News/Fundraising
Arcee AI Secures $24M, Signaling Investor Confidence in Small Language Models
Arcee AI, a startup specializing in small language models (SLMs), has secured $24 million in Series A funding, signaling growing investor confidence in the potential of more efficient and specialized AI models for enterprise applications. Arcee AI's unique approach: The company focuses on developing domain-specific SLMs and providing tools for enterprises to create their own customized models, enabling organizations to tackle multiple use cases cost-effectively: Arcee AI's Model Merging technology allows the combination of multiple AI models into a single, more capable model without increasing its size, creating highly tailored models that can outperform larger, more general models in specific...
read Jul 16, 2024Vectara Raises $25M, Launches Mockingbird LLM for Enterprise RAG
Vectara, an early pioneer in Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $53.5 million, as demand for its technologies grows among enterprise users. Vectara's evolution and the introduction of Mockingbird LLM: Vectara has progressed from a neural search as a service platform to a 'grounded search' or RAG technology provider, and is now launching its purpose-built Mockingbird LLM for RAG applications: The Vectara platform integrates multiple elements to enable a RAG pipeline, including the company's Boomerang vector embedding engine, which grounds responses from a large language model...
read Jul 15, 2024Kindo Raises $20.6M, Acquires WhiteRabbitNeo to Secure Enterprise AI Adoption
Kindo, an enterprise AI security platform, has raised $20.6 million in funding and acquired open-source security project WhiteRabbitNeo, signaling the growing importance of secure AI adoption in the business world. Key details of Kindo's funding and acquisition: The Venice Beach-based startup's latest round brings its total funding to $27.6 million, enabling the company to accelerate product development, expand sales and marketing efforts, and grow its team: Drive Capital led the round, with participation from existing investors RRE Ventures, Marlinspike Partners, Riot Ventures, Eniac Ventures, New Era Ventures, and Sunset Ventures. Kindo also acquired WhiteRabbitNeo, an open-source cybersecurity AI model, to...
read Jul 11, 2024AI Startup Jacobi Robotics Raises $5M to Make Box-Stacking Safer and More Efficient
A startup is using AI to revolutionize the tedious and injury-prone task of stacking boxes on pallets in warehouses, potentially delivering a tangible win for commercial robotics in the near term. The importance of pallets in the global supply chain: Pallets are ubiquitous in the movement of goods worldwide, with billions in circulation and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of products transported on them annually: Over 2 billion pallets are used in the U.S. alone, carrying $400 billion in exported goods each year. Despite their critical role, loading boxes onto pallets remains a manual task fraught with risks of...
read Jul 11, 2024AI Chip Startup Groq Nears $300M Funding, Faces Audit Amid Nvidia Dominance
Groq, an AI chip startup, is close to securing over $300 million in funding led by BlackRock, potentially doubling its valuation to $2.2 billion. However, the deal comes with the requirement of a financial audit, which is atypical in the competitive AI market. Key details of the funding round: The BlackRock-led investment is expected to finalize within the next two weeks and will significantly boost Groq's financial standing: The funding amount exceeds $300 million, which will more than double the startup's valuation from its previous $1.1 billion in 2021. BlackRock's requirement for a financial audit is unusual in the current...
read Jul 10, 2024AI-Powered Video Platform Captions Secures $60M, Fueling Generative AI Revolution
Captions, a startup founded by ex-Microsoft engineer Gaurav Misra, has secured $60 million in Series C funding to advance its AI-powered video creation platform, signaling the growing demand and investment in generative AI for video. Captions' evolution into an AI-driven video suite: Founded in 2021, Captions has transformed from a manual video recording app to a comprehensive AI-powered platform that enables users to create high-quality videos with ease: The company initially expanded its offerings with AI-assisted editing tools for correcting eye contact, dubbing, voiceovers, and producing short clips from longer videos. In early 2024, Captions introduced AI Creator and AI...
