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☆ Nvidia-backed startup Synthesia unveils AI avatars that can convey human emotions
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.K. tech startup Synthesia unveiled a new range of AI-generated avatars that can convey emotions like happiness, sadness, and frustration. Nvidia -backed artificial intelligence firm Synthesia on Thursday unveiled a new wave of AI-generated digital avatars that can convey human emotions using a user's text inputs. The company said its "Expressive Avatars" can blur the lines between the virtual world and real characters. In one demonstration, the company showed three lines of text being inserted into its platform — "I am happy. The company's technology is used by more than 55,000 businesses, including half of the Fortune 100, to make digital avatars for corporate presentations and training videos, according to Synthesia.

Persons: Synthesia, Kleiner Perkins Organizations: Nvidia, Fortune, Accel, GV, FirstMark, MMC Locations: London

☆ AI startup Glean lures Citigroup as investor at $2.2 billion valuation after revenue quadruples
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Arvind Jain, co-founder and CEO of Glean, makes a selfie with employees of the startup, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif. Artificial intelligence startup Glean attracted tech companies Databricks and Workday into its latest investment round. Glean, whose software sifts through corporate repositories to provide quick answers to workers' questions, said Tuesday that it's raised $200 million at a $2.2 billion valuation. Glean's annualized revenue at the end of January was $39 million, up from $10 million a year earlier. While Glean initially targeted the tech industry, it's now looking to expand in financial services, retail, manufacturing and other sectors, Jain said.

Persons: Arvind Jain, it's, Kleiner Perkins, Arvind Purushotham, OpenAI, Jain, Glean, Purushotham, Citi hasn't, Cathy Gao Organizations: Wall, Banking, Citigroup, Lightspeed, Sequoia, Citi Ventures, CNBC, Microsoft, Google, Sony Electronics, Citigroup's, Citi, Nvidia, Sapphire Locations: Palo Alto, Calif, LLMs, OpenAI, Glean

☆ VCs are clamoring to back 'screaming hot' startups using AI for medical records
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Another AI medical records startup, DeepScribe, raised a $30 million Series A round in January 2022. AbridgeThe investor descent on medical-scribe startups reflects a blatant potential of automation tech to alleviate healthcare’s most critical issues. “This market is screaming hot,” said Bryan Roberts, a partner at Venrock and an investor in medical-scribe startup Suki. AdvertisementStill, as health systems increasingly adopt AI solutions to manage labor costs, these startups have room to grow into their valuations. Medical-scribe startups vying for the remaining slice of the pie are “in a pitch to the death,” Roberts said.

Persons: —, ’, Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Suki, Punit Soni, Shiv Rao, ”, Bryan Roberts, ” Roberts, Annie Case, Case, Hermann, Keith Srakocic, Roberts, there’s, “ Organizations: Service, Business, Healthcare, Fund, Optum Ventures, Medical, Cathay Innovation, Microsoft, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, University of Kansas Health, AP

☆ Rippling CEO Parker Conrad dishes on why the startup is sitting on a massive $750 million war chest
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. To this day, Rippling hasn't touched the money it raised in that emergency package, Conrad told Business Insider. Rippling will invest hundreds of millions of dollars from the balance sheet into research and development this year, according to CEO Parker Conrad. Parker Conrad says Rippling hasn't touched any of the venture capital it raised over the last two rounds. Shepherding the startup through this next growth phase is new chief product officer Eisar Lipkovitz, Rippling told Business Insider exclusively.

Persons: Parker Conrad, Conrad, Rippling hasn't, Kleiner Perkins, Rippling, Amy Osborne, Mamoon Hamid, they've, TechCrunch, Eisar Lipkovitz, Lipkovitz, Deel, Melia Russell Organizations: Business, paychecks, Bedrock, Washington Post, JPMorgan, Google Locations: Silicon, San Francisco, Asia, Lyft, Rippling

☆ Tiger Global-backed Productboard conducts third round of layoffs in two years, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Now, Productboard has begun another round of layoffs, the scale of which is unknown as yet, the former staffers said. Startups and Big Tech companies alike have slashed their wage bills as the high-interest rate environment encourages businesses to prioritize sustainability over growth. AdvertisementIn January alone, 76 tech companies have laid off 21,370 employees, according to tracker site Layoffs.fyi.

