Instagram introduces a gen-AI-powered background editing tool, Google DeepMind used its FunSearch model to solve a famous problem in pure mathematics

Top News

Instagram introduces a gen-AI-powered background editing tool, allowing users to change background images through prompts for their stories. - Link

Google DeepMind used its FunSearch model to solve a famous problem in pure mathematics, the first time an LLM solved a long-standing scientific puzzle. - Link

Spotify confirms the testing of an AI playlist feature where users can build playlists with prompts. - Link

Linktree acquires link-in-bio platform Koji in its second investment of the year. Koji was founded by Dmitry Shapiro and Sean Thielen and launched in March 2021. - Link

OpenAI details how its Superalignment research team is exploring ways to control stronger AI models like GPT-4 using weaker supervisor models like GPT-2. - Link

Intel announces Gaudi3, a generative AI chip in development since 2019 and launching in 2024 to take on Nvidia's H100 and AMD's MI300X, but is light on details. - Link

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Startup Funding

Kapital, a bank and technology platform for business operations, raises $40M in Series B dollars and $125M in debt financing led by Tribe Capital and joined by Cervin Ventures, Tru Arrow, MS&AD Ventures, and Alumni Ventures. - Link

Verve Motion, a startup building robotic exo-suits to help workers in physically demanding environments complete tasks, raised $20M in a Series B round led by Safar Partners with participation from Cybernetix Ventures, Construct Capital, Pillar VC, OUP and angel investors including Frederic Kerrest, co-founder of Okta. - Link

Pivot, a procurement software startup, raises $21.6M in a Series A round from existing investors, including Visionaries, Emblem, Anamcara, and Oliver Samwer, after raising a $5.3 million pre-seed round in April. - Link

Product Demo & Launches

Scade is an AI-enabled platform that enables users to develop products and services to streamline business processes, marketing, and financing efforts.

SkillReactor allows users to work on real work projects to build a verified skills portfolio to stand out and get hired.

Advice of the Day

Ramen Profitability

Ryan Peterson (Founder & CEO, Flexport) emphasizes the importance of getting ramen profitable and having diverse income streams when starting a business. Peterson engaged in flexible, part-time work to sustain himself with the company he started before Flexport (Import Genius), which didn’t raise venture capital. Giving him the freedom to be successful on any time horizon. - Link

Founder University is a 12-week pre-accelerator program run by Jason/LAUNCH for builder founders. We're investing $25k in 20-30 companies from Cohort 7. Apply at founder.university/letsbuild.

This Week in Startups

E1864: Jerry Colonna joins Jason in person in San Francisco for a philosophical dialogue about the search for meaning as an entrepreneur, drawing on their multi-decade friendship. They explore Jerry's personal journey from venture capitalist to founder coach, the challenges leaders face as startups evolve, how Jerry helps entrepreneurs transition from founder to CEO, and much more! - Watch

E1863: Steve Ruiz, Founder of tldraw, joins Jason, discussing the origins and business plan of tldraw, including the viral success of Make Real. The conversation delves into topics such as "Open Core," demos of tldraw and Make Real, exploring multi-modal AI responses, questioning the creation of consciousness in AI, and concluding with insights into the future potential and integration of tldraw across various AI models. - Watch

E1862: Sunny Madra joins Jason in a discussion covering topics such as Google NotebookLM, Bard's Gemini upgrade, Google's branding challenges, Ars Technica's experimental test bed, and the evaluation of Mixtral's 8x7B model. The conversation also includes Sunny's demonstrations of creating an AI influencer using the Juggernaut XL model in Google Colab and showcasing Magnific's powerful image upscaler. - Watch

E1861: Kevin O'Connor, traces his tech journey from DoubleClick to venture capitalism. Covering AI's transformative impact, startup evolution, and the challenges of convincing companies to use data, O'Connor provides insightful perspectives on successful entrepreneurship, remote work debates, and the current landscape of startup valuations and venture capital funds. - Watch

E1860: Scott Orn discusses the challenges of founder salaries, emphasizing the trade-offs in entrepreneurship, dangers of underpayment, and gender disparities. The episode also covers the importance of structured approaches to compensation, managing personal and company finances, and the dynamics of salary distribution within a company, including the impact of investor expectations. - Watch

This Week in Startups Paid Partnerships

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