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☆ Drone startup Zipline hits 1 million deliveries, looks to restaurants as it continues to grow
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Kate Rogers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Autonomous delivery drone startup Zipline said Friday that it hit its 1 millionth delivery to customers and that it's eyeing restaurant partnerships in its next phase of growth. The San Francisco-based startup designs, builds and operates autonomous delivery drones, working with clients that range from more than 4,700 hospitals including the Cleveland Clinic to major brands such as Walmart and GNC. The company said its zero-emission drones have now flown more than 70 million autonomous commercial miles across four continents and delivered more than 10 million products. The push into restaurant partnerships marks an "obvious transition" he said, due to the continuing growth in interest in instant food delivery. Zipline deliveries for some Panera locations in Seattle are expected to begin next year, the Panera franchisee's chief operating officer Ron Bellamy told CNBC.

Persons: It's, Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Rinaudo Cliffton, Ron Bellamy, I'm, Bellamy Organizations: Cleveland Clinic, Walmart, Sequoia Capital, a16z, Google Ventures, CNBC, Memorial Hermann Health Locations: San Francisco, Ghana, Seattle, Houston, Detroit

☆ Exclusive: VCs are circling Midi to give more money to the menopause care startup, just 4 months after its last funding round
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

At the White House, Jill Biden is leading a new initiative to boost federal government research into women's health. Most menopause care startups, including Midi, sell into enterprises to offer the service as a benefit to employees. US companies lose about $1.8 billion each year from workdays missed due to menopause symptoms, according to a Mayo Clinic estimate. While venture funding to women's health startups fell in 2023, according to CB Insights, startups tackling menopause symptoms surged ahead of the pack. Data shows these startups raised $230 million last year, making up a third of all funding to women's health startups.

Persons: hasn't, Semper, Joanna Strober, Sharon Meers, Goldman Sachs, It's, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, tailwinds, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Biden, workdays Organizations: Business, Midi, GV, Google Ventures, Felicis, Houston, Hermann Health, CBS, McKinsey, White, Mayo Clinic Locations: Midi

☆ As Ozempic and Wegovy take off, this tech startup just raised $20 million to tackle weight loss with data
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Weight loss has always been big business, but it's exploded of late due to surging demand for Ozempic, Wegovy and other new diabetes and obesity drugs. "Whether you have five pounds to lose or 100, we want to make sure we're able to help everybody," Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer, Signos' co-founder and CEO, told CNBC in an interview. Fouladgar-Mercer said he created the company in 2018 partly because of his own struggle to manage weight throughout his life. Users can also integrate sleep data, heart rate data, and exercise data from their Apple Watch to personalize their profile even more. Fouladgar-Mercer said Signos can work well alongside Ozempic and Wegovy from Novo Nordisk and other GLP-1 treatments.

Persons: Signos, Mercer, it's, It's, GLP Organizations: Cheyenne Ventures, GV, Google Ventures, Dexcom Ventures, CNBC, Signos, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Apple Watch, Abbott Laboratories, U.S, Novo Nordisk, Nordisk's Locations: Mercer, Novo, Europe, Fouladgar, America

☆ AI startup Modular raises $100 mln in General Catalyst-led funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Aug 24 (Reuters) - AI startup Modular said on Thursday it had raised $100 million in a new funding round, led by venture capital firm General Catalyst, with participation from existing investors Google Ventures, SV Angel, Greylock and Factory. Modular is among a clutch of AI startups that have benefited from a boom in the hi-tech sector following the runaway success of ChatGPT, attracting strong interest from venture capital firms and other investors. The company did not disclose the valuation at which it raised capital in the new round, but a report by The Information put it at $600 million earlier this month. It had raised $30 million in June last year. "This new funding will enable us to scale to the incredible customer demand we are seeing," co-founder and CEO Chris Lattner said in a statement.

Persons: Catalyst, Chris Lattner, Jaiveer Singh, Tasim Zahid Organizations: Google Ventures, SV Angel, Nvidia, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

"High level, we want this to become something like your personal AI friend," said developer Div Garg, whose company MultiOn is beta-testing an AI agent. The race towards increasingly autonomous AI agents has been supercharged by the March release of GPT-4 by developer OpenAI, a powerful upgrade of the model behind ChatGPT - the chatbot that became a sensation when released last November. GPT-4 facilitates the type of strategic and adaptable thinking required to navigate the unpredictable real world, said Vivian Cheng, an investor at venture capital firm CRV who has a focus on AI agents. OpenAI itself is very interested in AI agent technology, according to four people briefed on its plans. There are at least 100 serious projects working to commercialize agents, said Matt Schlicht, who writes a newsletter on AI.

