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Unified Conversions Solutions for iGamin

Posted on September 7, 2026 by faz_business

A unified conversion reporting platform is a system that combines advertising with CRM and website-event data. Marketers extract the data and identify which campaigns generate an ROI worth continuing with. The goal is revenue rather than clicks or leads. Specifically, conversion solutions should excel at:

Server-side tracking
Multi-touch attribution
Data normalization
Connecting marketing activity with commercial outcomes

Those principles are essential to iGaming, where driving customer engagement and having a 360-degree view of players is more than simply seeing how many people signed up and deposited money today.

Read on for a comprehensive guide covering unified conversion solutions for iGaming and the conversion and attribution reporting platforms that turn the data into actions.

What Are Unified Conversion Solutions for iGaming?

Essentially, a unified conversion solution is a measurement and reporting system that connects player acquisition data with actions and financial outcomes generated after acquisition. The goal for iGaming companies is that player acquisition actually works, and that the ROI from player acquisition actually stays in positive numbers.

What’s slightly different for iGaming companies is that the data doesn’t necessarily look at app installs and online registrations. The solutions create a consistent view of the entire player journey. That journey could be from paid social media advertising or a search campaign to the native app before a player registers and eventually deposits and places a wager.

The principal objective is to determine which channel, affiliate, campaign, creative, and audience produced verified players who deposited, wagered, returned, and ultimately generated sustainable gambling yield.

The Best Unified Conversion and Attribution Reporting Platforms for iGaming Companies

An iGaming conversion funnel normally contains several separate and specific events. Below are the top three unified conversion and attribution reporting platforms that map and track the iGaming conversion funnel better than others on the market.

AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer is the closest broad independent measurement layer with the capability to connect acquisition, app activity, web behaviour, cost and revenue data. The current Measurement Suite is specifically positioned around unifying:

Attribution
Incrementality
Revenue
Optimization signals across mobile, web, connected TV, PC and console

For iGaming operators, AppsFlyer can help attribute app installs, re-engagements, and in-app events to media sources and campaigns to see which are driving the most ROI. The event structure can be configured around operator-specific milestones such as:

Account registration
KYC initiation and approval
First deposit
Qualifying first deposit
First wager
Repeat deposit
Casino or sportsbook activity
Reactivation
Revenue or value events

For cross-platform measurement, the platform really excels. In 2026, the platform expanded its cross-platform capabilities through its Web Attribution product. The product connects website visits and web events to marketing sources, providing raw data for BI teams and displaying web data in cross-platform reporting.

AppsFlyer is also testing user-based cross-platform attribution, a model that uses a persistent Customer User ID to link events across platforms and avoids treating each device as an entirely separate player. For an iGaming operator, that could help connect a desktop registration, mobile-app installation, and subsequent app deposit to one player journey.

Protect360, the platform’s fraud protection feature, combines real-time blocking with post-attribution fraud detection. It can detect fake installs, bots, click and install fraud, and suspicious in-app events at device, publisher, and media-source level. For iGaming operators struggling with false registrations or manipulated attribution, it’s the perfect feature.

AppsFlyer is strongest for app-led or omnichannel operators that need an independent acquisition-measurement layer across mobile and web.

Optimove

Optimove is more of a player-data, CRM, and lifecycle marketing platform. It isn’t a direct replacement for a mobile measurement partner.

For iGaming, the solution takes historical player information and real-time web and app activity to provide data for campaign engagement, gameplay, and predictive analytics. It’s perfect for a single player view used for segmentation, campaign orchestration, and personalized experiences.

Optimove’s identity-resolution approach is relevant to fragmented iGaming journeys. It’s designed to link identifiers, devices, transactions, wagers, behaviour, and consent data into one player profile.

Operators can take that data to recognize that an anonymous mobile-web visitor, later desktop registrant, and logged-in app player are the same person. That unified profile supports constantly updated segments based on lifecycle stage, engagement, wagering behaviour and predicted value.

We will say that Optimove is strongest after the player has entered the operator’s known-player environment. Operators can use behavioral triggers and journey orchestration to:

Optimove also supports multi-touch campaign measurement through its Streams functionality. It doesn’t attribute all credit to the final CRM message, but the model examines how different campaigns within a player journey contribute to the final outcome.

Optimove is good for known-player marketing, retention, reactivation, and cross-sell and CRM incrementality, but we will say that its limitation is that it’s not an independent paid-media or app-install attribution platform. It’s better for after acquisition.

Affilka

Affilka is the most directly linked iGaming-specific platform of the three, but the issue is that its scope is limited to affiliate management. It’s specifically designed for online casino and sports-betting affiliate programs, providing tools for managing partners, referral campaigns, player activity, commissions, payments, and reporting.

Affilka tracks players referred through affiliate links and associates subsequent actions with the appropriate partner and campaign. Operators can then calculate payments based on the agreed commercial model.

Affilka also supports CPA, revenue-share and hybrid commission arrangements. These structures can be based on FTDs, NGR, deposit values, wagering and other player-performance criteria. Essentially, it directly calculates how much an operator owes its partners.

Affilka’s integration model allows operators to send registrations and player activities from their iGaming systems through APIs. Its Reports API makes statistics available to operators and partners without depending solely on the platform interface or periodic CSV exports. Reports can also be supplied in formats including CSV, JSON, and XML.

Affilka is best for iGaming operators whose acquisition strategy depends heavily on affiliates and who need transparent tracking, flexible commission rules, partner payments and detailed player reporting.

