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- Meta, IBM, and 50+ other companies form the AI Alliance, X is now licensed for payment processing in select US states
Meta, IBM, and 50+ other companies form the AI Alliance, X is now licensed for payment processing in select US states
Top News
Meta, IBM, and 50+ other companies and organizations form the AI Alliance, a coalition to work on open-source AI, including sharing tech and reducing risks. - Link
Microsoft updates Copilot with OpenAI's latest models, including GPT-4 Turbo, and adds a new code interpreter feature and “Deep Search” functionality for Bing. - Link
X is now licensed for payment processing in a dozen US states, making it a step closer to becoming an “everything app.” Payments are also tied to X’s broader move into the creator economy. - Link
SoftBank acquires a 51% stake in Dublin-based Cubic Telecom, which offers software-based mobile networking for 17M+ vehicles, for €473M, valuing Cubic at €927M. - Link
Foxconn (iPhone maker) reports November revenue up 18% YoY to ~$20.6B, the first monthly YoY improvement since January 2023, and projects Q4 revenue to be better than expected. - 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.
Startup Funding
Foretellix, which builds verification and validation solutions to test the full range of driver assistance and autonomous systems on the market, has closed its Series C of $85M. Israeli VC 83North led the round. The company was founded in 2017 by Gil Amid, Yoav Hollander, and Ziv Binyamini. - Link
Mine, which develops B2B and B2C solutions in data privacy and governance and counts Reddit and HelloFresh as clients, raised a $30M Series B led by Battery Ventures and PayPal. The company was founded in 2019 by Gal Golan, Gal Ringel, and Kobi Nissan. - Link
AssemblyAI, used by companies to build AI speech models, raised $50M led by Accel, taking its total funding to $115M, and paying users grew 200% YoY to 4K. The company was founded in 2017 by Dylan Fox. - Link
Product Demo & Launches
Beeper debuts an Android app, Beeper Mini, to let users send iMessages with E2EE, without using a new number or logging in with an Apple ID. The product is created by Eric Migicovsky (prev. Pebble). - Watch
Lottielab is a plugin to animate your Figma designs and export seamlessly to Lottie, Gif or MP4 for your websites, apps, and marketing purposes.
Respell is an AI-first platform designed to automate knowledge work. Featuring Elle, an intuitive chat agent that learns your team’s processes and data over time to suggest new automation.
Advice of the Day
The Next Feature Fallacy: The fallacy that the next new feature will suddenly make people use your product.
Andrew Chen, highlights a common misconception in product development: adding new features doesn't guarantee increased user engagement. He emphasizes that most features fail to significantly impact user retention, with the most significant challenge being maintaining user interest beyond initial contact. Chen advises focusing on the user lifecycle, particularly on features that appeal to new and casual users, and improving the initial user experience, like the landing page and onboarding process, to enhance product usage effectively. - Link
Squarespace is an all-in-one content management system that enables you to create a website, host content, sell products, and much more with a single subscription. Start your website journey with a free trial HERE, and when ready to launch, use code TWIST for a 10% discount on your first website or domain purchase. Ad
This Week in Startups
E1856: David Heinemeier Hansson discusses the launch of his new project, Once.com, which offers a unique alternative to traditional SaaS by charging a one-time fee instead of a recurring subscription, and shares his views on various topics including copyright, the changing nature of remote work, internal culture challenges at Basecamp, the pace of AI development, and the importance of embracing hardship to build resilience and grit. - Watch
E1855: This episode dives into the rapid evolution of AI and the prospect of achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), featuring insights from Adept CEO David Luan. It's a must-watch for understanding how AI shapes our future and data's role in this transformation. - Watch
E1854: Aryan Sharma from Induced AI discusses the development and impact of 24/7 autonomous agents on various sectors. This episode is crucial for grasping the breadth of AI applications and how they're revolutionizing everyday tasks and industries. - Watch
E1853: This episode showcases AI advancements with live demonstrations of Bard's YouTube summarizer and Stability's image editing tools, among others. It's an engaging watch for those interested in the practical applications of AI in content creation and editing. - Watch
E1852: Sunny Madra and David Sacks join the discussion on the ongoing developments and challenges within OpenAI. This episode offers valuable insights into the internal dynamics of AI organizations and the industry's future direction. - Watch
Startup Partners
LinkedIn Jobs connects employers with top talent, making the hiring process seamless. Unlock a world of opportunities and find the perfect candidate for your team. Visit linkedin.com/twist to get started.