Persons: Siri, Alexa, Tony Stark's, Kanjun Qiu, Reid Hoffman, Mustafa Suleyman, Qiu, OpenAI, Vivian Cheng, CRV, Aravind Srinivas, Jarvis, Yoshua Bengio, Satya Nadella, Apple's Siri, it's, Google, Edward Grefenstette, Jason Franklin, WVV Capital, Hesam Motlagh, Matt Schlicht, Anna Tong, Jeffrey Dastin, Kenneth Li Organizations: Microsoft, Google, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Reuters, FTC, OpenAI's, Financial Times, Amazon, Alexa, Investors, WVV, Google Ventures, Entrepreneurs, Thomson Locations: Silicon, Jarvis, GPT, Cognosys, San Francisco, Palo Alto

☆ Kinnu helps users improve their long-term memory and their rate of learning. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck it used to raise $6.5 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Learning platform startup Kinnu has raised $6.5 million from LocalGlobe and Cavalry Ventures. Kinnu aims to help users improve in areas like long-term memory and the rate at which they learn. A startup using generative AI to build a learning app to help people improve in areas like long-term memory and the rate at which they learn has raised $6.5 million in fresh funds. London-based Kinnu bills itself as a gamified learning platform for those who want to learn generalist knowledge. The platform is currently popular among adult generalist learners, "who love learning for the sake of learning," Kahler told Insider.

Persons: Chris Kahler, chatbots, Kahler, Kinnu, Tom Hulme, Guy Podjarny, Rene Rechtman Organizations: Cavalry Ventures, UK, Spark, Google Ventures, Moonbug Entertainment Locations: LocalGlobe, London

June 29 (Reuters) - Typeface, a generative AI platform for enterprise content creation, said on Thursday that it was valued at $1 billion after an oversubscribed Series B funding round led by Salesforce's (CRM.N) global investment arm, bringing the total capital raised to $165 million. The $100 million round also saw participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona, GV (Google Ventures), Menlo Ventures, and M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, the company said. In February, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Menlo Ventures, and M12 invested $65 million when Typeface emerged from stealth and launched publicly. AI startups have emerged as a bright spot for investments this year amid a wider slowdown in funding caused by rising interest rates and high inflation. Editing by Gerry DoyleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Salesforce's, Gokul, Krystal Hu, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Google Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Microsoft's Venture Fund, Google, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Toronto

OAKLAND, California, May 31 (Reuters) - Lightmatter, a Boston-based startup using light for AI computing, said on Wednesday it raised $154 million and tripled its valuation as customers in need of faster, more energy efficient computing for AI work are buying its systems. "We use light to link computer chips together and we also use light to do calculations for deep learning," Lightmatter co-founder and CEO Nick Harris said. "The reason that we're getting these customers and data center scale deployments with our interconnect is that the generative AI boom is driving high-end chips like crazy." Light has been used for decades in the telecommunications industry to move data across the world with fiber optic cables. Harris said Envise will be able to run large AI models but will not train them.

Persons: Lightmatter, Nick Harris, Harris, Envise, Jane Lanhee Lee, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: GV, Google Ventures, Inc, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Thomson Locations: OAKLAND, California, Boston

☆ Here's the 25-page pitch deck a fintech helping Gen-Z shoppers get the best deals online used to attract investors like Paris Hilton, The Chainsmokers, and GV to back its $15 million Series A
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The startup scrapes users' emails for discounts and promotions, applying them at the point of sale. Checkmate is a savings app and web browser extension for Gen-Z online shoppers that pushes promotions and deals to the user at the right time. Checkmate utilizes machine learning and language processors to scrape users' emails for promotions and discounts from their favorite brands. Pall introduced Checkmate to other potential celebrity investors, including Paris Hilton, who participated in the Series A. Check out the 25-page deck Checkmate used to raise its $15 million Series A.

