BigGo Finance
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- September 25
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Amazon Alumni Raise $12.5M for Griptape, a Seattle Startup Building Secure AI App Frameworks for Enterprises
Amazon veterans Kyle Roche and Vasily Vasinov raised $12.5 million for Griptape, a Seattle startup creating a secure AI application framework for enterprises. Griptape offers an open-source Python toolkit and cloud platform to help companies safely build and manage large language models, with a commercial launch planned for October 2023.
Brinc CEO Blake Resnick, 23, Raises $80M Led by OpenAI's Sam Altman for Lemur 2 Drone Shipping in 2023
Brinc, a drone startup founded by 23-year-old Blake Resnick, is preparing to ship its Lemur 2 drone for public safety agencies later this year, having raised over $80 million from investors including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Resnick, who left Northwestern University to start Brinc after a tragic event in his hometown, leads a team of nearly 100 employees with more than 400 customers.
Drones and the future of public safety, with Brinc CEO Blake Resnick
Blake Resnick built a fusion reactor in his garage at age 14, and interned at McLaren Automotive, Tesla, and DJI, before dropping out of Northwestern University in 2017 to launch drone startup Brinc. Now, at age 23, he oversees a team of nearly 100 people making drones and other technology for public safety agencies, serving more than 400 customers. On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, recorded on-location at the company's headquarters in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, Resnick talks about Brinc’s origins, its move from Las Vegas to Seattle, the upcoming release of its Lemur 2 drone, his recent White House…
Seattle Startup Forum3 Launches Hive3, an AI Content Creation Contest with Cash Prizes and Sponsorships in 2024
Seattle startup Forum3 announced the production of Hive3, an esports-style AI content creation contest offering cash prizes and sponsorships, launching later this year. The contest aims to showcase generative AI's potential, educate viewers on AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, and address ethical and legal concerns amid growing AI adoption and industry controversies.
Seattle Startup Meetingflow Raises $760K to Expand AI Platform Improving Sales Meeting Efficiency
Seattle startup Meetingflow, formerly Panda.AI, raised $760,000 from previous investors to grow its AI-driven platform that enhances sales meetings by automating preparation, note-taking, and follow-ups, led by CEO Aaron Goldfeder. The pivot aims to address inefficient client meeting processes by integrating calendar, CRM, and OpenAI’s GPT technology.
Likewise Launches ChatGPT Plugin for Personalized TV, Movie, Book, and Podcast Recommendations Backed by Bill Gates
Likewise, an entertainment discovery platform backed by Bill Gates' private office, launched a ChatGPT plugin that provides personalized recommendations for TV shows, movies, books, and podcasts, aiming to reduce users' 23-minute daily search time. The plugin integrates with OpenAI's chatbot to deliver tailored entertainment options accessible via clickable details like ratings and streaming locations.
Microsoft and Helion Energy to Build First Commercial Fusion Power Plant by 2028 in Washington State
Microsoft and Helion Energy have announced an agreement to build the world’s first commercial fusion power plant in Washington state, aiming to operate by 2028. This plant could provide a limitless, carbon-free energy source to power Microsoft’s global data centers, marking a significant step from fusion research toward practical, clean energy production.
Grin Lord, CEO of Seattle’s mpathic, Finalist for Startup CEO of the Year at 2023 GeekWire Awards for Empathy-Driven Communication Software
Grin Lord, CEO and co-founder of Seattle startup mpathic, specializes in using empathy to improve corporate communication and is a finalist for Startup CEO of the Year at the 2023 GeekWire Awards. Her company applies machine learning to analyze conversations and foster empathy across industries such as insurance, healthcare, and human resources.
Seattle Startup Groundlight Raises $10M Seed to Revolutionize Warehouse Monitoring with AI and Natural Language Computer Vision
Seattle startup Groundlight, co-founded by former Amazon and Picobrew execs Leo Dirac and Avi Geiger, emerged from stealth with a $10 million seed fund to simplify warehouse monitoring using AI-powered computer vision. Their platform enables businesses to query real-time video feeds through natural language prompts for instant, customizable insights.
Fixie Raises $17M Seed Round to Help Companies Integrate Large Language Models into Software
Fixie, a Seattle-based startup founded by former Google and Apple engineers, raised $17 million in seed funding to develop a cloud platform that helps companies integrate large language models into their software for automation and AI applications.
