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☆ Generative AI startup Latimer, known as the 'BlackGPT', will launch a new bias detection tool and API
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Monica Melton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The AI startup, named after inventor Lewis Howard Latimer and affectionately known as "The BlackGPT" is an answer to the bias, lack of cultural competency, and erasure found in popular AI tools like ChatGPT, says Latimer CEO and cofounder John Pasmore. Pasmore said the company has plans to launch about five more products specifically focused on bias detection. The move-fast, break-things energy in AI created an opportunity for Latimer, Pasmore said. This method is baked into Latimer's nascent suite of business offerings set to launch after the release of its API. He is confident that there is "a billion-dollar opportunity" to address bias in incumbent AI offerings for enterprises.

Persons: —, Latimer, Lewis Howard Latimer, John Pasmore, Pasmore, Molefi Kete Asante, Brown, it's Latimer, Esther Dyson Organizations: Service, Business, Black, Morgan State, TRS Capital, Syncom Venture Partners Locations: Swiss

☆ Here's the playbook tech companies like AllTrails, Canva, and Kayak are using to dominate the charts in OpenAI's new GPT Store.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Its GPT, which generates images from text prompts, is currently ranked second overall on the GPT Store. And all three companies' GPTs have been highlighted at the top of the GPT Store website as "OpenAI's Picks." Advertisement"Sometimes finding trails can be overwhelming because there are so many different places to go," Graham told Business Insider. In addition to GPT Store, companies are thinking more broadly about how AI fits into their business models. "Now we're also investing time in using AI to make our team faster and more efficient, too."

Persons: —, OpenAI, Canva, Anwar Haneef, Matthias Keller, James Graham, Sam Altman, Graham, GPTs, Sam Altman's, Keller, we're, Haneef Organizations: Service, Business, Uber, Sequoia Capital Global, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greenoaks, Booking Holdings, OpenAI, Economic, Canva Locations: Davos, Canva, ChatGPT

☆ Firms With Deep Roots in China Reconsider Their Xinjiang Ties
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Keith Bradsher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Volkswagen Group is reviewing the future of its joint venture in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China and another German industrial giant is starting to sell its stakes there following new international scrutiny of forced labor using predominantly Muslim ethnic groups. Volkswagen said last week that it was in discussions with one of its main joint venture partners in China, the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, in the wake of allegations of human rights violations at their joint venture in Xinjiang. The companies are examining “the future direction of the J.V.’s business activities in Xinjiang,” VW said, adding that “various scenarios are currently being examined intensively.”BASF of Germany, the world’s largest chemical company, disclosed on Feb. 9 that it began moving late last year to divest its stakes in two manufacturing joint ventures in Xinjiang.

Persons: VW Organizations: Volkswagen, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, BASF Locations: Xinjiang, China, Germany

☆ HiBob, a $2.7-billion HR unicorn, is acquiring Tiger Global-backed payroll startup Pento
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Read previewHiBob, a London headquartered HR unicorn, is acquiring UK payroll startup Pento. The company is valued at $2.7 billion, has raised $574 million in funding, and is acquiring Pento to expand its payroll offering. The acquisition came about after seeing the fragmented payroll market in the UK with HiBob opting to go one step further than integration, CEO Ronni Zehavi told Business Insider. AdvertisementLondon-based Pento has raised $54 million in VC funding, including from General Catalyst and Tiger Global. Around 35 Pento staff will join HiBob as part of the deal, which is subject to closing conditions.

Persons: —, Ronni Zehavi, Zehavi, HiBob Organizations: Service, Business, General, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Tiger Global, Dealroom, HiBob Locations: London, Israel

☆ Meet the Man Behind Litquidity, the Anonymous Instagram Account Dominating Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Reed Alexander | Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

