🚀Startups Nuts

• Koloma, a geologic hydrogen startup, raised $245 million

• Neurona Therapeutics, a biotech focused on neural circuits, raised $120 million

• Unlearn, a digital platform for clinical trials, raised $50 million

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🏭Business Nuts 

• Google One, the company's bundled consumer cloud storage service, hits 100 million paid subscribers; Google-owned YouTube Premium passed 100 million paid users Feb 1

• The FTC is aiming to ban non-compete agreements which could have major implications for how Wall Street and other top employers keep leverage over employees. The federal government has received nearly 27,000 comment letters on its proposal from a wide range of business interests both for and against the ban.

• Barclays hands dozens of bankers no bonus. Executives are also planning to shrink the firmwide bonus pool amid a persistent slump in dealmaking and capital markets activity. 

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in talks with investors to raise up to $7 trillion for AI chip manufacturing. Potential investors include sovereign wealth funds and government entities, which may raise geopolitical concerns.

• Nvidia is chasing a $30 billion opportunity in the custom chip market.

• OpenAI Hits $2 Billion Revenue Milestone. The company's annualized revenue topped $1.6 billion in December based on strong growth from its ChatGPT product, up from $1.3 billion as of mid-October.

• Jeff Bezos sold nearly 12 million Amazon shares for a total of more than $2 billion in his first stock sale since 2021.

• Sony Music Group reportedly paid $600 million to acquire 50% of the rights to Michael Jackson's entire music catalog

📱Tech Nuts

OpenAI's next AI product could be after your job (again)

OpenAI has been reportedly developing two types of AI agent software for over a year. The first type can be used to automate complex tasks by taking over a customer's device. The second AI agent class handles web-based tasks and can gather public data. It is unclear when the company plans to release these agents.

Other News

• Pinterest’s new ad partnership with Google aims to enhance ad revenue by broadening brands’ reach and engagement with active consumers through Google Ads. The integration allows ads to be served on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager, directing users to advertisers’ websites for potential increased ROI and conversions

• Vercel announces integration with Perplexity. It comes as the latest effort from Perplexity to expand its presence in the AI domain and establish itself as the powerhouse for knowledge discovery.

• Vision Pro could take 4 generations to reach ideal form: Apple employees. “Objection distortion” potential side effect of long term use.

• Apple lobbying against right to repair 6 months after supporting it

• AiSee, a a wearable device which utilizes a camera, AI algorithms, and bone conduction headphones to help visually impaired individuals "see" and understand their surroundings

• Reddit user discovered that both Gemini and Copilot believed the Super Bowl had already happened prior to the game, hallucinating stats and results

🎁Miscellaneous

With Disney’s magic, Fortnite is poised to win the metaverse 

Epic Games and Disney are designing an entertainment universe text full of Disney-flavored games to play and things to buy. The project will use Epic's technology and Fortnite's social gaming ecosystem to bring Disney characters to life. Disney has invested $1.5 billion into Epic as part of the deal. While Meta has been busy trying to make the Oculus a mainstream consumer product, companies like Epic have been building avatar-driven virtual worlds that are widely available and hardware agnostic.

💡What else are we reading and seeing?

• Big Tech is taking the spoils of the ad resurgence

• How the NFL is transforming the media business with streaming

• How to fake a robotics demo for fun and profit

• Who makes money when AI reads the internet for us?

• How Gamma acquired 10 million users in 9 Months  

• How the LinkedIn algorithm works

• Why confidence operates on a thin line

• 4 simple software engineering habits that anyone can use

• Why you don’t need to optimize your life

• How to identify and fix workplace vertigo

😎Fun Fact

Record $10B was lost to scams in 2023 in U.S

🐦Joke of the Day

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