Persons: —, Productboard, Daniel Hejl, Hubert Palan, Kleiner Perkins, Palan, Productboard's headcount Organizations: Service, Business, Tiger Global, Dragoneer, Microsoft, Volkswagen, Sequoia, Bessemer Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Big Tech, Bloomberg, LinkedIn Locations: San Francisco, Czech Republic, Silicon Valley, Sequoia Capital, Productboard

☆ OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla, who's 68, says he still works 80 hours a week and plans to keep investing for the next 25 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla said he still works 80 hours a week during an episode of "The Cerebral Valley Podcast." AdvertisementVinod Khosla, a Silicon Valley investor for almost 40 years, said in the past that he works 80-hour weeks. In 2004, he started his own VC firm he called Khosla Ventures, which backed companies like Instacart, Impossible Foods, and DoorDash. Over the last three months, Khosla Ventures has made multi-million dollar bets on startups in the beverage, insurance, and climate tech space, according to Pitchbook. AdvertisementKhosla didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment made through Khosla Ventures.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, —, Eric Newcomer, Khosla, Peter Thiel, I've, Warren, he's, Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Byers, toils, Elon Musk, Steve Squeri Organizations: Service, Khosla Ventures, Foods, Tesla, American Express, Financial Times Locations: Silicon, OpenAI

☆ Inside the chaotic Thanksgiving-weekend collapse of homebuilder startup Veev that left employees shocked and worried about their jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

But for workers of Lennar-backed homebuilder Veev, they were spent scrambling to determine if they would still have jobs come Monday. Speaking to the "Veev Family," he wrote: "Family will stay in touch and together forever, even if it is going to be only within our hearts." The company has about 250 employees, according to news site Calcalist. "We call it the Veev family," Haller said. On a very personal note, for me Amit Haller, Veev was my personal journey in the past 15 years, half of my professional career and about ⅓ of my entire life.

Persons: Amit Haller, Veev, Haller, doesn't, we're, homebuilder, Kleiner Perkins, Bond, Lennar, Linda Keala, Ami, Amit Organizations: Business, Dragonfly, Wall, Center, Real Estate, Technology Innovation, Employees, Dafna Locations: California, Tel Aviv, Hayward , California, Haller, Reali, @nicollsanddimes, .

☆ Startup employees are reeling as they brace for back-to-back rounds of layoffs: 'When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

For the startup employees interviewed by Insider, the constant threat of layoffs is having a detrimental effect on company morale. said one employee working at a growth stage startup that's conducted three rounds of layoffs this year. For Reay, the former Sendoso employee, constant rounds of layoffs gave him and his surviving colleagues "strategy whiplash." "When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership." Some startup employees are reconsidering their future in the industryAs startup employees brace for the potential of more job cuts, they say that the experience has them second-guessing whether to stay in the industry at all.

Persons: Sean Reay, it's, Reay, SoftBank, Sendoso, what's, I'm, Raey, SchoolMint, I've, you'd, he's, Jackie Xu, Xu Talent, Kleiner Perkins, Xu, you've Organizations: Facebook, Meta, Twitter, Sendoso, GV, Google, Employees Locations: San Diego, That's, SPAC

☆ At unicorn startup Carta, a culture of absolute fealty to an erratic and vindictive CEO, employees say
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Both men remained valued employees at Carta, with the sales representative even getting promoted just weeks after the alleged "helicopter penis" incident, according to former employees. CEO Henry Ward cofounded Carta, originally called eShares, in 2012 as a service for startups to digitize their paper stock certificates. Today Carta helps startups track their investors, employees manage their equity awards, and venture capitalists administer their funds. The lawsuit says that 10 days after Rogers filed her complaint, Ward "began treating Ms. Rogers in an aggressive and demeaning manner during several meetings." Many of the employees who have spoken out publicly about Carta and Ward have found themselves embroiled in expensive legal battles.

Persons: Lisa Whittaker, Whittaker, Jerry Talton, David Kim, Andrea Lamari, Kim, Henry Ward, Andreessen Horowitz, Ward, Henry, Alex Kurland, Carta, Peter Thiel, Simon Cowell, Talton's, Suzanne Elovic, Elovic, Lamari, Jeff Perry, Perry, salespeople, JT Goodman, Goodman, Goodman didn't, Jeff Perrry, Allie Rogers, Rogers, Rodgers, Rachel Mayes, Ward doesn't, Mayes, Jeff, Jeff Perry countersued, Orrick Herrington, Sutcliffe, Kleiner Perkins, Ellen Pao, Amanda Sheets, Sheets, Pushback, Lindauer, Whitaker, Whittaker wasn't, Barbara Byrne, Byrne, Talton, Joe Osnoss, Osnoss, Heidi Johnson, Johnson Organizations: Carta, UBS, Gold Club, Lightspeed, California Civil Rights Department, Meritech, YouTube, Win, York Stock Exchange, San, San Francisco Superior, San Francisco Superior Court, Barclays, Lehman Brothers, Montana Human Rights Bureau Locations: San Francisco, Brazil, Silicon Valley, California, Palo, Iranian, Lindauer, Silver, Montana

