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☆ Smartcat is using AI to translate content into any language. Check out the six-slide pitch deck the startup used to land $43 million in fresh VC funding.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-16 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The startup, Smartcat, just raised $43 million in Series C funding led by New York-based VC firm Left Lane Capital with Lead Edge Capital also participating. Smartcat previously raised a $4.5 million seed round in 2017, a $7 million Series A in 2018, and a $15 million Series B in 2020, according to PitchBook data. VC investment in AI startups is continuing to go gangbusters, topping out at a whopping $24 billion in the second quarter of 2024 — the biggest quarter for AI funding in recent years, according to Crunchbase. AdvertisementWhile some consumer and healthcare AI startups have raised eye-popping rounds, the tech is creating plenty of opportunities in the B2B space. Check out the six-slide presentation Smartcat used to raise $43 million in Series C funding.

Persons: —, Smartcat, Ivan Smolnikov, Smolnikov Organizations: Service, Left Lane, Lead Edge Capital, Marbruck Investments, Chrome, Business Locations: New York, Koro, Smartcat

☆ How an edtech startup used AI tools like Midjourney and HeyGen to boost its ad performance by 40%
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-04 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Pavlovsky said the use of AI tools has made a profound difference to the company's marketing performance. AdvertisementHeadway joins a growing number of marketers looking to harness AI tools, in part to reduce their advertising costs. Headway is using AI tools like HeyGen, Rask, and MidjourneyFounded in Ukraine in 2019, Headway operates a portfolio of educational apps that combined have been downloaded by more than 110 million users worldwide. Its flagship app, Headway, offers 15-minute summaries of popular nonfiction books, as well as challenges and daily micro-learning sessions. All of Headway's user-generated-content video ads are now produced using some element of AI technology, such as for subtitles or voiceovers, the company said.

Persons: —, OpenAI, Anton Pavlovsky, Pavlovsky, Klarna, Mona Lisa, Leonardo, Marie Antoinette, it's Organizations: Service, Business, Gartner, Midjourney, Facebook, Google, UGC, YouTube Locations: Ukrainian, Silicon, Ukraine, Ukraine's, Kyiv

☆ Europe's AI-powered Google Translate rival DeepL launches traditional Chinese language in Asia push
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-24 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Traditional Chinese is a written form of Chinese used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Both locations are key business hubs for technology and finance — a factor that attracted DeepL to launch its latest language in those markets. DeepL, one of Europe's high-profile AI companies valued at $2 billion , sells translation software aimed at businesses rather than everyday consumers. German artificial intelligence translation startup DeepL on Wednesday launched traditional Chinese as a language option as it looks to expand its presence in Asia. With the launch of traditional Chinese, the firm is looking to help some of its international customers more effectively communicate with clients or employees in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

Persons: DeepL, Kutylowski, Mark Zuckerberg's Organizations: Wednesday, CNBC, Google, Microsoft, Ventures Locations: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Asia, The Cologne, Germany, Japan, Korea

☆ DeepL CEO Jarek Kutylowski on his AI start-up raising $300 million on $2 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | 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 EmailDeepL CEO Jarek Kutylowski on his AI start-up raising $300 million on $2 billion valuationJarek Kutylowski, Deepl CEO, on joins 'Closing Bell: Overtime' to discuss his startup that uses AI to help provide language services to businesses.

Persons: Jarek Kutylowski

☆ DeepL, a European rival to Google Translate, rides AI hype to a $2 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Launched in 2017 by founder and CEO Jaroslaw "Jarek" Kutylowski, DeepL is a competitor to Google Translate. At $2 billion, DeepL is now worth double what it was in its previous round in January 2023, when it raised $100 million from investors at a $1 billion valuation. ICONIQ Growth and Teachers' Venture Growth came on board as new investors, while existing investors IVP, Atomico and WiL also participated. "We're really expanding our product toward being able to support these bigger enterprise customers," Kutylowski said. The company has ramped up its focus on selling into enterprise over the past few years and now counts customers including Zendesk, Nikkei, Coursera and Deutsche Bahn.

Persons: Kutylowski, Jaroslaw, WiL, PARIS —, I'm, DeepL Organizations: CNBC, Google, Venture, PARIS, Zendesk, Nikkei, Coursera, Deutsche Bahn Locations: Atomico, Swiss, U.S, Asia

☆ Exclusive: 11x, a London-based AI startup that builds automated digital workers, is raising money from US fund Benchmark
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

11x, a London-based AI startup that creates automated digital workers, has raised funding from US investing giant Benchmark Capital. The company aims to provide businesses with "digital AI workers" that can complete repetitive and mundane tasks to free up employees to focus on other things. The startup has raised a Series A round of funding, led by US fund Benchmark, four sources familiar with the discussions told Business Insider. Related stories11x's deal was led by Benchmark general partner Sarah Tavel, who will join the startup's board. The startup created a digital sales worker named Alice and plans to release several other digital workers in the future.

Persons: Hasan Sukkar, Sarah Tavel, Uber, Alice, Slack Organizations: Benchmark, Business, US, Bessemer Venture Partners, Twitter, Benchmark Capital, Google, Project A, Ventures, Tiny Ventures, LinkedIn Locations: London, Syrian, Europe, Syria

☆ Some hear echoes of the Web3 frenzy around generative AI. But its future is likely to play out very differently.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Mariam Pettit, partner at Global Founders Capital, said the rush toward AI was in part driven by investor FOMO. While investors and industry insiders don't anticipate the same fate for generative AI startups, many see the parallels between the two industries. Indeed, VCs are paying premiums and pre-empting rounds into hot AI startups in a bid to get a place on the cap table. AI founders are aware that they need to differentiate themselves in order to survive, at the very least. "And with vertical AI startups, it's much clearer that all the data we have is approved by the creator of that data."

