After the Justice Department released a trove of new documents tied to infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, journalists digging through them have found extensive connections to Silicon Valley.

TechCrunch’s Sean O’Kane examined how a mysterious businessman named David Stern built a relationship with Epstein and pitched him investments in multiple electric vehicle startups, including Faraday Future, Lucid Motors, and Canoo.

On the latest episode of the Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec and I talk to Sean about what he learned, and we discuss whether the Epstein revelations will lead to broader fallout in Silicon Valley.

You can read a preview of our conversation, edited for length and clarity, in the transcript below.

Sean: There are always people at the edges who don’t necessarily want to be front and center in the investment scene. And that was why I started looking through these files, in part because a long time ago, flashback 10 years ago on my beat especially, there was just a ton of Chinese investment in the space. 

This was before even the rush of EV startups in China that we see today […] In autonomous vehicles, but electric vehicles especially, there was this moment where Chinese investors and Chinese companies, state-owned automakers, all they wanted to do was to be looked at like Silicon Valley startups. So they came here and they invested in companies and helped get them off the ground, or in some cases even set up offices in Silicon Valley.

And it was in that environment that a lot of the companies that I’ve covered for a long time popped up. There was just never a full picture of how a lot of them were funded. 

One in particular, this company called Canoo, which is now bankrupt and out of business, had maybe the most mysterious set of investors of all of them. They really were not upfront about it when they first sort of came out of stealth in early 2018. And it frankly took until there was a lawsuit between some people who ran the company near the top that the investors were revealed. 

At the time, it was this businessman in China who was relatively close, the son-in-law of the former sort of like the fourth most senior CCP official under the previous leader of China and a giant electronics magnate from Taiwan. And then there was this really strange guy named David Stern, who was the third founding investor. And there was so little information about this guy.

I could tell, back then, that he was some sort of German businessman, that he had some connections to China, but it wasn’t really clear how he had gotten involved. The only thing I really remember hearing at the time was that he was close with Prince Andrew, which I just thought was very strange, this idea that someone had even told me a long time ago, probably in 2018 or 2019, that Prince Andrew was involved with this company Canoo in some way, maybe not invested, but advising or something.

It was something that stuck in my head for a very long time, clearly, because I went looking for that information as more of these files came out, assuming that proximity to Prince Andrew means proximity to someone like Epstein.

And that was the case here, more so than I could have imagined, because this guy Stern turned from an enigma or a ghost into someone who was present through all this dealmaking 10 years ago, where we see him pitching, in the span of about a year and a half, investments in Faraday Future, trying to convince Epstein to maybe throw a couple hundred million dollars into that company, trying to buy the 30% stake that Faraday Future’s founder had bought or acquired in Lucid Motors arrival at the time, which I feel is an overlooked dynamic [in] how those companies grew around then — and then also in Canoo.

Epstein never invested in any of those companies despite that proximity, but it was just such a revealing thing. And I get into it in the story that I wrote last week, but we get this sweep of a decade of relationship that Stern had with Epstein from approaching him initially in 2008, kind of hat in hand, and introducing himself and saying, “Hey, I want to invest in China. Will you throw in some money?” to being someone who was seemingly very close to him by the end. 

Kirsten: The whole thing is really interesting, and it goes back to my initial comments about how sometimes when you get a chance to look back at with new information at how deals were unfolding, it really just changes your perception and perspective of the time.

And for those who didn’t follow quote-unquote “mobility,” think of it as how we’re thinking about physical AI these days. Everyone was talking about it. Every automaker wanted to have a piece of quote-unquote “the future of transportation” or “mobility.” And so it makes a lot of sense that some of these more secretive types were also jumping in. 

