ATTN! Last week we announced the launch of Buzz Capital. For our first deal, we are giving you access to an exclusive round to invest in a Series A GenAI, backed by Accenture. If you would like to join, send us an email [email protected] or apply here.

∆ Tech in the News

Bidding War - OpenAI, Softbank, and Arm are all competing to buy struggling British AI chip startup Graphcore. The firm is also in talks to raise fresh funding at a valuation of >$500M, almost double its’ 2020 value. 

Tech Giants in Accord - OpenAI, Amazon, and Google join a collaboration to ensure AI is not used to deceive voters or disrupt US or global elections this year.

$100B Chip Startup - SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is looking to raise funds for an AI chip venture to compete with NVIDIA and push towards AGI. The project is potentially “joining forces” with Sam Altman’s $7T effort.

$539M Fine - The EU is poised to fine Apple over alleged breaches of competition law likely relating to App Store rules per a Financial Times report.

$1.5B Grant - The U.S. government is backing GlobalFoundries to expand semiconductor production and strengthen domestic supply chains.

The Hottest Thing in Tech this Week

Did Gemini Just Dethrone ChatGPT?

Google revealed Gemini 1.5 only a matter of days after V1.0, and though it's not yet public, many early testers say it’s the biggest boost in LLM capabilities this year and even surpasses ChatGPT-4. The model’s 1M+ token context length means it can understand much more data than other LLMs/chatbots. Typically increasing context length hurts performance, but V1.5 scores 99% on the “Needle In A Haystack” test of locating a fact in a long block of context.

Some examples of what Gemini 1.5 can do:

• Understanding and summarizing a long text or video without transcripts

• Highlighting key concepts or notable moments

• Predicting with a low error rate whether videos are AI-generated

• Finding, understanding, and utilizing small pieces of context from a large knowledge base to answer user questions (RAG)

Gemini can process up to 700k words of text, 11 hours of audio, or 1 hour of video; and this will only scale up over time. It can accurately analyze, summarize, rephrase and quote specific information from full books, large codebases, movies, long meetings, and more. Soon we could even be granting Gemini access to YouTube, Gmail or Google Drive data and asking questions about it.

OpenAI Fights back

OpenAI, meanwhile, just released its first video generation model “Sora” and is reportedly developing advanced LLM agency frameworks to allow GPT-4 to deeply integrate into an operating system. It also has plans for an AI Search engine (think Perplexity) showing a desire to hit Google where it hurts. Gartner has just predicted that traditional search engine use will drop by 25% as AI chatbots and virtual agents take over market share by 2026.

Top Multimodal AI competitors are not staggering away from the competition; they're barreling forward which is driving epic improvements for consumers.

Fantasy Buzz Poll

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

Deals We’re Watching

Founders to Watch and Opportunities to Catch

Open Deals:

Looking to invest? GET A ‘WARM INTRO’ TO FOUNDERS —> [email protected] 

1. Web3 Layer for Web2 - Dubai, UAE - Web3 platform turning web2 networks into ownership economies. Investors include Sandbox, Gemini, Sidedoor, Enjinstarter, Kingsway. Serial entrepreneur with 8 figures raised from VCs for past startups. Strategic token round.

2. Reducing Enterprise Litigation Risk - Hayden, ID - AI platform detects harmful communication in email/text, intercepting before damage. Investors include Sequoia, Emerson, Microsoft Execs, and more. Global financial institution deals underway. Series A Bridge.

3. Micro-Satellite Infrastructure - Akron, PA - Creating a global network monitoring changes in the Earth’s most precious resources in real time. Multiple funded government contracts as well as 2 SBIR grants with the Airforce. Seed – Series A.

4. Online Leadership Development in Exit Negotiations - SF, CA - Led by proven serial entrepreneur/ex-Microsoft exec negotiates acquisition by major learning company (e.g., Masterclass). Users include Amazon, J&J, St. Jude, California State Parks, Western U. Seeking bridge funding ahead of potential Q2 2024 exit, offering 2X return or stock option.

5. Seed Stage AI Financial Guidance Platform - Rochester, NY - Enables financial firms to increase conversion 10x and improve retention. Ex-JPMorgan exec. $50K ARR with 1 credit union and $7.8MM pipeline. Raising seed to onboard clients and pass security diligence.

Raising for your startup? SEND YOUR OPEN ROUND —> [email protected]

Closed Deals:

#3 Global Tech Startup - OpenAI secured a tender offer led by Thrive Capital upping its valuation to over $80B, tripling its value in under just one year

Cancer Blood Tests - San Fran-based early cancer detection Biotech company Freenome raised $254M (total $1.25B) from Roche, a16z, BrightEdge and others.

AI Software Engineer - San Fran startup Magic AI closed a $117M complex coding AI that will act as a “coworker”, not a "copilot".

Degrader Antibody Conjugates - San Fran cancer biotech startup Firefly Bio emerged from stealth with a $94M Series A led by Versant and MPM BioImpact.

Music Financing - NYC Startup Duetti closed a $90M round to help artists unlock cash flow by selling their rights on an open market.

On-Chain Credit Market - NY-based web3 startup Blueprint Finance raised $7.5M co-led by Hashed and Tribe Capital for Concrete Protocol.

Companies to Watch:

Peter Thiel-Backed - German B2B finance automation fintech Monite 10x’ed MRR 5x’d y-o-y customer growth. Thiel’s Valar Ventures backed a $6M top-up Seed round to expand to the US, already signing Capital on Tap and OpenSolar.

Buying Spree - Mobile apps startup Bending Spoons targets $500M in sales after acquiring Meetup, Mosaic, Evernote, video editors Filmic and Splice, and AI photo editor Remini. It also just landed $155M equity funding at $2.5B PMV.

IPO Watch - Reddit signed a $60M p/a deal allowing “an unnamed large AI firm” to access its user content to train models ahead of its upcoming IPO.

The Funding Buzz

WovenEarth Ventures - A Palo Alto climate tech-focused fund-of-funds closed a $152M debut “risk-adjusted” fund. LPs include Boston University and Pennsylvania State endowments.

.406 Ventures - The Boston VC firm secured $265M towards its fifth fund to back enterprise-focused healthcare, data, AI, and cybersecurity startups.

United Airlines Sustainable Flight Fund - Aircastle, Embraer, Google, and other new partners committed $200M+ to the sustainable fuel-focused fund.

RW3 Ventures - The Boston early-stage VC firm closed its debut fund at $60M to back blockchain and Web3 startups.

Trending Tools and Buzzy Tech

Trending Tools

iPhone16 - A leaked photo indicates a spatial video recording function.

Samsung - Forms "Immersive Team" to develop first XR headset with Google OS and Qualcomm chip.

ElevenLabs - GenAI Sound Effects feature demoed on OpenAI’s Sora videos.

Mistral - New ‘Next’ Model is on par or better than GPT-4.

Buzzy Tech

No Electricity - A market-ready silicon-photonic AI chip using light.

Test-Tube Testes - Scientists grow the first artificial human testicles in a lab.

Satellite-Free Drone - A $500 drone uses a camera + Google Maps for GPS.

Tech Buzz GP 👀

Last week we announced the launch of Buzz Capital. As a Tech Buzz subscriber, you can now invest alongside the best asset managers and GPs in the world through our vehicle. If you would like to apply to join and get access to our deal flow, or

This week, we are taking final commitments for a Series A GenAI, backed by Accenture. APPLY HERE to see if you are eligible to invest.

If you are interested in this opportunity, but are not yet on the accredited investor list send us an email [email protected].