AppsFlyer is the best overall, providing more of an in-depth exploration into player acquisition and lifetime value across platforms. Unified conversion solutions for iGaming platforms should provide a reward journey that makes sense for every player and platform, with the overall goal to improve player experiences.

Google Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 9: Two generations later, is it finally time to upgrade?

Posted on September 6, 2026 by faz_business

Official Google Pixel 11 render

Pros

Android 17 with 7 years of updates
Higher base storage
Tensor G6 is more efficient
Pixelsnap support opens up compatibility with an insurmountable number of accessories
Improved triple camera setup with better zoom
Bigger battery with faster charging speeds

Cons

Costs $100 more and misses out on HiLight
Cameras not too different from Pixel 10
Display isn’t an LTPO OLED (60-120Hz)
Wi-Fi 6E

Google Pixel 9 official render front and back - Peony

Pros

Half the price of the Pixel 11
Also promises 7 years of updates
Shares many of the Pixel 11’s best features like Pixelsnap, IP68 water and dust-proofing, and many overlapping AI features
Dual cameras do a fantastic job
Wi-Fi 7

Cons

The Tensor G4 chipset is quite old
Lower base storage
Slow battery and charging specs
Display isn’t as bright as Pixel 11
Lacks magnetic Qi2, or Pixelsnap as Google calls it

The Pixel 11 brings several upgrades over the Pixel 9, but in a strange turn of events, it also brings quite a few downgrades. One thing is for sure, though: the latest Google Tensor G6 chipset is the clear winner in terms of performance and raw power.

Most importantly, if you were to step into the store to buy both phones right now, the Pixel 9 would only cost you about $549, whereas the Pixel 11 starts at $899. The price gap is significant, leading us to question which phone is better. Two generations later, and it’s still unclear to Pixel 9 owners whether the Pixel 11 is worth upgrading to. I’m here to unearth the answer to this question.

Google Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 9: By the numbers

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Google Pixel 11 family specs
Category	Google Pixel 11	Google Pixel 9
Storage	256GB, 512GB	128GB, 256GB
RAM	12GB	12GB
Display	6.3-inch 120Hz LTPO AMOLED, 3000 nits peak, Gorilla Glass Victus 2	6.3-inch 120Hz LTPO AMOLED, 2700 nits peak, Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Processor	Google Tensor G6	Google Tensor G4
Rear Cameras	48MP wide 13MP ultrawide 10.8MP 5x telephoto	50MP wide 48MP ultrawide
Selfie camera	10.5MP	10.5MP
Battery	4,985mAh, 30W wired, 25W wireless (Qi2)	4,700mAh, 27W wired, 15W/12W wireless (Pixel Stand/Qi)
Connectivity	5G, Bluetooth 6, Wi-Fi 6E, eSIM-only (US)	5G, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 7, nano+eSIM,
Dimensions & weight	152.8 x 72 x 8.6mm 197g	152.8 x 72 x 8.5mm 198g
Colors	Frost, Pistachio, Hibiscus, Obsidian	Obsidian, Porcelain, Winter

Google Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 9: Cold hard specs

The Pixel 9 — (Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)

Looks-wise, the Google Pixel 11 and Pixel 9 are very similar, but the former’s brighter colorways and all-glass camera bar stand out distinctly. Apart from that, both Google Pixel phones are the same size, each with a 6.3-inch HDR10+ OLED display. Neither Pixel has an LTPO panel, so the variable refresh rate can’t drop below 60Hz.

Google Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 9: Software and AI

The Peony pink Google Pixel 9 next to some flowers — (Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

It is well known that, eventually, software and AI features from new Pixel phones trickle down to older models. However, this also depends on whether the phone’s chipset supports those features.

Given the wide gap in raw power between the Tensor G4 and Tensor G6 chips, many of the Pixel 11’s best features may not be available on the Pixel 9. Gemini‘s features rely on the G6’s advanced architecture, so features like Rambler voice-to-text, Magic Capture, Sign Language-to-text translation, and automation via Gemini Intelligence are likely to remain exclusive to the Pixel 11. Some might come to the Pixel 10 eventually, but it is highly unlikely that the Pixel 9 will also get those features.

Both Pixels run Android 17 and are guaranteed seven years of OS and security updates. The Pixel 9 started out with Android 14, so naturally, it has fewer updates to go compared to the Pixel 11.

Google Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 9: Cameras

The back of the olive Google Pixel 11 — (Image credit: Shruti Shekar / Android Central)

The Pixel 11 has a triple-camera setup, with all-new lenses compared to the Pixel 9’s dual-camera setup. Pixel 11 users enjoy a 48MP primary camera, a 13MP ultra-wide camera, and a 5x telephoto sensor, with up to 30x zoom. New camera features on the device include Magic Capture, Camera Looks, Camera Coach, and Creator Suite.

Next to that, the Pixel 9’s 50MP wide and 48MP ultra-wide cameras and glaring lack of any telephoto lens look pointedly plain. Although a few Pixel 10 camera features, like Camera Coach, made their way to the Pixel 9, they are a far cry from the photography and videography tools and capabilities of the Pixel 11.

Google Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 9: So should you upgrade?

Testing the battery life of Google Pixel 9, Google Pixel 9 Pro, and Google Pixel 10 Pro — (Image credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Android Central)

The Pixel 11 offers Pixelsnap, vastly improved performance, better cameras, more base storage, better AI features, superior battery and charging specs, and solid triple cameras.

