Author: TechBrunch
Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator held its second demo day for its summer 2024 cohort on Thursday. As we saw in Day 1, AI continues to be the focus for most startups in this cohort. However, we also found some interesting startups working on cool technologies like traffic-free drones, cargo pooling, and weather forecasting. The companies that stood out are: Features: Detect errors in engineering projects, suggest solutions, and even implement them yourself. Why I love it: I was intrigued when Entangl announced that it was in talks with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy about automating data center validation. The fact…
United Arab Emirates-based Redwood has acquired a majority stake in game streaming platform Loco, as the Indian company looks to expand its focus on international markets, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed. Redwood, a newly formed investment company, has signed a $65 million deal with Loco, an investment that provides a complete exit for all existing Loco backers. This drop in valuation from Loco's peak of around $150 million in 2022 reflects the Indian esports streaming company's broader struggle to generate revenue, and its challenges Part of this is due to the limited number of popular games on the market. Loco…
The AI video generator needs to trust that the filmmaker will use its model in the production process. Otherwise, why would it exist? To fuel the new AI film ecosystem, Runway has secured $5 million in cash and additional service credits to fund up to 100 original films. If you're a director interested in AI, now's your chance to get a little help. Runway's Hundred Film Fund aims to help launch video-based projects that use the company's generative video model in some way. “Traditional funding mechanisms often overlook emerging visions within the larger industry ecosystem,” the company said in a…
Departures may dominate this week's OpenAI-related headlines. But comments from the company's vice president of international affairs, Anna Makanju, about her AI bias also caught our attention. Makanju, speaking on a panel at the United Nations' Future Summit event on Tuesday, suggested that new “inference” models such as OpenAI's o1 have the potential to measurably reduce bias in AI. . how? By being self-aware of bias in their responses and more closely adhering to rules that tell them not to respond in a “harmful” way, she said. Models like o1 “really take more time and allow you to evaluate your…
Lending startup Figure today announced the rollout of an AI tool to make the home lending process more efficient. The company plans to launch an AI tool powered by GPT-4 that will help find errors in loan documents. Founded in 2018, Figure specializes in helping consumers secure mortgage lines of credit. The company touts that its all-online process reduces the typical 45-day process to five days. More than half of Figure's business is B2B, embedded in companies such as solar panel loan company GoodLeap. The company, which has raised more than $1.5 billion and was last valued at about $3…
Drata, a security compliance automation platform that helps companies comply with frameworks such as SOC 2 and GDPR, has laid off 9% of its workforce, or 40 people in total. Founded in 2020, Drata integrates with dozens of cloud, SaaS apps, developer tools, security systems, and more to provide businesses with the evidence they need to prove their data privacy and security practices are sound. We will assist you in checking. As layoffs continue to plague the tech industry in 2024, Drata reported some impressive growth metrics just seven months ago. The San Diego-based company claims 100% year-over-year revenue growth,…
Just as OpenAI boasts of improving the thoughtfulness of the o1 model, Nomi AI, a small bootstrapped startup, is building similar technology. Unlike his ChatGPT, which is a broad generalist that takes time to think through anything from math problems to historical research, Nomi specializes in a specific use case: an AI companion. Now, Nomi's already sophisticated chatbot takes more time to craft better responses to users' messages, remember past interactions, and provide more nuanced responses. “For us, it's like the same principle [as OpenAI]But what users are really concerned about is memory and EQ,” Nomi AI CEO Alex Cardinell…
Competition in commercial fusion power generation is intensifying. Investors have poured money into fusion startups in recent years, and one recent beneficiary is Zapp Energy, an Everett, Washington-based startup. The company is pursuing a smart approach to harnessing the power of the stars. According to PitchBook, the company recently closed on $130 million in funding, bringing his total to $327 million, according to SEC filings. Only four fusion startups raised more funds. The new round was led by Soros Fund Management, with participation from new investors BAM Elevate, Emerson Collective, Mizuho Financial Group, and Xplor Ventures. Existing investors including Breakthrough…
Earlier this week, some US customers who use Kaspersky Lab antivirus software were surprised to find that the Russian software had disappeared from their computers and been replaced with a new antivirus called UltraAV, owned by the US company Pango. The move comes after the U.S. government imposed an unprecedented ban on Kaspersky Lab, completely banning the company from selling any software in the country, which took effect on July 20, and a ban on providing subsequent security updates to existing customers on September 29. A spokesperson for Pango, the cybersecurity company that owns UltraAV, defended the automatic migration, which…
The world of WordPress, one of the most used technologies for creating and hosting websites, is in the midst of a very heated controversy. At the core of the issue is a dispute between Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, and WP Engine, which hosts websites built with WordPress. WordPress technology is open source, free, and powers the majority of the Internet – approximately 40% of websites. Websites can host their own WordPress instance or use a plug-and-play solution with a solution provider such as Automattic or WP Engine. In mid-September, Mullenweg wrote a blog post…