Tech
Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
One of the most promising introductions at Google’s I/O developer conference on Tuesday was a new way for consumers to use the web: AI agents. Unfortunately, it was also the most confusing.
Google took the wraps off information agents, a reinvention of the aging Google Alerts service, now infused with AI. These AI agents are designed to operate in the background, 24/7, helping users stay up to date on topics they’re interested in, like market trends, price tracking, or inclement weather warnings.
Then there is Google Spark, a “personal” AI agent that can help you navigate your digital life by integrating with Google products, like Gmail, Google Docs and Google Workspace. The company says the assistant can handle everyday tasks like surfacing themes from newsletters, organizing your home inventory and keeping track of what needs restocking, or helping you plan and manage a group trip with friends.
Or, as Google showed off in a very engineering-minded example, you could use it to organize a neighborhood block party — as if that would require any management beyond a group chat or some emails.
There’s also a name for how you track notifications from Spark: Android Halo. (Why an Android feature needs its own brand is beyond me, but a good guess is that Google’s internal product teams are fairly competitive and want to highlight their own work, even at the risk of confusing users.)
Next, Gemini’s app is getting an AI agent that can compile a personalized digest from your Gmail inbox, calendar, and tasks, and provide an update called Daily Brief.
Many of these products have not yet shipped, or at least won’t be available to the wider public right away. Instead, Google is targeting its heavier users for now: the “AI-pilled” subscribers of its new, only $100-per-month Gemini Ultra plan.
Google Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S. will get to use Information agents starting this summer, and Spark will be available to Ultra subscribers “soon.” Halo will ship to Android users “later this year.” Daily Brief is rolling out in the U.S. to Ultra, Pro, and Plus subscribers.
As a result of all these launches, we’ll soon have so many entry points for using AI agents that it may be overwhelming as to where to start. (Did I forget to mention the increasingly agentic Chrome web browser, too? Google showed off how you could talk to Chrome while shopping for cars online to configure the various options and trim levels you can afford without tapping on a keyboard and clicking around. Yay…I guess?)
In a press briefing ahead of I/O, Google said it intends to bring its agentic features, including Spark, to free users “when the time is right.” But for the time being, the company’s more interested in iterating with a group of people, like the Ultra subscribers, who will push the limits of what Spark and AI agents can do.
In the meantime, Google is furthering the divide between those who have already bought into (literally!) the promise of AI, and the average consumer using Google’s free tools, who’s likely distanced from the real-world improvements AI offers, like agentic coding or AI-enabled computer use.
Instead, consumers today largely think of AI as chatbots replacing traditional Google searches. They think of AI photo and video models not as impressive creative leaps, but as tools for making “AI slop” that now clutters their social feeds, and result in unwanted data centers being built in their backyards.
Google didn’t help its reputation on this front during the event, flashing goofy AI imagery between each presenter. It also played a corny AI-generated animation featuring Cinnamon Toast Crunch-esque talking Tensor chips. And in its Android glasses demo, Google showed how the devices — which will later support photo-taking — could use AI to transform photos users take into something else.
This demo involved the presenter taking a picture of their view of the audience, which was modified to have a blimp floating overhead, and then sent to their Android Watch. Okay, neat, but is it worth someone’s home being torn down via eminent domain to build new power lines for a data center?
People will need more than clever party tricks to accept such drastic societal changes.
In previous years, Google introduced new consumer electronics devices, like Pixel phones and Nest Hubs, alongside new Android features, like that restaurant-and-salon booking service that blew people away in 2018. Those pieces of technology were framed as attempts to smooth over some of life’s everyday hassles.
Now, the tech giant is showcasing its new models (but not Gemini Pro 3.5, which wasn’t ready yet) alongside its developer platforms, and largely forgetting about who it’s building all this for: Regular folks. People who don’t want to think about whether it’s called Gemini or Spark or Halo or information agents, or where you go to use it.
These people have real problems they want to solve. They struggle to pay bills and rent, or buy gas or groceries, as they try to find work in the face of AI recruiting systems that reject their resumes over small technical details. They are people who are trying to balance stressful lives that have, of late, come to bear technology’s advances as burdens, especially with social media devouring screen time, addicting children, and turning social connection tools into a big, online shopping mall.
Instead of tools to solve problems, the average tech-savvy consumer watching this year’s Google I/O saw a tech giant putting more AI into everything they use — from Docs and email inboxes to glasses and even Search, which is now more of an AI-first experience.