☆ Billionaire VC Vinod Khosla was one of the first investors in OpenAI. Now he thinks most AI startups have become way overvalued.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Instead of AI, Khosla says he is "making lots of fundamental investments in esoteric areas." Funding for AI companies climbed 27% globally in the third quarter compared to the year before even as overall deals for startups fell 31%, according to PitchBook data compiled for Bloomberg. (seeking a valuation of more than $5 billion), Hugging Face ($4.5 billion valuation) or Adept (reported $1 billion valuation). The firm invested earlier this year in Replit, a generative AI tool for software development, at a $1.16 billion post-money valuation. There is also OpenAI itself, which arguably has benefited as much as any startup from the AI hype.

Persons: OpenAI, Vinod Khosla, Khosla, Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Byers, Kleiner Perkins, – Khosla Organizations: Khosla Ventures, Sun Microsystems, AMD, Juniper Networks, Forbes, Street, Tech, Bloomberg, Anthropic Locations: Silicon Valley, Laguna Beach, Replit

☆ VCs Marc Andreessen, John Doerr among attendees at Schumer's next AI forum
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Technologists and advocates are again set to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss with Senate leaders the perils and promises of artificial intelligence. Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, and John Doerr, chair of Kleiner Perkins, will be among the 21 attendees at the second AI Insights Forum hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., according to a spokesperson for his office. The session is a continuation of the Majority Leader's effort to get the chamber up to speed on AI to determine how best to approach AI regulation. For example, Future of Life Institute President Max Tegmark is also set to attend. Other tech leaders such as Micron Executive Vice President Manish Bhatia, Revolution CEO Steve Case, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez will be in attendance.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, Chuck Schumer, Andreessen, Max Tegmark, Elon Musk, Manish Bhatia, Steve Case, Patrick Collison, Aidan Gomez, Derrick Johnson, Amanda Ballantyne, Satya Nadella, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman Organizations: Capitol, Senate, China, Life, Life Institute, Tesla, Space X, Micron, NAACP, AFL, Technology, Microsoft, Google, CNBC, YouTube Locations: coders, India

☆ Atlassian to buy video messaging provider Loom for nearly $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Atlassian (TEAM.O) said on Thursday it had agreed to acquire privately held video messaging platform Loom for about $975 million, beefing up its team collaboration tools to tap into resilient demand fueled by the adoption of hybrid work. Integration of Loom's technology into Atlassian software such as collaboration tools Jira and Confluence will help users use video in their workflows. The acquisition of Loom, which has more than 25 million users globally, will enable customers communicate and collaborate more effectively, Atlassian said. Loom, which counts Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and a16z among its investors, makes tools that help users record their screens, camera and microphone to make and share videos. The deal is expected to close in the quarter-ending March 2024 and will be funded with existing cash balances, Atlassian said.

Persons: Atlassian, Kleiner Perkins, Akash Sriram, Shailesh Kuber Organizations: Thomson Locations: Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Series, a fintech helping enterprises automate back-office functions, just raised $25 million in fresh funds with this Notion memo
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Series, a fintech startup that aims to simplify finance and operations management for enterprises, has raised $25 million in fresh funds. The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2021, enables enterprises to handle a vast array of business departments from a single platform. Series' platform allows companies to manage areas including payments operations, business-to-business payments, payroll, HR, and treasury management. Series has raised $25 million across pre-seed and seed funding which it did using a pitch memo in Notion, an increasingly common form of attracting investor attention. Series most recent funding round closed earlier this year and the fresh capital has gone towards hiring as it looks to grow out its 30-strong team.

