AWS hits a new growth gear

Top News

• Apple buys Pixelmator: Apple’s penchant for buying the odd, smaller technology company came good again today with news that Pixelmator is the next startup to join forces with Cupertino. Based in Lithuania, the company’s exit is a sign that antitrust concerns are not zeroing-out all deals, even if governments around the world feel leery today regarding the power of incumbent tech companies. Regardless, Pixelmator’s popular image editing services will remain the same — for now.

• Insider snaps up $500M: Insider is a Turkish marketing technology startup that helps its customers “deliver personalized customer experiences across digital channels,” to quote Tech.EU. Insider was already a unicorn before this round, which helps explain the scale of capital that it just added to its accounts. General Atlantic led the round. Insider claims that the funds will go to its AI work, expanding into new and existing markets and acquisitions.

• All hail AWS: Amazon’s cloud computing division is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, reaccelerating its growth in the AI era. See, someone is making lots of money from AI today! For Amazon, AWS is a godsend. Not only is the business group growing faster than its overall results (19% for AWS, 11% for all of Amazon), it drives an outsized fraction of Amazon’s operating profit ($10.4 billion out of $17.4 billion).

Read AI Joins TWiST500

Let’s add one more company to the TWiST500 this week. Today, Read AI.

Catching up on a deluge of funding announcements this week, Read AI’s $50 million Series B stood out. Not only did it raise an outsized Series B, it did so on the back of notable momentum. Here’s Co-founder David Shim, as quoted by our friends at TechCrunch:

Doubling MRR in a half-year is impressive and just the sort of growth that venture investors like to back. But what I found even more enticing about the company is that it is beating its own internal projections. During my time at startups, I learned that companies present scenarios to their board but might also keep a more ambitious set of targets in their pocket. Imagine crushing those.

Another thing to like about Read AI is that its revenue traction comes in the face of a number of competitors. Summarizing meetings and text are, today, a well-trod AI use case.

With a fresh $50 million in the bank, and growth to be proud of, let’s see if Read AI can keep up the momentum all the way to the public markets. — Alex

A message from Oracle

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This Week in Startups

E2036: Alex sits down with Tosin Eniolorunda to dive into Moniepoint's journey from its origin story to becoming a leading fintech in Africa. They discuss Moniepoint's approach to balancing profitability with venture funding, digitalization's influence on growth, and its ambitious expansion and IPO plans. Tosin, Moniepoint’s founder, also shares insights on fostering early-stage startups and his journey as an angel investor, spotlighting African innovation on the global stage.

E2035: Alex interviews Linda Gray about Mastertech.ai, exploring its impact on the auto repair industry and its benefits for technological adoption. They dive into AI-driven diagnostics, OEM approval process, and the role of AI in anomaly detection. Plus, a demo of Mastertech.ai’s diagnostics shows the potential of AI to revolutionize repair workflows. Later, Lior Gavish joins to explore data observability and AI's role in accelerating Monte Carlo's growth and strategy.

E2034: Jason and Alex kick off Live News by discussing earnings week predictions and the national debt. Mattias Scheek (founder of Mayht) joins to talk about his journey in audio tech, the Sonos acquisition, and challenges for hardware startups. They also cover election security, YouTube monetization, Google's new AI model, and Apple’s app permissions approach.

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

• Lemon.io: Hire pre-vetted remote developers, get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist

• Linear: Linear helps product teams focus on what they do best: Planning and building great products. Streamline issues, projects, and product roadmaps in a tool your team will actually enjoy using. Get 25% off at https://www.linear.app/twist

Angel University

Angel University is just around the corner. It’s a four-hour online workshop with Jason and Mike, President at LAUNCH, where they cover key factors to consider when angel investing. They also provide insights into our investment process at LAUNCH, including the criteria we use when evaluating startups. If you’re interested, you can find more information here. The next workshop is on November 6th.

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/.

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