9/29/23

∆ Tech in the News

OpenAI Smartphone? - Ex-Apple designer, Worldcoin collaborator, and friend of Sam Altman, Jony Ive is said to be working with OpenAI on an AI hardware project, potentially to be backed by billionaire Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son.

ChatGPT’s Bing Boost - OpenAI is now integrating Microsoft's Bing to unlock its models’ access to real-time search capabilities of the post-Sept 2021 internet.

"Responsible AI innovation" - President Biden plans to issue an AI-related executive order this fall building on previous plans for an “AI Bill of Rights."

Space Lasers: Pew Pew! - Starlink’s next-generation optical space lasers were launched to orbit on Monday to unlock truly global coverage of the most remote locations, including maritime and aviation uses.

G-Robot Grants - Google is granting $10M to youth robotics nonprofits FIRST and RECF to introduce 300,000 students to robotics and AI education and prepare middle schoolers for future tech-centric jobs.

˚The hottest thing in tech this week

Meta’s AI Raybans & Celeb Chatbots

From Rayban Smart Glasses that look cool to Conversational AIs on Facebook, The Gram and WhatsApp, Zuckerberg’s ambitious AI overhaul this week is a big foray into the multimodal and interactive AI future. Meta AI is an advanced conversational assistant offering real-time info in partnership with Bing and includes an image generation tool, AI stickers and text-to-image generation. It also communicates with “personality” in conversational AI with an initial cast of 28 celebrity bots that “talk” in the personas of MrBeast, Snoop Dogg, and more.

Hardware running these AI features will include the Quest 3 ‘mixed-reality’ AR and VR headset and Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. The AI Studio also enables businesses and creators to build 3rd-party custom bots in an attempt to keep companies and influencers using Meta for their customer engagement.

Meta AI can be seen as a meeting point for Meta’s AI and Metaverse streams. Zuck’s talk with Lex Fridman in the Metaverse is a peek into the AI-enabled metaverse vision developing at Meta. Where this could all go is pretty exciting.

These major updates all signal Meta intends to compete with the likes of Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s touted smartphone and Humane AI pin, or Amazon’s AI smart devices. But it also seeks to cement Meta as a go-to for GenZ for their AI for ‘personal’ use and entertainment and their personal AI assistance needs.

Does Meta’s vision of the future excite you, or is it all hype?

News Bytes

• Amazon Bedrock genAI tools now available for businesses to build apps

• Adobe Launches Photoshop on Web with AI-powered tools

• The CIA is Building a Closed AI Chatbot Tool to Aid Intelligence Analysts

Deals We’re Watching

Founders to Watch and Opportunities to Catch

Closed Deals:

OpenAI's Share Sale Eyes $90B - OpenAI is considering a share sale at a staggering $80-$90B, potentially 3x its previous $30B valuation, which would make it one of the world’s highest-valued companies.

AI Searchable Business Intel - Market intel platform AlphaSense is valued at $2.5B after raising $150M from BOND, Alphabet's CapitalG, and Goldman Sachs.

Democratizing Online Security - Nord Security, known for its NordVPN, closed a $100M round from Warburg Pincus and Novator Ventures.

Conversational AI Cybersecurity - Startup Nexusflow closed a $10.6M Seed at a $53M PMV to refine their Conversational AI Cybersecurity Interface.

Trailblazing Freight Brokerage - ZeroBroker raised a $6.5M Seed for its app that bypasses freight broker fees and streamlines direct shipping with truckers.

EV Boat For Watersports - Startup Arc closed a $70M Series B round from Eclipse, a16z, Lowercarbon, Abstract, and Menlo for its new boat designed for wakeboarding, waterskiing and other watersports.

Companies to Watch:

Sam Altman,YC, Union Back Slope - The financing and payment processing startup founded by Forbes Under 30 listers and with 8-figures+ 2023 revenue has just raised another $30M to ramp up their AI fintech tools.

Nvidia Backed GenAI Drug Discovery - Biotech Evozyne co-developed its AI model for drug and carbon capture with Nvidia. A $81M Series B by Fidelity and OrbiMed, NVentures and Valor will help maximise it and create new products.

VR Jobs Training - Startup Transfr has facilitated ~400K VR career training simulations with its’ enterprise partners in 40+ states. A $40M Series C led by ABS Capital will see global expansion in this high-growth sector.

Zero-Trust Space Cybersecurity - Xage Security landed a $17M contract from the U.S. Space Force for its pioneering access control and data protection tech. Xage previously raised $60M from Piva and Valor.

AI Fights Loneliness - Former Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg’s new startup, Meeno is developing an AI chatbot to help individuals fight loneliness with the aid of a $3.9M Seed round led by Sequoia.

A Faire Deal - Shopify just expanded its e-commerce footprint by investing in the wholesale platform, Faire aiming to streamline inventory management for Shopify sellers via a newly launched app.

Open Deals:

Giving Creators Control - Enshrine empowers online creators to grow and forge meaningful fan connections with lower fees and direct fan interactions and incentivized tokenized engagements. To meet with CEO Derek Gorthy, click here.

Transforming the Financial Landscape - ECHO is a blockchain and fintech ecosystem blending CeFi and DeFi and giving ECHO Token holders tangible real-yield incentives. Click here to speak with CEO Sam Dorrer.

Tools

GrowthSchool - An intensive ChatGPT & AI Workshop to learn AI for FREE.

Vimcal - The world’s fastest calendar, designed to give you back control over your time.

Microsoft AI Copilot - The hotly anticipated Windows 11 AI assistant.

If you have a deal or company that you would like to host on our next issue, drop us a line at @ [email protected].

Thanks for connecting with us.

The Tech Buzz Team