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elcome to the TechCrunch Alternate, a weekly startups-and-markets publication. It’s impressed by the each day TechCrunch+ column the place it will get its identify. Need it in your inbox each Saturday? Join right here.
Journalists and readers love scoops. However generally it’s essential to state the plain. This week, I’m reminded that democracies are fragile however that expertise can assist. And likewise that crowdfunding isn’t at all times the easiest way to launch an revolutionary product.
On a facet be aware, this article will probably be taking a break till January 6 subsequent yr, so wishing you all comfortable holidays. — Anna
Why agentic tech?
Once I learn {that a} new enterprise agency referred to as ex/ante had raised $33 million to put money into “agentic tech,” I received curious: What did that imply, and why had been LPs corresponding to Marc Andreessen and Union Sq. Ventures prepared to again an rising fund supervisor specializing in this class?
I already had one thing to go on: Forbes’ Alex Konrad famous that ex/ante would put money into on-line privateness and safety, and described agentic tech as “a fledgling time period that the fund defines as expertise that pertains to human company and rights within the digital age.” However I nonetheless needed to know extra, so I had a chat with its founder, 32-year-old Zoe Weinberg.
