Techin' Geek

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of med-spas, weight-loss clinics, and concierge practices where patients pay a membership fee for immediate, often same-day access to physicians. However, despite patients paying for these services out-of-pocket, providers frequently depend on software designed for traditional, insurance-reliant care.

VITL, a startup founded 18 months ago, asserts that it is addressing one of the major technological challenges in the sector by developing an e-prescribing platform—a digital solution for managing and sending prescriptions—that is customized for cash-pay medical practices.

On Wednesday, VITL disclosed a $7.5 million Series A funding round spearheaded by SignalFire.

Founder and CEO Charlie Jordan established the Nashville-based firm after recognizing the significant amount of time medical providers devote to managing prescriptions for treatments not reimbursed by insurance.

Many providers continue to use faxes or phone calls to send prescriptions to compounding pharmacies, which create custom medications on demand, often without knowledge of the final cost to the patient or the timeframe for fulfilling the order. VITL’s platform addresses this issue by linking clinics to a nationwide network of compounding pharmacies, providing real-time price comparisons and order tracking similar to Amazon’s.

“We reduce the prescription processing time from several minutes to just a few seconds,” Jordan told TechCrunch.

For clinics that place numerous orders daily, this time savings accumulates.

VITL estimates that its technology can save clients up to two complete workdays each month by automating a process that is otherwise tedious and unclear.

Cash-pay providers are evidently recognizing the benefits of VITL’s platform. Just over a year after its establishment, the company reports having onboarded more than 630 clinics and generating eight figures in annualized recurring revenue (ARR), indicating the company is on track to earn at least $10 million annually.

Nonetheless, 630 clients represent only a small portion of a market that encompasses tens of thousands of clinics throughout the U.S. With the rising popularity of GLP-1s—the class of drugs that includes Ozempic and Wegovy—along with peptides and aesthetic procedures such as Botox becoming more mainstream, the number of cash-pay healthcare businesses is anticipated to increase.

VITL never formally approached SignalFire, yet the rapid growth of the startup captured its interest. This interest resulted in a fresh $7.5 million Series A investment led by the venture firm, known for leveraging data and AI to pinpoint emerging companies.

VITL partially competes with Surescripts, a pioneer in e-prescribing within the industry, and with boutique clinic platforms like Jane Software, which integrate prescription functionalities into their broader electronic health record (EHR) offerings. What distinguishes VITL from these rivals, it claims, is its exclusive focus on the workflow needs of the cash-pay medical sector.

Just one day after Meta faced a similar child safety lawsuit setback in New Mexico, a jury in Los Angeles delivered another blow to the social media behemoth — this time alongside Google. In a case asserting that social media platforms significantly impacted a young woman’s mental well-being, jurors favored the plaintiff, identified by her initials, K.G.M., or her first name, Kaley.

This verdict requires Meta and Google to disburse $3 million in compensatory damages, with Meta responsible for 70% of that amount. Additional damages may be forthcoming as jurors continue their deliberations.

The pivotal case, held in Los Angeles County Superior Court, sought to hold the social media giants accountable for the harm linked to Instagram and YouTube specifically, which Kaley, now 20 years old, claimed exacerbated her anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, and other issues during her childhood. Attorneys for Meta attempted to assert that external factors, such as Kaley’s tumultuous home environment and her parents’ split, were primarily to blame for her mental health challenges, not the company’s applications.

However, the evidence brought forth at trial convinced the jury to side with the plaintiff, highlighting that Meta was aware of how addictive its platforms could be for teenagers and that it was actively investigating this issue and applying its findings to boost engagement among young users.

In the lead-up to this case’s trial, both TikTok and Snap, who were also being pursued legally, reached settlements with the plaintiff.

The ruling — alongside other recent judgments, such as Tuesday’s decision in New Mexico — could set a precedent holding social media companies accountable for the harm their platforms inflict, whether due to insufficient safety protocols or algorithm-driven recommendations. This may pave the way for a new wave of lawsuits as other claimants seek damages.

Neither verdict is expected to be conclusive. Both Google and Meta are anticipated to appeal, and Meta has already indicated its intentions, with a spokesperson stating to the press that the company contests the verdict and is exploring its options.

Meta is reducing its workforce by several hundred individuals across various teams, including sales, recruitment, and the Reality Labs sector, as reported by The Information and Bloomberg.

The reductions will affect staff in the U.S. and various global markets. Some affected employees will be presented with alternative positions or relocation options to stay with the organization, according to Bloomberg.

