SaaS shifts to value pricing

Quick Hits

AI scare: Dock workers strike .

Automated play: Pinterest adds AI.

Battery blaze: Fire shuts L.A. port .

Capsule swap: SpaceX saves day.

Clone zone: YC courts controversy .

Crypto creep: Robinhood adds swaps.

Dev play: OpenAI launches API .

Extended reach: Robot detaches hand .

Farm help: Surfer launches ag fund .

Hard fork: Another OpenAI defection .

Hear me now?: Verizon fixes outages .

Job jolt: Samsung lays off thousands.

Race to reason: It’s Google vs. OpenAI.

Rocket block: FAA halts SpaceX plans.

See me now?: Copilot adds voice, vision .

Snap-track: Snapchat traces users.

Sustainable chips: U.S. invests $100M .

Thai clouds: Google invests $1B .

Vietnam’s Quest: Meta expands in Asia .

(Work)space race: India’s DevX files IPO.

‘Persistent AI’ is coming

AI bots with “really good long-term memory ” are about a year away, Microsoft's head of AI says.

Value as a service

AI is pushing Salesforce and SaaS providers towards value-based pricing .

Return to sender

Silicon Valley's CRV will return $275M to investors due to unfavorable market conditions for mature startups—and instead focus on early stage.

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Beta tests passenger plane

Vermont-based Beta Technologies wants to be the first to fly passengers in a vertical take-off electric plane (eVTOL) and expects initial approvals in roughly the next year.

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DeepL bites Big Apple

Germany-based DeepL is building a NYC-based hub for research and product innovation after opening an office in Austin.

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Serve flies post-Postmates

Serve Robotics is teaming up with Wing deliver food across L.A. with robots and drones.

Weekly Pulse

Poll of the week

Startup We Love: Wayfaster

Why we love it: Accelerates hiring with automated interviews.

Recently funded and rebranded, Wayfaster (formerly Interviewer) is one a mission to eliminate ?wasted time and money in the $731B global labor staffing market with voice agents that 10x hiring speed | Apply now

Recently funded companies

Europe

London’s Ameba Secures $7M Seed for Retail Supply Chain AI

UK's Artisan Raises $7.3M Seed for AI-Driven Sales Automation

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India

Zintlr Raises $900k Seed for AI-Powered Buyer Intelligence Platform

ClayCo Cosmetics Raises $2M Series A for Skincare Innovation

FermionIC Design Raises $6M for Semiconductor Innovation

Lissun Raises $2.5M for Mental Health Solutions

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Middle East

UAE's Podeo Raises $5.4M for Podcast Distribution

Israel’s Air Doctor Secures $20M for Health Tech Solutions

Israel's Qodo Raises $40M for Developer Tools

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U.S.

San Francisco’s Resolve AI Secures $35M Seed for Automated Software Operations

Empathy Health Technologies Raises $2.8M Seed for AR Recovery

Integrated Biosciences Raises $17M Seed for Therapies

What we're reading

Why bigger is not always better in AI (MIT )

Make-work is not the future of work (Noah Pinion )

Where is the Budget for AI Coming From? (Tomasz Tunguz )

I Once Feared Professional Irrelevance. Now I Embrace It. (Hunter Walk )

Align Interview Questions with Core Values (David Cummings )

Why Gumroad Didn't Choose (htmx )

Post of the week

Podcast of the Week

Secret #2: Moving Beyond Gut Instinct with Data-Driven HR (HR Superstars )

S10 Bonus: Rob Grazioli, Bread (Code Story )

#0128 - Allyson Kapin, General Partner and Co-Founder at W Fund, Talks About Bias in Tech and Investing (Startup of the Year Podcast )

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? Startups hiring now

SproutsAI: Autonomous Agent for the virtual world | 24 open roles

Imprint Payments: We are reimagining the relationship between consumers and the brands they love | 13 open roles

Modern Treasury: Modern Treasury builds payments operations solutions | 16 open roles

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