$100 Million for German AI startup Black Forest Labs

Black Forest Labs, a German startup for generative AI image models, is close to a new funding round of 100 million US dollars at a valuation of 1 billion dollars, according to sources. This is reported by Ingrid Lunden for TechCrunch. The company was founded by the engineers who developed the technology behind Stability AI. …

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$23 million for AI generation platform Fal.ai

Fal.ai, a platform for AI-generated multimedia content, has raised $23 million from investors. The company provides computing power and APIs for AI models to create images, audio and video. As Kyle Wiggers reports for TechCrunch, $14 million came from a Series A financing led by Kindred Ventures. Another $9 million came from a previously undisclosed …

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The business of reanimating dead celebreties with AI

AI is enabling new careers for deceased celebrities and millions in revenue for today’s rights holders. According to a report by Mia Dawkins for Bloomberg, the estates of stars such as James Dean, Judy Garland and others can continue to make money thanks to AI technology. For example, these celebrities are lending their voices to …

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$24 Million in capital for “automated digital employees”

AI startup 11x.ai has raised $24 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by venture capital firm Benchmark. Founded in 2022, the company develops AI agents for process automation, which it describes as “automated digital employees”. 11x.ai focuses on sales, marketing, and revenue operations. The company is approaching $10 million in …

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Investment in AI reaches dizzying heights

Investment in AI has reached unprecedented levels. As Nate Rattner and Tom Dotan report in their article for the Wall Street Journal, tech giants and investors are spending hundreds of billions of US dollars on AI. In the last quarter alone, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta collectively invested more than $50 billion in capital expenditures, …

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Details on OpenAI’s massive funding round

OpenAI is on the verge of a massive funding round. The company is negotiating with investors for $6.5 billion at a valuation of $150 billion. This is reported by Bloomberg citing insiders. OpenAI also plans to take out a $5 billion loan from banks. The new valuation significantly exceeds the previous value of 86 billion …

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OpenAI generates at least $225 million in monthly revenue

OpenAI currently has more than 10 million paying subscribers and 1 million customers for the higher-priced enterprise plan for ChatGPT. This is according to an email that OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap sent to employees, reports The Information. Based on this, the media outlet conservatively estimates that the startup generates $225 million in revenue per month, …

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Translation specialist Smartcat raises $43 million

Smartcat, a provider of AI-powered translation tools, has raised $43 million in a Series C funding round. The Boston-based company provides companies with tools and services to translate written and spoken content into around 280 languages. As founder and CEO Ivan Smolnikov told TechCrunch, Smartcat uses a “matching engine” to select appropriate AI models for …

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Doubts about the profitability of the AI boom

The tech industry is investing heavily in AI infrastructure, but experts doubt its profitability. It is estimated that AI companies would need to generate $600 billion a year to justify the expense. So far, however, only a few giants like OpenAI dominate the market, while many smaller start-ups are struggling. The high cost of AI …

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OpenAI’s revenue is growing rapidly

According to a report by The Information, OpenAI is experiencing rapid growth in revenue. Annual revenue is said to have doubled in the last six months to $3.4 billion. Most of the revenue comes from subscriptions to ChatGPT and from fees paid by developers. Microsoft also pays OpenAI a portion of the revenue from the …

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