☆ Newsletter publisher TheSkimm has laid off 13%, its second layoff this year as cuts ripple across media
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Newsletter publisher TheSkimm laid off 13%, or about 22 people. It's the second layoff this year for the once-buzzy millennial media outlet. Layoffs hit newsletter publisher TheSkimm for the second time this year as it continues to face a punishing advertising market. The cuts came amid a tough economic environment in which a wide range of media, entertainment, and tech companies have laid off staff. The company faced tough times in the pandemic when advertisers were spending less and reassessing which media outlets were truly essential, and TheSkimm's lighthearted tone felt out of step with the times.

☆ Here's the 9-page pitch deck that Altana, a startup building Google Maps for supply chains, used to a raise $100 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | Alex Davies | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Altana Technologies is mapping global supply chains as Google Maps does the world. Altana CEO Evan Smith is building a new version of "Google Maps," but his 5-year-old startup has nothing to do with routes or directions. It's all about global supply chains. Smith told Insider. There, they sold supply-chain data but didn't translate it into any deeper meaning, Smith told Insider last year.

☆ Students of BloomTech, formerly known as Lambda School, filed a class action lawsuit against the coding bootcamp
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Rosalie Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Students of the Bloom Institute of Technology have filed a class action lawsuit against the school. They say the coding bootcamp, formerly known as Lambda School, advertised false job placement rates. While students have previously taken legal action against BloomTech, this is the first class action lawsuit against it. Former BloomTech students said that the school fell short of its promise with under-qualified instructors and an incomplete curriculum, Insider first reported. Leaked documents also showed that BloomTech's job placement rates were much lower than advertised, Insider previously reported.

☆ This kitchen composter turns your leftovers into chicken feed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

More than one-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten, and all that wasted food is contributing to global warming. Rogers, who also co-founded Nest smart home systems, says Mill differentiates itself among kitchen composters by keeping food as food… turning it into chicken feed. Not only does it reduce waste in landfills, but the goal is to reduce the amount of chicken feed that needs to be produced, thereby reducing those carbon emissions as well. "We sell our feed to farmers as an ingredient to chicken feed, which actually helps subsidize the membership," Rogers said. "There are millions of people that already compost across the United States.

☆ Alphabet venture arm CapitalG names Laela Sturdy new head of firm, David Lawee steps aside
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CapitalG partner Laela Sturdy is on track to be one of the year's biggest investors. Alphabet's growth stage venture arm, CapitalG, has named Laela Sturdy its new leader. The move means CapitalG will be one of the few venture firms to be led by a female partner. Generally speaking, CapitalG invests a lot like other growth-stage firms, but with only one limited partner as an investor -- its parent company, Alphabet. "I would say the value Laela has provided has been significantly higher than the money anyone's provided″ Duolingo CEO Luis Von Ahn told CNBC at the time.

☆ Amazon's VC arm leads $20 mln funding at entertainment firm Superplastic
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 15 (Reuters) - Entertainment company Superplastic said on Wednesday it had raised $20 million in a funding round led by the venture capital arm of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) as it looks to expand its universe of digital characters. The latest cash infusion, a Series A extension, takes Superplastic's total funding to $58 million, the company said. Other investors that participated in the funding round include Craft Ventures, Google Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Kering, Sony Japan, Scribble Ventures, Kakao, Animoca Brands, Day One Ventures and Betaworks. Superplastic sells toys, apparel and non-fungible tokens in collaboration with brands, including Gucci, Fortnite, Mercedes-Benz, Tommy Hilfiger and celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Post Malone and The Weeknd. Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi MajumdarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ How Moonhub, an AI recruiting platform, raised $4.4 million from OpenAI-backer Khosla Ventures and Google Ventures without a pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Moonhub is an AI startup aiming to make the recruiting process more automated and less biased. The company scrapes billions of public data points and makes them easily searchable for recruiters. The startup recently raised $4.4 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures and Google Ventures. OpenAI-backer Khosla Ventures and Google Ventures were equally enthusiastic about Moonhub's mission, recently providing the startup with $4.4 million in seed funding. Luckily, she was able to leverage her network to raise the round in less than two weeks, she said.

Newsletter publisher and digital media company TheSkimm laid off nearly 10% of staffers in January. Bustle Digital Group, The Washington Post, and Buzzfeed are among other media companies that cut workers in recent months. TheSkimm, the popular newsletter publisher and digital media company, laid off nearly 10% of its workforce — or about 17 staffers — in mid-January, according to a source familiar with the matter. TheSkimm is far from the only media company that has enacted wide-ranging personnel cuts in recent months. Entertainment media companies have also been heavily impacted, with AMC, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global, Roku, and Spotify paring back headcount.