Persons: Marc Andreessen, ChatGPT, Mariam Pettit, FOMO, Rainer Haeckl Web3, Sam Bankman Fried, Ash Arora, LocalGlobe, Arora, Sam Altman, Andreessen Horowitz, Ayman Fadil, Fadil, Pettit, Devang Agarwal Organizations: Business, Alpha, Global Founders Capital, Investors, Tech, Talis Locations: German, London, Web3, LocalGlobe, Jasper

☆ When A.I. Bridged a Language Gap, They Fell in Love
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Amanda Florian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He also foresaw one minor issue: Mr. Romero didn’t speak Spanish, Ms. Ochoa’s native language. “I felt it was nice without all the useless chatter,” Mr. Romero, 45, said. But later that month, Mr. Romero realized there might be an even easier way to communicate. At work, Mr. Romero uses an app called Captions to create videos and answer questions for clients. He recalled his friend nudging him to test the app on Ms. Ochoa, saying, “Dude, you got a translation button.

Persons: LeRoy Romero, Brenda Ochoa, Romero, Ochoa, Romero didn’t, margarita, Mr, “, nudging, ’ Organizations: Google Locations: Peoria, Ariz, Mexicali, Mexico

☆ DeepL CEO: Europe still behind on AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | 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 EmailDeepL CEO: Europe still behind on AIDeepL CEO Jarek Kutylowski outlines the challenges Europe's AI companies face in their race with the U.S.

Persons: Jarek Organizations: U.S Locations: Europe

☆ 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

☆ 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

☆ Silicon Valley fund Bessemer Venture Partners expands European investment team with hire of ex-SoftBank VP
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Silicon Valley fund Bessemer Venture Partners has expanded its European investment team with the hire of former SoftBank vice president Justina Chung. Chung has joined Bessemer's London office, which is led by partner Alex Ferrara who opened the fund's European operations in 2020. Bessemer made its first European investment in 2004 and has continued to back startups in the region, including German fintechs Upvest and Mambu as well as British neobank Zopa. Chung was a vice president at SoftBank's Vision Fund, where she served on the boards of temp staffing agency Jobandtalent and second-hand designer fashion marketplace Vestiaire Collective. "It's clear that great founders begin their journey here, in Tallinn or Stockholm, London, Paris or Berlin," Chung, who is now a vice president at Bessemer, told Insider.

Persons: Justina Chung, Chung, Alex Ferrara, Bessemer, Jobandtalent, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Bessemer Venture Partners, LinkedIn, Bessemer's London, SoftBank's Vision, Sorare, SoftBank, Credit Suisse, Bessemer, US Locations: San Francisco, Tallinn, Stockholm, London, Paris, Berlin, Europe, Mistral

☆ British payments fintech Volt in talks to raise fresh funds from Coinbase-backer IVP, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

London-based fintech startup Volt is set to raise fresh funds, sources say. The company, founded in 2019, is in talks with VC firm IVP over a deal worth around $50 million. British fintech startup Volt is in talks to raise fresh capital from Silicon Valley investing firm IVP, sources say. The payments firm, founded in 2019, has already raised around $28 million to date and counts Swedish investor EQT Ventures among its biggest backers. Volt is set to raise around $50 million as part of the deal, two London-based sources said.

Persons: Slack, PSD2, IVP, Hopin, Tom Greenwood, Jordan Lawrence Organizations: EQT Ventures, Fuel Ventures, Open Finance Association, Open Banking, IFX Locations: British, Silicon Valley, London, Europe, Volt's, Brazil

☆ Aleph Alpha, a European rival to OpenAI, is in talks amid AI boom to raise up to $100 million in new funding, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Generative-AI startup Aleph Alpha is in talks with investors over a new funding round, sources said. Aleph Alpha, a German generative AI startup, is in talks with investors over a new funding round, Insider has learned. Founded in 2019 by CEO Jonas Andrulis, a former machine-learning engineer at Apple, and Samuel Weinbach, Aleph Alpha researches and develops AI systems with a focus on enterprise customers. Aleph Alpha declined to comment. Aleph Alpha has a chatbot called Lumi which is built on top of its language-learning model Luminous.

☆ DeepL, a hot AI translation startup pioneered by a former Googler, is closing in on a round above $100 million led by Netflix-backer IVP near a $1 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Translation startup DeepL is closing in on a new funding round led by US giant IVP, sources say. DeepL previously sold a portion of its business to US investor Benchmark. Like Google Translate, DeepL offers a free translation service powered by artificial intelligence. A small test run by Insider indicates that DeepL is, at least in some cases, more intuitive than Google. DeepL previously sold a 13.6% portion of its business to US fund Benchmark and Btov Partners in 2018, according to reporting by Slator.

☆ Fact Check-Video showing President Zelenskiy ‘admitting’ to using cocaine is digitally altered
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Social media users are claiming a video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shows him saying he uses cocaine – but the clip was digitally altered. The caption of the video says that the interview occurred after Zelenskiy announced his candidacy for the president of Ukraine. President Zelenskiy did not say he uses cocaine. The video has combined clips from a longer 2019 interview to change the meaning of what Zelenskiy was saying. Read more about our social media claim verification work here (here).

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