The deck kicked off a game of one-upmanship among Wall Street banks trying to keep their employees happy. Lit capitalized on poking fun at Wall Street culture, selling $35 dad hats that read, "Do You Know Who My Father Is?" There have, of course, been endless rumors about Lit's identity, especially among Wall Street underlings. Wall Street underlings have speculated about Litquidity's identity for years. Basak, one attendee said, wanted to take a "wrecking ball through it all" and hold Wall Street heavy hitters accountable.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, I've, David Solomon, Litquidity, Goldman, Solomon, Evercore, Michael Kovac, Lit, Warburg Pincus, Jamie Dimon, Jamie Dimon's, Banksy, Bennett Jordan, who've, Lit's, — Mark Moran, —, Jefferies, Richard Handler, Spencer Platt, Isaac Laifer, Laifer, Handler, We'd, Henry, Hank, Medina, He's, he's, Jefferies Medina, Bart P, Fuchs, Karl Smith, Mark Moran, Moran, Bloomberg he'd, Zack DeZon, Getty Images Moran, Brian Hanly, Hanly, Sonali Basak, Angela Weiss, cryptocurrency, we'll, Mark, Medina's, weren't, CoinFLEX, Litquidity doesn't, Dave Portnoy, wasn't, Medina Ayden Syal, Kyle Zappitell, Zappitell, he'd, hasn't, Bennett Jordan —, Craig Sjodin, Litney, Paul Argenti, Wall Organizations: Goldman, New York Times, CNBC, Business, Bloomberg, Metropolitan Club of New, Nomura, Citigroup, Financial Times, Litney Partners, Whitney Partners, BI, ESPN, Litquidity, Centerview Partners, New York, Getty, Bain Capital, Litquidity Venture Partners, SEC, Cornell University, Wexford Capital —, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche, CFA, Getty Images, Bullish, Vice, Wall Street, Litquidity's, Manhattan's Rue, Fox Business, Litquidity Ventures, Coatue Management, SAFE, Soho House, Dartmouth University Locations: New York, Tribeca, Metropolitan Club of New York, Instagram, San Francisco, Medina, New York City, Miami, NoHo, Chad, Connecticut, Litquidity, Linktree, Soho

☆ World's biggest chipmaker TSMC to open second Japan factory with backing from Sony, Toyota
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

TSMC on Tuesday said it will open a second manufacturing plant in Japan with backing from technology giant Sony and automaker Toyota . Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. (JASM), the manufacturing operation majority-owned by TSMC, will begin building the new factory this year and aims to bring it into operation by the end of 2027. TSMC said the overall investment in JASM, factoring in a first facility that is set to begin operation this year, will exceed $20 billion. The figure includes the contributions of other venture partners.

Persons: TSMC Organizations: Sony, Toyota, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc, TSMC Locations: Japan, JASM

☆ Frustrated by healthcare's failings, the rich are investing in biotech to live longer and healthier
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

AdvertisementWinter is part of a growing group of family office principals, including heirs like himself and first-generation entrepreneurs, who are making direct investments in pursuit of longer and healthier lives. They are in good company; longevity startups drew global investment of more than $5.2 billion in 2022 , according to a venture capital firm, Longevity Tech Fund, which used PitchBook data. She and some of her clients are investors in Maximon, a Switzerland-based longevity fund that includes "healthspan clinics" in its portfolio. Eric Becker, cofounder of wealth manager Cresset , and his two sons founded a family office and picked Blue Zone Foods as its first investment. Courtesy of CressetFor Becker, whose daughter died of leukemia at 21, and his family, longevity is not an abstract topic.

Persons: Maximilian Winter, doggedly, Lyme, Fritz Winter, Peter Thiel, There's, Peter Fioretti, David Sinclair, Kathrin Genovese, ultrarich, Genovese, Eric Becker, Cresset, Dan Yadegar, Becker, Johnny Walker Organizations: Longevity Tech Fund, Harmonix, Biotech, UBS, Winter's Harmonix Fund, Blue, Foods, Becker Venture Partners, Newpath Partners Locations: Santa Barbara, Quinta , California, Maximon, Switzerland, Zurich

☆ 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

☆ Ex-Shopify merchants built a no-code platform to simplify e-commerce. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck Krepling used to raise $3.3 million.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Brothers Liam, 23, and Travis Gerada, 20, were Shopify merchants before they decided to get into the more technical side of e-commerce. They found that running a modern e-commerce business requires many different software integrations that often don't share data with each other, making it difficult to manage and make decisions. Some use Shopify or other platforms like WooCommerce, while others have used Krepling to grow from the ground up. "We found that merchants were typically expanding their e-commerce stack to optimize the cost to reach different consumers across many different channels. Take a look at the 13-slide pitch deck that Krepling used to raise its seed round:

Persons: Liam, Travis Gerada, they're, Krepling, Jason Calacanis, Liam Gerada, Gerada Organizations: Business, Bull City Venture Partners, Ventures, Tribes Ventures, Colabora Ventures, Broadshade Investments Locations: GMV

☆ Has the LA scene fizzled? SoCal has fallen further behind the Bay Area, NYC and Boston for startup funding: 'People deep in AI are just not in LA'
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But last year, the LA tech scene stalled, according to Carta data. Startup funding plummeted everywhere, but nowhere experienced a steeper decline than LA, where funding declined 65% from 2022. CartaLA's startup funding dropped 65% last year, a steeper decline than the Bay Area, New York or Boston. "They're very deep AI companies, but they're being applied to a vertical, which is one of the strengths of LA," Ingersoll said. Bird goes bust and Snap snaps backThere was more bad news for LA's startup scene in 2023 than just the dismal funding numbers.

