Musician Zach Bryan enters the startup scene. Vivek Ramaswamy revamps Buzzfeed. Apps are trying to get you off your phone. 

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Today, we're discussing a secretive German venture-backed AI company that provides tools for militaries and its hunt for more funding, Vivek Ramaswamy's plans to transform Buzzfeed, Zach Bryan's foray into the startup world, and more.

🤑 RAISES

• xAI, the gen AI startup led by Elon Musk, raised $6B from VC funds a16z, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding. This is interesting because this funding gives Musk the resources to compete with OpenAI. While a few of the investors also supported his acquisition of Twitter, none of this funding is linked to previous investments into the social app.  Musk must really like the letter X. (Link)

• Solutions by Text, a startup helping users pay bills via text message, raised $110M co-led by Edison Partners and StepStone Group Go. I like my bills on autopay, but I would like to have a text sent to me telling me they were paid. (Link)

• Natural Cycles, creators of a fertility app (that also has the ability to connect with Oura Rings), raised a $55M Series C led by Lauxera Capital Partners. Natural Cycles was approved by the FDA in 2018 despite being linked to some unintended pregnancies in Sweden. It predicts fertile periods by tracking menstrual cycles and body temperature, so users can avoid sex or use contraceptives then. I don’t use it, but I know a lot of people who do and really like it. (Link)

• Wayspring, providing care for substance use disorders, raised $45M led by CVS Health Ventures. Because of fentanyl fueled youth deaths, pediatricians are now providing counseling on opioid addiction. And they feel unprepared. Across the country, fentanyl has largely fueled a more than doubling of overdose deaths among children ages 12 to 17 since the start of the pandemic. (Link)

• HoneyNaps, a South Korean sleep disorder diagnosis startup, raised a $11.6M Series B. HoneyNaps received FDA approval for its AI sleep diagnosis software SOMNUM in 2023, partnering with major US university hospitals. The software analyzes bio signal data to diagnose diseases in under five minutes and can be integrated into various healthcare systems. (Link)

• EverFence, a fencing marketplace for homeowners and contractors, raised a $7M Series A from HighPost Capital. My dogs used to jump the fence all the time as a kid. This made me think of them. They’re old now and not doing too much jumping. (Link)

• Bootloader Studio, a Vietnamese startup using AI and spatial computing to make digital pets for Apple Vision Pro, raised a $5M seed led by Antler Elevate. As a Neopet, Tamagotchi, and Webkinz superfan…I would have been into this as a kid. (Link)

• Helsing, a secretive German AI company that provides AI tools to militaries, is in talks to raise a €370 Series C led by General Catalyst at a ~$4B valuation. In September last year, they its €209M Series B, making it Europe's most well-funded defense tech startup. (Link)

• Space VC, an Austin-based micro-fund that specializes in frontier tech investments and backs founders from “day zero”, raised $20M for Fund II. I know the GP Jonathan Lacoste and let me tell you, he is awesome. I met him a few years ago. He co-founded the company Jebbit at Boston College, which he dropped out of after three semesters. It was a good move, as it was eventually acquired by billionaire Robert F. Smith’s Vista Equity Partners in 2022. (Link)

🗞️ NEWS

🚨 Trend Alert: Apps are trying to get you off apps. 

• In a previous newsletter, I wrote about Palmsy, the social media app that is totally fake and lets you post to literally no one. Just the void. Mashable described it great; it’s like your Notes app with a social media function. Imagine a Black Mirror episode where these actually aren’t just posted to no one and they are used as blackmail against the users. Call me, producers. (Link)  

• Gratitude Plus is a startup that promotes healthier relationships and mental wellness through journaling, mood tracking, and private circles for staying connected with loved ones, just like Facebook was intended to be.  (Link)

• Maven, a social platform by OpenAI's Kenneth Stanley, offers a healthier alternative to typical social media. It prioritizes serendipitous learning over gathering followers, using AI to help users explore topics like computers or consciousness. (Link) 

• Some stats for brainfood: 

  • A study of 2,414,294 people in 168 countries between 2006 and 2021 finds 84.9% of associations between internet connectivity and wellbeing were positive (University of Oxford)

  • About 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are unavailable now and 8% of pages from 2023 are unavailable; 23% of news pages have at least one broken link (Pew Research Center)

Startups 

• Enifer, a Finnish biotech startup, is making alternative meat from the fungus-based protein Pekilo, which was made in the 1960s and 1970s by the local paper industry.  The OG Pekilo product was sold for animal feed.  (Link)

