funding

Arzeda is using AI to design proteins for artificial sweeteners and more

Enterprise /

AI is increasingly being applied to protein design, the process of creating new proteins with specific, target characteristics. Protein design’s applications are myriad, but it’s a promising way of discovering drug-based treatments to combat diseases and creating new homecare, agriculture, food-based and materials products. One among the many vendors developing AI tech to design proteins, […]

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Greenlite, founded by an ex-Gopuff exec, automates construction permitting

AI /

Construction permitting often involves drafting lengthy applications, leading to unpredictable timelines for developers and businesses. There are tens of thousands of jurisdictions — each with their own different forms and application processes for building permits. Ben Allen knows a thing or two about permitting. While leading business expansion and strategy at Gopuff, Allen was charged

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Orb founders grew so frustrated dealing with billing at Asana, they built their own billing software

Startups /

Billing might not be something that the average person thinks about on a regular basis. But for companies — particularly those in the business of selling software — it’s massively important. They rely on billing systems to ensure that customers pay on time and have a range of ways to pay. The trouble is, configuring

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Generative AI startup Typeface acquires two companies, Treat and Narrato, to bolster its portfolio

Media & Entertainment /

Typeface, a generative AI startup focused on enterprise use cases, has acquired a pair of companies just over a year after raising $100 million at a $1 billion valuation. Typeface revealed on Monday that it’s purchased Treat, a company using AI to create personalized photo products, and Narrato, an AI-powered content creation and management platform.

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AI coding assistant Supermaven raises cash from OpenAI and Perplexity co-founders

Fundraising /

Jacob Jackson was all-in on AI early in his career. Jackson co-founded Tabnine, the AI coding assistant that went on to raise close to $60 million in venture backing, while still a computer science student at the University of Waterloo. After selling Tabnine to Codata in 2019 (during his final exams), Jackson joined OpenAI as

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TeamBridge, founded by former Uber execs, raises $28M to build HR software for hourly workers

Enterprise /

Arjun Vora and Tito Goldstein were working on the corporate side of Uber when they realized that HR software largely wasn’t built to manage hourly staff. Many hourly workers lacked a way to complete basic self-service tasks, the pair perceived, like clocking in and changing payment accounts. After interviewing hundreds of Uber drivers, Vora, an

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DryMerge promises to connect apps that normally don’t talk to each other — and when it works, it’s great

AI /

Platforms to connect apps that wouldn’t normally talk to each other have been around for a minute (see: Zapier). But they have not gotten dramatically simpler to use if you’re nontechnical. Generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry somewhat. However, getting the most out of these platforms — and fixing things when they break

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After using a business coach to shift careers, AceUp founder wants to drive coaching based on data

Fundraising /

Is a business coach really worth the investment? Execs often seek coaches to bolster aspects of their work, like communication skills and their productivity. At least anecdotally, these skills do appear to get better with coaching — a survey from the nonprofit International Coach Federation found that 80% of execs who hired a coach saw

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Connectly, now backed by Alibaba, taps AI to personalize text messages to customers

Startups /

Stefanos Loukakos, formerly a director at Meta’s business-focused Messenger division and, briefly, the tech giant’s blockchain org, noticed several years ago that online retailers were struggling to connect with potential shoppers. The problem, in his opinion, was that their marketing campaigns weren’t tailored enough. Merchants were sending generic social media, text, and email blasts that failed to

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