Latest news with #Throne
TechCrunch
22-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
The wild story of how gut health AI toilet startup Throne raised $4M led by Moxxie
The tale of how smart toilet startup Throne landed its seed round is so full of serendipities, one could almost believe it was orchestrated by the hand of Fortuna, Roman god of providence. Throne is an Austin-based company working on an AI-powered toilet device for consumers. It uses computer vision (cameras pointing in the bowl plus AI software) to monitor gut health conditions. It just raised $4 million in seed financing led by Moxxie Ventures' founder Katie Jacobs Stanton, with a bunch of other VCs participating and several famous angels like Lance Armstrong, Rupa Health co-founder Tara Viswanathan, and TrueMed founder Justin Mares (maker of brands like Kettle & Fire), the startup says. Throne isn't a toilet, but a device that mounts onto the bowl of one. The device, combined with software, analyzes indicators of certain chronic conditions, as well as hydration and urological function — all in the privacy of the home. The software has added privacy controls such as anonymizing the images sent to researchers. The device is currently in a pre-production working prototype form, with a planned launch date of January, 2026, co-founder CEO Scott Hickle tells TechCrunch. In addition to the seed funding, Throne also announced it hired John Capodilupo, as its chief product officer. Capodilupo is best known as co-founder and former CEO of the WHOOP smartwatch device. Throne smart toilet device Image Credits:under a Throne license. Throne started as a joke The wild tale of how Hickle, a mechanical engineer, and Throne CTO Tim Blumberg, a full-stack software engineer, became smart toilet founders began in 2021 when they were playing poker with friends in Austin. The players started riffing on startup ideas they'd like to do but wouldn't want to be associated with. 'And everyone's pitching, vice industry [ideas]; sex, drugs and rock and roll. Tim said, 'smart toilets.' I was like, 'That's hilarious. Clearly, you would name that company Throne,'' Hickle recalled. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW Fast forward to 2023 when the nurse-hiring software startup Hickle and Blumberg were working on failed. They had raised some funding for it and were calling their investors telling them they either needed a new idea or were going to return the funds. Out of the blue, one of their investors said, 'You guys thought about smart toilets? We were like: You know, we've named that company! That's Throne.' They took that as a sign. The pair began researching and turned to Hickle's mom, a doctor specializing in gerontology. He asked her if there would be any medical benefit in 'looking at people's waste' and she began regaling him with somewhat disgusting stories of the photos of such things that her patients loved to send her. Short answer: yes. Waste can be analyzed for health-related information. They learned this could be helpful to monitor a wide variety of chronic conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis, detection of various colon cancers, chronic kidney disease, enlarged prostate, as well as conditions that could be identified or monitored by looking at other waste, such as menstrual blood. As the son of two doctors (Hickle's dad also dabbled in inventing medical devices), knowing it might be possible to divert a chronic condition attack, or predict a deadly cancer 'was really motivating to me,' Hickle says. Not everyone shared that enthusiasm. The co-founders knew they lacked hardware product development experience. One of their existing investors was so opposed to the idea, he wanted his money back. 'That was brutal,' Hickle described, not just for the loss of capital but for the loss of confidence. Still, after giving that money back, they ran into more people who liked the idea rather than who shunned them for it. Standing outside Lance Armstrong's bathroom door Their Austin contacts led to an introduction to Lance Armstrong's business manager, who set them up to pitch Armstrong directly. The former bike racer famously had prostate cancer. And that led them to a 'surreal' moment standing outside the racer's bathroom door after having installed a prototype, waiting for his verdict, Hickle described. Armstrong wrote a check. Not every introduction led to checks, but many led to more introductions, including to Capodilupo, who also wrote an angel check. Capodilupo had been public about suffering from ulcerative colitis and was on the board of trustees of Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. Capodilupo had the device manufacturing experience they needed. It took the founders months to convince Capodilupo to not just invest, but join as a founder. The introduction to well-known seed investor Jacobs Stanton was also serendipitous. Hickle had been friends with Rupa Health's Viswanathan since high school and she orchestrated the introduction. More synchronicities landed them their partnerships with researchers at University of Washington and the University of Chicago, who are working to validate that the product's software works as advertised. These partnerships are the key to its possible success. Throne landed UofW when a friend of Hickle's randomly sat next to a urologist researcher on a plane and talked about Throne, then put him in touch, he said. They got UChicago when a friend of Hickle's introduced him to his gastroenterologist uncle. The uncle happened to be one of the world's premier gastroenterologist researchers who also sat on the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation's board and knew Capodilupo. With one fortuitous introduction after another, the inside joke among the founders is that 'it's better to be lucky than good, and we just get so dumb lucky. All the time,' Hickle said. But he also believes the tailwinds have been so strong, he feels like 'the world wants us to do this.' Other investors in the seed round include Accomplice, Long Journey Ventures, Night Capital, Retron VC, Myelin Ventures.