Persons: Brexton Pham, Kleiner Perkins, Rob Lowe Organizations: Hustle, One Ventures, Caffeinated, Wischoff Ventures Locations: San Francisco, HOF Capital

☆ As Instacart goes public, it's no victory lap for founder Apoorva Mehta
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mehta was replaced as CEO of Instacart in July 2021 following a messy dispute with some of the company's largest investors. Instacart Founder Apoorva Mehta in his 2003 yearbook photo from Westdale Secondary School. The app started gaining momentum and Mehta put out ads on Craigslist for shoppers to do the grocery runs for him. Whole Foods reportedly broke the news to Mehta and a fellow Instacart executive on an early morning call. In a sworn affidavit, Mehta denies that he misappropriated any trade secrets and says he's since cut ties with Singh.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Mehta, Safeway Mehta, Hamilton Public Library Mehta, Bing Gordon, Kleiner Perkins, Gordon, he'd, Garry Tan, Tan, Garry, Andreessen Horowitz, catapulting Mehta, Forbes, Instacart, Mike Moritz, Fidji Simo, Simo, That's, Mehta's, he's, Tejasvi, Singh, Sam Bankman, NextMed, it's Organizations: Instacart, Safeway, Westdale Secondary, Hamilton Public Library, The University of Waterloo, Amazon, NPR, Electronic Arts, YC, TechCrunch, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Forbes, Foods, Costco, Kroger, Facebook, Sunrise Locations: India, Libya, Hamilton , Ontario, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, wallowing, Sequoia, Mehta's, Marin County

☆ One of the most successful VCs in cybersecurity, Ted Schlien, names 3 new trends to watch
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

One of Kleiner Perkins longest-serving investors quietly launched a firm to specialize in security startups. Schlein sees three big new security markets, including an area he's "most scared about." That's partly because strong security startups tend to command higher-than-typical prices when acquired, Schlein says. Security startup trendsSchlein says he currently sees three big trends for next-gen cybersecurity startups. While at Kleiner, Schlein backed startup Apurio, and wrote a check at Ballistic for ArmorCode.

Persons: Kleiner Perkins, Ted Schlein, Schlein, It's, he's Organizations: Ballistic Ventures, Symantec, Security, Companies, Cequence, IT, Software, Hewlett, Packard, ArmorCode Locations: Kleiner

☆ Crypto exchange Rain to target UAE asset managers after winning licence
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Hadeel Al Sayegh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, July 25 (Reuters) - Middle Eastern crypto exchange Rain said on Tuesday its Abu Dhabi unit obtained a license to operate a virtual assets brokerage and custody service for clients in the United Arab Emirates. Local asset managers have been hesitant to work with crypto firms without a domestic licence, he continued, adding they will now feel more comfortable after it obtained regulatory approval. Rain, which has units registered in Bahrain and Turkey, said it would use the proceeds on regional expansion. The UAE has been trying to attract some of the world's biggest crypto firms. It has also been trying to develop virtual asset regulation to attract new forms of business as economic competition heats up in the Gulf region.

Persons: Coinbase, Yehia Badawy, Badawy, Kleiner Perkins, Hadeel Al Sayegh, Emma Rumney Organizations: United, United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi Global, Coinbase Ventures, Thomson Locations: DUBAI, Abu, United Arab, The Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Silicon Valley, Bahrain, Turkey, Gulf

☆ Norwest Venture Partners just hired ex-Salesforce sales guru David Rudnitsky. Here's why VC firms are now expanding their platform teams.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Norwest has hired ex-Salesforce sales guru David Rudnitsky to be its third operating executive. The hire is part of the firm's recent expansion of its portfolio services team for its founders. Here's why more VC firms may be doubling down on these roles during the market downturn. "We try to be an invited guest in the companies," he said of his work with his first four Norwest portfolio companies. For Norwest, its portfolio services team was launched 13 years ago by partner Katie Belding, who has been at the firm for over two decades.

Persons: Norwest, David Rudnitsky, Rudnitsky, he's, Marc Benioff, I've, It's, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Katie Belding, Belding, Lisa Ames, Renée Cohen Organizations: Norwest Venture Partners, Oracle, Netscape, Salesforce

☆ Legendary VC Vinod Khosla predicted in 2016 that AI would eventually transform healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a 2016 paper, Vinod Khosla predicted that there will be some form of automation in healthcare. Buzzy healthcare startups utilizing AI are now capturing the attention of VCs amid a broader wave of AI interest. Hippocratic AI, which recently raised $50 million for its seed round, plans to use machine learning to train AI models for use in healthcare. Carta Healthcare, which uses AI to help healthcare providers cut costs, announced this month it raised $25 million. And New York-based startup Hyro, raised $20 million to replace outdated chatbots in healthcare with conversational AI.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, Khosla, OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Chris Sacca's Organizations: –, Carta Healthcare, Harvard Locations: York

☆ How Nvidia-backed A.I. video platform Synthesia works
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow Nvidia-backed A.I. video platform Synthesia worksSynthesia is an online platform that helps users create video presentations with artificial intelligence-generated avatars. The company raised $90 million from investors including Accel, Nvidia and Kleiner Perkins at a $1 billion valuation.

