Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India

Perplexity’s India revenue rose about 60% after the Airtel offer ended for new users, even as downloads declined.

Daniel Ek’s body-scanning startup Neko Health opens first US office, in New York

The scanning and bloodwork health startup founded by Spotify’s founder will officially launch in New York in about a month.

Detroit startup Grounded raises $5M to customize electric and gas-powered vans

The company has shifted from making van-life builds to custom outfitting vehicles for small businesses, all while the EV landscape in the US changed dramatically.

Tonight marks your last chance to save up to $300 on a TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass

If you’ve been circling around Disrupt, then now’s the best time to lock in your pass and start getting ready to join the rest of the startup community gathering in San Francisco from October 13-15 at Moscone West!  

Higgsfield raises $400M Series B, quadrupling its valuation in 8 months to $5.4B

Higgsfield, founded by former Snap exec Alex Mashrabov, lets users create AI images and videos.

Sound-powered fire protection startup gets $15M to snuff out fires before they turn catastrophic

Sonic Fire Tech raised its new funding to help get its sound-powered fire protection system into everything from commercial kitchens to apartment buildings.

Terra Industries closes $52M seed round to build defense infrastructure for the Global South

African defense tech company Terra Industries announced an additional $18 million in funding, bringing its seed round to $52 million.

Stripe will reportedly acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for $7B+

OpenRouter’s CEO recently described the startup as Stripe for AI.

SpaceX officially closes its Cursor acquisition

AI coding startup Cursor is now officially a part of SpaceX.