A Big Month in AI, Our Future of EdTech Report & Key Takeaways from Founders Forum ???? ????

This is a summarised, monthly roundup of the top stories and insights from the global founder community. ?? Sign up here to receive the full version of Founders News directly in your inbox!

In the biggest news this month:

• From the UK AI Safety Summit to Biden's Executive Order, it's been a bumper month in AI with?Founders Forum?at the heart of it! Read on for our latest AI news and updates
• Download our Founders Forum Future of EdTech Report, published in partnership with Institut auf dem Rosenberg, to discover the key trends shaping the future of education.
• Scoop the key insights from our two flagship forums, FF North America and FF Europe, as top founders discussed AI, longevity, space tech, and more!
• Discover the biggest startup and investor news of the month in our FF Community Wrap.

AI x Founders Forum |?News Roundup

At the UK AI Safety Summit, 28 countries and the European Union signed the Bletchley Declaration, committing to identifying AI risks and building national frameworks for AI safety.?Elon Musk was interviewed on-stage by UK PM, Rishi Sunak, and shared his illuminating response to a question posed by our Co-Founder & Chair, Brent Hoberman. Watch it here.

Before Bletchley Park, we brought together 25 of the UK’s top AI founders to recommend four actions the UK Government should take to support the safe development of AI. Click here to read the open letter.

In London, we co-hosted an AI entrepreneurs event with Microsoft and Satya Nadella, who shared his views on adoption, productivity, and how AI can fuel business growth.

Then, in San Francisco, we co-hosted an AI-themed dinner with McKinsey & Company, kicking off the evening with a fireside chat with Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, who discussed responsible AI development and the future of LLMs.

The AI race doesn’t stop! Germany’s Aleph Alpha raised $500m in one of Europe’s largest ever AI rounds this month. Plus, in the latest updates from AI founders in our community:

• General Catalyst’s Chris Bischoff led a ￡2.5m Seed funding round for AI health tech startup, Phare Health.
• Yoav Shoham’s AI21 raised an additional $53m to complete its $208m Series C funding round.
• Peter Sarlin’s Silo AI launched a new open-source LLM for European languages, Poro.
• Emad Mostaque’s Stability AI raised $50m in investment led by Intel Corp.
• Bethany Bongiorno & Imran Chaudhri’s Humane launched its $700 Ai Pin to replace smartphones.
• Kylan Gibbs’ Inworld AI partnered with Xbox to to create AI-powered game development tools.
• Dylan Field’s Figma launched a new generative AI product, FigJam AI, to reduce planing time for designers.
• Hovhannes Avoyan’s PicsArt launched a suite of generative AI tools, Picsart Ignite, to empower digital content creators.

Future of EdTech Report

The global education market is worth more than $6t and on track to reach $8t by 2030. Yet only a small percentage of education is delivered digitally.

In our Founders Forum Future of EdTech Report, published in partnership with Institut auf dem Rosenberg, we bring together the world’s leading founders to reveal the key trends shaping the future of education.

From our report, you’ll:

• Read exclusive interviews with Bernhard Niesner (Busuu), Cindy Mi (VIPKid), Euan Blair (Multiverse), Gina Bianchini (Mighty Networks), Herman Narula (Improbable), Johan Brand (Kahoot!), Markus Witte (Babbel), Yat Siu (Animoca Brands), and more!
• Get access to the latest data covering VC investment trends and most active investors.
• Learn what top edtech investors are looking for and how to raise VC money.
• Discover our top 40 edtech startups to watch!???

Click here to download our report and discover the trends shaping the future of education.

Key Takeaways From FF Europe & FF North America

At our flagship Founders Forums in Europe and North America - 600+ inspirational founders, VC investors, and corporate leaders - came together to discuss new breakthroughs in AI, longevity, space tech, and more!

At FF Europe, we learned about longevity drugs that could cure cancer, more European companies building their own LLMs, and how quantum will disrupt industries and supercharge traditional AI.

Click here to scoop the insights.

At FF North America, we learned about a new wave of space tech, how movies will become video games, and how zero-emission engines will power supersonic flight.

Click here to discover the key takeaways.

Tools Modern CFOs Should Use in Growth-Stage Startups

“Modernising the CFO's tech stack has become a prerequisite for success.”

The role of CFOs in growth-stage startups extends beyond traditional financial management.

By embracing innovative new AI tools, Dan Allred, CEO, North America, of Liquidity Group, says CFOs can streamline financial tasks and support data-driven decision making across areas like financial planning and risk management.

Click here to discover the tools that should be in every CFO’s tech stack.

FF Community Wrap:

• Georges-Olivier Reymond’s PASQAL launched a $90m initiative to commercialise quantum computing.
• Ilana Wisby’s Oxford Quantum Circuits raised $100m in a Series B funding round led by Japanese VC, SBI Investment.
• Steve Jang’s Kindred Ventures invested in a $4m Seed funding round for data infrastructure startup, Canopy.
• Lopo Champalimaud’s V3 Ventures invested in a Series A funding round for K-beauty brand, Yepoda.
• Oisin Hanrahan’s Keychain raised $18m in a Seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
• Sai Shivareddy’s Nyobolt launched its mobile supercharger, Bolt-ee, to enable zero to 100% charging of EV batteries in six minutes.
• Paul Taylor’s Thought Machine partnered with Mexican fintech, Trafalgar, to expand into Latin America.
• Christian Vollmann’s C1 Green Chemicals co-launched the world’s first pilot plant for cost-efficient green methanol production.
• Hermann Hauser’s Amadeus Capital Partners invested in a $100m funding round for quantum computing company, Photonic.
• Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen & Wolt’s Miki Kuusi participated in a $21m Series A funding round for Finnish multiplayer game and livestreaming platform, Noice.
• Julian Teicke’s wefox secured $55m from Deutsche Bank and UniCredit.
• Tim Sadler’s Tessian was acquired by cybersecurity company, Proofpoint.
• Finn H?nsel’s Sanity Group received approval to establish the first legal adult-use cannabis dispensaries in Europe.
• Jack Zhang’s Airwallex acquired rival Mexican payments company, MexPago, to expand in Latin America.
• Cradle’s Stef van Grieken participated in an €8.7m Seed funding round for Swiss computer vision startup, Viso.
• HV Capital’s Christian Saller co-led a $67m Series B funding round for drone robotics company, Quantum Systems.
• firstminute capital’s Sam Endacott led a $1.7m pre-Seed funding round for LLM application platform, Klu.?
• Richard Reed’s JamJar Investments led a $6.2m funding round for adventure travel startup, Flash Pack.
• 8VC’s Joe Lonsdale participated in a $55m Series A funding round for autonomous ship startup, Saronic.

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