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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

☆ Y Combinator-backed trading app Pluto Markets just raised $2.6 million with this 14-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Pluto Markets, a trading app backed by famed accelerator Y Combinator, has raised $2.6 million in fresh funds. The Danish fintech startup, founded in 2021, wants to upend the market for retail trading offerings in Europe. "Companies raised a lot of money to blitz scale across the EU but have now focused on their core markets. Unlike most fintech brokerages, Pluto secured an EU-wide investment license before it had raised $1 million in funding, having bootstrapped and stayed lean. You can check out Pluto Market's 14-slide pitch deck below:

Persons: Joakim Bruchman, Goldman Sachs, We've, Bruchmann, Pluto, Oscar Vingtoft Organizations: Business, Companies, Trade Republic, Saxo Bank, EU Locations: Danish, Europe, Denmark, France, Germany, Berlin

☆ 2023 has been an AI feeding frenzy, here are the startups that attracted the most investment this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Despite an overall slump in startup funding, 2023 saw a scramble among investors to pour money into AI and machine learning startups. And the company's star still appears to be rising, despite a messy leadership struggle that recently spilled into public view. Meanwhile OpenAI's perennial rival Anthropic attracted multi-billion dollar investments from both Google and Amazon to fund a competing AI model known as Claude. At the same time legacy companies from John Deere to accounting firm PwC played up their AI bona fides to capitalize on the hype. The list doesn't include startups who have not publicly released the amount of their funding rounds.

Persons: OpenAI, Anthropic, Claude, Databricks, John Deere, PwC, Fresh Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Alpha, Technology, Monogram, Sigma, Lambda, Helsing, Metals, Eagle Eye, Amelia, Asimov, Farmers Business, Harbinger, Prins, Silo, Mistral, Alto, AMP, Management Software, Universal, Coro, Kodiak Robotics, Aerospace, Defense, Sana, Corti, Kyte, Mitra, Tech, Boss Digital Technology, Halcyon, & $ Locations: PitchBook

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSTOCKHOLM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) companies have become the major driver of unicorns -- startups reaching $1 billion valuation -- with 60% of the new ones falling in this category, according to a report from venture capital firm Accel. AI foundation models, developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Meta and others, are capable of generating text, images or other media in response to prompts. Europe, home to AI startups such as AI video avatar platform Synthesia and Stability AI, is already producing 50% more AI publications than the United States with similar citation rate, according to the report. Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, editing by Deborah KyvrikosaiosOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Philippe Botteri, Botteri, Supantha Mukherjee, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Accel, Microsoft, Nvidia, Thomson Locations: Rights STOCKHOLM, Israeli, Meta, Europe, United States, Stockholm

☆ A lot of 2023's new unicorns have been generative AI startups. Here's what to expect from the sector next year, according to Accel.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Generative AI startups have made up a lot of the world's new unicorns this year. High-profile investors have jostled to back, in some cases, weeks-old startups like Mistral as the hype around generative AI intensified. Both regions also tout a batch of promising unicorns across the generative AI stack. Generative AI will become a run-of-the-mill tool"Generative AI will unlock new verticalised applications built with smaller and dedicated models and industry-specific workflows," the Accel report said. Enterprises will also jump to incorporate generative AI more seamlessly into their automation tools, per the report.

Persons: —, Phillipe Botteri, Harvey Organizations: Venture, Mistral, US, Accel Partners, Runway, Accel, EU, Stanford University, Enterprises, Big Tech, Microsoft Locations: Europe, Israel, Jasper, France, EU

☆ 'Overhyped' generative AI will get a 'cold shower' in 2024, analysts predict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The main forecast CCS Insight has for 2024 is that generative AI "gets a cold shower in 2024" as the reality of the cost, risk and complexity involved "replaces the hype" surrounding the technology. "But the hype around generative AI in 2023 has just been so immense, that we think it's overhyped, and there's lots of obstacles that need to get through to bring it to market." Companies have to acquire high-powered chips to run AI applications. In the case of generative AI, it's often advanced graphics processing units, or GPUs, designed by U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia that large companies and small developers alike turn to to run their AI workloads. "Just the cost of deploying and sustaining generative AI is immense," Wood told CNBC.

