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 startup backed by Accenture. If you would like to join, send us an email at [email protected] or apply here.

∆ Tech in the News

Google x Reddit - Reuters reports that Reddit will supply Google with content for model training in a ~$60M p/a deal including Google Cloud access.

“Most Loyal Users” - Reddit will offer 75,000 top Redditors an option to buy shares at listing price at its March IPO. The move could bring good or bad PR depending on share price performance post-IPO.

Everything App - Elon Musk went live to tease a potential X - Midjourney partnership, and a Grok 1.5 release coming in the next few weeks. And Neuralink’s 1st patient has recovered with the ability to control a mouse via thought.

"Deceptive AI" - The FTC proposed new rules for AI deepfakes impersonating individuals, and & NY’s Governor wants to make them illegal.

Chief AI Officer - The DOJ appointed Princeton Prof. Jonathan Mayer (Law major & PhD in Comp-science) to oversee AI efforts, tech recruitment & more. 

The Hottest Thing in Tech this Week

Nvidia, “The Most Important Stock on Planet Earth”

Goldman Sachs declared Nvidia “the most important stock on planet Earth” this week. It delivered on this claim with a $12.3B Q4 profit on strong AI-driven demand fueling its $2T valuation and sparking a wider tech stock rally. But will Nvidia’s stock price remain in orbit or come crashing back to Earth?

Formerly key clients are looking to shore up their own supply chains to reduce reliance on Nvidia. Microsoft just partnered with Intel to produce a custom AI chip under its expanding Foundry business. OpenAI has unveiled Sam Altman’s optimistic $7T global chip foundry efforts. SoftBank billionaire Masayoshi Son is raising $100B for an AI chip venture to compete with Nvidia and push towards AGI. Meanwhile, OpenAI, SoftBank, and Arm are all reportedly competing to buy struggling chip startup Graphcore to kickstart their own foundries. 

Then there are the upstart challengers. Groq launched a new “LPU” processor designed to make chatbots run faster than Nvidia’s GPUs. An LPU is a chip designed according to the processing mechanics of an LLM, making LLM’s running on them faster and more efficient. One problem, Groq’s chips cost $20k!

However, Nvidia keeps on innovating. It just announced a partnership with Google to optimize its new lightweight Gemma AI model to run on phones and local PCs. Nvidia also inked a Nokia deal to produce AI tech for mobile networks. Its Grace CPU Superchip will power Nokia’s cloud network services for running wireless networks and Nokia will use Nvidia’s GPUs for AI applications.

These efforts show Huang and co are thinking ahead to where AI is heading and have concluded that it is at least in part towards lighter weight, mobile-ready, and local device-based applications. Nvidia’s total market dominance will no doubt be diminished over time, but it seems well-positioned to remain at the top.

Are you interested in an open deal in the chip-making space?

We can connect investors to a Qualcomm Competitor AI Chip maker raising to accelerate production of their market-first chip focused on IOT and mobile use. Contact us for a warm intro at: [email protected] 

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:

Accelerating Self-Driving - San Jose, Ca. autonomous vehicle/AI chip startup Recogni closed a $102M Series C backed by HSBC and Tasaru Mobility.

Data Protection - California Startup Clumio closed a $75M Series D for its cloud environment cyberattack and operational protection services.

Telemedicine - Pennsylvania Health Automation startup Fabric landed a $60M Series A backed by Thrive, Salesforce, & GV for its Virtual care platform.

"TurboTax of Construction Permitting" - California startup PermitFlows landed a $31M Series A round led by Kleiner Perkins and backed by YC.

Give Us a Qloo - The New York-based AI startup closed a $25M Series C led by AI Ventures to help businesses predict customer preferences across sectors.

Companies to Watch:

Disney Backed AI -  Disney’s incubator selected three AI startups, ElevenLabs and AudioShake (AI audio), & Promethean AI (AI prototyping).

Swipe Right - Dating app giant Match Group and OpenAI partnered to streamline Match's internal processes and further AI development.

*IPO Watch - AI hardware maker Astera Labs filed to go public, with a ~50% ARR bump to $115.8M and losses more than halving to $26.3M in 2023.

The Funding Buzz

Bluestein Ventures - Chicago Food tech VC firm secured $45M towards its Fund III focused on pre-seed - Series A deals in health and proprietary food tech.

Hack VC - The New York firm raised a $150M fund to invest in early-stage crypto startups in DeFi, (RWA) tokenization, and blockchain infrastructure.

Overture Climate VC - A DC-based early-stage VC firm by former Obama WH staffers closed its debut fund at $60M to back hardware and software startups.

New AML Rules - FinCEN proposed new rules that would require investment advisers registered with the SEC to file Suspicious Activity Reports.

Trending Tools and Buzzy Tech

Trending Tools

Gemma - Google released two lightweight open-source AI models suitable for tasks like simple chatbots or summarization.

OpenAI - doubled rate limits for GPT-4 Turbo to max 1.5M tokens/min.

Microsoft - New network card to boost its Maia AI chip performance.

Quantum-Proof Encryption - Apple claims iMessage's encryption is strongest.

Buzzy Tech

Period Pain - Wearable neuro-stimulation targeting menstrual pain perception.

Facial Recognition - Biometric tech on the rise at airports to speed up security.

Magic - Technical breakthrough in “active reasoning” processes 3.5M words.

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].