read Jul 10, 2024Skild AI Raises $300M to Develop “General Purpose Brain” for Plug-and-Play Robot Intelligence
Skild AI, a Pittsburgh-based robotics startup, has raised $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation to develop a "general purpose brain" for robots that can be integrated across various applications. Skild AI's plug-and-play robotic intelligence: The company has created a foundational model that serves as a single off-the-shelf intelligence for robots, enabling them to perform basic functions: The AI model allows robots to navigate complex environments, such as climbing steep slopes, walking over obstructing objects, and identifying and picking up items. Skild AI's model has been trained on a massive database of text, images, and video, which the company claims...
read Jul 10, 2024AI Voice Gaming Startup Volley Raises $55M, Signaling Industry Shift
Volley, an AI-powered game company, has secured $55 million in Series C funding to further develop its portfolio of voice-controlled games, signaling the growing potential of AI and voice technologies in the gaming industry. Key investors and Volley's market position: The Series C round was co-led by Lightspeed and Microsoft's M12 Ventures, with participation from several other notable investors, highlighting the strong interest in Volley's unique approach to gaming: Volley is considered the highest-grossing AI-powered game company, with popular voice-enabled games available on Amazon Alexa, Fire TVs, Roku TVs, and mobile devices. The company's games, which include titles like Jeopardy!,...
read Jul 5, 2024NodaFi Raises $3.5M to Disrupt Facility Management, Reclaim 1B Hours by 2026
NodaFi, a cloud-based facility operations platform, has raised $3.5 million to modernize the $21 billion facility management software industry, aiming to reclaim one billion hours for essential workers by 2026. Ambitious goals and market opportunity: NodaFi seeks to address the significant inefficiencies in the facility management sector, where an estimated 70% of work time is deemed unproductive: The company integrates preventive maintenance, work order management, and asset tracking to enhance operational efficiencies across diverse industries, with clients including the YMCA, Astellas Therapeutics, and Staples. The facility management software market is projected to grow to $72 billion by 2033, driven by...
read Jul 5, 2024AI Startup Raises $20M to Slash Healthcare’s Trillion-Dollar Administrative Burden
Anterior, an AI healthcare startup, has raised $20M to reduce the trillion-dollar administrative burden in US healthcare. Tackling inefficiencies in healthcare administration: Founded by a physician with a computer science background, Anterior aims to streamline prior authorization processes for health insurers using AI: The company's AI system acts as a "copilot" for nurses reviewing medical records, potentially doubling or tripling their daily productivity. Anterior's mission is to reduce the $1 trillion spent on administrative processes in healthcare, with an initial focus on the half spent by payers. Combining narrow AI and large language models: Anterior's technology integrates different AI approaches...
read Jul 5, 2024Softbank’s $10B AI Gambit: Betting Big on Chips, Energy, and the Future
Softbank, the Japanese conglomerate known for its aggressive bets on emerging technologies, is seeking to borrow $10 billion to fund AI-related projects, signaling a major push into the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Key focus areas: Softbank's AI investment strategy appears to be centered around two critical components of the AI ecosystem: Nvidia chips, which have become the de facto standard for AI training and inference, are a key target for Softbank's investments, as the company aims to capitalize on the growing demand for AI hardware. Energy startups are another area of focus, as the massive energy consumption of AI systems...
read Jul 2, 2024Redactive AI Raises $7.5M to Secure Enterprise Adoption of Generative AI
Redactive AI, an Australia-based security startup, has raised $7.5 million in seed funding to help corporations safely leverage generative AI without risking the exposure of sensitive information. Addressing a critical challenge: Companies are grappling with how to integrate AI agents and chatbots into their workflows while safeguarding proprietary data: Redactive AI offers tools that establish guardrails for the information AI systems can access and retrieve, enabling organizations to securely adopt these technologies. Founded by former Atlassian employees Andrew Pankevicius and Alexander Valente, along with AI engineer Lucas Sargent, the startup aims to address the cybersecurity concerns that arise during cloud...