“Departments across Meta routinely undergo restructuring or changes to position themselves optimally for achieving their objectives,” stated a Meta representative in an email to TechCrunch. “When feasible, we are locating other opportunities for employees whose roles might be affected.”

The reductions will involve fewer than 1,000 employees. At the close of 2025, Meta had almost 79,000 employees.

These layoffs occur as Meta invests billions into AI. The company anticipates reaching an all-time high in capital expenditures this year, estimated between $115 billion and $135 billion.

This marks the second instance in 2026 in which Meta has downsized its workforce. In January, Meta let go of 10% of its personnel in the Reality Labs sector. The New York Times noted that these cuts impacted approximately 1,000 employees out of a total of around 15,000 in Reality Labs.

There’s major news unfolding today for those developing apps. No, it doesn’t involve reduced App Store commissions. Instead, Apple revealed on Wednesday a notable upgrade to its App Store Connect service, which serves as the platform for developers to launch, oversee, and monitor their apps’ performance across the company’s various platforms.

The updates introduce over 100 new metrics for tracking in areas such as monetization and subscription data, along with additional metrics aimed at aiding developers in comprehending their apps’ in-app purchase performance and the effectiveness of their offers.

Numerous third-party services already provide insights into app performance, including broader app intelligence platforms like Sensor Tower and Appfigures, as well as those focusing specifically on subscription app developers, such as RevenueCat. Nevertheless, the edge of the new App Store Connect metrics is that they are the sole metrics grounded in Apple’s own data — rather than estimates.

Included in the new offerings are enhanced subscription reports that can also be exported via an API, enabling developers to assess their apps’ performance while offline, or to integrate Apple’s data into their own systems.

Developers will also gain deeper insights into their users by analyzing behaviors related to aspects like download dates, sources, offer start dates, and more. This will allow developers to observe how a specific group of users interacted with the app over a given timeframe, such as comparing results from two different regional expansions, for example.

Moreover, new peer group benchmarks have been introduced, enabling developers to see how they measure up against their competitors in terms of download-to-paid conversions and revenue per download.

Apple emphasizes that aggregated cohort data is utilized to safeguard user privacy, and it employs additional differential privacy methods to protect the performance data of individual developers.

As developers examine their chosen metrics in App Store Connect, they can utilize new filters to further refine their data. Apple states that developers can implement up to seven filters simultaneously.

Additionally, the company has launched a new App Store Analytics Guide located in the Help section of App Store Connect to assist developers in formulating data-driven strategies and to enhance their understanding of the App Store’s tools and features.

While one might argue that App Store Connect was in need of an update, the timing of this rollout merits attention. With AI rapidly increasing its capabilities — particularly regarding AI agents that can act on behalf of users — there are discussions suggesting that the conventional app store model may soon be outdated. The CEO of smartphone manufacturer Nothing recently speculated that mobile apps might eventually vanish, as the internet becomes populated with AI agents.

However, Apple is seeking to establish a path where AI enhances its profitable App Store ecosystem, rather than undermining it. According to Bloomberg, the company is set to introduce an AI-empowered Siri at its forthcoming developer conference this June, which can perform tasks within apps.

The surge of new data center initiatives across the U.S. has sparked increasing opposition against the infrastructure supporting AI. Two prominent legislators are now advocating for a prohibition on all new data centers exceeding a peak power load of 20 megawatts.

Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York are unveiling joint legislation in their respective legislative bodies today that would pause these projects until Congress implements thorough AI regulations.

Sanders’ office highlights statements from various technology leaders who have expressed their anxieties regarding AI and called for tighter controls or suspensions on its advancement. These figures include Elon Musk (who has remarked, “AI is far more dangerous than nukes. So why do we have no regulatory oversight?”), Google DeepMind leader Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton.

A March Pew Research survey revealed that a majority of Americans feel more apprehensive than thrilled about AI, with only 10% of respondents indicating their excitement surpasses their worries. Nonetheless, substantial political contributions from AI firms and concerns over falling behind in an AI arms race with China may complicate the passage of such legislation.

This proposed legislation could be viewed as an initial proposal for how AI regulation might be structured. The two legislators aim for the U.S. government to assess and approve AI models before their deployment, establish safeguards against job loss due to AI, curtail the ecological impact of data infrastructures, and mandate union labor for their construction. They also aim to ban the export of advanced chips to nations lacking comparable regulations — which currently includes most countries.