If Google had tapped real consumer sentiment, it could have noted that AI agents would lower screen time usage. That is, instead of spending time researching, organizing, tracking, and monitoring information and news, agents could take over those daily tasks so users could go offline and live their real lives away from a computer.
That’s a message that could resonate with consumers, particularly young people, who are today embracing nostalgic retro tech, adopting “old people” hobbies and crafts to de-stress, and rediscovering the power of real-life connections by ditching dating apps for in-person events and experiences.
In short, Google failed to sell just how cool AI agents are by not demonstrating any problems agents solve for everyday users, and keeping these tools paywalled, limiting their reach.
Meanwhile, messaging-first AI startups like Poke, Poppy, RPLY, and Wingman are presenting themselves as a way to interact more naturally with AI agents via a feature everyone uses daily: text messaging.
Will you ever be able to message Spark? Reps at Google I/O vaguely said it will happen at some point in the future.
This is such a different strategy from Google’s early days, when it introduced revolutionary products like Gmail, a free email service that vastly improved on existing options, or Google Search itself, which freely organized the early web and made it more accessible to everyone.
Google I/O could have been a breakout moment when AI agents became available to everyone via a simple, free consumer product (with one brand name!). This product may even have people clamoring for the way they used to beg for Gmail invites. Instead, Google’s new AI agents — tools that can work for us and meet our personalized needs — remain largely out of reach for most.
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Tech
Imperagen raises £5 million to use quantum physics, AI on enzyme engineering
Biotech company Imperagen announced on Thursday a £5 million ($6.7 million) seed round led by PXN Ventures, with participation from IQ Capital and Northern Gritstone. The company was founded in 2021 by Manchester Institute of Biotechnology scientists Dr. Andrew Currin, Dr. Tim Eyes, and Dr. Andy Almond and spun out of the university.
The startup seeks to improve enzyme engineering by making it faster, more efficient, and less costly than the slower, more physical, trial-and-error-focused process used now.
Imperagen is using three core technologies as it seeks to redefine enzyme engineering. Specifically, it uses a quantum physics-based simulation instead of trial-and-error enzyme mutations in a lab. Imperagen predicts the behavior of enzyme variants on a computer using advanced quantum physics modeling that can explore millions of mutations, the company said. Then it translates this information into its custom AI models, trained on the enzyme problems Imperagen seeks to explore. Finally, to retain its AI models, Imperagen uses robots and automation to generate experimental data, which is fed back to the AI model, in a process called closed-loop simulation.
Enzymes are incredibly important across many industries, especially in pharmaceuticals, as they are essential to drug development. Startups like Imperagen are hoping to speed up enzyme engineering because it can have a domino effect, making, for example, drug discovery faster and more efficient. Enzymes are also used in sectors like food, biofuels, and agriculture. Experts in sustainability are also looking to enzymes — and the AI technologies surrounding them — to make industrial production and manufacturing more sustainable.
Others in this space include Biomatter, Cradle Bio, and Absci.
On Thursday, Imperagen also announced that Guy Levy-Yurista will assume the role of CEO. Speaking to TechCrunch, he said that right now, the process of enzyme engineering is falling short, where even many new AI-powered technologies can pass trial and error but fail when put into practice on an industrial scale.
Imperagen hopes its tech will make enzyme development “faster, more reliable, and more commercially accessible, helping companies bring better bio-based products to market without the long timelines and uncertainty that have traditionally held the field back,” he told TechCrunch.
Levy-Yurista has a background in AI, life sciences, and enterprise technology. Though the founders will remain at the company, Levy-Yurista was brought in to help build out its new technologies, including a vertical AI infrastructure for biocatalysis (a process that accelerates chemical reactions using natural catalysts like enzymes), while scaling the startup’s AI strategy, commercial models, and industrial partnerships.
The company has raised £8.5 million ($11.42 million) in funding to date and the fresh capital will be used to hire more AI specialists, put toward research and development, expand its experimental lab capabilities, and build a go-to-market function within the next two years.
“Ultimately, Imperagen hopes wider use of engineered enzymes will help industries reliably produce products that are cleaner, safer and better for people and the planet, while also making commercial sense for the companies that adopt them,” Levy-Yurista said.
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Tech
General Catalyst just led a $63M bet on India’s travel payments market
Scapia, an Indian startup that combines travel booking with co-branded credit cards and mobile payments, has raised $63 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst, with existing investors Peak XV Partners and Z47 also participating. The deal comes despite a broader slowdown in fintech dealmaking.