Sean, one of the points you made to me as I was working on the story with you, in terms of editing it, you were [saying], it was very clear that Epstein and David Stern weren’t really about investing and building companies. It was all about how to make the most money the fastest. And that, I think, is really historically important and interesting and gives you a little bit of an insight into — in addition to all the horrible, horrifying, terrible things he did to human beings, [Epstein] was a complete operator as well, in order to make money as quickly as possible. And you see that in these emails and exchanges between David Stern and Epstein.

Sean: Yeah, to both of those points really, I open the story with a moment in time where Lucid Motors […] they had been basically a battery supplier for a long time and then they pivoted into the passenger vehicle startup that we know them as today, but they were really struggling to raise their Series D at the time, and they really needed that money to start production of their first electric sedan. 

They were struggling, behind the scenes in large part because the founder of Arrival quietly amassed this major stake and was kind of pushing people away and making it look like an uninvestable company in some ways, but the hype around all of that at the time was creating opportunities for people like Stern and Epstein, and we see them talk in these emails about, you know, Stern comes to Epstein and basically says, “I heard that they’re raising. Can you get information from Morgan Stanley?”

Epstein turns around and passes that information back, and then you see this discussion about, okay, well, Morgan Stanley says Ford — which was reported at the time — had kind of an investment offer, potential acquisition offer, on the table for Lucid Motors [and] was going to come in in that Series D. And they’re chopping up — do we invest in this and maybe get a big return down the road? Or is it something that we sell as Ford comes in a couple months later, if we can get this stake now at fire sale prices?

Ultimately, they didn’t go through with that, but Stern did eventually invest in Canoo and help get that company off the ground.

Anthony: One thing — maybe pulling back a little bit from the specific industries or investments — that’s also an important piece of context that generally gets mentioned in any of these stories about Epstein in Silicon Valley, but is worth repeating here, is that he [pleaded] guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.

Almost all the emails that we’re talking about with these stories [and] in pretty much any other story about Epstein in Silicon Valley comes after that. So it’s also partly a story about how people get comfortable with the idea that, okay, this guy has a pretty shady past already. He wasn’t the infamous criminal that he eventually [became], but there were things that were already known about him, and because he was a source of connections to power, to famous names, to money, a lot of people were just willing to look past that.

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

We are in the midst of one of my four favorite times of year — earnings season. And it’s not just that I like numbers. These required filings cut through a lot of the marketing noise presented by companies the rest of the year. They also help me assess the short- and long-term stakes the companies face.

Rivian’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings did precisely that. My takeaway: Software, and specifically its technology joint venture with Volkswagen Group, was the company’s savior in 2025. It will also buoy the company into 2026 (another $2 billion is expected from VW Group) as Rivian launches its most important product to date: the lower-cost R2 SUV. 

The company’s earnings also provided a progress report on its bid to lower the cost of goods sold per unit. The TL;DR is that the cogs per unit for its current portfolio is still high but dropping, meaning it’s losing less on each vehicle it sells. According to Rivian, the company’s automotive cogs per unit delivered was $100,900 in 2025, down from $110,400 in 2024. 

The upcoming R2, which is supposed to be considerably cheaper (both in production cost and price tag) than its flagship R1T truck and R1S SUV, will be the next big test. We’ll get some insight into the results of that later this year.

The R2 is expected to go into production in the first half of the year (we’re hearing June), and based on its guidance for 2026, Rivian is confident it has the demand and the ability to ramp production. The company expects to deliver between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles in 2026 — which could provide up to a 59% bump from last year. Rivian delivered 42,247 vehicles in 2025, which includes its two R1 consumer vehicles and the electric delivery van (EDV).

The market loved that guidance, btw. Rivian stock shot up 27% in the day after it reported earnings.

A little bird

Over the past 18 months, I’ve noticed a divergence in how Uber and Lyft are approaching AVs. Uber is locking up AV partnerships with every player it can. Lyft is trailing behind. Turns out, I am not alone in this observation. 