Scottish Sun
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Harry Potter star reveals OnlyFans 'shame' as she resorts to being spanked with her hair to claw back money after debts
HARRY Potter star Jessie Cave has told of her "shame" since joining OnlyFans after she was bombarded with X-rated messages from flesh-hungry fans - and she has resorted to being spanked with her hair to help pay off debts. The actress and comedian, 38, launched an account on the subscription service in March in a bid to ease her money issues, including trying to raise £8,000 to pay an electrician - because the electrics in her house are a "death trap". 4 Jessie has opened up about feeling 'shame' after joining OnlyFans Credit: Instagram 4 She launched an account on the subsciption service back in March Credit: OnlyFans 4 She has received requests to 'spank herself' with her hair Credit: Instagram Jessie - who shot to fame as Harry Potter's Lavender Brown, the eccentric love interest of Ron Weasley - was up front with subscribers that she will only be uploading "niche" photos of her hair in various "magical" styles and positions. However, she has been inundated with "gross" and "nasty" messages at times, including full-frontal and other vile requests, leaving her "scared". She wrote: "It's gotten a little nasty. I feel a little gross, a little scared. I am receiving too many lurid messages and don't like being sent unsolicited d***s. "No matter how many times I say I am not doing sexual content, I get a message within two seconds asking to see c*m in my hair or if I would just please f***ing consider full frontal." While she refuses to go nude on the app, Jessie admitted she has already been "swayed and pressured by certain messages". After Jessie received a fan DM request to "spank myself with my plaits", she recently attempted to film a video of her husband, comedian Alfie Brown - who she refers to as "A" - doing just that. In a Substack post on May 5th, she wrote: "I tried to get a video of A holding my plaits and gently spanking my back with them but I laughed too much. I plaited my hair in red lace gloves and did a video of me trying to do plaits with handcuffs on (my kids got the handcuffs at a magic shop)." What's more, Jessie has told her followers how she has "become dependent" on the money coming in from OnlyFans, and at times she has felt "hurt and upset" when she has lost some subscribers. The star also admitted she has "a sense of shame" for creating an account on OnlyFans, which is largely known for its explicit sexual content. She added: "It's proof of my failure to make (or rather, keep hold of) money as an actress and writer. I've got nothing to show for 18 years of work in the arts industry. Harry Potter star Jessie Cave reveals secret split from Alfie Brown as she admits fears they'll break up again "I've rented for 18 years and drained all my money on that and self-funding my YouTube videos or Edinburgh shows." The author has set up a Throne account - a wish list for creators - in the hope that fans will gift her items. She has put a new MacBook at the top of her list, and has already been gifted some stockings by a mystery subscriber. She said: "I am doing OF to supplement my life as an artist, and I will be more vocal about that from now on. "My second most desired item is a fancy ASMR microphone so I can do more satisfying hair brushing videos. "Then I've put cheaper items like elf ears and stockings (which someone bought for me within 10 minutes of going live)." However, Jessie admitted she "dreads" evenings because she feels pressured to respond to her OnlyFans subscribers. She wrote: "I dread the evenings because I know I have to message rather than zone out watching tv. "I've stopped reading because I feel like it's not using my time efficiently: any spare moment when I'm not with the kids I should be making money and keeping my fans subscribed. "I'm on a content treadmill and I can't get off, send help." Jessie left fans shocked in March when she unveiled her new OnlyFans account, and she encouraged her supporters who "have a hair thing" to sign up to her service. She wrote: "Former Harry Potter actress, writer, doodler and now Only Fans Long Hair Specialist. "I do NICHE HAIR CONTENT which you may well quite like. How magical! "Owl drop near daily. Wizard warning: Will not do explicit sexual content. Might be in my underwear. "Will respond to Dm's. Let's get to know each other!. If you have a hair thing, this is the place for you. "If you want something specific, you can message me and I will be happy to see what we can do. LOVE JESSIE XXX"
The Irish Sun
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Harry Potter star reveals OnlyFans 'shame' as she resorts to being spanked with her hair to claw back money after debts
