I’m now heading out on paternity leave - feeling very fortunate that @FT staff benefits and UK shared parental leave mean I can take three months off to be with this little one. @CristinaCriddle is covering my patch in London in the meantime. See you in 2022! 🐣✊
First look at @Nothing Phone (1) in the @FT. I spoke to @getpeid about how his startup can succeed where the likes of Andy Rubin’s Essential failed on.ft.com/3Hpr8Tq
Spotify founder Daniel Ek is leading a €600m funding in German defence tech startup Helsing, valuing the four-year-old co at €12bn.
A biz making battlefield AI, drones, submarines & robo-fighter pilots is now one of Europe’s most valuable startups
on.ft.com/4n5mYEH
Sign of insane AI bubble or brilliant example of how European startups are getting more ambitious?
Four-week-old Mistral AI has raised €105m in Europe’s biggest ever seed round - tip @Techmeme
Scoop: Getir's Gorillas deal is done.
- Gorillas valued at $1.2bn, mostly in equity with $40mn cash
- Getir valuation taking a cut at the same time, down 25% since March to $8.8bn
- $10bn valuation on combined group
"If ChatGPT is the iPhone, we’re seeing a lot of calculator apps," Bain Capital's @ChristinaPhili5 tells @GeorgeNHammond of the current crop of AI startups. "We’re looking for Uber."
Many VCs question whether generative AI startups, currently attracting huge valuations, will make enough money, fearing a repeat of the crypto investment hype (@georgenhammond / Financial Times)
on.ft.com/3Zungcatechmeme.com/230307/p8#a230…
Improbable is raising £100m in new funding at a £3bn+ valuation, fuelling its latest pivot into building metaverses for Bored Apes et al. UK accounts show it lost £152m in 2021 but it says revenues will triple this year to $100m+ - tip @Techmeme
UK gov concedes it will not use Online Safety bill powers to scan encrypted messaging apps for harmful content until it is “technically feasible” to do so (ie maybe never), thus avoiding WhatsApp shutdown - FT SCOOP by @CristinaCriddle & @AnnaSophieGross
Great @micsolana piece on the internet's growing tendency to erase itself (how can we understand past cultures if the platforms that hosted them no longer exist?) and the coming flood of vapid AI-generated mush that nobody will ever read