Author: TechBrunch
Cloud services remain a weak spot for businesses when it comes to security, and companies that offer effective solutions to address this continue to attract significant interest in the market from both customers and investors. The latest example is Odaseva, which has raised $54 million in funding and focuses on one use case: securing Salesforce environments. The round was led by Silver Lake Waterman, with participation from existing investors F-Prime, Eight Roads and Serena Capital, as well as new investors Eurazeo and Crescent Cove. Odaseba has raised $90 million to date. The company has not disclosed its valuation, but founder…
Iron Spring Ventures was founded in 2020 to back startups in industrial sectors like construction and manufacturing, but at the time it was one of a handful of early-stage venture firms focused on capital-intensive sectors. Now the firm is doubling down on that effort. The Austin, Texas-based firm has raised $100 million for its second fund focused on industrial startups, a notable increase from the $61 million in the firm's first fund, which closed in 2021. This latest raise allowed the firm to hire its first principal, Colleen Konetzke, and head of platform, Stephanie Volk. The firm plans to use…
Social network Bluesky has added a new feature that lets users create curated lists of people to follow and custom feeds. Called “Starter Pack,” the feature is aimed at helping users join the social network quickly find interesting content. Existing users can create a starter pack by adding their account and custom feed, then share a link or QR code with users who aren't yet on Bluesky. Image credit: Bluesky The link has a “Join Bluesky” button that takes you to the social network's sign-up page. When you sign up, your account will automatically follow all suggested people and feeds.…
French startup Dust has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital, allowing businesses to create custom AI assistants and share them with their employees to work more efficiently. But what's interesting about Dust is how it differs from other companies working on enterprise agents, or AI assistants in general: Unlike consumer-facing tools like ChatGPT, Dust assistants are connected to your company's data and documents. For example, when you build a new assistant in Dust, it can connect to Notion pages, documents stored in Google Drive, Intercom conversations, and Slack. At the same time, unlike…
Google today announced that it is adding support for 110 languages to its translation service, and the company is using the PaLM 2 AI model to power the translations. These languages include Afar, Cantonese, Manx, Nko, Punjabi (Shamukhi), Tamazight (Amazight) and Tok Pisin. The company claims that the newly added languages are spoken by more than 614 million people, roughly 8% of the world's population. Google noted that these languages are at different stages of use: some have 100 million speakers, others have no active speakers, but people are working to preserve them. Google said it takes into account factors…
What is AI good for? Berlin-based startup Synthflow wants to automate repetitive tasks for busy people who run small businesses. The company is announcing a $7.4 million seed round for its no-code platform for AI voice assistants for small businesses. The startup has raised a total of $9.1 million since it was founded around spring of last year, underscoring investors' continued enthusiasm for accelerating the applications of generative AI. The startup also claims to be approaching 1,000 customers, boasting “double-digit” monthly growth since it secretly wrapped up development and released its browser-based “no-code” tool in December 2023. This suggests there's…
The Department of Justice has charged a Russian civilian with conspiring to destroy Ukrainian government computer systems as part of a larger hacking operation ahead of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. U.S. prosecutors in Maryland announced Wednesday that Amin Stigall, 22, is wanted for allegedly helping set up a server that Russian government hackers used to launch a destructive cyberattack against Ukrainian government ministries in January 2022, a month before the Russian government ordered tanks and troops to cross the Ukrainian border. The cyber campaign, known as “Whispergate,” used so-called wiper malware that deliberately and irreversibly encrypts data on infected…
Can chatbots replace human therapists? Some startups and patients claim that it can, but the science hasn't fully proven it. One study found that 80% of people who used OpenAI's ChatGPT for mental health advice considered it a good alternative to regular therapy, while another report found that chatbots are effective in reducing certain symptoms related to depression and anxiety. Meanwhile, it's well-known that the therapist-client relationship — that human connection — is one of the best predictors of success in mental health treatment. Three entrepreneurs, Dustin Klebe, Lukas Wolf, and Chris Aeberli, are proponents of chatbot therapy: Their startup,…
Facing new competition from startups such as Arc, Google on Wednesday announced five new features to improve the search experience in its Chrome browser on mobile devices. These new features include new shortcuts for local search results, an updated address bar for easier navigation, trending search suggestions, live sports cards for fans, and more personalized search suggestions tailored to users' browsing habits. The features will be rolling out soon on both Android and iOS devices. One of the new features is Chrome Actions, which allows users to more easily perform certain tasks without having to go into the settings screen.…
Jerry Pratt and Figure quietly parted ways last month. Pratt was a research scientist at MIT after spending just under two years at the Bay Area-based robotics company. In 2022, Pratt left Boardwalk Robotics, the humanoid startup he founded and led, to become the well-funded CTO of Figure a few months before the company emerged from stealth. But it was only last week that Pratt announced his departure. The news came via LinkedIn, where he announced he was founding a new entrant into the increasingly competitive world of humanoids. Persona AI was officially founded just last month and is currently…