HARRY Potter star Jessie Cave has told of her "shame" since joining OnlyFans after she was bombarded with X-rated messages from flesh-hungry fans - and she has resorted to being spanked with her hair to help pay off debts. The actress and comedian, 38, Advertisement 4 Jessie has opened up about feeling 'shame' after joining OnlyFans Credit: Instagram 4 She launched an account on the subsciption service back in March Credit: OnlyFans 4 She has received requests to 'spank herself' with her hair Credit: Instagram However, she has been inundated with "gross" and "nasty" messages at times, including full-frontal and other vile requests, leaving her "scared". She wrote: "It's gotten a little nasty. I feel a little gross, a little scared. I am receiving too many lurid messages and don't like being sent unsolicited d***s. "No matter how many times I say I am not doing sexual content, I get a message within two seconds asking to see c*m in my hair or if I would just please f***ing consider full frontal." Advertisement More on Harry Potter While she refuses to go nude on the app, Jessie admitted she has already been "swayed and pressured by certain messages". After Jessie received a fan DM request to "spank myself with my plaits", she recently attempted to film a video of her husband, comedian Alfie Brown - who she refers to as "A" - doing just that. In a Substack post on May 5th, she wrote: "I tried to get a video of A holding my plaits and gently spanking my back with them but I laughed too much. I plaited my hair in red lace gloves and did a video of me trying to do plaits with handcuffs on (my kids got the handcuffs at a magic shop)." What's more, Jessie has told her followers how she has "become dependent" on the money coming in from OnlyFans, and at times she has felt "hurt and upset" when she has lost some subscribers. Advertisement Most read in Celebrity The star also admitted she has "a sense of shame" for creating an account on OnlyFans, which is largely known for its explicit sexual content. She added: "It's proof of my failure to make (or rather, keep hold of) money as an actress and writer. I've got nothing to show for 18 years of work in the arts industry. Harry Potter star Jessie Cave reveals secret split from Alfie Brown as she admits fears they'll break up again "I've rented for 18 years and drained all my money on that and self-funding my YouTube videos or Edinburgh shows." The author has set up a Throne account - a wish list for creators - in the hope that fans will gift her items. Advertisement She has put a new MacBook at the top of her list, and has already been gifted some stockings by a mystery subscriber. She said: "I am doing OF to supplement my life as an artist, and I will be more vocal about that from now on. "My second most desired item is a fancy ASMR microphone so I can do more satisfying hair brushing videos. "Then I've put cheaper items like elf ears and stockings (which someone bought for me within 10 minutes of going live)." Advertisement However, Jessie admitted she "dreads" evenings because she feels pressured to respond to her OnlyFans subscribers. She wrote: "I dread the evenings because I know I have to message rather than zone out watching tv. "I've stopped reading because I feel like it's not using my time efficiently: any spare moment when I'm not with the kids I should be making money and keeping my fans subscribed. "I'm on a content treadmill and I can't get off, send help." Advertisement Jessie left fans shocked in March when she unveiled her new OnlyFans account, and she encouraged her supporters who "have a hair thing" to sign up to her service. She wrote: "Former Harry Potter actress, writer, doodler and now Only Fans Long Hair Specialist. "I do NICHE HAIR CONTENT which you may well quite like. How magical! "Owl drop near daily. Wizard warning: Will not do explicit sexual content. Might be in my underwear. Advertisement "Will respond to Dm's. Let's get to know each other!. If you have a hair thing, this is the place for you. "If you want something specific, you can message me and I will be happy to see what we can do. LOVE JESSIE XXX" 4 Jessie shot to fame in the Harry Potter movies as Ron Wesley's girlfriend Credit: Warner Bros
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Throne And Liberty' Got A ‘Significant Influx' Of Players From Its Big Free Expansion
Nebula Island from the Wilds of Talandre expansion The massive Wilds of Talandre expansion for Throne and Liberty, the free-to-play MMORPG, maintains a consistent player count and sustained interest from fans of the genre since coming out on March 6. Throne and Liberty debuted in the West in October 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC with full cross-play. In Throne and Liberty, you explore a land known as Solisium which is split up into various regions and islands. The majority of the game takes place across a large land mass with the lower left portion designated as the region of Laslan and the lower right region designated as Stonegard. Now, with the release of the Wilds of Talandre expansion, the explorable area of the game has nearly doubled. The Wilds of Talandre update opens the border north to allow you into the Talandre region, which encompasses the northern section of the main land mass. That's just the start, though. In addition to the new Talandre region, there's Nebula Island which