read Jul 2, 2024Bitmagic Secures $4M for Text-to-3D Game Platform
Bitmagic, a Helsinki-based company, has secured $4 million in funding to develop an AI-powered platform that enables users to create 3D games using simple text prompts, making game development accessible to a wider audience. Key investors and advisors: The funding round was led by Korea Investment Partners (KIP), with participation from Supercell, Sisu Game Ventures, and notable angel investors such as Zak Phelps and Maarten De Koning, who bring valuable industry expertise to the company: Zak Phelps, former senior director of product design on Fortnite Creative, is joining Bitmagic as an advisor. Maarten De Koning, partner at Digital Development Management...
read Jul 1, 2024AI Prizes Spur Innovation in Animal Communication and Niche Areas, Offering Millions in Rewards
A new wave of AI prizes is spurring innovation in communication with animals and other niche areas, offering millions in rewards to anyone who can push the technology forward in unconventional ways. The Coller Dolittle Challenge: A $10 million prize for interspecies communication; British financier Jeremy Coller has launched a competition to incentivize the development of AI systems that can successfully communicate with animals using their own communication systems: The goal is to decipher animal communication and engage with them using their own "language," rather than training them to respond to human commands. Yossi Yovel, a professor at Tel Aviv...
read Jul 1, 2024Benchmark Raises $425M Fund, Signaling New Era Focused on AI Startups
Benchmark, a prominent venture capital firm, is raising $425 million for its eleventh fund, dubbed "Benchmark 1," signaling a new era focused on artificial intelligence startups. Key details of the new fund: Benchmark's five equal partners aim to make around 30 early-stage investments from the new fund, maintaining the same fund size as its previous funds since 2013 to ensure discipline and focus: The partners include Midas Listers Peter Fenton, Eric Vishria, and Chetan Puttagunta, as well as Sarah Tavel and Victor Lazarte. While the official fund size is $425 million, the total capital available for deployment will be effectively...
read Jul 1, 2024VB Transform Finalists Showcase Generative AI’s Disruptive Potential for Enterprises
VentureBeat has selected six companies as finalists for its 2024 Innovation Showcase, focusing on products or features that leverage generative AI to potentially transform enterprise operations. The showcase will take place at the Transform: Putting AI to Work event from July 9-11 in San Francisco, where finalists will present to an invite-only audience of 400 industry decision-makers. Finalists will deliver 5-minute pitches followed by feedback from a panel of enterprise tech analysts and executives, with awards given for most likely to succeed, coolest technology, and best presentation style. Meet the finalists: The six companies chosen span a range of applications...
read Jun 29, 2024AI Revolutionizes Startup Fundraising: Smarter Pitches, Targeted Investors, Streamlined Due Diligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how entrepreneurs approach fundraising, enabling startups to secure investments more efficiently and effectively. AI market analysis and investor targeting: AI-powered platforms analyze market trends, investor preferences, and past investment patterns to help startups identify and target the most relevant investors for their pitches: Signal AI developed platforms that use AI to analyze market data and tailor pitches to specific investor interests. FinTech startup FinOptimize used AI analytics to identify venture capitalists interested in sustainable finance and approach them with a compelling, data-backed value proposition. Improving pitch personalization with AI: Startups are leveraging AI tools to...
read Jun 29, 2024Axelera AI Secures $68M to Challenge NVIDIA in Edge AI Chip Market
Axelera AI raises $68M in Europe's largest Series B round in the fabless semiconductor category to rival NVIDIA with its edge AI chips. Key details of Axelera's funding round: The Netherlands-based startup has secured $68 million in Series B funding, bringing its total capital raised to $120 million, to expand its AI processing unit (AIPU) solutions: The funding was led by major institutional investors including Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, European Innovation Council Fund, Innovation Industries Strategic Partners Fund and Samsung Catalyst Fund. Axelera plans to use the capital to bring its existing AIPU solutions to new geographies and markets, while...
