??? Air Taxi pioneer Lilium faces financial turbulence

What do you think of this? Stability has significantly increased the parameters in its new Stable Diffusion model, aiming to create more diverse and representative databases in terms of races, body types, and backgrounds.

Ultimately, this is part of what users often seek out, which may also explain why Perplexity is having its best weeks yet, with weekly searches surpassing 100 million. As for the lawsuits … well, that’s a different story.

And speaking of uncertain outlooks, today we’ll also cover the current state of the German startup Lilium, whose electric air taxi ventures are facing financial setbacks. Let’s dive into all of this!

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Six bullets of updates

1. ???????Stability unveils?Stable Diffusion 3.5 series?with 8 billion parameters for more diverse image generation.
2. ?? London-based Synthesia has quadrupled its team since 2022 to?push for a 'ChatGPT-style' moment in AI video.
3. ???China's self-driving startup WeRide's shares?rose 19% in their?Nasdaq debut on Friday.?
4. ???After selling Anchor to Spotify, the co-founders reunited to build?an AI educational startup?called Oboe.
5. ?? Rental car startup Kyte, which bills itself as the “best alternative to Hertz,”?is slashing staff and?shrinking to two markets?for survival.
6. ??? Airdog’s founders are back with a?precision-strike drone?for modern warfare.

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Air Taxi pioneer Lilium faces financial turbulence

Lilium, the German startup developing electric air taxis, faces an uncertain future after announcing?plans to file for insolvency?and pursue government-supervised restructuring. Despite raising $1.1 billion since 2021 and attracting big-name investors like Honeywell and BlackRock, the company has run out of funds. A recent appeal for a €50 million loan from the German government was denied, placing Lilium at risk of bankruptcy if it cannot secure new financing.

Founded in 2015, Lilium?aimed to revolutionize urban travel?with its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, but the costs of development, certification, and production have strained its resources. Competing companies like Joby Aviation and Vertical Aerospace are also raising funds, but with first passenger flights projected no sooner than 2026, the high-stakes eVTOL market is proving a tough lift for all.?

Lilium's stock has dropped 75% in the past two days. According to its website, the company employs over 1,000 people.?Read more!

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1. From Pitch Deck to Funding?| October 31 | Webinar
2. Crash Course in Financial Modeling?| November 5 | Webinar
3. Financial Modeling Bootcamp?| November 11-15 | LIVE 1-week bootcamp
4. Techstars Columbus?| November 20 | Columbus
5. Techstars New York City Accelerator?| November 20 | New York City
6. Techstars Anywhere Accelerator?| November 20 | Remote

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These companies just raised money

1. ???Waymo raises $5.6B from Alphabet, a16z, and others to?boost its autonomous vehicle growth journey.
2. ???Alimetry raises $18M to?advance its AI-powered wearable, diagnosing gastric disorders without invasive tests.
3. ???Bluesky secured a $15M Series A to?expand its decentralized social platform, adding 3M users last month alone.
4. ???Rocketing to success, Lumen Orbit secures a sizzling $10M seed round for its space-based data centers.
5. ???Pharos, a YC startup, lands a $5M seed to?use AI in quality reporting, freeing up hours of hospital admin work.
6. ???Cafeteria raises $3M to?connect teens with brands, offering insights and paying $5-$20 per feedback session.

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Perplexity hits big with 100M queries amid $8B valuation talks

Perplexity's AI search engine is?flexing its silicon muscles?with 100M weekly queries, a sharp rise from 250M monthly queries in July. As it gears up for one-click e-commerce and plans for sponsored searches with brands like Nike, it faces legal battles over content scraping. News Corp and others have slapped Perplexity with lawsuits, dubbing it a "content kleptocracy."?

Amidst this storm, the startup is negotiating a $500M raise at a whopping $8 billion valuation. This is a reminder that in tech, the bigger you get, the more lawsuits you can attract! At the same time, however, its popularity opens doors that could keep you perplexed.?Read more!

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The FATAL Flaw Pushing GoPro to Bankruptcy?

GoPro’s hidden flaw may be why it’s collecting dust. This video shows its rise, missed opportunities, failed drones, and how DJI took over. Is there a future for GoPro, or has your smartphone already won??Subscribe here!

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