Startup studio super{set} has a fresh exit under its belt with the sale of marketing company Habu to LiveRamp for $200 million in January.
Now, super{set} is adding another $90 million to its coffers as it doubles down on its strategy of building enterprise startups.
We remain a venture studio focused on building companies rooted in data and AI.
We found, fund and build new technology startups, mostly in the enterprise space,” founding managing partner Tom Chavez told TechCrunch.
That’s one aspect in which super{set} has changed compared to 2019, Chavez said, as its method went from art to science.
Nsave, a fintech based in Geneva making banking in Switzerland accessible to people in countries at war or those with unstable banking sectors or facing high inflation, has raised $4 million seed funding.
Amer Baroudi and Abdallah AbuHashem co-founded nsave in 2021 from lived experiences.
“And then based on the risk scores, you might be prompted into different streams of questions or enhanced due-diligence mechanisms.
Also, in war-torn countries like Sudan, people with savings in local banks have a hard time accessing their money.
“Now nsave is live, there’s finally a trusted option to protect their users against the rampant inflation of distressed economies, providing safe, stable offshore accounts to people who need them the most.”
What’s been billed as a Windows event is, predictably, focused on AI efforts, with Copilot taking the wheel.
The new Surface Pro 10 for Business and Surface Laptop 6 for Business both sport a devoted Copilot key wedged between the Alt key and arrows.
At the end of the day, a Copilot key is simply a physical shortcut that surfaces one particular service.
That the key has been added to a pair of business-focused devices highlights how much the company is considering Copilot an important enterprise play.
The Surface Pro 10 for Business sports a 13-inch touchscreen, powered by either the Intel Core Ultra 5 or 7 and the Intel AI Boost NPU.
The European Parliament voted Wednesday to adopt the AI Act, securing the bloc pole-position in setting rules for a broad sweep of artificial intelligence-powered software — or what regional lawmakers have dubbed “the world’s first comprehensive AI law”.
pic.twitter.com/t4ahAwkaSn — Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) March 13, 2024Once published in the EU’s Official Journal in the coming months, the AI Act will come into force 20 days after that.
And with that alone the AI Act has nudged the future of AI in a human-centric direction.
But the legislation also puts some (light touch) transparency obligations on a third subset of apps, including AI chatbots; generative AI tools that can create synthetic media (aka deepfakes); and general purpose AI models (GPAI).
Rules for GPAIs were a later addition to the AI Act, driven by concerned MEPs.
The movie later went on to win 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
And this is why it’s so hard to find fulfillment in this current system.
“Which brings me back to AI,” Kwan continued, to a thunder of applause and cheers.
“So imagine what this technology will do within this current system, within this current incentive structure.
“I also want to say, we’re not saying ‘don’t use AI.’ I don’t believe in dogmas.
Nanonets, which primarily targets the financial services sector, says its AI platform aims to improve the efficiency of these processes and make them cost-effective.
The company’s AI platform uses machine learning architectures to analyze unstructured data from uploaded documents and extract useful information.
Nanonets is not alone in the global market for AI-based workflow automation.
Consistent revenue growth is one reason investors have been investing in AI startups despite the slowdown in global markets.
AI startups in the U.S. receive the most investments, followed by companies in China, U.K., Israel and India.
You may not have a Copilot key on your PC’s keyboard yet, but if you’re a Windows 11 user, you’ll soon be able to use Copilot for a lot more everyday tasks on your desktop.
Starting today, Microsoft is adding skills that will allow the Copilot to change more Windows 11 settings for you and plugins for services like OpenTable, Shopify and Kayak.
Restaurant reservations through OpenTable, travel reservations through Kayak and a Shopify integration are surely only the start here, too.
At the same time, Microsoft is now also integrating more AI features into its existing Windows apps.
The second is a feature that automatically removes silence from videos in the Clipchamps video editor.
Bfree, a tech-enabled debt collection startup based in Nigeria, was founded to automate and introduce ethical debt recovery processes after its founders witnessed the use and adverse effects of aggressive retrieval techniques, such as incessant calling and debt-shaming, by predatory digital lenders.
It also launched a loan collection management SaaS dubbed Workflow, which targets companies with in-house collection teams or those that are not keen to outsource.
Bfree to create secondary market for loansIts current loan portfolio stands at over $400 million, out of which it has managed to collect 12.5%.
He added that they also have an analytics solution for banks to help them gain insights into secondary debt markets.
“We foresee the growing prominence of credit management and are confident that Bfree will spearhead the creation of a secondary market on the continent for distressed assets.
Substack is introducing direct messaging, allowing users to have private one-on-one conversations, the company announced today.
DMs can be accessed in the Chat tab on the Substack app and website.
After launching an X (formerly Twitter) clone last year called Notes, Substack is now copying yet another feature from the social network.
Substack says DMs was a highly requested feature among users, and many users have shared their excitement on the announcement post.
The launch of DMs comes a few days after Substack updated its peer-to-peer recommendation system, allowing writers to curate and share a list of publications for their readers to subscribe to.
Officially unveiled this morning at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona after a few months of teases, the OnePlus Watch 2 does get some points for originality.
Battery continues to be the lowest hanging fruit in the smartwatch world.
Like the Apple Watch, OnePlus’ Watch 2 has a Power Saving Mode.
The company notes,WearOS apps and the Always On Display will not work when the device is in Power Saving Mode.
Other features such as calling, messaging, and exercise modes will still work on Power Saving Mode however some of their more power intensive functions will be limited to preserve battery life, eg.
