Journals

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: Some video podcasts are using AI-generated product placements from a company called Rembrand to supplement their typical host-read ads  —  A startup backed by United Talent Agency and L’Oreal is aiming to give podcasters a new… Read More »Some video podcasts are using AI-generated product placements from a company called Rembrand to supplement their typical host-read ads (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: A look at the reasons why Artifact failed, including not growing its user base outside the US and user confusion about its ever-growing set of features  —  Last week, Artifact, a buzzy news app from Instagram’s… Read More »A look at the reasons why Artifact failed, including not growing its user base outside the US and user confusion about its ever-growing set of features (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

Rocky Swift / Reuters: AWS says it plans to invest $15.24B in Japan by 2027 to expand facilities in the metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka to meet growing customer demand  —  Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Friday it plans… Read More »AWS says it plans to invest $15.24B in Japan by 2027 to expand facilities in the metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka to meet growing customer demand (Rocky Swift/Reuters)

TechCrunch: Analysis: the total number of US startups with a $1B+ valuation grew 14x from 39 in 2013 to 532 in 2023, 78% today are B2B, 93% are privately valued, and more  —  Aileen Lee is the founder of Cowboy… Read More »Analysis: the total number of US startups with a $1B+ valuation grew 14x from 39 in 2013 to 532 in 2023, 78% today are B2B, 93% are privately valued, and more (TechCrunch)

Jessica Hagen / MobiHealthNews: Forta, which combines AI and a training course for parents to offer personalized therapy for autistic children, raised a $55M Series A led by Insight Partners  —  The company will use the funds to grow its… Read More »Forta, which combines AI and a training course for parents to offer personalized therapy for autistic children, raised a $55M Series A led by Insight Partners (Jessica Hagen/MobiHealthNews)

Julian Nabil / Forbes Middle East: Dubai-based online business travel service Tumodo raised a $35M pre-seed co-led by MENA-focused angel investors and plans to expand to 25 more countries by 2026  —  The UAE’s online business travel platform Tumodo raised… Read More »Dubai-based online business travel service Tumodo raised a $35M pre-seed co-led by MENA-focused angel investors and plans to expand to 25 more countries by 2026 (Julian Nabil/Forbes Middle East)

Taylor Soper / GeekWire: Bellevue, WA-based Oleria, which helps companies manage employee access to applications and data, raised a $33.1M Series A led by Evolution Equity Partners  —  GeekWire’s in-depth startup coverage tells the stories of the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial… Read More »Bellevue, WA-based Oleria, which helps companies manage employee access to applications and data, raised a $33.1M Series A led by Evolution Equity Partners (Taylor Soper/GeekWire)

Ryan Broderick / Fast Company: Former and current Twitch employees describe how Twitch never understood what its users wanted, failed to go mainstream, alienated its top creators, and more  —  Four years after Twitch took over the livestreaming world, its… Read More »Former and current Twitch employees describe how Twitch never understood what its users wanted, failed to go mainstream, alienated its top creators, and more (Ryan Broderick/Fast Company)

Emilia David / The Verge: TikTok is testing AI Song, a tool powered by the LLM Bloom that generates songs from text prompts and allows users to toggle the song’s genre  —  TikTok has launched many songs that have gone… Read More »TikTok is testing AI Song, a tool powered by the LLM Bloom that generates songs from text prompts and allows users to toggle the song’s genre (Emilia David/The Verge)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Internal video and memo: Apple sees health care, training, and education as key areas for the Vision Pro, and will give employees a 25% discount on the device  —  – Company has teams focused on enterprise… Read More »Internal video and memo: Apple sees health care, training, and education as key areas for the Vision Pro, and will give employees a 25% discount on the device (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)