In Today’s Edition 

• Singapore doubles down on lab-grown meat as Silicon Valley backs off 

• Apple is first company charged with violating the EU's DMA rules 

• Shein, which has faced issues with its US IPO

• The Recording Industry Association of America is suing AI music companies 

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Being an Underdog, AI Safety, and Economic Inequality

• OpenAI has grabbed another startup

• World first epilepsy device fitted in UK boy's skull 

This cannabis startup pioneered “rapid onset” gummies

Most people prefer to smoke cannabis but that isn’t an option if you’re at work or in public.

That’s why we were so excited when we found out about Mood’s new Rapid Onset THC Gummies. They can take effect in as little as 5 minutes without the need for a lighter, lingering smells or any coughing.

Nobody will ever know you’re enjoying some THC.

We recommend you try them out because they offer a 100% money-back guarantee. And for a limited time, you can receive 20% off with code FIRST20.

Shop Now.

🚀Startups Nuts

Singapore doubles down on lab-grown meat as Silicon Valley backs off 

Singapore is the only country where cultivated meat can be purchased in shops. The country aims to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030. Its approval of cultivated meat has attracted companies from all over the world to develop alternative proteins. Its regulatory structure makes it the perfect spot for companies to further the technology and help drive down costs.

Other News

• EvolutionaryScale, a developer of protein-building AI models, raised $142m in seed funding

• Etched, an LA maker of specialized chips for transformers, raised $120m

• Exsilio Therapeutics, a Boston-based genomic medicines startup led by ex-Moderna chief medical officer Tal Zaks, raised $82m in Series A funding

• Neustark, a Swiss carbon removal startup, raised $69m

• SkyCell, a Swiss developer of medicine and vaccine transportation containers, raised $59m in Series D extension funding

• TechWolf, a Belgian internal talent management platform, raised $42.8m in Series B funding

• Local Kitchens, a Davis, Calif., multi-brand "under one roof" restaurant concept, raised $40m in Series B funding 

• Route, a post-purchase tracking startup, raised $40m in Series C funding at a $1.4b valuation

• Slushy, a Miami online platform for adult creators, raised $10.2 million

🏭Business Nuts 

Apple is first company charged with violating EU's DMA rules 

The European Commission has opened an investigation into Apple's support for alternative iOS marketplaces in Europe. The investigation is focused on Apple's Core Technology Fee, the multistep process required for users to install third-party marketplaces, and Apple's eligibility requirements for developers. Regulators say that Apple's App Store 'steering' policies violate the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple is the first company to be charged under the DMA rules - it can respond to the European Conformation's preliminary assessment ahead of its final ruling before March 2025. Apple could be fined up to 10% of its annual global revenue for infringement.

Other News

• Shein, which has faced issues with its US IPO due to labor and environmental concerns, filed for an IPO in London.

• Under Armour will pay $434m to settle a 2017 class action lawsuit. The suit alleges that the company knowingly misled shareholders about revenue growth.

• The Recording Industry Association of America is suing AI music companies Suno and Udio, accusing them of using copyrighted recordings without permission to train their AI models.

• TMRW Sports, owner of new Tiger Woods-backed golf league TGL, isn’t even a thing yet and it’s already valued at ~$500m. TGL, which mixes golf teams with “advanced technology,” is scheduled to put on its first event next year.

• Nvidia stock fell more than 6% to close at $118.11 per share on Monday as investors rotated out of the hottest AI play of the year. The session marked the third consecutive day of losses for shares of the chip heavyweight.

• TWFG, a Texas-based personal and commercial P&C insurer, filed for a $100m IPO. It reports $26m in net income on $173m in revenue for 2023, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (TWFG). Backers include RenaissanceRE Ventures.

• EU regulators have accused Microsoft of breaching antitrust laws by bundling its Teams chat service with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

📱Tech Nuts

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Being an Underdog, AI Safety, and Economic Inequality

Anthropic is a startup devoted to studying cutting-edge AI systems and developing new safety methods. It is a leading competitor to OpenAI with powerful tools for use by both the public and businesses. Anthropic recently released the latest version of its Claude chatbot. Claude 3.5 Sonnet sets new industry standards on reasoning, coding, and some types of math. This article contains an interview with Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei where he discusses the company's status as an underdog, yet-unreleased AI capabilities, Anthropic's culture, AI safety, open-sourced models, Big Tech vs startups in AI, funding, and more.

Other News

• OpenAI has grabbed another startup, Multi. It made tools to collaborate with other users on a desktop easier. Multi’s team is joining the ChatGPT Desktop team, likely to build for AI + human collaboration.

• Amazon is developing an AI chatbot, code-named "Metis," to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and it could be launched later this year, based on a report from Business Insider.

• Apple declined a potential AI partnership with Meta concerning the integration of Meta's large language model into iOS, primarily due to privacy concerns highlighted in a Bloomberg report.

🎁Miscellaneous

World first epilepsy device fitted in UK boy's skull 

A boy in the UK received a neurostimulator device in his skull to control seizures. The device has reduced his daytime seizures by 80%. The patient has a treatment-resistant form of epilepsy that sometimes causes him to suffer hundreds of seizures every day. He suffers a range of seizures, some of which require emergency medication to resuscitate him. The device, which can be recharged wirelessly, emits a constant pulse of current that aims to block or disrupt abnormal signals. While the device is not a cure, it has improved the patient's life significantly.

💡What else are we reading and seeing?

• The Future of Streaming

• Why Nothing Can Grow on Mars

• Optimizing AI Inference at Character.AI

• How my weekend project turned into a 3 years journey

• The emotional side of money and harm of moralizing it

• Responsibility Over Freedom: How Netflix's Culture Has Changed

• The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs

• The Gap in Life Expectancy Between Genders Is Getting Bigger. So, What’s Killing Men?

😎Fun Fact

On this day: In 1978, the first rainbow Pride flag appeared at a San Francisco Pride event. Its creator was drag queen and clothing designer Gilbert Baker

🔥 Few tools many people are finding useful

• Magic patterns - Convert HTML to React or Figma

• Pygma - Your AI copilot for Instagram

• Devv - The next-gen search engine for developers

• Ad intel by Madmen AI - Drop swipe files. Get winning ideas

• MyLens - AI that answers anything with insightful visuals

🐦Joke of the Day

Enjoy The Cash Nut? Consider forwarding it to a co-worker, colleague, classmate, or whoever you think might be interested.