Daily Crunch: Stealth startup Figure releases first photos of its all-purpose humanoid robot

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TechCrunch’s top 3

• My friends call me Murphy; you call me face: It’s “iRobot” coming to life : Figure comes out of stealth with the first images of his humanoid robot, brian reports. The robots are currently being tested on manual tasks such as those performed in warehouses, manufacturing and retail.
• Can I help you?: Customer relationships got a bit dicey for a while during the global pandemic when customers, who couldn’t go to a physical store anymore, also didn’t want to sit on a phone or spend hours with a chatbot. Now with $23.5 million in new funding, Attio offers no-code customer relationship management software. Kyle see you.
• noodles around: Naomi Osaka, Usher and Apolo Ohno are the latest celebrities to support instant ramen startup Immi, which wants to bring its hot bowl of comfort food to every home nationwide, Christina writing.

Startups and VCs

Former Facebook executive turned VC Chamath Palihapitiya has long been a controversial figure in the investment world. Investor says it could take the market three years to “accurately” revalue late-stage companies, Connie reports.

In the meantime, Connie also reports that Felicis today announced that it has closed its ninth flagship fund with $825 million, up from the $600 million base fund it announced in the summer of 2021. The vehicle carries total assets under management of the company to 3 billion dollars. The fund closed 50% more deals last year than in 2021, some as prices continued to rise – and it says it has no regrets.

And another snippet of stories to appease the wild beast:

How to turn an open source project into a profitable business

Many developers rely on donations and crowdfunding to monetize open source projects, but with proper planning, teams can leverage their work for commercial clients that will put them in a higher tax bracket.

Providing users with customer support or consulting services are common sources of income, according to product development consultant Victoria Melnikova, who also says developers should form partnerships and use platforms like Reddit and Hacker News to reach out. potential paying customers.

“To find your way, talk to your customers and understand their goals and pains.”

Three others from the TC+ team:

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Big Tech inc.

Marc Benioff’s photo reminds us of the movie “Gladiator” where Russell Crowe’s character shouts “Aren’t you entertained?” Well, we hope you have fun with the latest in what we call “The Salesforce Saga”. Ron And alexander report that despite all the activist investors, executive departures, and layoffs, Salesforce is fighting back with better-than-expected earnings.

In the meantime, Kirsten, Rebecca And Harris listened to Tesla Investor Day and shared with you everything Elon Musk and his executives shared (and ignored).

Now here is the short-short version of six others: