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News: Hebbia has made its first acquisition, of FlashDocs, a slide generator and fellow NYC-based startup. The move solves a last-mile problem for Hebbia users, CEO George Sivulka tells Upstarts Media exclusively, in a fiercely competitive AI app race. upstartsmedia.com/p/exclusive-he…

If you've been following OpenAI and the interesting new startup projects coming out of its diaspora, Upstarts Media subscribers are about to get a juicy story in their inboxes in the next few minutes 👀 It's a great time to join them 👇 upstartsmedia.com/subscribe

SCOOP: ex-OpenAI staffers have raised $20M for a pre-launch startup, Applied Compute. Led by Benchmark, the round values the reinforcement learning startup at $100M. Its 3 founders, all recent Stanford students, have since fielded an offer 5x higher 👀 upstartsmedia.com/p/ex-openai-ap…

ICYMI: 3 Ex-OpenAI staffers raised $20M for their new startup. The pre-launch reinforcement learning company is now valued at $100 million -- and has received investment interest at 5x that price, sources say. upstartsmedia.com/p/ex-openai-ap…

The age of the "quantified dog" is here. And the startup founders behind it increasingly identify with science and deep tech peers. Meet pet tech's state of play in the AI age, as told by the CEOs of startups Fi, Loyal and Ollie to Upstarts Media 🐶 upstartsmedia.com/p/fi-loyal-oll…

In honor of Margot (Upstarts Updog and Social Media Manager), yesterday we dove into the state-of-play in pet tech. We spoke with the leaders of Loyal, Fi and Ollie who are increasingly identifying with classic tech founders over consumer brand builders. upstartsmedia.com/p/fi-loyal-oll…

Exclusive: AI research labs are in a NBA-style free agency frenzy. Upstarts Media obtained OpenAI's comp tiers for research staff, and its pitch for top talent to turn down offers from rival teams like Meta. upstartsmedia.com/p/meta-openai-…

The bar to hire away top AI research talent is sky high 📈 I obtained info on OpenAI's current comp tiers, which sources say will be overhauled. The highlights: -comp: up to $5M+ -equity to cash ratio: up to 3 to 1 -refresh grants -ability to sell up to $10M after 2 years

The Information reports that OpenAI plans to spend $1.5B on employee salaries this year, and is expected to increase its stock-based comp plan. I reported last week that OAI's lucrative comp packages for researchers, which are getting revamped, currently run 3:1 equity to cash.

Startups raised $91B in Q2. But one-third of it went to just 16 mega rounds of $500M or more, per Crunchbase data, mostly in AI. Our latest Upstarts Media piece takes you inside the “tale of two cities” in startup funding, and what Ethan Kurzweil calls a “flight to consensus.”

Good data from crunchbase and nice writeup by Upstarts Media. The funding shakeout continues: more mature/later-stage AI companies are capturing a larger chunk of overall dollars. Not surprising, but possibly sobering for the earlier stage cos.

🚀 Missing a new episode of TRP this Tuesday? Give a listen to our highlighted episode for Day 7 of #30DaysInTheRoom: our chat with Alex Konrad of Upstarts Media !

A dedicated new Upstarts Media subscriber (a GTM leader at a startup) has been steadily working his way through our entire back log of stories and commenting on each one... I am both thrilled and concerned 🤣

Founder Carl Pei knows you may not have heard of his startup, Nothing, despite $1B in sales. Reviews of his industrial smartphones are divisive. None of it bothers him. “As a startup, we have to have an opinion. We have to be different.” My interview: upstartsmedia.com/p/nothing-phon…

Today's premium issue is about Nothing. Enjoy. upstartsmedia.com/p/nothing-phon…

Exclusive: Unify, a startup boosting sales at AI high-flyers, has raised $40M at a $260M valuation. I spoke to CEO Austin Hughes about how his AI tools drive more pipeline per sales rep - and with Cursor about how they're using a new GTM tech stack that includes Unify + Clay 👀

Had a blast talking about my recent humiliation with a bag of rice, what we're building at Upstarts Media, some tactical PR tips for founders and more on the Smart In Public podcast ep out today 📣 Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nav… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7m2VQi…

SCOOP: stealth U.K.-based defense startup Cambridge Aerospace quietly raised $36M and is in market for $100M more. Upstarts Media has the first detailed look at what it's building, including multiple interceptor missiles and a solid rocket motor 👀🚀 upstartsmedia.com/p/inside-steal…

Exclusive: British startup inforcer raised $35M in a Series B funding round led by Dawn valuing it at $200M+, months after its Series A. In a hype moment at AI's cutting edge, inforcer is proving there's value in the long tail: helping IT shops bring Copilot to AI-hungry SMBs.

Can a new SOC 2-like certificate help AI startups grow faster? Or will it just create a new "racket" for them to pay? I spoke with the founder behind the idea, AIUC CEO Rune Kvist, as well as with a bunch of other AI startup leaders, to dive in 👇 upstartsmedia.com/p/can-insuranc…