• Iyo is launching the Iyo One Bluetooth earbud this winter, which aims to improve AI assistants like Alexa and Siri. Humane and Rabbit didn’t have a good outcome with genAI devices, let’s hope this is better. The headphones range from  $599 to $699, depending on wifi and storage capabilities. (Link)

• Skej made an AI assistant an AI assistant to schedule meetings via email. This is cool but I don’t even like giving Calendly control of my calendar. Call me old fashion!  (Link)

• Music artist Zach Bryan and Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang are teaming up to build “the new library of alexandria”. In a thread, Wang said that they aim to “combine storytelling and culture with technology to create a new form factor for history.” I don’t know what this is exactly, but I’m excited to see what happens. Remember, the other co-founder of Scale AI was Twitfluencer Lucy Guo who is no longer there and is working on her new startup, a creator monetization platform called Passes. So much to get into here, but that’s another newsletter. ☕ (Link) 

Big Tech 

• Atari acquired Intellivision, ending a long-standing rivalry and gaining rights to 200+ Intellivision games. The deal “ends the longest running console war in history”.  “For fans of old-school games, it’s kind of like Coke acquiring Pepsi”. (Link)

• Tumblr introduced an open beta for its “Communities” feature, allowing users to connect on specific topics. This is akin to Subreddits. I feel like they should have done this a long time ago, but it might get messy.  (Link)

• WeWork founder and total surfer dude Adam Neumann has dropped his bid to buy back the company and criticized its current state. But at least he owns Whalebone magazine! (Updates on Whalebone from last week: I have been told by several sources that its NY retail space is now being used by Bandit running, a venture backed running company that is hosting a run during NYTW. Maybe I will see what’s up). (Link) 

Big Names  

• How Long Gone hosts Chris Black and Jason Stewart collaborated with MORJAS on some awesome shoes that I really want. I wasn’t able to snag a pair of the Minted sneakers so I’m hoping that I have better luck this time around. (Link) 

• Ex-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is now the second largest Class A shareholder with an 8.37% stake in Buzzfeed. He believes that the company should be investing more into  creator-led video and audio, hire a staff with diverse political viewpoints, and is calling for a restructuring. BuzzFeed stock was up 20% following the news. (Link) 

Editing 

• Canva roundup: Canva is partnering with HP to make it easier to print designs.  (Link)  New Canva updates included a resident of the platform and a special enterprise tier for better control and security. (Link) People on Twitter hated the hip hop routine at the Canva event. (Link) 

• Adobe Lightroom introduces a magic eraser tool that lets users delete objects from images and generate realistic backgrounds to patch blank spaces. (Link) 

• Google’s Magic Editor and AI tools are now free for Android and iOS users, with 10 Magic Editor saves per month.  If you need more edits, you need a Google One Premium (2+TB) plan or “be a Pixel user.”  (Link) 

• Microsoft Edge will offer real-time video translation for sites like YouTube and LinkedIn. Translating videos on the fly is so cool to me; I love to see advancements like this and can’t wait for more languages to be added.  “At the moment, audio sources in Spanish and Korean can be translated to English. Likewise, audio sources in English can be translated to Hindi, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian.”  (Link) 

• TikTok launched Symphony AI suite for brands to create and enhance video content. “With Symphony, everything from writing a script to producing a video and optimizing assets is simple and efficient — fueling real results with a new paradigm of creativity.”  If you’ve gotten to try it, let me know how it works!  (Link) 

New York

• New York Tech Week is next week. Check out what events you plan on going to an RSVP now! Comedy shows, cold plunges, golf outings… they are really tapping into tech culture. (Link) 

• Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is promoting $30 bags of coffee from his new company, Rudy Coffee. Last time you saw him in the news it was probably for pleading not guilty to charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. (Link) 

• I’m going to Otherships' Flatiron location on Friday and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. This Canadian bathhouse’s largest location is its first in New York. Apparently, the custom-designed sauna can fit up to 100 people at once, making it the largest in the city. When I visited Helsinki, people socialized in the saunas, but I wonder how this will go in the city. The largest sauna I’ve ever been to here was a sold-out July show at The Mercury Lounge. (Link)

🧠 BRAIN DUMPS

I went through the master doc of events for NYTW and pulled out all the health and wellness activities that weren’t invite-only. If you read this far, enjoy! (Link) 

Until next time,
Rachel Braun

P.S. I read all my emails! If you have feedback, a question, or just want to say hello, please do so by responding to this newsletter or by emailing [email protected] 💌