Persons: Ethan Aldrich, Aldrich, there's, Andreessen Horowitz, a16z, Katia Ameri, Ameri, VCs, Nikita Bier, Bier, Mark Suster, Suster, LA's, we're, Palmer Luckey, Minnie Ingersoll, Ingersoll, Bird, Zillow, Spencer Rascoff, Evan Spiegel ERIC PIERMONT, Ishan Singh, Singh Organizations: Stanford, Business, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management, LA Tech, LA, Carta, Honest Company, New, Boston, Microsoft, Clark, SpaceX Locations: Santa Monica, Southern California, LA, Santa, Hayes, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, New York, Boston, Carta, San Diego, Seattle, Hawthorne , CA, Costa, Bay

☆ Here's why a top VC says healthcare investors should make growth-stage bets right now — and where he's looking for those deals
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

As a multi-stage VC fund, Lightspeed has an advantage in its exposure to both early-stage and later-stage healthcare markets, Imanbayev said. And many later-stage healthcare startups still have plenty of room to grow, he said. The first one to three years are often slow-moving for a healthcare startup, too, as it works to get its first partnerships with payers or providers, he said. But they also tend to be less risky, since later-stage startups should have revenue streams or partnerships that demonstrate their value. Lightspeed led value-based care startup Aledade's $260 million Series F in June 2023, an unusually large deal as other investors cut much smaller checks.

Persons: —, Galym, Imanbayev, I'm, There's, Farzad Mostashari, Aledade Tom Sandner, VCs, Abridge, he's, Chris Severn Organizations: Business, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lightspeed, CVS, Health, Turquoise Health, Pharma, FDA, pharma

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the 10-slide pitch deck a startup that offers mental health coaching for kids used to raise its seed round
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The children's mental health market is booming as part of a larger cultural shift toward transparency around mental health and well-being. The startup uses a gamified curriculum that helps kids build relationships, manage their emotions, and develop academic skills. Indeed, the demand for youth mental health services has grown substantially in the past few years, according to data compiled by mental health investor Telosity. Parallel Learning, Daybreak Health, and Hopscotch all provide various mental health services for children and their families. At tapouts, children and teens ages 4 to 16 participate in weekly, 30-minute group coaching sessions centered on themes including expressing emotions, resiliency, and identifying unhelpful thoughts.

Persons: tapouts, George Mornger, Mornger, Morgner Organizations: Business, Venture Partners, Sidespin, Tatler Asia Group, Capital, Telosity, Centers for Disease Control, Health Locations: Los Angeles, tapouts

☆ 16 VCs that are funding the future of entertainment by backing generative AI and other disruptive tech
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

AdvertisementAfter a period of "wild west" investing in AI, Blank believes activity will favor AI companies that respect artists' consent and compensation. It recently co-led a $1 million seed round in Conduiit, which centralizes entertainment companies' production finance operations. Endeavor Venture InvestmentsEndeavor Venture Investments is the venture arm of entertainment and sports behemoth Endeavor. SWaN & LegendThe Virginia-based VC firm has a broad consumer portfolio that includes a number of entertainment investments. With Hollywood in contraction, SWaN has largely hit pause on new entertainment investments to get its portfolio companies on a strong footing.

