AI Meets Spatial Computing With ChatGPT VisionPro App

∆ Tech in the News

It's Manageable - Fed Chair Jerome Powell admits more small banks may fail due to commercial real estate weaknesses, but does not see a repeat of 2008.

Gemini Leaked - On 2/7 Google will rebrand its chatbot to Gemini and unveil its flagship GPT-4-rivaling Gemini Ultra model + Android app, a leak suggests.

Unanimously Approved - EU Member States send the final text of the AI Act to parliament for approval, ending months of debate and lobbying.

Nvidia Soars - The AI Chip leader’s stock hit record highs as Goldman Sachs boosted its price target in anticipation of a major AI-driven earnings boost.

Vesuvius Challenge - A U.S. research team wins $700k for using AI to read a charred 2000-yr-old Vesuvius scroll 10 months into the competition.

˚The Hottest Thing in Tech this Week

AI Meets Spatial Computing With ChatGPT VisionPro App

OpenAI has just launched a ChatGPT App for Apple’s Vision Pro, merging its GPT-4 Turbo LLM with Apple's VR tech for a more immersive AI experience. This VisionOS app (available for free from today) marks a pivotal moment for AI's entry into spatial computing, paving the way for AI-enhanced virtual realities that could transform education, training, entertainment and AI influencers and more. VisionOS features that the app could tap into in the future include Spatial Audio, biometric verification, and VisionKit for developing multimodal apps.

As for Apple itself, Tim Cook hinted on Monday’s earnings call that it will showcase its GenAI progress "later this year" as well as an OS upgrade promised to be the most significant in years (likely at WWDC in June). Apple is very focused on “edge processing”, which along with VisionOS, provides huge opportunities. We can expect to see deep integrations into the new operating systems, harnessing the full potential of the A17 bionic SoC which can natively run Ajax (Apple's on-device LLM) to bring users the most interconnected, immersive and interactive mobile spatial computing experience ever.

Google is keeping pace too, according to a leak yesterday it is set to rebrand its Bard chatbot to "Gemini" and introduce the advanced Ultra model, directly competing with GPT-4 in the multimodal AI space. Gemini Advanced will employ the Ultra 1.0 model for multi-model and multimodal interactions, accessible via an Android app. This app will unify Google's suite for interaction across text, voice, and images, with a cross-platform presence.

As for Google's AR and VR ventures, the cryptic Project Iris was reported in 2020 and in later leaks to be eying a 2024 headset launch. However, we also know from Samsung’s Unpacked event in 2023 that it’s now working with Qualcomm and Google on a mixed-reality headset. With the strengthening partnership between the giants and Galaxy S24 phones using Gemini AI, it seems more likely Google will tap Samsung’s far better product and hardware capacity to launch an Android app-based mixed-reality headset unit an OS as soon as practical to compete in this battle for extended reality AI.

Other players to watch in the category include:

• Meta's Reality Labs projects the Quest 3 and Ray-Ban AI Smart Glasses;

• Sony and Siemens’ Industrial Metaverse-focused spatial computing headset as we featured in a CES 2024 edition;

• Microsoft and Siemens “Industrial Copilot” powered by OpenAI.

• Alibaba’s multimodal Vision AI model which Micah Berkley claims is better than GPT-4 at some visual tasks like identifying people;

All this activity signals a broader industry shift towards spatial computing and underscores the sector's rapid expansion, indicating a future where AI-driven virtual environments become seamlessly integrated into daily life.

Deals We’re Watching

Founders to Watch and Opportunities to Catch

Open Deals:

Raising for your startup? Send us your Open Round —> [email protected]

MedSpa InsurTech - Accelerating first-to-market aesthetics procedure insurance for US medspas. 700+ plans, 0 claims over 4 locations generating $23K in 12 weeks. On track for 2K+ locations in 2024. Proven track record with multiple startups sold to public companies.

Real Estate Tokenization Platform - Asset tokenization platform and exchange with early partnerships and assets seeking backers in CRE. Approvals for secondary market with jurisdiction in US and UAE.

Qualcomm Competitor AI Chip - TSMC manufactured AI chip raising to accelerate production of their market-first chip, with less power consumption and enhanced performance for IOT, cellular, wearables, and more.

Expert-Led Crypto Algo Fund - Long only, spot algorithmic liquid fund. Outperformed Bitcoin over the past 3 years with -32% max drawdown in 2022 bear market (Bitcoin -78%). Discount offered on management fees.

Looking to invest? Let us know if you want a warm intro —> [email protected] 

Closed Deals:

Going Private - Private Equity firm Thoma Bravo is acquiring critical event management software company Everbridge in a $1.5B all-cash deal.

$230M Total Raised - “99%autonomous” robot delivery service startup Starship Technologies added $90M to build a “category-dominating company.”

Biometric Guns - Biofire extended its Series A funding round to $22M to integrate software and hardware in firearms for consumers, security services, law enforcement, and defense agencies.

GameOn! - Sports VR startup StatusPro known for its NFL Pro Era game raised $20M led by Alphabet's VC, GV to expand in gaming and lead in sports.

AI Heart MedTech - AI-powered arrhythmia analysis tech company Vektor Medical closed a $16M Series A co-led by TVM Capital Life Sciences.

Moon Mining - Ex-Blue Origin Exec Rob Meyerson’s stealth startup Interlune raised $15.5M to mine the moon for minerals and aims to close another $2M.

Companies to Watch:

Gates, Bezos, a16z, Ma-Backed - AI-Powered Mining exploration startup KoBold Metals struck gold for backers, finding vast copper deposits in Zambia.

Bright Future - Apple plans to acquire German advanced data anonymization platform developer Brighter AI to enhance its Vision Pro capabilities.

Pre-IPO - Cybersecurity startup Wiz hired ex-Zscaler COO as President and COO. Wiz 2x’d ARR to $350M in 2023 and eyes 400 hires and a $1B valuation to go with its $800M total raised from Sequoia and Insight Partners.

IPO WATCH - Cybersecurity startup Rubrik, and Data center connectivity startup Astera set their sights on IPOs in March and April respectively.

The Funding Buzz

Wonder Ventures - Raised $102M across two funds to support early-stage tech startups in LA and SoCal. Past wins include Honey and Whatnot.

Symbiote - Launched its Web3 startup accelerator with startups including in Real World Assets, security, payments, decentralized ID, and nodal infrastructure.

Sequoia Capital - Its evergreen fund now manages $17.8B in assets, according to a new SEC filing, up 24% from Feb 2023 per The Information.

Alt Capital - Jack Altman (Sam’s brother) raised a $150M VC fund to lead investments in early-stage startups with a focus on enterprise software and AI.

Tools and Buzzy Tech

Tools

Bloomberg AI - New LLM-powered summarization and tool for Terminal users.

ChatGPT VR - You can now access ChatGPT on the Apple Vision Pro.

Hugging Chat Assistant - Easily build free, OS, customizable AI assistants.

Alibaba - Multimodal Vision AI is better than GPT-4 at some visual tasks.

The Browser Company - Developing AI tech for its Arc Browser to autonomously surf the web and present relevant information to users.

Tech

Space Umbrella - Proposed solar shade could reduce warming by 2.7F in 2 yrs.

3D-Printed Brain Tissue - Scientists grow “functional” human brain cells.

Baby Brain - A model learned to speak by training on a 1st-person baby cam.

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Learn more and see the results and our analysis from January here >>

Stay buzzy!

The Tech Buzz Team