Startups

Trump’s proposed university endowment tax could hurt funding, VC warns

Venture /

Some VCs are looking at the Trump administration’s proposed massive tax increase on university endowments with alarm, warns Ann Miura-Ko, co-founder at Floodgate Partners. “There is a proposal right now to take the endowment tax from 1.4 percent to 35 percent and most people would say, well endowments are super rich, why do we care?  Well, they […]

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200 VCs wanted to get into Lumen Orbit’s $11M seed round

AI /

Lumen Orbit, a startup looking to build data centers in space, was able to close its recent seed round in mere days amid intense investor interest. The Redmond, Washington-based company closed on a $11 million seed round at a $40 million valuation, confirming prior TechCrunch reporting that the company had raised a competitive double-digit round

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Mantel’s app lets collectors show off their sports cards and other treasures

Apps /

Back in February, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian teamed up with Brent Montgomery (“Pawn Stars” producer) and Evan Parker (former general manager at The Athletic) to launch Mantel, a social network allowing collectors to share their latest finds, such as sports cards, TCGs (trading card games), comic books, coins, stamps, sneakers, watches, and more.  Initially available

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ElevenLabs’ AI voice generation ‘very likely’ used in a Russian influence operation

AI /

Generative AI has a plethora of well-documented misuses, from making up academic papers to copying artists. And now, it appears to be cropping up in state influence operations. One recent campaign was “very likely” helped by commercial AI voice generation products, including tech publicly released by the hot startup ElevenLabs, according to a recent report

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Connyct, an exclusive social media app for college students, emerges amid potential TikTok ban

Apps /

Do we really need another social media app for college students? With the looming TikTok ban in the U.S., a new app called Connyct seems to think so.  Connyct closely resembles the popular short-form video app, providing all the features you would expect, such as a personalized content feed, private chatting, as well as video

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Queer-founded brand discovery platform Famm launches a LinkedIn for the LGBTQ+ community

Apps /

Famm, the discovery platform for queer-owned brands, was created by BIPOC queer married couple Cat Perez and Marianna Di Regolo to help users find LGBTQ-owned businesses. Now it’s launching a new social networking app for LGBTQ+ professionals and business owners to connect and collaborate.  Famm Connect, now available on iOS and Android devices, includes common

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Nectir lets teachers tailor AI chatbots to provide their students with 24/7 educational support

Startups /

Over a hundred colleges and high schools are turning to a new AI tool called Nectir, allowing teachers to create a personalized learning partner that’s trained on their syllabi, textbooks, and assignments to help students with anything from questions related to their coursework to essay writing assistance and even future career guidance.  The company announced

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Federal prosecutors have charged another Forbes 30 Under 30 alum with fraud

Startups /

The FBI unsealed an indictment yesterday that alleges Joanna Smith-Griffin, founder of the AI startup AllHere Education, engaged in “securities fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with defrauding investors” out of nearly $10 million. The FBI claims she misrepresented her company’s revenue, customer base, and cash to investors from at least November

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