☆ Check out the exclusive pitch deck food waste startup Mill used to raise $100 million from Google Ventures and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The startup has already raised about $100 million from investors like Google Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon, and Prelude. "There's a lot of parallels to the story of Nest," Rogers said. However, because Mill handles the entire process from homes to farms, it faces many challenges not found in other food waste startups, Rogers said. And although the company's coffers are well-stocked in a tough market environment, Rogers told Insider that he's always open to conversations with investors. Here's an exclusive look at the 7-slide pitch deck Mill used to raise $100 million from Google Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon, and Prelude:

☆ UJET: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Former Motorola and Jawbone executive Anand Janefalker founded UJET to transform the customer experience, applying AI and data analytics to a world in which brands are increasingly relying on technology to make omnichannel service faster and more efficient. Instacart, PayPal's Zettle, Wag!, Money Lion, Turo and Atom Tickets are among clients using UJET across voice, digital and in-app platforms. Investors include some of Silicon Valley's elite, such as Kleiner Perkins and GV (formerly Google Ventures). The 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise list is powered and inspired by the members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council (TEC). Learn more about CNBC Councils.

☆ Tech Layoffs Reflect Worsening Outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Layoffs at ride-sharing firm Lyft Inc. and payments company Stripe Inc., as well as a pause in hiring at Amazon.com Inc., reflect a darker outlook for tech. PREVIEW“The changes that we will see going forward will be based purely on the economic drivers from the overall economy slowing down,” Mr. Kanchi said. The metaverse, NFTs, and some aspects of cryptocurrency, or those technologies which don’t have immediate monetary value, will continue to fall out of favor, Mr. Kanchi said. “The downturn has kind of started but it hasn’t hit bottom and will get bad, very quickly, likely sometime mid next year,” Mr. Chan said. He predicts that “the new Google or Uber of 2023 and 2024 will come out of this downturn.”Write to Steven Rosenbush at steven.rosenbush@wsj.com

☆ Analysis: Tech Layoffs Reflect Worsening Outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

☆ NBA Top Shot maker Dapper Labs lays off 22% of workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Dapper Labs had more than 600 employees before the layoffs, Gharegozlou wrote. Dapper Labs, the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) company known for creating collectible moments around NBA and NFL highlights, is laying off 22% of its company, according to an memo from its CEO. That helped Dapper Labs raise $250 million in a September 2021 funding round led by Coatue, which valued the company at $7.6 billion. However, as broader interest in NFTs has fallen, so too has the popularity of Dapper Labs' platforms. Dapper Labs also has a partnership with Endeavor-owned UFC and Spain's La Liga soccer league.

☆ CEO of Singapore's multi-million dollar homecare start-up shares top tips for success
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's doing good, while doing well," said Gillian Tee, co-founder and CEO of Homage. After spending 15 years abroad, Singaporean entrepreneur Gillian Tee decided to return home in 2016 to be closer to her family. "I started off as a software developer and I was just very drawn to it because I liked building things. Gillian Tee Co-founder and CEO, HomageShe was referring to the book Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days, written by Jessica Livingston, who co-founded seed stage investment firm Y Combinator. Gillian Tee Co-founder and CEO, Homage"It's important to lean on specialists for clinical governance and compliance.

☆ Here's the 9-page pitch deck that Altana, a startup building Google Maps for supply chains, used to a raise a $100 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | Alex Davies | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

☆ В поисковой системе Google произошел сбой
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-19 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: 1 min

Пользователи Google в разных странах столкнулись с проблемами в работе поисковой системы, следует из данных сайта Downdetector, который отслеживает сбои и отключения на популярных интернет-ресурсах. По данным сайта, сбои во вторник начались около 7:40. Согласно данным Downdetector, больше всего жалоб зафиксировано в США, России, Испании, Италии, Германии и Великобритании. Google со своей поисковой системой входит в холдинговую компанию Alphabet. Alphabet также включает в себя Android и Youtube, Google Life Sciences, Calico, Sidewalk Labs, Nest, Google Ventures, Google Capital и Google X.

Organizations: Google, Google Life Sciences, Calico, Sidewalk Labs, Google Ventures Locations: США, Россия, Испания, Италия, Германия, Великобритания

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