debuted just a few weeks ago in an update after the main expansion was released, which is only accessible to max level 55 characters. It's a gnarly place. Players can only spend a maximum of five hours per week on this new island with several conflict zones mixing PvP encounters with PvE elements. It's a dangerous place, but the loot and rewards could make it all worth it. On top of all of that, this expansion increased the level cap from 50 to 55, expanded lifestyle content levels to 25, added solo dungeons, introduced a new 3-star tier of co-op group dungeons, totally revamped the weapon mastery progression system, and much more. That's a lot of new land to cover FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder To get more context around the expansion's launch and what it's meant for the game's activity, I reached out to Amazon Games to ask how the update's reception has been thus far. 'Throne and Liberty players are some of the most engaged and dedicated players that we've seen to this point,' globalization design manager Daniel 'Tico' Lafuente said in an email. 'We are very satisfied with the current overall player counts. Talandre's release brought a significant influx of both new and returning players, which was a key goal for this expansion.' According to SteamDB, the number of active players nearly doubled when Wilds of Talandre was released on March 6. The fact that the influx has maintained over the course of nearly an entire month is a great sign for the game's health and longevity. Throne and Liberty hovers around 30,000-40,000 concurrent players at any given time these days on Steam, usually peaking a bit above and then dipping a bit below over the course of a single day. This does not take into account players on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S at all. 'We've experienced a significant increase in overall player activity since Talandre's launch,' said Lafuente. 'Playtime is up. Content engagement is up. Our players' response to Talandre has been impressive. We can't wait to see how they react to all the content we have coming the rest of the year.' The new weapon mastery system is overwhelming at first For context, here are some concurrent player numbers on Steam for other popular MMOs as of right now: Final Fantasy XIV hovers around 30,000 players as well, The Elder Scrolls Online sits around 15,000 players, and Amazon's own New World: Aeternum rarely tops 10,000 players. Considering those relative stats and the fact two out of its three platforms aren't even accounted for, those are pretty strong results for Throne and Liberty. Throne and Liberty was originally conceived to be part of NCSoft's Lineage game series, but was restructured during development as its own game. With more than three million players in its first week alone, it's been a solid first few months for the new MMORPG. Personally, I clocked nearly 200 hours in Throne and Liberty within its first couple of months late last year running my own guild and clearing the story plus end-game content. It has a great mix of PvE and PvP content, depending on what you're looking for.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
House of the Dragon Starts Production on Season 3: Sons of Anarchy and Fantastic Beasts Alums Join Cast
House of the Dragon is unfurling its wings for another season. HBO announced Monday that is Game of Thrones prequel has begun production on Season 3, marking the event with a video of Emma D'Arcy in full Queen Rhaenyra regalia. More from TVLine Britt Lower and Milo Ventimiglia Join Netflix's Harlan Coben Thriller I Will Find You The White Lotus: Fight Night! Who Came Out Swinging? And Who Ran for the Hills? Carrie Coon's White Lotus Character Originally Had a Non-Binary Child - But That Was Cut After Trump's Reelection 'The fight for the Throne is far from over,' the caption reads on the cabler's X post. The fight for the Throne is far from over.S3 of #HOTD is now in production. — Max (@StreamOnMax) March 31, 2025 While the news wasn't accompanied by a new trailer or release date, HBO did confirm the addition of several new faces to the realm. Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy, Power Book IV: Force) will play Ser Roderick Dustin. Dan Fogler (The Goldbergs, the Fantastic Beasts films) will play Ser Torrhen Manderly. They join previously announced Season 3 newbie James Norton (The Nevers, Happy Valley), who'll play Ormund Hightower. The returning cast includes Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin and Abubakar Salim. House of the Dragon Season 3: Everything We Know So Far View List House of the Dragon was renewed for Season 3 in June, ahead of its Season 2 premiere. In a call with journalists after the Season 2 finale, showrunner Ryan Condal said Season 4 would be the fantasy series' final season. Do you have thoughts about 's upcoming season? Hit the comments, and let us know! Best of TVLine Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More 'Missing' Shows, Found! The Latest on Severance, Holey Moley, Poker Face, YOU, Primo, Transplant and 25+ Others