The Pixel 9, on the other hand, still has many years of software updates, and it performs well enough, with solid photography and ingress protection. It is slow by comparison and has poorer battery life and charging performance.

Whether you are a Google Pixel 9 owner or considering saving money by buying an older phone, the Pixel 11 is clearly a much better deal overall. You’ll get Android 17 and the same seven-year update promise. The extra money you spend will get you a vastly more efficient processor, newer hardware, and more base storage.

If you are intent on staying in the $500 range, I suggest waiting for the Pixel 10 Pro to go on sale instead of purchasing the Pixel 9.

XDOF, just three months out of stealth, is in talks for a Series B at a $1.2B valuation

Posted on September 5, 2026 by faz_business

Less than three months after emerging from stealth, XDOF, a startup that collects real-world teleoperation data for training general-purpose robots, is in late-stage talks to raise a Series B at a valuation of about $1.2 billion valuation led by 8VC, several people with knowledge of the deal said.

XDOF was co-founded by UC Berkeley researchers Philipp Wu (CEO) and Fred Shentu (CTO) in 2024. TechCrunch reported on the startup’s $70 million Series A in June, with participation from Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Lux, and Spark Capital. XDOF wasn’t planning to raise again so soon after that round. But the company’s rapid growth — with annualized revenue approaching $50 million — prompted VCs to approach it about a new round, the people said.

TechCrunch was unable to learn the total capital being raised or whether the valuation includes the new funding. The terms of the deal are not final and could still change.

XDOF and 8VC didn’t respond to our request for comment.

The startup aims to build the data pipelines, collection tools, and annotation systems that frontier AI labs and robotics companies can’t easily build themselves, essentially acting as an outsourced data-supply chain for the robotics industry.

As a PhD student, Wu was studying how robots learn from large datasets. One big impediment to his research was the lack of “large-scale data to work with,” he told TechCrunch in June.

So he teamed up with Shentu on a project called GELLO, a low-cost teleoperation system that allows a human operator to control a robotic arm remotely in order to generate training data. Their work led to an influential paper in robotics.

That research formed the foundation for XDOF, which investors now describe as the Scale AI or Mercor for physical robotics, a reference to the data-labeling giants that helped fuel the AI boom. Unlike LLMs, which initially trained on the entirety of the internet, physical robots don’t have an equivalent real-world dataset to draw from, making data collection a critical bottleneck to building general-purpose machines.

XDOF is partnering with UC Berkeley’s AI Research lab to release what it believes is the largest collection of high-quality robot training data ever assembled, dubbed ABC.

To capture this data, XDOF combines remote robot teleoperation with human collectors who wear sensors to record everyday tasks like folding clothes and flattening boxes.

The startup plans to hire and train teams of data collectors worldwide, including teleoperators who steer robots remotely and egocentric operators who wear body sensors to capture movement data.

XDOF previously told TechCrunch that it is already working with 20 customers, including several frontier AI labs.

Other startups attempting to collect real-world data for robot training include Mecka AI, as well as human-data platforms expanding beyond LLMs, such as Scale AI and Micro1.

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Digital Security Basics Every New Founder Should Know: From Accounts to Devices

Posted on September 5, 2026 by faz_business

Most founders spend their first few weeks on business registration, branding, and getting a website up. Security doesn’t cross their minds until something breaks. But one compromised email or leaked customer file can undo months of progress. The five things covered here don’t need technical know-how and you can knock them all out in a single afternoon.

Start With Passwords (And Actually Use a Manager)

You’ve heard it before: don’t reuse passwords. But when you’re creating a dozen accounts in your first week, it’s easy to fall back on the same one you’ve had since uni.

A password manager fixes this. Tools like Bitwarden or 1Password will generate long, random passwords for every account and keep them behind one master passphrase. Set it up on day one and add each new account as you go. That one habit alone will block the most common way attackers get in.

Turn On Two-Factor Authentication Everywhere

Passwords on their own aren’t enough. Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds a second check at login, typically a short code from an app on your phone. So even if someone gets your password, they still can’t access your account without that code.

Start with your email, then your bank, payment processor, and anywhere you store customer data. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) lists multi-factor authentication as one of the top actions a small business can take. Most services support it now, and it’ll take about two minutes per account to switch on.

Lock Down Your Email

Your business email is the key to pretty much everything else. Password resets, invoices, contracts, customer conversations. If someone gets into your inbox, they can reset passwords on your other accounts, intercept payments, or pretend to be you when emailing clients.

On top of 2FA (which you should already have turned on by now), be careful with links and attachments, even from people you know. Set up email filtering if your provider offers it. And if you’re still running things through a free personal email address, consider switching to a provider with custom domains and better spam protection. You’ll look more professional and have better control over security.

Choose the Right Place to Store Your Files

This is where a lot of new founders trip up. They’ll save contracts, financial records, and customer details in whatever cloud folder came with their email, without thinking about how that data is actually protected. Most consumer cloud storage providers can technically access your files because they hold the encryption keys. That’s fine for photos, but not when you’re storing business documents.

End-to-end encrypted online storage keeps your files locked so only you can decrypt them. The provider can’t read what you’ve uploaded. Several privacy-focused providers offer free tiers with enough space for the early months.

Encrypt Your Devices

If your laptop gets nicked from a coffee shop or your phone falls out of your pocket on the bus, encryption is what stops someone from reading your files. Without it, anyone with physical access to your device can pull data straight off the hard drive.