Insiders have shared their puzzlement about why Lyft hasn’t been more aggressive on this front. They noted that Lyft is sitting on about $1.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, and recently announced a new $1 billion share repurchase program that represents about 15% of its market cap, per CNBC. That has some wondering why Lyft did not invest in parts of the AV value chain like Uber is doing versus buying shares back.

Meanwhile, these little birds also pointed to a few top executives who have departed over the past year. Aurélien Nolf left his position as VP of financial planning and analysis and investor relations to become CFO of Navan. Audrey Liu, who was an executive VP and head of rider and community safety, is now at Adobe. Ameena Gill, who was VP of safety and customer care just took a job at rival Uber.

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com. 

Deals!

Close followers of the mobility-crazed years, between 2015 and 2019, might recall how many lidar companies popped up during that time. Many of the dominant and buzziest ones have since shuttered, while some of the smallest players have hung on and expanded. 

Take Ouster, for instance. I remember way back when Ouster had this tiny little booth in the jam-packed startups area (Eureka Park) at CES. Today, the company is much bigger — thanks to scale, its 2022 merger with rival Velodyne, and its acquisition of Sense Photonics in 2021. And it doesn’t appear to be finished. 

The company most recently acquired Stereolabs, a company that makes vision-based perception systems for robotics and industrial applications, for a combination of $35 million and 1.8 million shares.

As TechCrunch senior reporter Sean O’Kane notes in his article, the deal is the latest in a march toward consolidation among perception sensor suppliers. (Just last month, MicroVision bought the lidar assets of the buzzy-but-now-bankrupt Luminar for $33 million.)

So why all the activity? It’s complicated, as they say. From my POV, the frenzy around “physical AI” has reignited interest and investment in sensor technologies, particularly cameras.

Other deals that got my attention …

Ever, the EV-only marketplace, raised $31 million in a Series A funding round led by Eclipse. Other backers include Ibex Investors, Lifeline Ventures, and JIMCO — the investment arm of the Saudi Arabian Jameel family (an early investor in Rivian).

Natilus, the San Diego-based startup developing blended-wing aircraft, raised $28 million in a Series A funding round led by Draper Associates. Other investors include Type One Ventures, The Veteran Fund, and Flexport, as well as new backers New Vista Capital, Soma Capital, Liquid 2 VC, VU Venture Partners, and Wave FX.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Aurora shared in its Q4 and full-year earnings report that its self-driving trucks can now travel nonstop on a 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth and Phoenix — exceeding what a human driver can legally accomplish. The company shared a number of other tidbits, and financials, which you can read about here. 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into Fisker last year, TechCrunch was able to learn, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request. 

Lyft has launched teen accounts, a product that allows minors as young as 13 to hail a ride without an adult in 200 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and New York.

A fresh batch of videos gives us the best look at how Rivian has changed the rear door manual release on its upcoming R2 SUV. This seemingly minor design detail has life-or-death stakes and comes as the EV industry, and particularly Tesla, is getting pressure to change concealed, electronic door handles. 

The Trump administration officially repealed the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” which found that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane were a threat to human health and welfare. This change would only affect tailpipe emissions for cars and trucks — if the EPA makes it through the lengthy process of repealing the law, which will certainly include numerous lawsuits aimed at stopping it.

Uber has locked in a couple dozen AV partnerships, and we’re starting to see the results of those deals. China’s Baidu and Uber plan to launch robotaxis in Dubai in the next month, starting with select locations within the Jumeirah area. Meanwhile, Chinese robotaxi company WeRide and Uber announced a “major expansion of their strategic partnership” to deploy at least 1,200 robotaxis across the Middle East through 2027, according to the companies. As part of this, WeRide and Uber have launched a robotaxi service in downtown Abu Dhabi.

Waymo pulled the human safety driver from its autonomous test vehicles in Nashville as the Alphabet-owned company moves closer to launching a robotaxi service in the city. Meanwhile, this tech-forward company is wrestling with the analog problem of ensuring the doors of its robotaxis are properly shut. Its solution? Pay DoorDash gig workers to shut Waymo robotaxi doors. Waymo tells us this is a pilot program in Atlanta to enhance its AV fleet efficiency. 

