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☆ Y Combinator's latest class is a feeding frenzy for VCs looking to back AI startups: 'There's hysteria for a reason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

VCs are scrambling to back the AI startups in Y Combinator's latest batch. Several generative AI startups have already secured funding from top firms, sources say. And while valuations are down across the board, YC AI startups are still hot. Startups focused on AI, and generative AI specifically, which saw a substantial jump in the latest batch, were some of the most highly sought after by investors. An AI feeding frenzyVC buzz was common across generative AI startups both in the application and infrastructure layers.

☆ Nike will restock its wildly popular Jordan 1 'Chicago' after the original was featured in 'Air.' The SNKRS app and fans' patience may be tested.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Nike looks set to re-release the Air Jordan 1 "Lost & Found," next week, according to Complex. But many sneakerheads could not enter a draw for the wider release on the SNKRS app because of app crashes or frozen screens. Most sizes of the original release still go for at least double the $180 retail price on StockX. In the movie, Nike executives present Jordan with his first basketball shoe, the Air Jordan 1 "Chicago," the same colorway as the recent "Lost and Found" release. Nike will undoubtedly hope that the conversation surrounding the "Lost & Found" restock is focused on the sneakers and not any hiccups associated with its SNKRS app.

☆ Adobe releases tools for generating product images from 3D models
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 21 (Reuters) - Adobe Inc (ADBE.O) on Tuesday rolled out a tool aimed at helping marketing departments at e-commerce stores generate product images without having to pay for as many photo shoots. It is designed to allowing marketing professionals to come up with the images they need for web pages and marketing emails. The product straddles San Jose, California-based Adobe's longtime business of generating and editing images and its newer business of supplying technology tools for marketing and e-commerce. "Big e-commerce websites, they have hundreds of people" manually creating 3D renderings, Cottin said. In the case of a shoe, for example, an artist might create a 3D model of the basic model of the shoe.

☆ Do not underestimate how important humans are, even as we automate, the chief technology officer of SAP says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Automation, generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT and Bard, and machine learning are pushing business leaders like never before. They deployed this app, built on SAP Business Technology Platform, and said it saves 400,000 hours per year. Maybe it's a bike company: You're interested more in road bikes or fun bikes. You talked about providing and embedding AI and machine learning and giving customers ways to solve problems in a scalable, ethical way. When machine learning arrived, first that automates a lot of capabilities, but now you have completely new jobs.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck that Y Combinator alum Opkit, a health insurance verification startup, used to raise funding from investors like Plaid CEO Zach Perret's VC firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Opkit is a startup that helps telehealth companies verify and process patient health insurance. Software engineers Sherwood Callaway and Justin Ko first met as early employees at the fintech startup Brex and became fast friends. As more telehealth companies were popping up after the pandemic, they often had issues with quickly processing patient health insurance for care, Callaway told Insider. Opkit also offers providers an insurance dashboard, that allows telehealth employees to perform eligibility checks or inquiries to insurance companies about specific patients' plans. "Opkit was our first experience doing venture fundraising, and Y Combinator really helped us make connections with investors," said Callaway.

☆ Weeks after mass layoffs, Flexport CEO Dave Clark says most of the company's work can be automated — it's just a 'question of time'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Dave Clark is now sole CEO at Flexport after previously sharing the job with founder Ryan Petersen. The Amazon veteran said an "overwhelming majority" of work at firms like Flexport can be automated. Striving for automation is common among tech-focused logistics companies, but few have delivered. The goal of automating most of the coordination — like sending emails — in the freight industry is common among venture-backed logistics technology companies. AAutomation-driven logistics technology is still receiving attention from investors despite overall trade volume and venture investment cooling.

☆ Sam’s Club Adding Distribution Centers to Speed Up Online Fulfillment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Sam’s Club is expanding its supply-chain network as it looks to build on recent e-commerce sales growth by speeding up order fulfillment while cutting shipping costs. Sam’s Club said its plan is to shrink the average distance between its supply-chain facilities and its stores and members. Sam’s Club said it is designing its new stores to have more space for curbside pickup and delivery orders. The first new Sam’s Club fulfillment center is expected to open near Atlanta in the third quarter of this year. Mr. Godsey said Sam’s Club will employ the same number of people it would have without automation so it can handle more volume.