Windows has BitLocker and Mac has FileVault, both built in and both can be turned on in your settings in under five minutes. Do the same for your phone. Modern iPhones and Android devices encrypt by default when you set a passcode, but double-check that it’s active. It costs nothing and could save you if things go wrong.

What Comes After the Basics

These five steps won’t make your business bulletproof, but they’ll put you ahead of most early-stage founders. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported over $16 billion in total cybercrime losses in 2024, with small businesses disproportionately targeted because attackers know their defences tend to be weaker.

Once you’ve covered passwords, 2FA, email security, device encryption, and secure file storage, you’ll have a solid baseline to build on as your business grows. Block out a couple of hours this week and get it done.

Unbelievable: Amazon’s Labor Day sale is slashing 44% OFF the year’s best LG OLED TV

Posted on September 4, 2026 by faz_business

I’ll be honest, I don’t cover smart TV deals very often, but occasionally an OLED TV discount comes along that’s simply too good not to mention. Case in point: Amazon’s Labor Day sale is currently carving 44% off the 65-inch C6 Series OLED TV by LG, which is widely considered to be one of the best OLED TVs on the market today.

That’s a record-smashing discount on a smart TV that our sister site TechRadar called ‘the best TV for most people’ in 2026. In fact, the only issue that I’ve had with the LG C6 is its price, so this Labor Day deal is a welcome sight. Amazon will even deliver and unpack the set in the room of your choice at no additional cost. And you don’t even need to be a Prime member to enjoy the savings.

The C6 is powered by LG’s very own Alpha a11 Gen 3 AI processor, which means all of your favorite content is intelligently upscaled in real time. The smart TV boasts truly spectacular picture beyond optimization, as well, utilizing over 8 million pixels to deliver deeply immersive colors with rich blacks and lifelike details.

You also get features like Filmmaker mode, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos, while gamers will appreciate optimized specs like NVIDIA G-Sync, a 165Hz refresh rate, and an impressive 0.1ms response time. You even get four HDMI 2.1 ports for all of your consoles and streaming devices!

Is the 65-inch model too big or too small for your space? Amazon is also dropping discounts on the entire C6 TV lineup, so you can take your pick. That being said, going with the 65-inch C6 OLED (or larger) will get you the best value. If you’re looking for something smaller, I’d probably wait until Amazon’s big October Prime Day sale, which will likely occur sometime in October.

42 inches: ~~$1,399.99~~ $1,099.99 at Amazon ❌ Wait for a better deal
48 inches: ~~$1,299.99~~ $1,199.99 at Amazon ❌ Wait for a better deal
55 inches: ~~$1,499.99~~ $1,299.99 at Amazon ❌ Wait for a better deal
77 inches: ~~$3,699.99~~ $2,499.99 at Amazon ✅ Buy it now!
83 inches: ~~$5,299.99~~ $3,999.99 at Amazon ✅ Buy it now!

ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok all went down at once; enterprises need a backup plan

Posted on September 4, 2026 by faz_business

Enterprises are facing a disturbing new question in the age of AI: What happens when agentic assistants go dark?

This became a very real scenario on Thursday, as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and SpaceXAI’s Grok near-simultaneously, and somewhat mysteriously, experienced significant, prolonged outages.

Beginning in the morning, Eastern time, several ChatGPT models went down over a roughly two hour period, Claude models over a four-hour span, and Grok models for a near three-and-a-half hour duration. All three companies acknowledged the “elevated” issues and applied fixes.

As users grumbled in forums and IT teams scrambled to get them back online, the incident revealed how hastily some organizations have adopted generative AI workflows without considering the potential, and inevitable, impact of widespread outages.

AI agents are increasingly taking over automated and wider-scale workflows, and enterprises could find themselves “uncomfortably exposed” when AI hits the brakes, said technology analyst and journalist Carmi Levy. The situation should “serve as a wakeup call to IT leaders who have largely ignored what it’ll cost them if these increasingly critical platforms suddenly go dark. The risk is no longer hypothetical.”

Hours-long outages impact core services

ChatGPT went down on the same day as OpenAI’s anticipated launch of GPT-6 Astra, the new frontier model that the company says approximates artificial general intelligence (AGI) and gets nearer to its goal of creating autonomous systems that outperform humans.

The OpenAI outage occurred around 11 a.m. ET on Thursday and impacted a slew of services, including search, file uploads, agents, GPTs, voice mode, image generation, ChatGPT work, Compliance API, Deep Research, ChatGPT Atlas, and other connectors and apps. In some cases, users were prevented from logging in, conversations failed to load, and the interface returned errors when attempting to send messages. OpenAI’s Codex services, including web, API, command line interface (CLI), and VS code extension, were also impacted.

OpenAI fixed the issue by 12:55 p.m. ET, and advised Codex remote control users to re-pair their mobile devices.

Claude began to go dark around 7:37 a.m. ET, with Anthropic acknowledging an “exhaustive list” of impacted models with elevated errors over the next few hours: Mythos and Fable 5.1 and 5, Sonnet 5, and Opus 5, 4.8, and 4.6.

The issue was resolved by 11:27 a.m. ET. The incident followed a roughly 27-minute outage just the day before, also due to elevated errors on requests in Sonnet 5.

Grok, meanwhile, began experiencing issues around 9:30 a.m. ET. Grok Web, Build, API, Office/Workspace plugins, Android, and X were all impacted. The services returned to “healthy” traffic at 1:08 p.m. ET.

“It’s a curious scenario for multiple different providers to experience outages at the same time,” noted Brian Jackson, a principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group. It could be related to a common infrastructure such as a content delivery network (CDN) layer, domain name system (DNS), or shared cloud infrastructure, he theorized.

A case for outage planning

Just a few months ago, the extent of AI use within the typical enterprise was limited to employees using chatbots to get answers to basic questions or to draft simple email messages, Levy noted. Large-scale AI platform outages, when they occurred, had relatively little impact on overall organizational productivity. “But things are changing, and quickly,” he said.

Organizations must now have a better understanding of the impact agentic AI has on day-to-day workflows, and the degree to which they disrupt employees’ ability to complete complex tasks once they’ve handed the reins over to automated, cloud-based tools, Levy noted.

In incidents like Thursday’s, employees may fall back on traditional manual workflows, such as updating spreadsheets or pulling reports together the old-fashioned way. But they might also realize that, after relying on AI agents to do so much work on their behalf, they’ve become too dependent on automation, and their “cognitive skills may not be as sharp as they once were,” Levy said.

The growing prevalence of agentic AI should prompt organizations to revisit their disaster recovery and business continuity plans and assess the productivity impact of potential service outages, he said. While cloud-based productivity platforms like Google Workplace and Microsoft 365 offer limited degrees of “offline mode” functionality using locally-stored data, and documents can be synchronized to hard drives in Dropbox or Google Docs for Desktop, agentic AI platforms offer up fewer offline workarounds, at least in their current form.

Organizations should document workflows in greater detail and scenario-plan what near-term recovery might look like in the event of an extended AI platform outage, Levy said. They also need better training to ensure employees maintain their manual skills over time and are equipped to press them into service in the event of a service outage, because the more enterprises lean on agents to complete critical tasks, “and pull humans out of the loop in the interest of productivity,” the less able employees will be to step back in during inevitable service interruptions, he pointed out.

“It is entirely possible for otherwise well-meaning organizations to be over-reliant on AI automation,” Levy said. “Too many organizations are about to learn some hard lessons about not having a backup plan in place.”

Info-Tech’s Jackson also recommends a modular architecture for LLMs; enterprises should view the model as a “commodity that can be hot-swapped with an alternative.” That might be another cloud service provider (which hopefully isn’t experiencing a concurrent outage) or a self-hosted option like an open-weights model.

“In a scenario like this, when your first choice provider might not be available, you have a fallback that can supply that same intelligence layer, even if it’s only a stopgap solution,” said Jackson.

Builders Stage agenda revealed for Disrupt 2026

Posted on September 3, 2026 by faz_business

The Builders Stage is returning to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, bringing together founders, startup operators, and investors for practical conversations on what it takes to build and scale successful companies.

Hear from startup and venture leaders shaping the tech ecosystem, including Grant Lee, CEO and co-founder of Gamma; Leah Solivan, founder and general partner at Precedent.vc; Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google; and more. Through candid conversations and real-world case studies, speakers will share actionable insights on fundraising, hiring, go-to-market strategy, AI, and the operational decisions that fuel startup growth.

Join more than 10,000 founders, investors, startup operators, and technology leaders at Moscone Center in San Francisco on October 13-15. Register today and save before our next ticket price increase.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Builders Stage — **Image Credits:**TechCrunch

Built for founders who are ready to scale

Building a startup is one thing. Building a company that can scale is another challenge entirely. The Builders Stage is one of six industry-focused stages at Disrupt 2026, dedicated to helping founders navigate the challenges of growth, from raising capital and hiring top talent to building go-to-market engines and preparing for the jump from seed to Series A.

Every session delivers practical strategies you can put to work immediately, plus opportunities to engage directly with speakers during live Q&A. Secure your pass to Disrupt 2026 today and save up to $330 before rates increase.

TechCrunch Disrupt Builders Stage — **Image Credits:**Slava Blazer Photography / Flickr (opens in a new window)

Without further ado, here’s your first look at the Builders Stage agenda, with more speakers and sessions to be announced as we get closer to the event.

Builders Stage agenda

How to Win When You’re Not Building AI

With Shan Shan, Investment Manager, Baillie Gifford; and Yuri Sagalov, Managing Director at General Catalyst

AI may dominate the world of venture, but many enduring companies won’t be those that sell AI models or agents. This session is for founders competing for attention in an AI-obsessed market. Panelists break down what actually matters now: efficient growth, retention, revenue quality, and disciplined execution, and why fundamentals, not hype, still build breakout businesses.

What Happens When OpenAI Ships Your Roadmap

With Michel Tricot, CEO and Co-founder, Airbyte; Rob Toews, Partner, Radical Ventures; and Linda Tong, CEO, Webflow

Nearly all AI founders have the same worry these days: What if OpenAI or Anthropic launches a product that competes with mine? Even strong products are at risk of becoming features of the larger players. This session explores where defensibility exists and what founders can do if they do face competition from rapidly evolving AI giants.

Building the Next Generation of AI Giants

With Jas Khaira, Global Head, Blackstone N1

AI startups are scaling faster, and demanding more capital, than any generation before them. Jas Khaira, Global Head of Blackstone N1, shares what separates enduring companies from early momentum, how founders should think about capital as they scale, and what Blackstone looks for when backing the next generation of category-defining businesses.

Competing for AI Talent: Pay, Equity, and Retention

With Matt Birnbaum, Founder, Wylder.co, Ioana Hreninciuc, Runware, Atli Thorkelsson, VP, Talent Network, Redpoint Ventures

The growth of AI startups has made hiring and retention more difficult for every tech company. From competing for AI talent to navigating secondary sales, founders are rethinking the human infrastructure of their startups. As incentives and employee expectations rapidly evolve, this session explores how companies are adapting compensation, culture, and team-building strategies to attract and retain top talent in a fundamentally changed market.

Winning Pre-Seed Without a Product

With Puneet Agarwal, Managing Partner, True Ventures; Austin Clements, Managing Partner, Slauson and Co; and Sandhya Venkatachalam, Founder and Managing Partner, Axiom Partners

Founders are increasingly expected to compete for capital before they even have a product. At the pre-seed stage, investors are betting on story, conviction, and founder-market fit. This session breaks down how to build credibility before revenue exists so investors will cut that first check.

From MVP to Billions of Users: How Product Decisions Must Change at Scale

With Robby Stein, VP, Product, Google

The instincts that win when building your first minimum viable product can break you at a billion-user scale. In this fireside, Robby Stein shares how product decision-making changes when every update impacts billions of users. Hear how teams balance speed with trust and innovation with reliability at one of the world’s largest product organizations.

Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder

With Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-founder, Gusto; more speakers to be announced

Early-stage companies are no longer just building with AI; they’re hiring it. As AI agents take on engineering, support, and operations, the definition of an early team is being rewritten. This session explores how founders decide what humans should own versus what gets delegated to AI, and how high-growth startups are building hybrid teams without losing speed, accountability, or culture.

Rebuilding Consumer Products for the AI Era

With Maria Angelidou-Smith, CPO, Reddit

AI isn’t just adding features, it’s forcing product teams to rethink how people search, discover, communicate, travel, and make decisions. Leaders from Reddit, Square and Uber discuss how they’re redesigning products used by millions, what users actually want from AI, and where product leaders should resist the temptation to automate everything.

M&A Is Now an Early-Stage Strategy

With Karl Alomar, Managing Partner, M13 and Lindsey Mignano, Founder, Mignano Law Group

The smartest founders today aren’t just building for IPOs; they’re also building with possible acquisitions in mind from day one. As exits shift and capital tightens, understanding M&A early has become a competitive advantage. This session breaks down how founders can create the possibility of such an option through product strategy and partnerships. It delves into how big-dollar startup outcomes actually happen, even for small companies.

The Series A in 2027

Jahanvi Sardana, Partner, Index Ventures; Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Peak XV; and Janelle Teng Wade, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Series A is getting harder, with VCs growing more demanding. For founders planning to raise in the next one to two years, this session breaks down what “fundable” will actually mean in 2027. Hear how top investors are redefining the metrics, teams, and traction that matter now, what outdated fundraising playbooks no longer work, and how companies can separate from the pack in the next funding cycle.

The 90-Day GTM: Why $0–$10M ARR Is the New Baseline (and How to Actually Get There)

With Ryan Meadows, Chief Revenue Officer, Lovable; and Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner and Founder, Theory Ventures; Ben Broca, Founder, Polsia

The definition of traction has changed. What once took years is now expected in months, and $0 to $10 million ARR is increasingly becoming the new early-stage baseline. This session breaks down how AI-enabled execution, faster distribution, and shifting investor expectations are compressing GTM timelines, and the tactical levers founders need in the first 90 days to accelerate revenue and stand out fast.

The Real Tokenmaxxing: How the Best AI Companies Navigate a Multi-Model World

With Mo Jomaa, Partner, Capital G; and Zuzanna Stamirowska, CEO and Co-founder, Pathway; more speakers to be announced

The frontier is moving faster than any single model can keep up with, and the teams building the most successful AI products are increasingly orchestrating across many models rather than betting on just one. This panel brings together founders and operators at the center of that shift to discuss how they evaluate new models, manage cost and reliability at scale, and architect products that can evolve as quickly as the underlying technology.

Revealing AI Disruptors 60: What Can AI Do Next?

With Shay Grinfield, Greenfield Partners

The AI conversation is shifting from what models can say to what they can actually do. Agents are navigating the open web and completing work, AI systems are taking on increasingly ambitious research, intelligent machines are beginning to operate beyond the screen, and a new infrastructure layer is emerging to make all of this possible at scale.

Greenfield Partners’ Shay Grinfeld sits down with founders building across these emerging areas to separate what’s real today from what’s coming next, and explore where the biggest new opportunities are taking shape. The conversation will culminate in the reveal of Greenfield Partners’ 2026 AI Disruptors 60, spotlighting the companies Greenfield and TechCrunch believe are pushing AI into new territory.

PMF Red Flags: How to Tell If You Really Have It

With Rajeev Dham, Managing Director, Sapphire Ventures; and Rahul Vohra, Founder and Head of Superhuman Mail; more speakers to be announced

In an AI hype cycle, product-market fit signals are easier to fake and harder to trust. Founders are mistaking early excitement, usage spikes, and pilot wins for durable traction. This session breaks down what false PMF actually looks like, how investors and operators separate real retention from hype-driven adoption, and the signals that indicate whether a company has true pull or just temporary momentum.

The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget

With Grant Lee, CEO and Co-founder, Gamma; Leah Solivan, Founder and General Partner, Precedent.vc; and Elia Wallen, Founder and CEO, Engine

Early customer acquisition is not about marketing spend; it’s about founder-led distribution and relentless execution. Most startups at zero to one do not have budget, brand, or scale, only urgency and creativity. This session breaks down how founders are landing their first customers through community building, product-led growth, founder-led sales, strategic outbound, and word-of-mouth momentum.

