Author: TechBrunch
There had been rumours that the UK's new Labour government would introduce legislation specifically on artificial intelligence, announcing a full programme of legislation amid the pomp of the opening of Parliament. But the King's Speech contained a much more tentative promise: “We will seek to bring in appropriate legislation that imposes requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models”. A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street and the Department for Innovation, Science and Technology (DSIT) confirmed that there are no plans for an AI bill yet, and did not provide details when asked by TechCrunch about plans…
Supply chain management remains a challenge for many mid-sized businesses that can't afford SAP or lack the IT resources to manage complex programs. Early-stage startup Didero decided to build an AI-powered tool to ease the burden for these companies. Today, the company announced a $7 million seed round of funding, at the same time the startup is coming out of stealth and launching its product to the public. “We're trying to build an end-to-end suite that enables procurement teams to manage suppliers across the various point solution markets that exist,” product lead and co-founder Tim Spencer told TechCrunch. This includes…
Tricentis, the well-funded test automation platform that helps developers find bugs in their code (with the help of AI, of course), today announced that it has acquired SeaLights, a startup that makes the automated testing process more efficient by focusing only on the code that has changed. While the companies did not disclose the value of the acquisition, it is worth noting that Searight, which was founded in 2015, has raised a total of $50 million, including $30 million in a Series A round in 2021. The company's investors include Red Dot Capital, Deutsche Bank, TransLink Capital, Shasta Ventures, Bloomberg…
A new app called The Way aims to help people explore the deeper aspects of meditation through a single, structured path guided by a certified Zen master. Founded by uncle-nephew duo Henry and Jack Shucman, The Way wants to guide people beyond the modern mindfulness practices offered by popular meditation apps like Headspace and Calm, and towards a deeper understanding of the teachings of millennia-old meditation traditions. Henry, one of five certified Sanbo Zen masters in the world, had to pivot to teaching meditation online during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was able to create a digital infrastructure for his meditation…
Menlo Ventures, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that is one of the largest investors in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, announced on Wednesday that the two firms are teaming up to launch a $100 million initiative called the “Anthology Fund” to invest in pre-seed and Series A-stage artificial intelligence companies. Menlo recently topped Anthropic's list of backers, closing a yet-to-be-announced funding round of more than $750 million for the foundation model company, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Anthology Fund's capital is carved out of Menlo's most recent investment vehicle, $1.35 billion, which it raised in November, Matt…
Nearly every site these days uses some kind of recommendation service to personalize their offerings, whether it's an online marketplace, a store, or a social media platform. Shaped, which announced an $8 million Series A funding round today, wants to make it easy for companies of all sizes to combine their existing data with large-scale language models and other recommendation systems to deliver personalized user experiences. It's worth noting that Shaped is a developer-first platform, which gives customers a high level of flexibility, including choice of data sources, integration methods, language models (Llama, CLIP, BERT, etc.), and scoring mechanisms for…
While many startups struggle to raise capital and stay afloat, Kandji, an Apple device management platform, is an exception. Founded in 2019, Kandji has blazed through funding rounds like a precocious child, raising more than $188 million to date. Today, the company added to that total by raising an additional $100 million from General Catalyst, half of which is additional equity and the other half is debt securities. Today's round brings the company's total funding, including debt, to more than $288 million. It also increased its valuation from $800 million to $850 million since its last round in 2021. The…
Will generative AI replace the social graph? California-based local experience discovery startup Bigfoot hopes that adding a conversational interface to its weekend planner website (in the form of an AI chatbot it branded Littlefoot, which launched last week) will create a more personalized feel while also making it easier for people to find relevant activities in their neighborhood. Co-founder Alex Ward explains the idea is to recreate the feeling of chatting with a “knowledgeable friend.” This feature allows users to interact with Bigfoot's curated local events, activity spots, and nightlife options through text conversations, easily directing and guiding the AI…
Tinder revealed last year that it was testing a photo selection feature that would use AI to help users choose the best photos for their dating profiles. The feature, now named “Photo Selector,” was officially launched on the Match-owned dating app on Wednesday. It's currently available to all users in the U.S., and will be rolling out to international markets later this summer. Tinder's AI photo selector leverages face detection technology and works as you'd expect: when a user uploads a selfie to the Tinder app, a unique face geometry is created from the photo, allowing the AI to identify…
South Korean prosecutors said Wednesday they had requested an arrest warrant for Brian Kim, founder of South Korean internet giant Kakao, as part of an investigation into suspected stock market manipulation linked to a high-profile 2023 takeover battle for SM Entertainment, one of South Korea's biggest music labels. The warrant was issued a week after Seoul prosecutors began investigating Kim's involvement in alleged stock price manipulation at SM Entertainment. Kakao did not respond to a request for comment before publication. In March 2023, Kakao and Kakao subsidiary Kakao Entertainment won a bidding war for a 39.9% stake in K-pop label…