Amazon floods the AI zone

Top News

• Amazon’s AI push: Today, American tech giant Amazon launched a series of new AI models. They announced that Apple is using its silicon, a new service called Ultraserver that will contain 64 of its own chips — and an upcoming supercomputer cluster called “Ultracluster” that will house, the Journal reports, “hundreds of thousands of its homegrown Trainium chips.” In case you thought that the AI race was slowing down, it isn’t.

• Helsing wants to build AI drone fleets: We talk about American Dynamism here on TWiST often, but we should also keep tabs on European Dynamism. To that end, let’s talk about Helsing. It’s a German startup that is building AI drones for war. The FT reports that its new units (the HX-2 drone) are already in Ukraine and that the startup can “produce tens of thousands of the AI-enabled drones a year at a lower cost than existing systems.” Hell yeah.

• Government AI takes off: Yurts is a neat startup. Now, with a $40 million Series B tucked under its belt, the company is building AI that can operate in sensitive environments. That means inside the Department of Defense, for example, where Yurts claims that it is the first “GenAI platform on a sensitive network.” TechCrunch reports that Yurts has “contracts with the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and Department of Energy, as well as a $16 million contract with United States Special Operations Command” to boot. Seems that the venture bet that defense-aligned startups is paying off.

TWiST500

After adding Vatn Systems yesterday, I suspect that you can see where we’re going today. Helsing is joining the TWiST500. Frankly, we should have already had it on there, and I’ll take the blame for that.

Recent conflicts have shown that warfare is becoming increasingly drone-born, and with Ukraine still fighting off an invasion, there’s — unfortunately — current and future demand for military-ready drone tech. Mix in rising defense budgets in Europe, and you can’t really imagine a more fertile time for an EU-based company like Helsing. Hence, onto the list, it goes.

One goal for us here at TWiST is to accelerate the pace at which we fill out the TWiST500. Expect more drone companies to follow. — Alex

A message from DigitalOcean.

Whether you’re just getting started with AI, or seeing your project take off, DigitalOcean is the cloud platform that lets you focus on what matters: building killer apps. Right now get up to $100k in free credits at https://www.do.co/twist. Terms and conditions apply.

This Week in Startups

E2053: Jason and Alex dive into Michael Saylor’s pitch for Microsoft to adopt Bitcoin, discussing its potential for digital transformation and how it stacks up against traditional investments. They break down asset-heavy vs. asset-light business models, analyze Tesla’s compensation package in light of a Delaware court ruling, and explore corporate incorporation trends focusing on Delaware’s role in governance.

E2052: Jason and Alex tackle the latest headlines, starting with Hunter Biden's pardon and its broader implications for presidential power. They discuss crypto regulation shifts, Michael Saylor's Bitcoin strategy, and Sequoia's global investment search. Plus, they explore nearshoring trends, credit card delinquencies, and Bernie Sanders' populist stance on defense spending. They wrap up with Bitcoin predictions and a deep dive into Dogecoin's leaderboard.

E2051: Jason and Alex sit down with a fantastic guest—Alex Kendall, founder and CEO of Wayve, an AI company working on self-driving. You might recall that Wayve raised $1 billion earlier this year, but TWIST wanted to know how the company intends to commercialize —and how soon. From there, it was back to the bitcoin mines. Figuratively, as the hosts dug into MicroStrategies' bitcoin buying bet. Precisely why it is trading at such a NAV premium remains occluded to the show, but we did chase down its debt terms.

TWiST Partner Offers

• OpenPhone: Create business phone numbers for you and your team that work through an app on your smartphone or desktop. TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist⁠

• NetSuite: Once your business gets to a certain size the cracks start to emerge.  Things you used to do in a day take a week. You deserve a customized solution - and that's NetSuite. Learn more when you download NetSuite’s popular KPI Checklist - absolutely free, at https://www.NetSuite.com/twist

• Micro1: Micro1 is an AI recruitment engine to hire world class engineers fast. Visit https://www.micro1.ai/twist to get 10 free AI Interviews and 2 weeks free per hire

LAUNCH Cloud Kitchens Incubator

Applications are open for Cohort 2 of the LAUNCH CloudKitchens Incubator (LiCK). We're looking for food entrepreneurs who wish to expand into the ghost kitchen space or tech founders with a team and a great idea. The application and more information can be found at https://ck.launch.co/.

The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker.