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☆ AI sales startup Clay is raising a new funding round at a $1.3 billion valuation, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-16 | by ( Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The company last raised a $46 million Series B at a $500 million valuation led by Meritech in June. AdvertisementClay, the AI-powered sales startup, is set to be valued at $1.3 billion in a new insider funding round, two sources told Business Insider. Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, Box Group, and Boldstart Ventures participated in that round. Clay's AI messaging tool can then help sales teams send tailored outbound messages to prospective customers. Apollo, a sales intelligence startup, raised a $100 million Series D round led by Bain Capital Ventures last year at a $1.6 billion valuation.

Persons: Clay, Meritech, —, Kareem Amin, Amin, Varun Anand Organizations: Service, Business, Meritech Capital, Sequoia Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Wall Street, Bain Capital Ventures

☆ Snapchat avoided 'AI' and leaned into real experiences in its annual pitch to brands
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Dan Whateley | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

During the Snap-owned app's pitch to brands at its NewFronts presentation on Wednesday in New York, the company emphasized the value of real-world experiences, or IRL, over social-media scrolling. Sharing became contrived, and social media as a whole began feeling like an inauthentic version of our lives rather than a source of genuine connection." It's plastered ads on competitive social media platforms and billboards with its "Less Social Media. Related storiesSnapchat executives mentioned AI just once during the NewFronts presentation, saying the company had used AI models to build augmented-reality lenses. Snap is not the only social platform addressing lonelinessSnapchat's war against social media taps into a broader trend.

Persons: —, Colleen DeCourcy, Cipriani, DeCourcy, TikTok, Dan Whateley, NewFront, Meta's, Mervana Parekh, Snapchat, Patrick Harris, Piper Sandler Organizations: Service, Facebook, Meta, Business, NFL, NBA, NBC, Entertainment, Media, Snap's, Acrew, Big Tech Locations: New York, Manhattan, Americas

☆ 'The scholar, the pragmatist, and the rainmaker:' How three Bloomberg Beta VCs bet on AI before it became a buzzword
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Bahat brings this same radical directness to Bloomberg Beta, the early-stage venture capital fund housed within the larger Bloomberg empire that he's run for the past decade. And Bloomberg Beta was making investments in generative AI as far back as 2015, before the term "generative AI" even existed. "It felt like we were just waiting for the right moment," said Cham, Bloomberg Beta partner and de-facto chief technologist, "where the rest of the world would see it." Bloomberg Beta made the decision early on to publish its entire operating manual on GitHub, including sensitive information about average check size and investment criteria. Kieran Snyder, the founder of generative AI startup Textio which Bloomberg Beta invested in in 2015, has a shorthand for describing the role of Beta's three partners.

Persons: Roy Bahat's, Bahat, James Cham, Karin Klein, Shivon Zillis, Elon Musk's, Cham, ChatGPT, VCs, Bloomberg Beta, Dan Doctoroff, Mike Bloomberg, Doctoroff, Bahat's chutzpah, Bloomberg —, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Tade Oyerinde, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel's Founder's, Roy didn't, Oyerinde, Kieran Snyder, who's, Apple Lisa, Klein, Karen, Snyder, Roy, Zilis Organizations: Port Authority, World Trade Center, IGN, Bloomberg Beta, Bloomberg, LinkedIn, Elon, Beta, Apple, New Locations: New York, Silicon Valley, East, California

☆ A new type of creator is taking over Snapchat: Giving fans constant access to their lives, posting hundreds of times a day, and raking in cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Marta Biino | Dan Whateley | Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Even if it's a day where I'm super tired and I'm not doing anything, I'll be like, 'Guys, I am doing nothing all day. Compared to YouTube videos, or even content for short-video platforms like TikTok, Snapchat stories require less effort to produce. "The privacy thing is kind of something you take with being a content creator," Leilani Green, a beauty and makeup creator with 845,000 subscribers on Snapchat, told Insider. Rick Lox, a food creator with around 215,000 Snapchat subscribers, said he sets dedicated times in the morning, afternoon, and evening to upload stories. TikTok and YouTube's attempts at sharing in-stream ad revenue with creators for short videos has produced measly payouts thus far.

Persons: Snapchat, Influencer Alyssa McKay, I'm, McKay, she's, Truman, Eloise Head, —, Alyssa McKay, Jacques Slade, Dave Roter, Noam Galai, Rick, Francis Roberts, " Roberts, YouTuber David Dobrik, Brandom Baum, monetization, Matthew, that's, it's, Jim Louderback Organizations: Inc, Snap's, YouTube Locations: Snapchat, New York

"Even if it's a day where I'm super tired and I'm not doing anything, I'll be like, 'Guys, I am doing nothing all day. Compared to YouTube videos, or even content for short-video platforms like TikTok, Snapchat stories require less effort to produce. "The privacy thing is kind of something you take with being a content creator," Leilani Green, a beauty and makeup creator with 845,000 subscribers on Snapchat, told Insider. Snapchat may be incentivizing creators to broadcast every minute of their lives, which isn't for everyone. TikTok and YouTube's attempts at sharing in-stream ad revenue with creators for short videos has produced measly payouts thus far.

☆ Streaming services like Hulu, Discovery+, and Disney+ have been ramping up the amount of ads in their shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But in the past year, ad loads have crept up on almost all the top services, per MediaRadar. Now that streaming companies have fallen in love with ads, viewers can expect to see a lot more of them. Discovery+'s ad load grew 69%, to about 5 minutes per hour, while Hulu's jumped 38%, to 7.3 minutes per hour. MediaRadar shared numbers for standard commercial spots, which are the most common form of ads on streaming services. Disney+ Basic and Netflix's Basic with Ads are also increasing their ad loads — which is to be expected, as they're still ramping up.

☆ Striking Hollywood writers lament residuals slide
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Dawn Chmielewski | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The streaming residual check amounted to one-third of the $12,000 Jones received in residuals for writing one episode of the ABC drama "Queens." The writers argue that streaming services, which upended decades of television industry business practices, have significantly undercut their compensation. RESIDUALS WERE 'VERY HEALTHY'Streaming changed the compensation structure and now accounts for the largest share of TV residuals. One studio executive said writers negotiated a 46% increase in residuals for streaming programs, starting in 2022. The latest guild proposal would bump foreign streaming residuals by 200%, a number studio executives noted fails to recognize that subscription fees vary from country to country.

☆ Hollywood writers' strike halts production of 'Stranger Things,' 'Severance,' Marvel's ‘Blade’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

More than 11,000 film and television writers, who say their compensation doesn't match the revenue generated in the streaming era, are on strike for the first time since 2008. Since then, a number of notable films and shows have halted or wrapped production early, including Netflix's "Stanger Things," Disney and Marvel's "Blade," AppleTV+'s "Severance" and Paramount's "Evil." Beyond the delayed production, and likely delayed releases, of these titles, industry experts worry the work pause could have a financial toll greater than that of the previous writers' strike. A number of productions with finished scripts, like Amazon's "The Rings of Power," have decided to continue filming without writers or showrunners on set. "While we're excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike.

☆ Snapchat's vision of the future has dystopian vibes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Snap executives took the stage on Tuesday to pitch its social app to brands and ad agencies. The company said Snapchat was one of the last places for real and authentic relationships. But in highlighting one-way relationships with influencers and AI, its pitch felt dystopian. Snapchat is the one of the last places for "authentic" and "real" relationships, and therefore, a great place for brands to sell products, the company said. "We created a space for people to truly be themselves, and all along we've been building for a future that is grounded in reality."

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