of-sale product that lets businesses accept in-person payments in multiple countries via a single platform. Read More

Loop raises $95M to build supply chain AI that predicts disruptions: The San Francisco startup closed a Series C funding round led by Antonio Gracias' firm Valor, which is a major backer of xAI. Read More

Hightouch reaches $100M ARR fueled by marketing tools powered by AI: The startup says it grew its ARR by $70 million in just 20 months after launching an AI agent platform for marketers. Read More

A message from TechCrunch Events

Limited tickets available: StrictlyVC San Francisco

StrictlyVC kicks off the series in SF on April 30. Be in the room for unfiltered fireside chats on fundraising and AI accuracy with industry leaders like Forum AI founder Campbell Brown, Replit co-founder Amjad Masad, and more. Make high-value connections that actually move the needle. Tickets are limited.

Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite

Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum.

Last but Not Least

OpenAI has bought AI personal finance startup Hiro: The acquisition indicates a capability that OpenAI is building into ChatGPT: financial planning. Read More

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