The all-equity round assigns the startup a post-money valuation of more than $500 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, more than doubling its valuation from around $200 million in April 2025. The four-year-old outfit has raised $126 million to date from investors.
That General Catalyst, one of the most prominent U.S. venture firms, is leading the round suggests that India’s travel-focused fintech market is drawing serious attention well beyond its home region.
The funding also comes as investors globally grow more selective in fintech bets after years of aggressive funding. In India, fintech funding remained largely flat in Q1 2026, while the number of deals fell by more than half from a year earlier as investors concentrated capital into fewer, larger deals, per a recent report by Tracxn. By contrast, the U.S. saw fintech funding grow sharply, driven by large rounds for a handful of companies in areas including AI and crypto infrastructure.
Investors are betting Scapia can benefit from growing demand among younger Indians for apps that combine payments and travel bookings. Founded in 2022 by former Flipkart executive Anil Goteti, the startup’s app combines co-branded credit cards, UPI-based payments, travel bookings, and commerce in one place. UPI — India’s government-backed real-time payments network and one of the most widely used digital payment systems in the world — is central to how younger Indians move money today.
Over the past year, Scapia said flight bookings on its platform grew nearly six times, while hotel bookings increased about eightfold, with smaller Indian cities driving a growing share of demand. Customer growth also rose sevenfold during the same period, the startup said, without disclosing absolute figures.
Scapia has seen strong adoption among younger travelers who increasingly want flexible travel rewards and integrated payment options instead of traditional credit card perks, Goteti said in an interview. He added that one-third of users now prefer airport dining and shopping rewards over lounge access.
“Lounges are getting quite crowded,” Goteti told TechCrunch. “People actually are looking for an experience outside the lounge.”
Scapia also offers a dual-network co-branded credit card using both Visa and RuPay — a government-backed Indian payment network — allowing users to access card payments and UPI-linked credit through a single statement, credit line, and repayment flow. Moreover, the startup partners with Federal Bank and BOBCARD to offer co-branded cards and plans to add another banking partner in the coming months, Goteti said.
The Bengaluru-based startup operates in a growing market for travel-focused financial products in India, competing with companies like Niyo — another Indian startup that combines banking and travel features — and travel platform Ixigo, while global fintech firms including Revolut are also eyeing the country.
Scapia, which has about 250 employees, said the fresh funding will go toward expanding its product offerings and hiring more AI-focused engineering and product talent as competition intensifies in India’s consumer fintech market.
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Tech
Truecaller gets into the eSIM business to diversify its revenue streams
Caller ID company Truecaller launched eSIM services for travelers. The launch comes as the company aims to bolster its balance sheet and diversify business amid dipping ad revenues.
The company said its plans will range from 1 GB over 7 days to 20 GB over 30 days. Initially, the launch will make the eSIM product available in 29 countries.
The list includes Italy, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria.
Notably, the company’s biggest market, India, is missing from the list. This is likely due to the country’s strict telecom regulations. Previously, the country blocked Airalo and Holafly over concerns around fraudulent use.
Truecaller said it is working with global cellular connectivity provider Telna and telecom software provider Telness Tech to operate the eSIM platform.
Where there are other eSIM providers like Airalo, Holafly, Roamless, and NordVPN’s Saily, Truecaller thinks that its existing user base of over 500 million will prove beneficial for acquiring new users.
“The starting point is different from other players in the category. They have had to build their audiences from zero. We are offering travel eSIM inside our app that over 500 million people already use and trust every month,” Truecaller chief operating officer Fredrik Kjell told TechCrunch over email.
“These are established relationships, with a large number of people having used Truecaller for many years. That changes distribution and pricing,” said Kjell.
Kjell also said that this is a strategic move for Truecaller that makes the app more usable for users. This comes at a critical time for the company. Last week, the company slashed 70 jobs across many teams. Plus, it posted disappointing Q1 2026 numbers. Truecaller’s net sales dropped 27% to 362 million SEK ($39.34 million), and ad revenues declined by 44%.
The company is leaning into increasing subscription revenues with features like AI Assistant and Family Protection. During times when ad revenue is shaky, additional services like eSIM could provide newer money-making avenues.
As TechCrunch reported last year, eSIM adoption is on the rise thanks to travel and device compatibility. Investors are also interested in putting money into eSIM startups. Within the last 12 months, startups like Airalo, Roamless, Kolet, eSIMo, and Truley raised millions of dollars.
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