Why 'hold forever' investors are snapping up venture capital 'zombies'

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  November 26, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 Why 'hold forever' investors are snapping up venture capital 'zombies': An investor explains the "buy, fix, and hold" model employed by Bending Spoons and similar companies that buy distressed startups. Read More India's gig workers win legal status, but access to social security remains elusive: India is restructuring its gig economy with a new labor law, but much more is needed before gig workers see real benefits. Read More ChatGPT's voice mode is no longer a separate interface: ChatGPT now lets you use voice and text in the same screen, making conversations feel more natural as responses and visuals appear in real time. Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from Fidelity Top Venture Capital Trends Startups Should Watch in 2025 Report Startup executives, the VC world is always changing, and it's important to stay updated. As your company grows, you face new challenges & opportunities. The competitive landscape is shifting & you need to stay informed and prepared. Download our guide now to master the VC landscape & set your company up for long-term success. Download Now Morning Must-Reads OpenAI and Perplexity are launching AI shopping assistants, but competing startups aren't sweating it: Startup founders building AI shopping tools think general-purpose models are too broad to deliver truly personalized shopping experiences. Read More Microsoft's AI chatbot Copilot leaves WhatsApp on January 15: WhatsApp's new platform policies ban general-purpose AI chatbots like Copilot from using its service. Read More Character AI will offer interactive 'Stories' to kids instead of open-ended chat: The company announced last month that it would no longer allow minors to use its chat features. Read More Onton raises $7.5M to expand its AI-powered shopping site beyond furniture: Onton, which change its name from Deft, is giving users an infinite canvas with AI-powered image generation to nudge them towards making quicker purchase decisions Read More YouTube is working on a feature that will fix the messy home feed: YouTube is experimenting with a new feature that allows users to customize their home feed. Read More A message from Fidelity Raise the bar on fundraising Successful fundraising begins with the right equity strategy. Fidelity's latest guide will help you learn how to streamline your equity management and avoid common pitfalls. Learn key equity concepts like ownership and dilution and how to optimize your cap table and data room to connect with investors more effectively.  Download the guide You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least Uber and WeRide's robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi is officially driverless: The commercial robotaxi service launched last year. Now, the human safety operator is gone. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

OpenAI and Perplexity are launching AI shopping assistants, but competing startups aren't sweating it

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  November 25, 2025 TechCrunch Top 3 OpenAI and Perplexity are launching AI shopping assistants, but competing startups aren't sweating it: Startup founders building AI shopping tools think general-purpose models are too broad to deliver truly personalized shopping experiences. Read More Warner Music signs deal with AI music startup Suno, settles lawsuit: WMG says artists and songwriters will have full control over whether and how their names, images, likenesses, voices, and compositions are used in new AI-generated music. Read More Find Your Grind raises $5M to grow platform empowering students to explore unique career paths: Nick Gross says that Find Your Grind gives students the tools to explore what careers are out there and what paths suit their strengths, interests, and visions for what they want their futures to look like. Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from Persona Bad user onboarding is costing you customers. Clunky verification flows kill conversion rates. Persona creates smooth onboarding that verifies real users in seconds while blocking fraud, so your business can maximize signups without sacrificing security. Our Startup Program offers 12 months free with 500 monthly verifications, helping thousands of startups optimize their onboarding from day one. Learn more Afternoon Must-Reads India's gig workers win legal status, but access to social security remains elusive: India is restructuring its gig economy with a new labor law, but much more is needed before gig workers see real benefits. Read More Altman describes OpenAI's forthcoming AI device as more peaceful and calm than the iPhone: Altman and Ive tease a simple AI device aimed at calm, distraction-free computing, launching within two years. Read More Microsoft's AI chatbot Copilot leaves WhatsApp on January 15: WhatsApp's new platform policies ban general-purpose AI chatbots like Copilot from using its service. Read More ChatGPT's voice mode is no longer a separate interface: ChatGPT now lets you use voice and text in the same screen, making conversations feel more natural as responses and visuals appear in real time. Read More Google teams up with Accel to hunt for India's next AI breakouts: Google and Accel will jointly invest up to $2 million in each startup through their new partnership. Read More A message from Fidelity Top Venture Capital Trends Startups Should Watch in 2025 Report Startup executives, the VC world is always changing, and it's important to stay updated. As your company grows, you face new challenges and opportunities. The competitive landscape is shifting and you need to stay informed and prepared. Download our guide now to master the VC landscape and set your company up for long-term success. Download Now You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least Character AI will offer interactive 'Stories' to kids instead of open-ended chat: The company announced last month that it would no longer allow minors to use its chat features. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107