Tech
FAA orders SpaceX to investigate Starship V3 booster failure
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered SpaceX to investigate why its Starship booster failed during the company’s May 22 test flight, according to a statement released to TechCrunch on Wednesday.
This means SpaceX will have to pause any further Starship test launches until the investigation is completed and the results are submitted to the FAA for approval, diminishing the chance that another will occur before the company’s anticipated IPO in mid-June.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“After a thorough assessment of the operation, the FAA has determined the May 22 SpaceX Starship Flight 12 launch resulted in a mishap. The mishap involved the Super Heavy booster as it flew back to the Gulf of America after stage separation. There are no reports of public injury or damage to public property,” the FAA wrote. “The FAA will oversee the SpaceX-led investigation, be involved in every step of the process, and approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions. ”
The problem with the Starship booster occurred a few minutes into the flight, which was the first launch of SpaceX’s upgraded version of its super heavy rocket system. The first “V3” Starship made it through the point of maximum dynamic pressure and into space, where the booster was supposed to separate from the ship and return to the Gulf for a simulated landing in the water.
The booster did separate from the ship. But it immediately experienced an apparent engine failure — or a possible series of engine failures — when it tried to perform the sustained burn that is meant to propel the booster back toward SpaceX’s launch site in South Texas. This led to the booster tumbling down toward the Gulf before most likely exploding on impact.
SpaceX made a plethora of changes to how Starship works in this third version, with the intention of making the rocket far more reliable than it was in the previous 11 test flights. That included tweaks to the design of the booster, the inclusion of all-new third-generation Raptor engines, and upgrades to the Starship vehicle itself.
Starship experienced its own failure after the booster separated, as it lost one of its six raptor engines. This contributed to SpaceX abandoning one of its testing goals for the flight, which was to do another sustained burn in orbit with Starship.
SpaceX expects its rockets to fail in various ways during this development process, though the goal is to ultimately create a vehicle like the Falcon 9 that becomes not only reliable, but also reusable. Making reusable rockets is crucial to lowering the costs associated with sending heavy payloads to space. As it detailed in its IPO filing, SpaceX is thoroughly reliant on Starship becoming reliable and reusable in order to continue growing its Starlink service, which is by far the company’s biggest revenue generator and currently its only profitable business.
The FAA has ordered SpaceX to perform multiple mishap investigations during the development of Starship. The federal agency also ordered SpaceX rival Blue Origin to perform them as that company develops its own heavy-lift rocket, New Glenn.
Just last week, the FAA cleared New Glenn to fly again. Blue Origin is expected to perform the fourth New Glenn launch attempt in the next month or so.
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Tech
Glean’s top line crosses $300M as AI budget cutting becomes its major selling point
Glean, a company often described as the Google for enterprise, said it has reached $300 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), a three-fold increase from the $100 million milestone it reached just 15 months ago.
While many AI startups are growing at a blistering pace, Glean’s progress is particularly remarkable. After years of essentially being the only player in the category, the seven-year-old startup is accelerating its growth as tech giants enter the enterprise AI search market with rival products.
“The first four or five years of our existence, we had no competition,” Glean CEO Arvind Jain told TechCrunch. “Given how important search is to make AI work in the enterprise, every single company in the world wants to be in this space.”
Tech heavyweights building Glean-like tools include Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Salesforce, and Atlassian.
Jain maintains there’s value in being a first mover in the space, but that it’s also equally important to offer a better product.
What Glean does better than its competition, according to Jain, comes down to the deep understanding that its AI tools have of customers’ business needs. Glean’s AI achieves this knowledge — a concept captured by the new, popular term “context graph” — by connecting to and learning from enterprises’ internal software systems.
Jain claims that Glean’s context graph also helps enterprises cut AI computing costs.
“If you connect your AI to Glean, it gives you all the information that you need to do your work, and that results in AI consuming far fewer tokens compared to if you unleash AI onto your systems directly,” Jain said. That’s because with Glean, AI ends up performing fewer operations, he added.
At a time when many companies are blowing through their AI budgets, those token cost savings have become a major selling point for the company.
“One of the things you know our customers really like about Glean is the fact that we can reduce your AI bill significantly,” he said.
The company, which was last valued at $7.2 billion when it raised a $150 million Series F last June, offers various pricing structures to its customers, which include Databricks, Reddit, Pinterest, and Samsung.
According to Jain, Glean offers both a consumption-based model, where clients pay per use, and a hybrid model that combines a fixed monthly fee for active users with separate usage fees for model consumption.
Glean is definitely not the first company to do this, but it’s worth pointing out that the company’s $300 million milestone cannot be fully described as traditional ARR, because a consumption model by definition doesn’t have a strictly recurring component.
Pure consumption pricing models depend on fluctuating user activity rather than predictable subscription renewals, therefore a portion of Glean’s top line is more accurately described as an annualized revenue run rate.
Glean did not immediately respond to a request for comment; this post will be updated if the company replies.
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Tech
Final 24 hours to save up to $410 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket
This is it. The countdown is almost over. You now have until tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT to lock in Early Bird savings of up to $410 for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 before prices increase.
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Register now and join 10,000+ founders, investors, operators, and innovators at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 13–15 for three days packed with networking, startup discovery, and conversations shaping the future of tech. Bring a plus-one at 50%, or bring a group to get an up to 30% discount.
What makes Disrupt worth attending year after year
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Attendees come to Disrupt for:
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With 300+ exhibiting startups, Startup Battlefield 200, curated networking experiences, and multiple stages of programming, Disrupt is built to help attendees make meaningful connections and real business progress.
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Hear directly from tech leaders shaping the industry
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This year will deliver the same high-caliber experience, with 200+ sessions across six industry-focused stages, plus roundtables and breakouts covering scaling, AI, fintech, infrastructure, robotics, and emerging technologies. Explore the growing agenda to see the latest sessions and speaker announcements.
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Savings of up to $410 end tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT
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Tech
Today is the last day to apply to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 returns October 13–15 to Moscone West in San Francisco — and applications to speak are open for just a few more hours.
We’re inviting founders, investors, operators, and technology experts to apply for a chance to take the stage at one of the most influential tech events of the year.
More than 10,000 startup and VC leaders will gather at Disrupt 2026 to explore what’s next in AI, scaling, fintech, infrastructure, robotics, and the future of innovation.
Applications close tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now to share your expertise and help shape the conversations defining the tech industry.
Pick your session format
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