Luminal raises $5.3 million to build a better GPU code framework; plus Sakana AI raises $135M Series B at a $2.65B valuation to continue building AI models for Japan
On Monday, Luminal announced $5.3 million in seed funding, in a round led by Felicis Ventures with angel investment from Paul Graham, Guillermo Rauch, and Ben Porterfield.
Also, as U.S. giants like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic race to develop the large language models that underpin their AI products, startups such as Sakana AI, Mistral AI, DeepSeek, and AI 21 Labs are carving out their own niche with specialized models designed for specific regions, industries, or unique features.
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6:49
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6:49
Is Jeff Bezos returning to the trenches with a new AI startup? Also, Bone AI raises $12M to challenge Asia’s defense giants with AI-powered robotics
Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos seems to be getting his hands dirty once again: the billionaire is partly backing a new AI startup called Project Prometheus that has raised $6.2 billion in funding, and will take on duties as co-chief executive.
Plus, Bone AI, a South Korean startup, is combining AI and manufacturing to build next-gen defense robotics and challenge the region’s industry giants.
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8:52
Milestone raises $10M to make sure AI rhymes with ROI
Israeli startup Milestone raised a $10 million seed funding round to correlate AI tool usage with engineering metrics, including code quality.
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5:30
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5:30
Exowatt wants to power AI data centers with billions of hot rocks
The solar-thermal startup wants to deliver electricity for as little as one cent per kWh. But first it has to scale production to 1 million units per year.
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6:01
VCs abandon old rules for a ‘funky time’ of investing in AI startups
The goalposts are moving for AI startups when it comes to growth, product features and just about everything else.
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