Journals

Gillian Tan / Bloomberg: NYC-based Bilt Rewards, which converts rental payments to points, raised $200M led by General Catalyst at a $3.1B valuation, and says users spend $20B annually  —  – General Catalyst, Eldridge invest in $200 million equity round … Read More »NYC-based Bilt Rewards, which converts rental payments to points, raised $200M led by General Catalyst at a $3.1B valuation, and says users spend $20B annually (Gillian Tan/Bloomberg)

Noam Cohen / Bloomberg: As Wikimedia Russia shuts down, a look at the Kremlin-compliant Wikipedia alternative Ruwiki, which recently went live, led by an ex-Wikimedia Russia director  —  A campaign to replace the country’s Wikipedia with a more pliant alternative… Read More »As Wikimedia Russia shuts down, a look at the Kremlin-compliant Wikipedia alternative Ruwiki, which recently went live, led by an ex-Wikimedia Russia director (Noam Cohen/Bloomberg)

Rest of World: As Chinese tech manufacturers flock to Vietnam to set up new factories, Bac Ninh, an industrial hub northeast of Hanoi, has become a center for Chinese culture  —  As Chinese manufacturers open shop in Vietnam, Bac Ninh… Read More »As Chinese tech manufacturers flock to Vietnam to set up new factories, Bac Ninh, an industrial hub northeast of Hanoi, has become a center for Chinese culture (Rest of World)

Will Knight / Wired: A profile of Kai-Fu Lee, an AI expert who helped Microsoft and Google get established in China and whose startup 01.AI is leading the open source AI race  —  Kai-Fu Lee, an AI expert and prominent… Read More »A profile of Kai-Fu Lee, an AI expert who helped Microsoft and Google get established in China and whose startup 01.AI is leading the open source AI race (Will Knight/Wired)

Michael Acton / Financial Times: Apple’s acquisitions, job postings, and academic papers shed light on the company’s AI plans; PitchBook; Apple has bought 21 AI startups since the start of 2017  —  Acquisitions, job postings and academic papers suggest tech… Read More »Apple’s acquisitions, job postings, and academic papers shed light on the company’s AI plans; PitchBook; Apple has bought 21 AI startups since the start of 2017 (Michael Acton/Financial Times)

Toby Sterling / Reuters: ASML reports Q4 revenue of €6.67B and net profit up 9% YoY to €2B, both above est., orders grew 3x QoQ to €9B+, and expects 2024 net sales to be similar to 2023  —  ASML Holding… Read More »ASML reports Q4 revenue of €6.67B and net profit up 9% YoY to €2B, both above est., orders grew 3x QoQ to €9B+, and expects 2024 net sales to be similar to 2023 (Toby Sterling/Reuters)

Bloomberg: A look at SK Hynix’s NAND flash memory chip plant in Dalian, China, which it bought from Intel for $9B in 2020 but is since in limbo because of US-China rivalry  —  Recent concessions still leave murky future for… Read More »A look at SK Hynix’s NAND flash memory chip plant in Dalian, China, which it bought from Intel for $9B in 2020 but is since in limbo because of US-China rivalry (Bloomberg)

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: Berlin-based Kittl, which is developing a browser-based graphic design tool, raised a $36M Series B led by IVP, just a year after raising a $11.6M Series A  —  Just a year after raising $11.6 million, Kittl… Read More »Berlin-based Kittl, which is developing a browser-based graphic design tool, raised a $36M Series B led by IVP, just a year after raising a $11.6M Series A (Romain Dillet/TechCrunch)

James Tapper / The Guardian: A filing in a class action suit by 10 US artists against Midjourney and others lists 16,000 artist names whose work Midjourney had allegedly used for training  —  US lawyers approached about class action against… Read More »A filing in a class action suit by 10 US artists against Midjourney and others lists 16,000 artist names whose work Midjourney had allegedly used for training (James Tapper/The Guardian)

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac: A US federal judge denies NSO Group’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit from Apple and orders the Pegasus spyware maker to answer Apple’s complaint by February 14  —  Apple has won an early battle against the… Read More »A US federal judge denies NSO Group’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit from Apple and orders the Pegasus spyware maker to answer Apple’s complaint by February 14 (Zac Hall/9to5Mac)