Persons: Michael Blank, Blank, Jon Miller, Miller, Slack, Garnet Heraman, BDMI, Urs Cete, Michael, TMRW, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Elysian Park Ventures Jay Adya, Grant Lamos, Tom Brady, Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan, Jay Adya, Morgan, Kushaan Ahuja, Drew Glover, Glover, Alex Harris, they've, Noah Doyle, Payback India, Jed Katz, Rich Greenfield, Rich, Ilya Pozin, Jamie Seltzer, LightShed, Steve Cohen's, it's, Sri Chandrasekar, Tripp Shriner, Ishan Sinha, That's, Wondery, Ian Doody, Raine, Gordon Rubenstein, Joe Ravitch, Jeff Sine, ‐, Fred Schaufeld, SWaN, that's, Oscar, Jose, Schaufeld, Sam Wick, Alex J, Investcorp, Paul Yoo, Edgar Bronfman Jr, Daniel Leff, Waverley, Leff Organizations: Service, Creative Artists, Connect Ventures, Business, Hollywood, Veteran, TPG, Integrated Media Co, Advancit, CAA, Bertelsmann, Waverley, Octopus Ventures, Accel, Facebook, Venture, Aperture Venture, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Fremantle, Connect, CAA Connect Ventures, New Enterprises Associates, TMRW Sports, Disney, Universal, Elysian Park Ventures, Elysian, Sports, Endeavor Venture, Endeavor Venture Investments, behemoth Endeavor, Dapper Labs, Fiat Ventures, Fiat Ventures Fiat Ventures, Fiat, Payback, Rent, LightShed, Rich Greenfield Influential, LightShed Ventures, Pluto, Apple, Octopus Ventures Octopus Ventures, Investments, Corp, Etsy, Re, Point72 Ventures New York Mets, Range Media Partners, Point72 Ventures, Sri, Powerhouse, Athletic, The New York Times Co, Evolution Media, Creative Artists Agency, Astro, Rave Digital Media, Accel Entertainment, Jose Andrés Media, Berliner, UTA Talent, UTA, UTA Ventures, Ventures, VR, Amazon, PFL Locations: blockchain, —, Conduiit, fintech, London, Australia, Papercup, Los Angeles, Virginia, UTA.VC

☆ Yieldstreet is raising cash to shore up two Nashville deals it owns with Adam Neumann's new a16z-backed startup
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Publicly launched in 2022 but built with assets from Neumann's own family office, Flow received the largest check Silicon Valley venture capital heavyweight A16z has ever written. Yieldstreet, a crowdfunding platform that has facilitated over $4 billion in alternative investments as of the end of 2023, has already pumped tens of millions of crowdfunded cash into the Nashville deals as the majority equity owner. These two properties are facing the same squeeze as many others in commercial real estate amid sky-high interest rates and inflationary pressures. The latest fundraising effort provides a rare look at how commercial real estate investors are dealing with the challenging environment. "Both partners are funding as the JV agreement calls for and as happens in every standard real estate JV deal."

Persons: Adam Neumann, he's, Flow, A16z, Neumann Organizations: Business, Publicly, Flow, Nashville, Facebook, Twitter, BI, JV Locations: WeWork, Nashville , Tennessee, Nashville

☆ Twilio CEO Lawson steps down after bruising activist battles
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-08 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The move comes as Twilio grapples with two activist investors who have been pushing for significant changes. In a regulatory filing announcing the move, the company also said Twilio expected fourth-quarter revenue and income to come in above its prior guidance. Lawson will also step down from Twilio's board, where he had served as chairman. "I am honored to step into the CEO role," Shipchandler said in a release. We look forward to continuing to engage with Twilio's Board and management team going forward," he added.

Persons: Jeff Lawson, Spain Twilio, Twilio, Lawson, Khozema, Shipchandler, Jeff Epstein, we've, Jeff Lawson's, Sagar Gupta, Gupta, Partner's Organizations: Twilio, Mobile, Congress, Bessemer Venture Partners, Anson Funds, Legion Partners, CNBC, Qatalyst Partners, Twilio's, Partners, Twilio's Board, CNBC PRO Locations: Barcelona, Spain, Twilio

☆ GPT and other AI models can't analyze an SEC filing, researchers find
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-19 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Patronus AI co-founders Anand Kannappan and Rebecca Qian Patronus AILarge language models, similar to the one at the heart of ChatGPT, frequently fail to answer questions derived from Securities and Exchange Commission filings, researchers from a startup called Patronus AI found. "That type of performance rate is just absolutely unacceptable," Patronus AI co-founder Anand Kannappan said. It feels like just testing by inspection," Patronus AI co-founder Rebecca Qian said. Here's some examples of questions in the dataset, provided by Patronus AI: Has CVS Health paid dividends to common shareholders in Q2 of FY2022? How the AI models did on the test

Persons: Anand Kannappan, Rebecca Qian Patronus, OpenAI's, ChatGPT, they're, Rebecca Qian, FinanceBench, Qian Organizations: Securities, Exchange, CNBC, SEC, Bloomberg, JPMorgan, McKinsey, Microsoft, Facebook, Meta, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Patronus, CVS, AMD, Coca