Persons: Ben Wood, Wood, Google Bard, Anthropic's Claude, it's Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, CCS Insight, Google, Qualcomm, Meta, CNBC, Companies, Nvidia, Amazon Locations: Shanghai, U.S

☆ A Googler who quit amid mass layoffs says hiring is 'broken.' Check out the pitch deck he used to secure $1.3 million for his startup Candidate.fyi.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Googler who quit the company just before mass layoffs has raised $1.3 million for his HR tech startup, Candidate.fyi. Connors resigned from Google at the end of 2022, shortly before the tech giant announced it would cull staff, and as layoffs hit the broader sector. Connors said the broader layoffs spree influenced his and his brother's decision to form a startup "earlier than expected." "The idea of Candidate.fyi had been brewing for a while, and the experience of mass layoffs … made me realize the urgency of addressing the broken candidate experience." Check out the 12-slide pitch deck the founders used to secure the fresh funding.

Persons: Chris Connors, Kyle Connors, Connors, Candidate.fyi, Google, SuperAngel.Fund Organizations: Google, Yext Locations: . New York

☆ Europe is minting red hot AI startups like DeepL and Synthesia. Meet 15 of the most prolific investors backing the region's breakout stars.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | Tasmin Lockwood | Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meanwhile, Andreessen Horowitz has poured cash into the AI-voice-intelligence startup ElevenLabs and the Nordic AI startup Sloyd. Some of Europe's most prolific AI investors are national funds and startup accelerators. London's Phoenix Court, the parent company of the VC firm LocalGlobe, took the top spot for total investment value — with $713 million poured into AI startups since 2020. MMC Ventures, also in London, followed suit with $628 million in investments in AI startups. Insider has profiled 15 investors at these firms who have spearheaded investments into European AI startups, in no particular order.

Persons: ChatGPT, Andreessen Horowitz, LocalGlobe Organizations: Venture, Lightspeed, New, Nordic, Court, MMC Ventures Locations: French, New York, Europe, London

☆ The next phase in AI is interactive bots that can carry out tasks for you, says the cofounder of Google's AI division DeepMind
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"Generative AI is just a phase. What's next is interactive AI," said Mustafa Suleyman, the cofounder of Google DeepMind. His company, Inflection AI, launched its chatbot Pi as a rival to ChatGPT in May, focusing on personal advice and being conversational. For context, we are currently seeing the rise of generative AI tools that go beyond the chat interface popularized by ChatGPT in November. Suleyman and Inflection AI did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Suleyman, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Ethan Mollick, Jasper Organizations: Google, Service, MIT Technology, ChatGPT, Investors, Wall Street Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Britain to host world's first AI safety summit at home of World War II codebreakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Bletchley Park is the home of the World War Two Codebreakers, who in 1941 helped break the secret code used by the German government to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front. The U.K. government will host the world's first artificial intelligence safety summit in Bletchley Park, the home of the codebreakers who cracked the code that ended World War II. The renowned Bletchley Park building was the home of the World War II Codebreakers, who in 1941 helped break the secret Enigma Code used by the German government to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front. The U.K. tech sector has been flagging of late, following drops in venture capital investment. The U.S. is by far the world leader when it comes to AI, with massive firms ploughing resources into the technology.

Persons: —, Rishi Sunak, OpenAI, Bard, Alan Turing, Turing, Sunak, Bejiing Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Baidu Locations: Bletchley, Bletchley Park, Britain, China, The U.S, EU

☆ 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

☆ AI startup Synthesia gains unicorn status after Nvidia-backed fundraise
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 13 (Reuters) - Synthesia, a UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup, said on Tuesday it has raised about $90 million at a valuation of $1 billion from a funding round led by venture capital firms Accel and Nvidia-owned (NVDA.O) NVentures. The startup's technology helps more than 50,000 businesses including Amazon.com (AMZN.O) in creating custom AI avatars used in instructional and corporate videos. 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. However, the hype around AI has also deepened concerns that video platforms could be used to create deepfakes, a realistic or fabricated video or image created by AI algorithms trained on copious online footage. Riparbelli has said that six-year-old Synthesia navigates the issue by only creating avatars of people who have consented.

Persons: Victor Riparbelli, Riparbelli, Jaspreet Singh, Devika Organizations: Accel, Nvidia, Amazon.com, NVIDIA, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ 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

☆ 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

☆ The FOMO is real for venture capitalists paying big premiums to invest in AI startups right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Investors plowed about $25 billion into AI companies in the first three months of 2023. Other US generative AI startups including Adept, Inflection AI, Pinecone and Runway have all raised major rounds in the last few months. AI is minting unicorn-valued companies even in the tech downturnFunding into AI startups was down slightly for the full-year in 2022, matching a broader downturn in tech funding. And VC funding to generative AI startups specifically, many of which are very early-stage businesses, topped $1.7 billion in Q1 2023, per Pitchbook. "No one wants to invest in AI that's going to wipe out humanity," said AlbionVC's Grimm.

