Why “hold forever” investors catch venture capital “zombies”
Italian company Bending Spoons had been operating largely under the radar until last month. Within 48 hours, the company announced its acquisition of AOL and a major $270 million raise, quadrupling its valuation to $11 billion from the $2.55 billion it set in early 2024. Bending Spoons has grown rapidly by acquiring struggling technology brands […]
OpenAI and Perplexity are launching AI shopping assistants, but competing startups aren’t keen on it
With holiday shopping right around the corner, both OpenAI and Perplexity this week announced AI shopping capabilities that integrate with existing chatbots to help users research potential purchases. These tools are very similar to each other. OpenAI suggests that users can ask ChatGPT for help finding “a new gaming-friendly laptop with a 15-inch screen or […]
Find Your Grind raises $5 million to grow platform that lets students explore unique career paths
If you’re a fan of the early 2000s punk scene, you may know Nick Gross, the drummer for the band Goldfinger. Now, he helps young people pursue their passions through his career exploration platform, Find Your Grind. The platform focuses on alternative professions not typically emphasized in schools, such as pop-punk band members, content creators, […]
China’s Pony AI plans to triple global robotaxis fleet by end of 2026
Chinese self-driving car technology company Pony.ai said on Tuesday it plans to triple the size of its robotaxi fleet by the end of next year, as its growth pace and aspirations accelerate. The company, which currently has about 961 robotaxis, announced this goal during its third quarter results. Pony.ai aims to have a fleet of […]
Spotify reportedly plans to raise prices in the US in the first quarter of next year
Spotify plans to increase subscription prices in the US in the first quarter of next year, according to a new report in the Financial Times. This move marks the streaming service’s first price increase in the U.S. since July 2024. The company recently raised prices in several other countries, including the UK, Switzerland and Australia. […]
Google teams up with Accel to explore India’s next AI breakout
Google has partnered with Accel to discover and fund early-stage AI startups in India in a first-of-its-kind collaboration for the Google AI Futures Fund, launched earlier this year. On Tuesday, Accel and Google announced a partnership to co-invest up to $2 million in each startup through Accel’s Atoms program, with each company contributing up to […]
Altman says OpenAI’s upcoming AI devices will be more peaceful and gentle than the iPhone.
“When people see it, they say, ‘Is that all?…It’s so simple.’” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has this to say about how people will react when they see the company’s upcoming AI hardware devices for the first time. The device is the result of a collaboration between OpenAI and former Apple chief designer Jony Ive. Not […]
OpenAI learns about the painful process by which Cameo trademarked the word “cameo”
OpenAI’s social app Sora was released with a controversial feature called Cameo that allows users to deepfake themselves or others (with their permission). The feature has been volatile, requiring the involvement of Martin Luther King Jr.’s estate to find out what happened, but now faces new challenges. Apparently, Cameo, an app for purchasing custom video […]
AWS is spending $50 billion building AI infrastructure for the U.S. government
Amazon Web Services is making significant new investments in infrastructure designed to power U.S. government agencies’ AI capabilities. AWS announced Monday that it will invest $50 billion to build AI “high-performance computing infrastructure” purpose-built for the U.S. government. This increase is intended to expand access to AWS AI services by federal agencies. The project will […]
Anthropic releases Opus 4.5 with new integration for Chrome and Excel
On Monday, Anthropic announced the latest version of its flagship model, Opus 4.5. This is the last model in the Anthropic 4.5 series to be released, following the launch of Sonnet 4.5 in September and Haiku 4.5 in October. As expected, the new version of Opus delivers state-of-the-art performance across a variety of benchmarks, including […]