While users may be averse to bots visibly taking notes during meetings, many are indifferent if an application on a participant’s computer is performing the transcription. This fundamental aspect has contributed to Granola’s rise, enabling it to secure $125 million in Series C funding led by Danny Rimer at Index Ventures, with contributions from Mamoon Hamid at Kleiner Perkins. This has increased the company’s valuation to $1.5 billion, up from $250 million in the previous funding round.

The company also noted that current investors like Lightspeed, Spark, and NFDG took part in this financing round. Following this round, which is less than a year since its $43 million round, the startup has accumulated $192 million in total funding.

Transitioning from a prosumer application that operates on your computer, transcribes meetings, and produces notes, Granola has been developing features tailored for enterprise use. For example, last year, it began allowing team members to collaborate on notes. It has now established its presence in companies such as Vanta, Gusto, Thumbtack, Asana, Cursor, Lovable, Decagon, and Mistral AI, according to its claims.

Alongside the fundraising announcement, Granola is introducing a feature called Spaces, which essentially act as workspaces for teams. Users can also create Folders within these spaces. Spaces have detailed controls determining who can access specific sections. Users can search for notes from Spaces and folders individually.

The company acknowledges that AI meeting notes are now ubiquitous, with numerous providers offering this capability. Consequently, after launching a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server in February, the company is unveiling two new APIs for integrating the context of notes into AI workflows.

Granola has introduced a personal API that enables users to access their notes and those shared with them, along with an enterprise API for admins to utilize team context. The personal API is available to business and enterprise plan users, while the enterprise API is exclusive to enterprise clients.

The API introduction follows dissatisfaction from several users, including an a16z partner, over Granola’s decision to restrict its local database, disrupting on-device AI agent workflows previously established. Granola co-founder Chris Pedregal explained that the intent was not to restrict data but to reorganize how the local cache managed AI workflows. This alteration affected the agent workflows. Pedregal pledged at that time that Granola would release APIs to facilitate bulk data access and promised to find a solution for compatibility with local AI agents.

The company indicated that it is updating its MCP server to allow users to view notes in folders and notes that have been shared with them. It highlighted that its app is already compatible with tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Lovable, Figma Make, Replit, Manus, v0, Bolt.new, Duckbill, and Dreamer, and the startup is actively pursuing additional partnerships.

As the practice of taking meeting notes becomes standard, startups in this field should focus on empowering users and businesses to act on the notes and transcriptions. This could involve writing follow-up emails, scheduling subsequent meetings, or extracting knowledge from company databases and CRMs to assist in finalizing leads. Several companies, including Read AI, Fireflies, and Quill, are already moving in this direction.

Meta is introducing Meta Small Business, a comprehensive initiative aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and promoting AI adoption, as reported by Axios on Wednesday.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, mentioned in a memo to employees that small enterprises have always played a significant role in the company’s business model, with millions of entrepreneurs currently utilizing its platforms to expand and engage with clients. The firm now intends to enhance its efforts in this area.

“In the AI age, it should be simpler than ever for individuals to establish new ventures,” Zuckerberg stated. “We aspire to develop the tools that facilitate this. This is crucial for ensuring that the wealth generated by superintelligence is widely shared.”

According to Axios, Meta Small Business will be overseen by Dina Powell McCormick, Meta President and Vice Chairman, along with product head Naomi Gleit.

Zuckerberg has encouraged product managers, designers, engineers, and other staff members to get in touch if they are keen on participating in the new initiative.

On Wednesday, energy startup Arbor Energy announced the sale of up to 5 gigawatts of its modular turbines to GridMarket, which supports power project arrangements for data centers and industrial clients. 

“Demand for power is high. They desired it yesterday,” stated Arbor co-founder and CEO Brad Hartwig to TechCrunch. “Deadlines are tightening, and the scale is expanding.”

Arbor’s Halcyon turbines leverage rocket turbomachinery, advanced engine technology originally intended for space missions, with the inaugural commercial turbines being 3D printed and capable of producing 25 megawatts each. GridMarket’s order could total 200 units if completely fulfilled.

Neither company revealed the specific deal price; however, Hartwig mentioned that Arbor has noted a “willingness to pay of over $100 per megawatt-hour.” An insider shared with TechCrunch that the overall amount is in the single-digit billion range.