As part of this effort, White House officials said, they locked a commitment from Tesla to open thousands of its chargers to electric vehicles made by other manufacturers. Tesla has intended to open up its charging network in the US for years. But in one omission that will raise questions from staunch environmentalists, the new federally funded EV chargers will not necessarily be powered by clean energy sources. According to environmental impact research by Project Drawdown, compared to gasoline-powered vehicles, emissions drop by 50% when an electric vehicle's power is drawn from the conventional grid. During the briefing, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm emphasized that the President's goal is to get to a "fully clean electric grid" by 2035.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the 20-slide pitch deck generative AI startup Regie.ai used to raise $6 million from OpenAI-backer Khosla Ventures
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Regie.ai is a generative AI startup that automates content creation and management for sales teams. Check out the 20-slide deck that landed Regie $6 million in Series A funding from Khosla Ventures. Together, the two founded Regie.ai, a generative AI startup that automates content creation and management for sales teams. Regie signed its term sheet with Khosla Ventures in October 2022, as excitement around generative AI started to pick up, Sridhar said. Here's an exclusive look at the 20-slide pitch deck Regie.ai used to raise $6 million in Series A funding from Open-AI backer Khosla Ventures:

☆ OpenAI makes a ChatGPT-like tool called Codex that can write software. Here's why Codex won't replace developers and will instead create more demand for their skills.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The same company is also behind Codex, a tool that automates the writing of software code. Codex is similar, except that instead of writing English sentences, it writes software code. Tell Codex what type of software problem you're trying to solve, and Codex will suggest a solution with a string of code. Similarly, Codex further simplifies certain software engineering tasks. "Then we'll have more engineers, and more software engineering.

☆ Uncertain Economy Spurs Growth in AI-Powered Office Automation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Corporate technology leaders are leaning on artificial intelligence and other software automation tools to help companies grow without hiring additional workers anytime soon. Diogo Rau, chief information and digital officer at Eli Lilly. The reports are often filled with scientific terms that require professionals to decipher, Mr. Rau said. Similarly, Mr. Rau is applying natural-language models to produce in-house clinical reports, replacing on-staff medical writers. All told, Gartner expects global enterprise spending on AI and other software automation systems this year to reach $728.9 billion, up from $643.3 billion in 2022.

☆ Supernormal, a generative AI startup that automates meeting notes, just raised $10 million. Check out the 17-slide pitch deck it used to bag the seed round.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Supernormal, a startup in the red-hot generative AI sector, just raised $10 million. The startup uses AI to take notes from meetings in real time and sends them instantly afterward. We got an exclusive look at the 17-slide pitch deck Supernormal used to raise the cash. Supernormal, a startup in the red-hot generative AI sector, has raised $10 million in a seed round led by Revolut and Citymapper investor Balderton. The company, which uses AI to automate meeting notes, was founded in 2020 by former Meta and Klarna product manager Colin Treseler and ex-Github design lead Fabian Perez.

☆ HR startup Deel striving to be more than a well-funded flash in the pan as it confirms $12 billion valuation and touts five-fold jump in annual revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

HR startup Deel, which lets employers hire remotely, has raised capital at a $12 billion valuation. The funding round more than doubles the company's previous $5.5 billion valuation. The founder of HR startup Deel has insisted the company is more than just a "well-funded flash in the pan" as he confirmed a long-mooted funding round that more than doubled its valuation to $12 billion. Deel also automates payroll, benefits, compliance, and other HR functions through an API to help companies scale remote teams. The company previously raised $425 million at a $5.5 billion valuation in a round led by Coatue in October 2021.

☆ This startup helps vets spend more time with pets and less time on admin. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Digitail used to raise $11 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Digitail, a Romanian pet care startup, has raised $11 million in Series A funding. Digitail, founded in 2018, helps veterinary clinics automate their management systems. A startup that helps vets automate their often antiquated management systems has raised $11 million in fresh funds. "Today's reality is that there is a massive shortage of vets compared to the number of pets and that means they have less time to split between seeing pets and managing clinics," Digitail CEO Sebastian Gabor told Insider. Digitail, which is based in Romania's Iasi and Florida, provides a vertical, cloud-based SaaS platform to help vets with inventory management, invoicing, appointment calendars, and patient management.

☆ We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Y Combinator alum Howdy, a workplace hiring startup, used to raise $18 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Howdy is a workplace staffing startup that matches developers in Latin America with jobs in the US. Now, the company has raised a total of $18 million for its Series A round and extension. Howdy also offers mentorship services for its developers to help bridge any cultural gap they may have at their new workplace. Greycroft also participated in the round, Samira told Insider. Check out the 31-slide pitch deck that Howdy used to raise $18 million:

Parafin, launched in 2020, works with so-called platform partners, or companies that other small businesses sell their products through. All the cofounders knew was that they wanted to build technology that would help small businesses. And they may not get their first contract payment from the government for as long as 120 days," Reed, the startup's CEO, told Insider. Helping small businesses manage their taxesComplYant's founder Shiloh Jackson wants to help people be present in their bookkeeping. HoneyBookWhile countless small businesses have been harmed by the pandemic, self-employment and entrepreneurship have found ways to blossom as Americans started new ventures.

☆ The year of the restaurant robot: Why chains are investing in automation and what it means for workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

This year brought a flurry of automation announcements in the restaurant industry as operators scrambled to find solutions to a shrinking workforce and climbing wages. Three-quarters of restaurant operators are facing staffing shortages that keep them from operating at full capacity, according to the National Restaurant Association. Many restaurant operators hiked wages to attract workers, but that pressured profits at a time when food costs were also climbing. "Automation is one word, and a lot of people go right to robotics and a robot flipping burgers or making fries. The labor questionAutomation often faces pushback from workers and labor advocates, who see it as a way for employers to eliminate jobs.

☆ How a data fabric can help organizations streamline supply chain workflows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Ibm With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

To take advantage of the disparate data sets created within supply chain workflows, you first need to focus in on that key business objective for a supply chain organization: delivering better quality products more efficiently at scale. A data fabric can simplify data access in an organization to facilitate self-service data consumption, while remaining agnostic to data environments, processes, utility, and geography. A data fabric automates data discovery, governance, and consumption, enabling enterprises to use data to maximize their value chain by providing the right data at the right time, regardless of where it resides. Additionally, you can generate golden records that ensure product data consistency across the various data sources and enable a smoother experience when integrating data assets for analysis within a data fabric architecture. Ultimately, the data fabric architecture can help significantly reduce time-to-insights by unifying fragmented data on a singular platform in a governed manner in any industry, not just the retail or supply chain space.

☆ I'm a 20-year-old Airbnb host who made $375,000 in revenue this year. Here's how I set up and scaled my properties.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Dorothy Cucci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Inayah McMillan is a 20-year-old Airbnb host with 11 listings in St. Louis, Missouri. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Inayah McMillan, a 20-year-old Airbnb host with listings in St. Louis, Missouri. We've made more than $375,000 this year in revenue, and our best month yet was this past May, when we made $58,120 in revenue. If I could go back, I would have registered my Airbnb business as an LLC from the very start. Automation softwares are key to scaling"Beaming Carriage Home" in Central West End, St. Louis mAnother thing that sets me apart is having a private booking website.

☆ Check out the pitch deck the Y Combinator alum SilkChart used to raise $5.2 million from investors like SoftBank
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The marketing startup SilkChart seeks to help businesses better understand their advertising data. It was in Y Combinator's spring 2022 class and says it was able to grow revenue during the program. Now, SilkChart has raised $5.2 million in funding to scale its data-analytics business. Investors include Y Combinator, SoftBank, the ad agency Dentsu, Harlem Capital, and Global Founders Capital. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck that the founders of SilkChart used to raise $5.2 million in funding:

☆ Cramer talks about some hot industrial stocks, and how we're playing Wall Street's pivot from tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has done so much better than the average semiconductor company, or even the above-average enterprise software company that it's insane that we even focus on some of the latter. The 600 companies formed in the last two years rent too much of your brain space even in passing. What enterprise software company can say that? As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Privacy restrictions will hit the ad industry hard in 2023. These 16 privacy tech companies will make sure brands like McDonald's and Disney can still find customers online.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A new wave of companies is helping marketers get consumers to share their data and manage the information. Insider identified the top 16 privacy tech vendors in the space. Insider has identified the top 16 privacy tech vendors that work in the advertising industry, based on nominations and our own reporting. It includes established giants like LiveRamp, which offers a data cleanroom where advertisers and publishers can share data. There also are new players like TerraTrue, a startup founded in 2019 by two Snap vets, which automates the process by which advertisers audit their tech vendors for privacy violations.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the 18-slide presentation that a health-data startup used to land $20 million as it eyes profitability
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Carta Healthcare just announced $20 million in Series B funding led by Paramark Ventures. That puts startups in need of a Series B round in a tough position. The health-data startup said on November 2 that it had raised a $20 million Series B round led by Paramark Ventures. Insider got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Carta Healthcare used to raise $20 million in Series B funding. Here's the 18-slide presentation Carta Healthcare used to raise $20 million in Series B funding.

☆ JPMorgan is the latest company to try to profit by taking old-school rent checks online
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

More than 100 million people in the US pay a total of $500 billion in rent each year, per JPMorgan. JPMorgan and many startups are taking the rent check online to get a cut of that pool of money. Historically, America's 44.2 million renters have written checks to their landlords and kissed that cash goodbye. Renters living at one of the 2.5 million "Bilt Alliance" properties, have the ability to report their rent payments to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Once enrolled, renters can earn Pinata Cash that can be spent at retailers like Starbucks, Amazon, and Target, and also have their rent payments reported to TransUnion.

☆ JPMorgan Chase wants to disrupt the rent check with its payments platform for landlords and tenants
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

JPMorgan Chase is betting that landlords and tenants are finally ready to ditch paper checks and embrace digital payments. The bank is piloting a platform it created for property owners and managers that automates the invoicing and receipt of online rent payments, according to Sam Yen, chief innovation officer of JPMorgan's commercial banking division. That's because the market is highly fragmented, with most of the country's 12 million property owners running smaller portfolios of fewer than 100 units. More than 100 million Americans pay a combined $500 billion annually in rent, the bank said. "The vast majority of rent payments are still done through checks," Yen said in a recent interview.

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