☆ VCs are getting pickier about their weight-loss bets as startups rush to prescribe Ozempic
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-11 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Read previewWith the Ozempic craze in full swing, investors are getting picky about the weight-loss startups they want to back. Kaganoff predicted that in the new year some startups prescribing GLP-1s would invest more money in studies using real-world evidence to show their programs work. And despite the Ozempic frenzy, weight-loss startups captured a tiny fraction of the money invested this year. Investors had put about $211 million toward weight-loss startups through mid-November, representing about 3% of digital-health funding over that period, according to PitchBook. Alfie HealthSome unlikely sectors of the healthcare industry stand to benefit from the growth of the weight-loss market.

Persons: —, Sari Kaganoff, Crystal Cox, Kaganoff, Ro, VCs, Michael Greeley, Alyssa Jaffee, 7wireVentures, she's, she'd, Mounjaro, Mercer, Michael Siluk, PitchBook, Alfie Health, it's, Alfie's cofounders, Aaron DeGagne, Jordan, he'd, DeGagne, There's Organizations: Service, Business, Rock Health, Flare Capital Partners, Getty, Employers, Health, Investors, Phenomix Sciences, Mayo Clinic, PitchBook, Tusk Venture Partners, Sword Health Locations: GLP

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck that Martian, an AI startup that helps developers find the best LLM, used to raise $9 million from investors like NEA and Prosus Ventures
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

They set up a 30-minute meeting because of their shared interest in advancing AI technology and research. Now, the company has come out the gate with $9 million in seed funding in a round co-led by NEA and Prosus Ventures. "You often need an entire AI team to go and test and evaluate these models," Ginsburg said. Going forward, Ginsberg and Upadhyay hope to attract more enterprise customers and continue their research into AI models to make routing even more efficient and "build more awesome tooling." See the eight-slide deck that convinced investors at NEA, Prosus Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, and General Catalyst to invest in Martian's $9 million seed round:

Persons: Etan Ginsberg, Shriyash Upadhyay, cofounders, Upadhyay, Catalyst, Claude —, Ginsburg, Ginsberg weren't, Ginsberg Organizations: University of Pennsylvania, Business, NEA, Prosus Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, Catalyst

☆ Meet the founder of the Failure Museum, an exclusive collection of swag from companies that went bust
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Norwest partner Sean Jacobsohn started collecting objects from failed businesses a year ago. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . To make it into the museum, the failure has to be a physical item — no NFTs allowed, Jacobsohn said. Some even offer to donate failed business swag as a way of getting in his rolodex. He's currently scheduled to lead a guest lecture on the subject for the class "Avoiding Startup Failure,' he mentioned.

Persons: Sean Jacobsohn, he's, it's, —, Jordan Poole, Jacobsohn, Sean Jacobsohn's, freebie, Jacobsohn's, Mattel, Allan, Ken's, Michael Cera's, Harley Davidson's, Elizabeth Holmes, He's, you've Organizations: Service, Bay Area, Norwest Venture Partners, Golden State Warriors, Business, Mattel, eBay, mater, Harvard Business School Locations: Bay, cologne

☆ After closed door OpenAI drama, open source AI backed by Nvidia, Eric Schmidt, could emerge winner
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Rebecca Fannin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Hugging Face website on a laptop arranged in New York, US, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. "We should encourage all companies to build on disruption-proof AI technology that only open source can offer." To be clear, big bets made on open source AI pre-date last Friday when news first broke of Sam Altman's removal as OpenAI CEO, and those bets include an open source AI model controlled by one dominant tech company, Meta Platforms ' Llama. Open source and AI governanceFormer Google CEO Eric Schmidt is behind Mistral AI, another open source rival to OpenAI's ChatGPT. A third open source AI startup, Poolside AI, recently pulled in $126 million co-led by French telecom and internet billionaire Xavier Niel and U.S. VC firm Felicis Ventures.