The startup aims to link its first turbine to the grid by 2028 and increase production through 2030, at which point it aspires to provide over 100 turbines each year. Hartwig explained that the long-term target is to generate sufficient capacity for 10 gigawatts annually.

Initially, Arbor designed Halcyon to operate on a vegetarian diet — the power plant would process organic materials such as crop residues and wood waste from agriculture and timber industry, transforming them into syngas — a flammable gas mixture — and combusting it with pure oxygen. The outcome would be pure CO₂, which could be captured and stored underground.

Through this process, each Halcyon turbine would produce carbon-negative electricity. The organic materials used would have otherwise decomposed, emitting methane and carbon dioxide into the environment.

Subsequent to that, Arbor has adapted Halcyon to utilize natural gas alongside biomass — effectively turning it into an omnivore. The procedure essentially remains unchanged, meaning the CO₂ produced can still be sequestered. 

Due to the incorporation of natural gas, it would not be carbon negative in that framework. In fact, since methane escapes from pipes and valves within the supply chain, Halcyon turbines operating on fossil fuels will generate some greenhouse gas emissions while also sustaining ongoing natural gas demand. Hartwig indicated that the firm collaborates with low-leak natural gas providers and that it’s “economically advantageous to sequester that CO₂.”

“We envision a long-term trajectory of less than 10 grams of CO₂ for each kilowatt-hour,” Hartwig remarked. This is considerably lower compared to conventional natural gas power plants without carbon capture, which emit approximately 400 grams of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour.

Arbor continues to pursue its biomass-powered initiatives, and the contract with GridMarket is not limited to a solitary fuel type. Nonetheless, other confirmed agreements based on biomass are significantly smaller than the one with GridMarket.

Like many energy startups, Arbor has gained considerable momentum from the surge in data center demand. Manufacturers of traditional gas turbines were unprepared, and given the past volatility of such markets, they have hesitated to substantially increase output. Hartwig expressed that they would struggle to rapidly boost production, even if they desired to. 

“Supply chains for traditional turbines mainly get bottlenecked by blades and vanes. These are quite rigid supply chains, both in terms of the artisanal production method — creating directionally solidified, single-crystal turbine blades — as well as the highly specialized labor that supports it,” he explained. “If you were to place an order for a turbine now, you would be waiting until 2032.”

Arbor is banking on its machined and 3D printed components to accelerate its market entry. “People require power in the near future and in substantial quantities,” Hartwig noted.

Meta aims to harness the potential of AI to guide and possibly affect shoppers in order to boost sales on its social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

During the Shoptalk 2026 conference this week, the technology leader revealed plans to pilot a new feature that enables users to access more detailed product information and a summary of customer reviews after interacting with an ad or browsing a website via Facebook or Instagram.

This new feature resembles Amazon’s implementation of generative AI to improve its product reviews, which was rolled out in 2023. Rather than forcing customers to sift through numerous reviews to gauge public opinion on a product, Amazon utilizes AI to condense the reviews into a concise summary presented on the product page.

Meta intends to apply AI similarly. In the updated pop-up feature that will display, the AI tool can provide a summary of “what consumers are saying” regarding the specific product. This summary may feature a short introduction followed by essential bullet points.

Moreover, within Meta’s applications, the function will also deliver additional general information, including insights about the brand, suggested products, possible discounts or promotions, and a button to add the product to the user’s cart found on each product page.

Subsequently, users will experience an improved checkout process developed in collaboration with payment service providers Stripe and PayPal, which enables customers to finalize their purchases with a simple tap. Meta mentions that it is also in the process of integrating with Ayden and Shopify, which will be introduced later.

Advertisers have the flexibility to choose their preferred checkout partner, ensuring that when a user clicks the “Buy Now” button, they can seamlessly complete their purchase and fulfill the order without leaving Meta’s app.

These modifications to the checkout process coincide with further enhancements to Meta’s product discovery functionalities and features.

This encompasses an update designed for creators, which provides them with a broader array of affiliate partners to collaborate with on Facebook, in response to increasing competition with TikTok. The affiliate newcomers feature brands like Amazon, eBay, and Temu in the U.S., Mercado Libre in Latin America, and Shopee across Asia.

Later this year on Instagram, Meta will also trial affiliate partnerships with Amazon (U.S.) and Shopee (Asia). Partners will select the products they wish to highlight and decide the commission rates for sales made through the creator’s account.

Additionally, creators on Instagram Reels will have access to product catalogs from businesses in 22 countries, assisting them in identifying products to showcase in their videos.