Microsoft, OpenAI, and startups, with Neo CEO Ali Partovi
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we're joined by Ali Partovi, a technology investor, entrepreneur, and mentor who is the CEO of Neo, a startup accelerator, mentorship community, and venture firm. Neo's accelerator this week announced a new AI track, working in collaboration with OpenAI and Microsoft to help startups build businesses on newly emerging artificial intelligence capabilities. Partovi, who grew up in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, sold his startup LinkExchange to Microsoft in 1998, was an early investor in companies including Airbnb, Dropbox, Facebook, and Uber, and 10 years ago co-founded Code.org with his twin brother Hadi Partovi…
Seattle AI Startup CareerFlow Helps Over 20,000 Job Seekers Refine Resumes Amid Tech Layoffs Using GPT Technology
Seattle startup CareerFlow uses AI, including OpenAI's GPT, to help job seekers optimize resumes and organize job searches amid tech layoffs, serving over 20,000 users. Co-founded by Nikita Gupta, the company has raised $100,000 in pre-seed funding and plans to monetize through universities and career services.
Brinc Unveils Lemur 2 Drone with Advanced Features, Raises $80M, and Hires Ex-Amazon Engineers Amid US DJI Blacklist
Seattle-based drone startup Brinc unveiled its Lemur 2 drone featuring 3D mapping and obstacle avoidance, aiming to support public safety agencies amid U.S. efforts to blacklist Chinese drone maker DJI. Founded by Blake Resnick, Brinc has hired former Amazon Prime Air engineers and raised $80 million to compete with well-funded rivals like Skydio.
Outreach Lays Off 70 Employees, 7% of Workforce, and Pauses Office Expansion Amid Missed Revenue Targets
Seattle-based sales software startup Outreach is laying off 70 employees, about 7% of its workforce, following a failure to meet revenue targets and amid a broader tech industry slowdown. The company will also suspend merit increases and delay office expansion as it aims for operational efficiency and profitability.
Seattle AI Startup Kaito Raises $5.3M Led by Dragonfly to Build Crypto-Focused Google-Like Search Engine
Seattle startup Kaito, founded in 2022 by Yu Hu, raised $5.3 million led by Dragonfly to develop an AI-powered search engine that aggregates scattered cryptocurrency information from across the web. Kaito aims to simplify crypto research by integrating AI tools like GPT-3 and offering both free retail and subscription-based institutional versions.
Kirill Zubovsky Launches Smartynames AI Tool Generating Over 1 Million Domain Name Suggestions Since December 2023
Startup founder Kirill Zubovsky created Smartynames, an AI-powered tool using OpenAI's GPT-3, that generates available domain name suggestions from business descriptions. Since its December launch, the tool has generated over one million domain name suggestions and plans to expand its AI offerings for businesses.
Icertis names ex‑SAP marketer Gretchen Eischen as CMO amid $2.8B valuation; Apollo partner David Sambur exits Expedia board
Icertis hired former SAP marketing executive Gretchen Eischen as CMO while moving Seth Nesbitt to a newly created culture role; Icertis was valued at $2.8B after an $80M round. Apollo partner David Sambur resigned from Expedia Group’s board after a $1B investment, and Remitly named Vishal Ghotge EVP of North America.
GeekWire Podcast: OthersideAI raises $2.6M to use GPT‑3 for drafting emails; Tom Alberg profile and Trivia Challenge return
The GeekWire Podcast covers OthersideAI, a startup using GPT-3 to draft emails that just raised a $2.6 million seed round, discusses Seattle tech investor Tom Alberg’s long career and current focus, and relaunches the GeekWire Trivia Challenge with a chance to win a limited-edition face mask.
AI that writes your emails; a Seattle tech visionary; and our trivia challenge returns
Here’s what we’re talking about on the GeekWire Podcast this week: OthersideAI thinks it can help you be more productive by using artificial intelligence to write your emails for you. But is that really a good idea? The months-old firm announced a $2.6 million seed round this week. It's one of several startups creating email products based on OpenAI's GPT3 language processing technology. We talk about the long-term implications for the industry and for humanity. Tom Alberg was an internet financial pioneer when he became one of the first investors in Amazon in 1995. He didn't stop there. He was…
Madrona leads $2.6M seed round for OthersideAI to build GPT-3–powered automated email composer
OthersideAI, founded months ago by Matt Shumer, Miles Feldstein and Jason Kuperberg, raised a $2.6M seed round led by Madrona to build a GPT-3–powered tool that automatically composes email drafts; the company is testing a Chrome extension with ~100 early users and a ~10,000-person waitlist.
People
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Kevin Weil Executive, Former Vice President of OpenAI for Science, Vice President
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Vijaye Raji Executive, CTO of Applications