One final Waymo item: The company is starting to roll out its sixth-generation “Waymo Driver,” which is integrated into the Zeekr RT (rebranded Ojai) and will eventually be in the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Waymo has started “fully autonomous operations” in the Ojai vehicle in San Francisco and Los Angeles and is giving access to employees. The public will have to wait for a bit.

One more thing …

Rivian has pitched its upcoming R2 SUV as a more affordable model. What does “more affordable” mean? The company has thrown around $45,000 and $50,000 as a base price. The company’s launch version of the R2, which will be a dual-mode and all-wheel-drive premium trim, will undoubtedly be more expensive. In our newsletter this week, we asked readers, “What’s your guess on the cost of the launch edition?”

Sign up for our newsletter to participate in our polls!

In the scramble for the interface, Glean is betting on something less visible: becoming the intelligence layer beneath it. 

Seven years ago, Glean set out to be the Google for enterprise — an AI-powered search tool designed to index and search across a company’s SaaS tool library, from Slack to Jira, Google Drive to Salesforce. Today, the company’s strategy has shifted from building a better enterprise chatbot to becoming the connective tissue between models and enterprise systems.

“The layer we built initially – a good search product – required us to deeply understand people and how they work and what their preferences are,” Jain told TechCrunch on last week’s episode of Equity, which we recorded at Web Summit Qatar. “All of that is now becoming foundational in terms of building high quality agents.”

He says that while large language models are powerful, they’re also generic. 

“The AI models themselves don’t really understand anything about your business,” Jain said. “They don’t know who the different people are, they don’t know what kind of work you do, what kind of products you build. So you have to connect the reasoning and generative power of the models with the context inside your company.”

Glean’s pitch is that it already maps that context and can sit between the model and the enterprise data. 

The Glean Assistant is often the entry point for customers — a familiar chat interface powered by a mix of leading proprietary (ie, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) and open-source models, grounded in the company’s internal data. But what keeps customers, Jain argues, is everything underneath it. 

First is model access. Rather than forcing companies to commit to a single LLM provider, Glean acts as the abstraction layer, allowing enterprises to switch between or combine models as capabilities evolve. That’s why Jain says he doesn’t see OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google as competition, but rather as partners. 

“Our product gets better because we’re able to leverage the innovation that they are making in the market,” Jain said. 

Second are the connectors. Glean integrates deeply with systems like Slack, Jira, Salesforce, and Google Drive to map how information flows across them and enable agents to act inside those tools. 

And third, and perhaps most important, is governance. 

“You need to build a permissions-aware governance layer and retrieval layer that is able to bring the right information, but knowing who’s asking that question so that it filters the information based on their access rights,” Jain said. 

In large organizations, that layer can be the difference between piloting AI solutions and deploying them at scale. Enterprises can’t simply load all their internal data into a model and create a wrapper to sort out the solutions later, says Jain. 

Also critical is ensuring the models don’t hallucinate. Jain says its system verifies model outputs against source documents, generates line-by-line citations, and ensures that responses respect existing access rights. 

The question is whether that middle layer survives as platform giants push deeper into the stack. Microsoft and Google already control much of the enterprise workflow surface area, and they’re hungry for more. If Copilot or Gemini can access the same internal systems with the same permissions, does a standalone intelligence layer still matter?

Jain argues enterprises don’t want to be locked into a single model or productivity suite and would rather opt for a neutral infrastructure layer rather than a vertically integrated assistant.

Investors have bought into that thesis. Glean raised a $150 million Series F in June 2025, nearly doubling its valuation to $7.2 billion. Unlike the frontier AI labs, Glean doesn’t need massive compute budgets.

“We have a very healthy, fast-growing business,” Jain said.