Persons: Kleiner Perkins Organizations: Accel, Nvidia

☆ Generative AI startup Synthesia just raised $90 million in fresh funds from US fund Accel and Nvidia at a $1 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

London-based generative AI firm Synthesia has raised $90 million in new funding. Synthesia is now valued at $1 billion, making it the latest AI unicorn despite the difficult market. Generative AI startup Synthesia has raised $90 million in new funding at a unicorn valuation. "What we're also proud of is being a leading AI company that's based in Europe, we intend to stay in Europe and build an impactful AI company here because the talent is available." Synthesia previously raised $50 million in funding in December 2021 in a Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from GV.

Persons: Synthesia, We've, Victor Riparbelli, OpenAI's, it's, Kleiner Perkins, Riparbelli, David Beckham Organizations: Accel, GV Locations: London, NVentures, Europe

☆ A Nvidia-backed platform that turns text into A.I.-generated avatars boosts valuation to $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In this article NVDA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTAn animated avatar generated by the AI video platform Synthesia. To do that, Synthesia has created animated avatars which look and sound like humans, but are generated by AI. Synthesia is a form of generative AI, similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The company doesn't disclose its sales or revenue metrics, though it says it "consistently driven triple digit growth," with over 12 million videos produced on the platform to date. Synthesia plans to ramp up investment into its technology, with a particular focus on advancing its AI research and making Synthesia avatars capable of performing more tasks.

Persons: Synthesia, Slack, Kleiner Perkins, Morgan Stanley, Victor Riparbelli, Matthias Niessner, Steffen Tjerrild, Lourdes Agapito, Philippe Botteri, Riparbelli, Nvidia isn't, it's, They're, Felix Capital, Atomico, they're, David Beckham, Beckham Organizations: Nvidia, CNBC, Accel, Facebook, Spotify, GV, FirstMark, MMC, YouTube, Netflix, Business, Iconiq, Felix, Meritech Locations: London, A.I

☆ GM hires former Apple executive Abbott to lead software unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 9 (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) on Tuesday named former Apple Inc (AAPL.O) executive Mike Abbott to lead a division that will bring together three software functions within the company. Abbott, whose appointment is effective from May 22, will spearhead development of vehicle and enterprise software technologies. Automakers, including GM and Ford Motor Co (F.N), have been increasingly ramping up their investment on technology and software services amid an electric-vehicle push, as they look to cash in on subscription-based services. At Apple, Abbott led a team responsible for the development of core infrastructure for all of the company's cloud-based services including iCloud, iMessage, Private Relay, Mail and account security. Bloomberg News had in March reported Abbott would step down from his role at the iPhone maker.

☆ More layoffs hit Tom Brady's NFT startup Autograph, which just cut nearly a third of its workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Autograph is a star studded NFT platform cofounded by retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady. This new round of layoffs occurs months after the company laid off dozens of staffers in December. The NFT market has has cooled, with sales expected to plunge 72% this year, according to one estimate. Autograph, the star studded NFT platform cofounded by retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady, has laid off about a third of its workforce, Insider has learned. The NFT market has has cooled considerably, with sales expected to plunge 72% this year, according to one industry estimate.

May 1 (Reuters) - Longtime Kleiner Perkins partner Wen Hsieh is leaving the Silicon Valley venture capital establishment to start a fund with backing from the firm and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW), sources told Reuters. Hsieh is in advanced talks to raise $200 million from limited partners including Kleiner Perkins and TSMC for the new fund called Matter Ventures. A Kleiner Perkins spokesperson confirmed Hsieh's departure and the firm's participation in the fund. Hsieh, with two PhDs from the California Institute of Technology, has worked at Kleiner Perkins for 17 years, leading investments in Chinese drone maker DJI and 3D printing company Desktop Medal (DM.N). He will remain on the boards of companies he invested in at Kleiner Perkins, including orthodontic brackets maker LightForce.

☆ Generative AI startup Synthesia in talks with US fund Accel to raise funds in a deal that could value it at around $1 billion, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Generative AI startup Synthesia is in talks to raise funds from US firm Accel, sources say. A deal could value the startup at around $1 billion, according to those familiar with the discussions. It is the latest AI startup to benefit from the immense demand from VCs to invest in the sector. AI startup Synthesia is in talks to raise funds in a deal that could value it at around $1 billion as investor demand for the sector continues to intensify, sources say. Fellow London startup ElevenLabs raised $100 million last month while the likes of Fetch.ai and Iris Audio raised $40 million and $7 million respectively.

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