Apple cancels its car project, Google’s AI encounters issues, and Bumble faces setbacks

Hello everyone, welcome to this edition of Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s newsletter bringing you the latest happenings in the tech industry.

This week, investment giant KKR made headlines with its announcement to acquire VMware’s end-user computing business from Broadcom for a hefty $4 billion. This acquisition includes VMware Workspace One and VMware Horizon, two popular remote desktop apps within VMware’s product lineup.

In other news, Mistral, a French AI startup, made waves by unveiling a new model aimed to rival OpenAI’s GPT-4. Alongside this release, Mistral introduced its own chatbot named Le Chat. Timed with this announcement was a strategic partnership with Microsoft to offer Mistral models to Microsoft’s Azure customers, along with a significant minority investment of $16 million from Microsoft into Mistral.

Beyond these highlights, there’s a lot more to cover in this edition of WiR. But before we dive in, a friendly reminder to subscribe to receive the WiR newsletter directly in your inbox every Saturday.

Additionally, TechCrunch recently hosted a StrictlyVC event in Los Angeles featuring a lineup of notable speakers. Signal President Meredith Whittaker, Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, rabbit CEO and Co-Founder Jesse Lyu, along with Founders Fund Partner Trae Stephens and Lightspeed Ventures partner Faraz Fatemi, engaged in discussions covering a wide range of topics. From the potential of AI to disrupt established companies to Waymo’s remarkable journey, and the excitement surrounding rabbit’s CES 2024 reveal, it was a night filled with insightful conversations. Don’t miss out on our next event, StrictlyVC London in May. Stay tuned for more details!