Yes, It’s Hard to Be a Founder: An Honest Conversation

With Nell Daly, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Revenge Capital; David H. Rosmarin, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School; and Jack Withinshaw, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Airspeeder

Company building is as psychologically demanding as it is strategic, and most founder narratives understate that reality. In this candid conversation, founders and mental performance experts unpack the hidden costs of high-growth environments, from burnout and decision fatigue to the identity strain of sustained pressure, and share the systems, habits, and mental frameworks that help leaders endure and perform at a high level.

So You’ve Got a Hit Product. How Does Your Company Do It Again?

With Filip Kaliszan, CEO and Co-founder, Verkada; and Aaron Jacobson, Partner, New Enterprise Associates; Maddi Holman, General Partner, Daring Ventures

Most startups stall out because they build a single great product instead of a repeatable multi-product engine. Join a venture capitalist and two founders as they reveal the precise operational playbook for capital allocation, systemizing internal innovation, and engineering a compounding “Second Act” before the core product’s growth curve flattens.

Hiring, Compensation and Culture in the Most Competitive Market Ever

With Matt Birnbaum, Founder, Wylder.co; and Atli Thorkelsson, VP, Talent Network, Redpoint Ventures; more speakers to be announced

No question about it, the growth of AI startups has made hiring and retention for all tech companies more difficult. From competing for AI talent to secondary sales, founders are rethinking the human infrastructure of their startups. As hiring, incentives, and employee expectations rapidly evolve, this session explores how companies are adapting compensation, culture, and team-building strategies to attract and retain top talent in a fundamentally changed startup environment.

How to Create Viral Growth and Capitalize on It

With Zach Yadegari, Founder, Cal AI

Startups can go from zero to viral overnight, but sustaining that momentum is a completely different challenge. In this fireside, Zach Yadegari shares how Cal AI navigated rapid growth, product pressure, and the realities of building in a distribution-driven market. Hear the lessons behind turning breakout attention into durable retention and long-term company building.

The High-Conviction Filter: What We Learned From the Battlefield

With Alexa von Tobel, Inspired Capital; and Chi-Hua Chien, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Goodwater Capital; more speakers to be announced

What separates the breakout companies from the rest at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026? In this candid debrief, Startup Battlefield judges unpack the trends and founder qualities that stood out in real time, from shifting investor expectations to the narratives that resonated most this year. The conversation will also explore how startup storytelling is evolving and what happens after the spotlight, including the realities of maintaining momentum and surviving the critical 12 months after a major launch, funding round, or Startup Battlefield appearance.

Ask the Investors

With Stacy Brown-Philpot, Founder & Managing Partner at Cherryrock Capital; Chi-Hua Chien, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Goodwater Capital; Dayna Grayson, Construct Capital; Carter Reum, Co-founder and Managing Partner, M13; Alexa Von Tobel, Inspired Capital

What makes an investor say yes? In this audience-led Q&A, the Startup Battlefield finals judges take your toughest questions on what separates a fundable startup from the rest: team, traction, market opportunity, pitch delivery, red flags, and more. Come ready to ask and get candid answers straight from the investors making the decisions.

Join the conversations and make the connections at Disrupt

If you’re ready to build smarter, scale faster, and learn from the leaders shaping the future of startups, secure your pass to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 today.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Qualcomm’s Adreno ‘Neural Fusion’ GPU will lean on AI to upgrade phone gaming

Posted on September 3, 2026 by faz_business

What you need to know

Qualcomm continues to tease its next Snapdragon debut with the Adreno Neural Fusion GPU.
The company says this chip utilizes AI-drive rendering tech, placing stronger resolution and frame generation directly into the graphics pipeline.
What’s more, the GPU adds the Adreno HPM, which helps move larger chunks of data for rendering at a time, effectively saving more battery power.
Snapdragon Summit 2026 takes place from September 22-24

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit is coming up later this month, and the company is teasing its graphical improvements.

Qualcomm sent a press release this morning (Sept 2) detailing the Adreno Neural Fusion GPU. If you thought this wouldn’t involve AI, think again. Qualcomm says Neural Fusion is an “AI-driven rendering technology that combines neural processing, AI super resolution, and frame generation into a unified graphics pipeline.” For context, Qualcomm says it’s looking to deliver what consumers want from mobile gaming: console-like graphics, strong frame rates, and better battery life.

This is important because Qualcomm states its Adreno Neural Fusion GPU nails all three of these desires, and consistently, too. The post credits this GPU power to the chip’s new Adreno Matrix Cores. This reportedly brings its AI rendering engine into the graphics pipeline, giving developers the exact tools they need to bump up the graphics for your phone. Lower latency is another positive in this change.

What we’ve been waiting on?

Hands holding a transparent device with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 showing — (Image credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm’s teasers will likely continue until its Summit in a few weeks. The latest major teaser we got spurred excitement. Qualcomm highlighted “Dual 8 Elites” on approach for 2026. Our eyes are looking at that long-rumored Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 “Pro.” Qualcomm hasn’t said anything yet, so do with that information what you will (it is rumored, after all). What the company has said is that its Dual 8 Elites will bring “better connectivity, camera functionality, and graphics for games.”

What’s interesting about those “Pro” rumors is that not everyone’s phone could see it. While yes, these Snapdragon chips are reserved for flagships, the Pro could only seek out Ultra devices—the Galaxy S27 Ultra would fit that bill. We still have a while until Snapdragon Summit 2026 in Maui, Hawaii.

Android Central’s Take

I believe it was Android Authority’s coverage that likens what Qualcomm’s doing with the Neural Fusion to Nvidia’s DLSS 5. If you’re a gamer or you’ve kept up with gaming in general, this hasn’t sat well with people. DLSS 5 “enhances” your graphics through AI, but from the examples out there, people aren’t convinced the original artists’ intent remains. I hope Qualcomm’s AI doesn’t do that. And if it does, can I turn it off? I’m all for incredible gaming performance on phones, but not if the game doesn’t look as intended.

Thrive’s Kushner defends involvement in FIFA mess, hires Elon’s go-to lawyer

Posted on September 1, 2026 by faz_business

New York’s prestigious-yet-secretive venture firm Thrive Capital has been hauled into the center of a messy drama that could result in criminal charges against Gianni Infantino, the controversial president of global soccer organization FIFA.

And now Thrive’s prominent founder, Josh Kushner, has finally spoken up about the deal in a statement saying that he still thinks the original idea was a sound one, and would have been good for global soccer. But, he says, “had we known what this would devolve into, we would not have gotten involved.” (Full statement below.)

The scandal involves Infantino’s failed plan to create a new corporate entity called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) that would have owned some of the commercial aspects of FIFA competitions like the World Cup, including revenues from TV rights and ticket sales.

This entity would have been fully owned by FIFA’s member associations (aka teams) but all MAs would have had the option to sell some of their shares as secondary sales to private investors. The MAs would have had to vote to create the organization and then agree to sell their own shares to private investors.

FIFA engaged JPMorgan to drum up potential investors for the proposed company. That’s where Thrive came in.

Thrive agreed to be a lead (but not the sole) investor in a potential sale of $4.2 billion worth of secondary shares purchased from the teams, representing 20% of FFE at a $20 billion valuation.

But the European teams, which benefit disproportionately under the current structure compared with other regions like Africa, grew outraged by the idea. An association that includes North American teams also objected. Their concern was over the potential influence of outsiders, particularly private equity.

The backlash caused FIFA to scrap the plan before the MAs could vote on it. (Things have grown even uglier, too. For instance, FIFA’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, was reportedly fired after criticizing Infantino and this plan.)

Note that FIFA is composed of 211 MAs worldwide, yet only 55 of them are in Union of European Football Associations (UEF), while another 41 are in the North American organization, Concacaf, which includes soccer associations from North American, Central American and Caribbean. Had the idea of full and equal ownership of these revenues gone to a vote, who knows what might have happened? But it isn’t wild to think it would have been approved.

Meanwhile, the UEFA is now pursuing legal action against Infantino and attempting to mount some kind of criminal case, BBC reports. European fans are also calling for Infantino’s head.

Again, that’s where Thrive has been roped in.

One of UEFA’s claims in its suit is that the valuation of the proposed company was too low, BBC reports. So UEFA asked a U.S. federal court to compel parties to release information. It wants Thrive to hand over documents on how the valuation was derived, communications about the deal such as term sheets, and the identities of the potential other investors.

After months of this turmoil, Kushner finally responded this week, sending a statement first published by Axios.

Money in football has historically been concentrated amongst a small group of countries. The idea behind FFE was to direct more capital and equity equally amongst all 211 member countries, providing significantly more investment to underdeveloped nations to nurture local talent, support grassroots football, enhance the fan experience, and ultimately grow the global game everywhere.

It was an idea that every Member Association would vote on, not an obligation or determination. While we stand behind the motivations of FFE, we failed to appreciate the political dynamics of global football, and the lengths some would go to. Thrive has a long track record of being a partner to all constituents. Had we known what this would devolve into, we would not have gotten involved.”

But perhaps one of the more humorous parts of this is that Thrive has now engaged another famous name: lawyer Alex Spiro, partner at Quinn Emanuel, to represent it, according to a court document seen by TechCrunch.

This quiet investment firm has engaged a lawyer with a big and bold personality. He is someone who can, perhaps, handle the kind of inflamed passions that characterize international soccer. Spiro is known for representing such clients as Elon Musk, Jay-Z, Alec Baldwin, NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Rippling in its suit against Deel over the corporate spy.

He has become Musk’s go-to lawyer on a number of high-profile cases, including the “pedo guy” defamation case in 2019, the infamous Tesla “funding secured” lawsuit as well aslitigation over Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Google raises prices on the TV Streamer and Nest cameras effective today

Posted on September 1, 2026 by faz_business

What you need to know

The Google TV Streamer has jumped from $100 to $150 at the Google Store and Best Buy.
Retailers including Amazon may still have older stock at the original price, but supplies could disappear quickly.
The Nest lineup also gets across-the-board markups, with all five Nest cameras and doorbells seeing price increases of $20 to $50.

If you’ve been holding off on picking up Google’s smart home hardware, your hesitation just got a lot more expensive. The tech giant has quietly increased prices across its streaming and security hardware lineup.

The Google TV Streamer arrived in 2024 for $100, replacing Chromecast as Google’s flagship streaming box. It was also pretty easy to find below that price, with holiday discounts knocking a few bucks off. Now, Google has quietly bumped up the device’s price by $50 to $150, as spotted by 9to5Google.

The new price is already appearing at Google Store and Best Buy, though some retailers are still selling remaining stock for $100. For example, not all listings have been refreshed by Amazon yet. If you are fast enough, you may be able to pick up older stock at launch prices before it is cycled out.