Persons: Warren Buffett, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Imran Ghory, Meta, Little, ChatGPT, David Grimm, Nathan Benaich, Benaich, VCs, Geoffrey Hinton, AlbionVC's Grimm Organizations: Blossom, Google, Facebook, Air Street Capital, Investors, EU, Stanford University, Venture Locations: OpenAI, London, Europe, French

☆ Ex-Facebook and DeepMind employees in talks to raise sizable initial funding round to build OpenAI rival
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A French startup that wants to be Europe's answer to OpenAI is in talks to raise an initial funding round. The secretive new project, named Mistral, was founded by two AI research scientists. Mistral, a secretive new startup pitched as Europe's answer to OpenAI, is in discussions to raise a substantive funding round, sources say. London-based generative AI startup Synthesia is in talks to raise a major round while ElevenLabs raised at a $100 million valuation last month. It's also widened the race for AI supremacy with Google launching its own AI assistant, Bard, to compete with OpenAI.

☆ How Runway's idea for AI-driven video and photo editing and generation went from a "crazy" concept to a Silicon Valley darling worth half a billion dollars
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

When Runway's founders first came up with the idea for an AI art startup, they were called crazy. Now, the generative AI startup has become a fan favorite of VCs and the public alike. When Cristóbal Valenzuela began building his generative AI company Runway in 2018, investors, filmmakers, and advertisers told the cofounder that he was crazy. "They were saying, 'why would you want to build AI tools for video and filmmaking?'" Many of these features were developed hand-in-hand with customers, who often described to Runway the problems and obstacles they ran into while creating videos, Valenzuela said.

☆ 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.

☆ In the midst of the AI boom, investors are doubling down on diligence. Here are the five questions VCs are asking every generative AI startup during pitches.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Buzzy generative AI startups have so far avoided the troubles plaguing the rest of the tech world. Here are the five diligence questions investors are asking generative AI startups, according to VCs. But for generative AI startups, 2023 has been much of the same — and that hasn't been a bad thing. Insider spoke with eight of these VCs about the top five questions they're asking generative AI startups during diligence processes. One hallmark of generative AI startups are their eye-staggering round sizes.

☆ The 13 top VC firms dedicated to investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning that founders should know
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Insider rounded up the top 13 AI- and ML-focused VC firms that founders should know. These funds have invested in hot startups like Adept, Hugging Face, Weights & Biases, and Synthesia. In a year marked by turmoil and uncertainty, artificial intelligence has been a bright spot for tech investors and startup founders alike. Despite the hype, a group of VCs have been so bullish on AI and ML that they've created entire firms dedicated exclusively to investing in the space. Here are the top 13 venture-capital firms dedicated to artificial-intelligence and machine-learning investing that founders should know:

☆ From writing malicious code to creating deepfakes, generative-AI tools like ChatGPT are being used for harmful purposes. Here's how founders and VCs are thinking about policing them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In the past few months, some have raved about the capabilities of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Startups policing themselvesSome startups have taken it upon themselves to ensure their products aren't being used for the wrong purposes. In 2020, Resemble AI, a company that can generate voices using AI, released Resemblyzer, an open-source package that can verify speakers and detect fake speech. Despite their bad rap, the majority of deepfakes are used for marketing or entertainment, rather than malicious purposes, Riparbelli told Insider. But already, US government officials are collaborating with AI startups to form partnerships and fund research around these concerns, Ahmed told Insider.

Three sources briefed on OpenAI's recent pitch to investors said the organization expects $200 million in revenue next year and $1 billion by 2024. OpenAI was most recently valued at $20 billion in a secondary share sale, one of the sources said. The startup has already inspired rivals and companies building applications atop its generative AI software, which includes the image maker DALL-E 2. OpenAI has also attracted attention as an AI provider and potential Google search competitor, with ChatGPT answering queries for more than 1 million users so far. OpenAI warns users, ChatGPT "may occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content."

☆ This guy is using AI to make a movie — and you can help decide what happens next
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Rachel Metz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“Salt” is the brainchild of Fabian Stelzer. He makes voices mostly using AI voice generation tools such as Synthesia or Murf. Many of Stelzer's "Salt" images use terms like "35mm" and "sci-fi." Just as AI image generators have already unnerved some artists, Stelzer’s experiment offers an early example of how disruptive AI systems could be to moviemaking. Released in 2016 and starring “Silicon Valley” actor Thomas Middleditch, it’s thought to be the first film that used AI to write its script.

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