The company behind Grok’s image generation could be worth $1B

Friday, September 20, 2024 Posted by bloggerdaddy 0 comments

Friday, September 20, 2024

Welcome to TC PM and happy Friday! Today we're digging into Black Forest Labs' new $100 million fundraise; Tumblr's surge in popularity after Brazil banned X; and when Apple Intelligence features will roll out. Have a great weekend!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

💵 Monster fundraise: Black Forest Labs was co-founded by the engineers who built the technology behind Stability AI and is the tech used in Elon Musk's xAI to power image generation in its Grok chatbot. Sources tell Ingrid Lunden that the company is closing a $100 million round at a $1 billion valuation. Read more

🤔 LinkedIn AI: The U.K.'s privacy watchdog has confirmed that Microsoft's LinkedIn is no longer using its users' data to train its AI model. The timing of this confirmation is interesting considering Meta just resumed training on U.K. users' data last week. Read more

🇧🇷 Tumblr's rise in Brazil: X's loss of the Brazil market is seemingly every other social media sites' gain. Last week, Bluesky reported a surge in new users. This week, Tumblr is saying the same: It saw a 350% growth in users. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: YouTube

🎙️ Equity: In today's episode of Equity, the crew dove into the week's weird and cool startup news, including TuSimple's not-so-simple pivot, Luminate's hair loss prevention helmet, and more money for quick commerce. Listen here

🛒 Simpler online checkout: Rania Lamprou started Simpler to build a company that made online checkout easier. The startup is entering a crowded field that includes companies like Bolt and Shop Pay, but Lamprou thinks its focus on the European market gives it an edge. Read more

🎬 Recall protections: YouTube is testing a new way for creators to respond when one of their videos gets taken down due to violating YouTube's Community Guidelines. This is meant to make it easier for creators to get videos back online that were taken off in error. Read more

🚀 More SpaceX drama: SpaceX sent a letter to congressional leaders on Wednesday denying that it violated its launch licenses last year, which resulted in a Federal Aviation Administration fine. Regulators had asked for a measly $633,000 from the behemoth. Read more

📱 Intelligence on Apple Intelligence: While Apple Intelligence isn't available to everyone yet, it's coming. Ivan Mehta gives a rundown on what its features will look like and when they will start rolling out. Read more

📝 Plaud NotePin review: Brian Heater has been spending time with Plaud's ChatGPT-powered note-taking NotePin. He loves that it's small and convenient, but whether people will find it useful depends on how many meetings they attend. Read more

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Around the web

🇨🇳 Down and to the right: China's once thriving venture capital ecosystem seems to have hit a snag. Axios' Dan Primack dives into why the market has seen less investment due to the local and international political landscapes. Read more

💬 WhatsApp AI: Meta rolled out its Llama AI into its applications last year. The majority of people using Meta's AI daily are doing so on WhatsApp. The second largest daily use case was through Facebook with very few people using it on Instagram. The Information has more

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Microsoft bets on nuclear power in new deal with Constellation

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By Rebecca Bellan

Friday, September 20, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! We've got lots of AI news this morning, from Microsoft's bet on nuclear energy and California's laws against deepfakes, to Bollywood's embrace of AI-generated music. We also have notes on: the monstrous amount of money lined up for OpenAI; layoffs at Qualcomm; an Indian edtech startup that's raised $210 million; and John Mulaney's roast of the tech community. Let's dive in! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Getty Images

1. Microsoft goes nuclear: The software giant has signed a deal to buy power from Constellation Energy, which will revive a nuclear plant after 5 years. The plant is located right next to another plant that infamously melted down in 1979. Microsoft will buy power from Constellation for 20 years to power its data centers. Read More

2. California takes a stand: The state's newest AI law makes it illegal to post or repost AI deepakes that deceive voters about upcoming elections. Look out, Elon Musk. Read More

3. Qualcomm lays off hundreds: Less than a year after it let go of over 1,250 employees, the chipmaker is now going to lay off 226 workers in San Diego this year. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: ARUN SANKAR / AFP / Getty Images

🎶 Bollywood embraces AI music: Even as California takes steps to protect the rights of human actors, Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is ditching human musicians entirely for AI-generated music. Read More

🎒 Indian edtech gets a boost: The collapse of Byju's has resulted in a tough funding environment for Indian edtech startups. That backdrop makes it all the more impressive that Physics Wallah has now raised $210 million in fresh financing, taking its valuation to $2.8 billion. Read More

🩺 Making health insurance claims suck less: French health insurance startup Alan has revolutionized the claims process for many companies in the country. Now, it has a strong, new partnership with a strategic backer to reach more customers, and a fresh $193 million in funding. Read More

👀 More surveillance capitalism: A new FTC report has found that large social media and video streaming companies like Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, ByteDance, and Discord have engaged in "vast surveillance of users with lax privacy controls and inadequate safeguards for kids and teens." Color me surprised. Read More

💥 Tracking California's new AI laws: California Governor Gavin Newsom is considering 38 AI-related bills and has signed eight into law so far. We're keeping track of what is now illegal, including deepfake nudes and non-consensual AI cloning. Read More

A Message from Lumin

The truth about building an enterprise-level eSignature API

Lumin's recent presence at MongoDB.local Sydney gained attention as founder and CEO Max Ferguson exposed the true challenges that come with building a compliant eSignature API. His take? It's better to buy than build when it comes to secure, legally binding signatures.

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Around the Web

🔮 Yet another crypto exchange gets hacked: Singapore-based crypto exchange BingX's hot wallet has been hacked, according to The Block. The exchange is estimated to have lost about $43 million in cryptocurrency, and it has put withdrawals on hold while it figures out next steps. Read More

🚀 OpenAI to the moon: Venture capitalists think OpenAI will become the world's dominant AI company, and they want in on the action. Thrive Capital has already provided at least $1 billion to the company's next round, which looks like it'll hit $6 billion at a $150 billion valuation, reports The Financial Times. Read More

💍 AI-generated bling: Arcade is a new startup that lets shoppers create their own jewelry with help from AI. Investors like Reid Hoffman are already swayed by the product and its e-commerce-focused founder, Mariam Naficy, reports The Information. Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

🔥 Mulaney roasts the tech community: "Let me get this straight," comedian John Mulaney said to a crowd of techies at the annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco. "You're hosting a 'future of AI' event in a city that has failed humanity so miserably?" Read More