read Jun 29, 2024Ario Raises $16M to Develop “Universal Basic AI” for Personalized Assistance
In a major development for the AI assistant market, startup Ario has raised $16 million to develop what it calls "universal basic AI" – a digital helper accessible to everyone. Ario's unconventional approach: The company, founded by cybersecurity veterans, aims to leverage users' personal data to create highly personalized AI assistants that can save time and provide tailored recommendations: Ario connects to popular apps like Amazon, DoorDash, and Google Calendar to automate household tasks and streamline users' lives. The startup's "adversarial ETL" process helps users collect their own data from major websites and services, which forms the foundation for their...
read Jun 28, 2024Orby AI Raises $30M to Automate Enterprise Workflows with Generative AI
Orby AI, a generative AI startup, has raised $30 million to automate complex enterprise workflows, potentially ushering in a new era of AI-powered productivity. Introducing Orby AI's "large action model" technology: Orby AI has unveiled its new generative AI platform powered by "large action models" that learn and automate complex business processes: The models take multi-modal inputs like screenshots, clicks, and keystrokes to learn workflows and generate scripts and code for automation. Orby AI aims to differentiate itself from traditional robotic process automation (RPA) solutions by leveraging generative AI to handle complex, non-rule-based processes. The platform still involves human employees...
read Jun 26, 2024Rocketlane Raises $24M to Streamline Post-Sales Service Delivery with AI
Rocketlane, a SaaS startup simplifying post-sales service delivery for enterprises, has raised $24 million in Series B funding to build an AI layer across its platform and streamline operations, project delivery, governance, and insights. Addressing a critical challenge in service delivery: Rocketlane's all-in-one platform solves the problem of siloed tools leading to inaccurate project health reports, delays, and lack of execution insights in post-sale workflows: The platform offers purpose-built experiences to drive visibility and accountability with clients and internal teams, helping service providers execute playbooks effectively. It combines project delivery capabilities like project management, document collaboration, and customer satisfaction surveys...
read Jun 25, 2024Slushy Raises $10.2M, Becoming First Adult Content Platform to Secure Institutional Investment
Slushy, an adult entertainment platform, has raised $10.2 million in a landmark venture funding round, becoming the first adult content company to secure institutional investment. Key Takeaways: Slushy's successful fundraising validates its unique approach to adult content, which combines innovative technology with robust moderation, security, and compliance: The round includes investments from prominent VCs and high-profile angels, such as Mantis VC, Electric Feel Ventures, and music entrepreneur Brooklyn Johnny. Slushy's platform empowers creators to monetize their content and connect with audiences directly, while providing users with a personalized experience through AI-powered discovery tools. The funds will be used to develop...
read Jun 24, 2024$1M Roddenberry Prize Seeks AI Solutions for Global Good, Inspired by “Star Trek”
The Gene Roddenberry Foundation is offering a $1 million prize to encourage the development of artificial intelligence that benefits humanity, reflecting the optimistic vision of technology portrayed in Roddenberry's creation, "Star Trek." The prize and its mission: The biennial Roddenberry Prize will focus this year on AI and machine learning projects that have the potential to help solve global challenges: Open to early-stage ventures worldwide, the prize aims to catalyze thinking about what AI could look like if used ethically and responsibly to address pressing issues. Applicants must demonstrate how their AI solutions can contribute to one or more of...
read Jun 24, 2024AI-Powered Klarity Raises $70M, Transforming Legal Document Review
Klarity, an AI-powered document review startup, has raised $70 million in a Series B funding round, highlighting the growing interest in using artificial intelligence to streamline legal and business processes. Key details of the funding round: The Series B round was led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors including Gradient Ventures, Oceans Ventures, and Picus Capital: This brings Klarity's total funding to $85 million, following a $15 million Series A round in 2022. The funding will be used to expand the company's team, improve its AI capabilities, and scale its operations to meet growing demand. How Klarity's...
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