Persons: Gabby Jones, Eric Schmidt, Sam Altman, Microsoft —, Mike Gualtieri, Forrester, Marc Benioff, Delip Rao, Sam Altman's, Thomas Wolf, We've, Wolf, Linus Torvalds, Paul Drews, OpenAI's, Arthur Mensch, Mistral, Xavier Niel Organizations: Nvidia, Bloomberg, Getty Images Tech, Salesforce, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Twitter, Google, Meta, IBM, Intel, Sequoia Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Mistral, alums, Lightspeed Venture Partners, French, . VC, Felicis Ventures Locations: New York, France

☆ Health AI startup Cercle debuts with backing from Sheryl Sandberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A new health tech startup called Cercle launched Wednesday and announced major global partners and investors, including Meta 's former COO Sheryl Sandberg. Cercle uses artificial intelligence to try and advance women's health, particularly within fertility care. "That's the founding mission behind Cercle, to personalize and contextualize biomedical and genomics information so women can make better, more informed health decisions," Cercle CEO and co-founder Juan Carlos Riveiro said in a release Wednesday. Cercle's lead investors include Sandberg and her husband Tom Bernthal through their new venture fund, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, Cercle announced. Cercle said it will initially focus on fertility care but plans to expand to other areas within women's health.

Persons: Sheryl Sandberg, Juan Carlos Riveiro, Cercle's, Sandberg, Tom Bernthal Organizations: Meta, Sandberg, Venture Partners Locations: personalize

☆ [WATCH NOW] Create a culture of ownership to drive business growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Morgan Stanley At Work | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Comprehensive equity strategies are an effective way to create a culture of ownership. Prioritizing a transparent and open dialogue can facilitate a culture of ownership and community where employees understand the value they bring to the company and their role in business success. Not only does this lead to more satisfied employees, but it also helps drive sustainable business growth. Among them: Incorporating equity compensation into a broader compensation strategy that aligns with your company's values and culture. In the US, for example, workplace financial benefits like equity compensation are often considered individual benefits for the employee.

Persons: Teri McFadden, Morgan Stanley, Rodney Bolden, Shawn Murphy, Murphy, Laura St, Charles, —, isn't, McFadden, there's Organizations: Norwest Venture Partners, Work, of Law, Economics, Insider Studios Locations: St

Mistral, a tiny AI startup that aims to be Europe's answer to OpenAI, is in discussions to raise a major round of funding that could push its valuation above $2 billion. Its cofounders are in talks with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz to raise further funds, seven sources familiar with proceedings told Insider. Mistral is set to raise around $400 million at a valuation of at least $2 billion, which could rise to as high as $2.5 billion, three sources said. The deal is not yet finalized and the round size, valuation figures, and participants could still change. Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Mistral, Abstract Ventures, and Bezos Expeditions did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Catalyst, Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample, Timothée Lacroix, Jeff Bezos, Xavier Niel Organizations: Mistral, Meta, DeepMind, Bezos Expeditions, Amazon, Catalyst, Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners Locations: Paris

☆ A minor ChatGPT update is a warning to founders: Big Tech can blow up your startup at any time
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementDid OpenAI just kill a bunch of startups by making a small update to ChatGPT? Specifically, he referred to "wrapper startups." AdvertisementAdvertisementIt isn't necessarily the case that founders who build AI wrapper businesses are doing this to exploit a weakness in ChatGPT. In May, data scientist Alex Reibman announced ChatOCR , a ChatGPT plugin that "reads text from PDFs, including scans and handwriting." Following the ChatGPT update at the weekend, he ran a poll on X that asked users what would happen to his plugin "now that ChatGPT has built in PDF processing."

Persons: —, Sam Altman's, ESFt7bpGyy — Rowan Cheung, OpenAI, Alex Reibman, they've Organizations: Big Tech, Service, Investors, ChatGPT, LinkedIn, Bessemer Venture Partners Locations: There's

☆ Nomura reassesses mainland China business plan as losses mount
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of Nomura Securities is seen at the company's Head Office in Tokyo, Japan, November 28, 2016. Nomura's majority-owned joint venture has struggled to grow since its launch in 2019, dragged down by the pandemic and a slowing economy. In 2022, the joint venture lost 225 million yuan ($30.75 million), after losing 84 million yuan in 2021, according to Nomura's filings. Nomura's China joint venture headcount has dropped to 259 from 281 in July, far short of the original target of increasing it to 500 by this year. The joint venture is 51% owned by Nomura, 24.9% by Orient International Holding, and 24.1% by Shanghai Huangpu Investment Holding Group.

Persons: Toru Hanai, Nomura, headcount, Goldman Sachs, Makiko Yamazaki, Selena Li, Sonali Paul Organizations: Nomura Securities, REUTERS, Rights, Nomura Holdings, Bloomberg, Reuters, Citigroup, Nomura Orient International Securities, Nomura, Orient International Holding, Shanghai Huangpu Investment Holding Group, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, China, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Asia

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