👀 A hacking party: There are new Chinese-government-backed hacking groups in town — Volt Typhoon, whose group mission is to disrupt the U.S. military’s mobilization ability, and Flax Typhoon, which helps conceal the activities of China’s hackers. We have the story of who these groups are — and what they want. Read more
🚜 Landscaping robots: John Deere showcased a bunch of new products at CES, including a landscaping electric robot. It also revealed an automated dump truck and an autonomous orchard tractor that can spray crops. Read more
🛍️ Hey, big spender: A new Salesforce report reveals that online spending rose this year, with the U.S. specifically seeing a 4% increase, with $282 billion spent over the holiday period. We dig into what these numbers mean — and the one catch that turns the numbers on their heads. Read more
🤖 Robot bucks: RoboForce, a company that's building robots to do tasks like install solar panels, raised $10 million from Carnegie Mellon University and Nobel Laureate economist Myron Scholes. Read more
💰 Money for transpo: Trucks VC has launched a $70 million fund to invest in transportation startups. This is the third — and largest — fund that the firm has raised. It hopes to cut at least 30 seed checks between $500,000 and $2 million. Read more
🚗 EVs are still hot, hot, hot: Lucid, a luxury EV startup, delivered a record number of cars last year, seeing its production numbers increase from 7% in 2023. It comes as competitors like Tesla have started to see a drop in sales. Read more
