Cloudflare wants to help block AI crawlers as new VC funds blossom around the world

Top News

• Epic says Apple is blocking alternative app store, pings EU: The European Union required Apple to open up iOS a little last year and allow alternative application marketplaces. However, Epic, the company behind Fortnite that is keen to open its own digital store on Apple smartphones, says that the American tech giant is blocking its path—so much so that Epic has let the EU know. Alex recently argued that a more hostile international regulatory climate is the new normal for American tech giants. This fits that thesis.

• Cloudflare helps block AI: A new tool from Internet infra and cybersecurity company Cloudflare is built to help websites block AI crawlers. As a result of the attention that AI scraping practices have received, more and more websites want to ensure that their material is not hoovered up into someone’s model without compensation. Robots.txt is hardly enough of a dike to hold back the AI flood, in other words.

• New venture funds blossom: TechCrunch has notes today on three new venture capital funds. U.S.-based J2 Ventures raised $150 million to invest in companies that support the health of folks in the armed forces; Seaya put together €300 million for a climate fund based in Spain; and the Swiss venture firm Forestay has raised $220 million.

Get to know Recall

While we count down to adding new TWiST500 companies next week, did you see that Recall (GetRecall.AI) recently topped ProductHunt? The Launch portfolio company’s service, which helps folks save, summarize, and connect the online materials they consume, recently picked up more than 1,600 upvotes, making it the #1 product of the day, week, and month.

Why is it resonating? As someone with around 7,000 tabs open at any one time across my computers — many of which are long-form videos and articles — I have no idea. Kidding aside, I am going to give this a try and see if it can help me cut down on how far behind I constantly feel. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E1976: AI with Sunny returns, featuring data concerning the current venture capital fundraising market and what to make of ‘AI native” workers. On the demo side of the fence, Sunny and Jason looked at Luna Labs, Kling, Qwen, Cartesia AI, and more. This is a must-watch if you want to keep tabs on the latest from the world of artificial intelligence.

E1975: In the latest Liquidity Podcast, David Weisburd and Jason spoke with Logan Allin (Fin Capital) and Neil Datta (NKD Advisory) about AI, AI regulation, exit pacing, and immigration policy. The group also dug into Carta data detailing longer periods between rounds for startups, which Neil predicated on the non-ZIRP environment that startups and their backers are operating in today.

E1974: A news roundtable to start the week saw Jason and Alex digging into the DEI v MEI debate, with a side order of media economics and norms. From there, the pair dug into Amazon’s recent AI not-acquisition and what to make of Chime and Salt Labs teaming up. The latter startup was new, making its nine-figure exit all the more interesting to unpack.

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