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Element AI co-founder launches Waverly to fix the internet by changing the way people consume content (BETAKIT)
With his new company Waverly, a startup he helped to launch in 2020, Beaudoin has built a content discovery and recommendation platform for professionals. But Waverly’s goals are more ambitious than curating content for career professionals. Beaudoin hopes the company can change the way people consume content on the internet.
Google in Talks to Invest $200 Million Into AI Startup (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Alphabet Inc.’s Google is in talks to invest at least $200 million into artificial intelligence startup Cohere Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, another sign of the escalating arms race among large technology companies in the sector.
The BetaKit Keynote Stage returns to SAAS NORTH 2022 (BETAKIT)
Similar to last year, SAAS NORTH’s main stage will be renamed the BetaKit Keynote Stage for the entirety of the two-day conference, featuring content co-programmed and moderated by BetaKit.
OpenAI, Valued at Nearly $20 Billion, in Advanced Talks with Microsoft For More Funding (THE INFORMATION)
A new deal could help Microsoft grow Azure usage, one of its top priorities, while keeping OpenAI’s business away from rivals including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
The talks follow a previously undisclosed sale of OpenAI stock by existing shareholders last year to investors including Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, Bedrock Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. In that deal, the price of the shares implied a valuation of nearly $20 billion for the seven-year-old startup, said several people with knowledge of the deal.
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Nate Glubish new Alberta innovation minister as Premier Smith names cabinet (BETAKIT)
The appointment to minister of technology and innovation will likely come as no surprise as Glubish (formerly minister of Service Alberta) has a history with the innovation sector and has been vocal about his interest in tech.
AI content platform Jasper raises $125M at a $1.5B valuation (TECHCRUNCH)
As the enthusiasm around AI image and text generators grows, Jasper, a startup developing what it describes as an “AI content” platform, has raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The tranche is the company’s first, remarkably, and comes as Jasper is in the process of acquiring AI startup Outwrite, a grammar and style checker with more than a million users worldwide.
With HQ half a world away, how do Xero’s Canadian hubs stay connected? (BETAKIT)
Speaking with BetaKit, VP of Engineering Patrick Smith explained how Xero’s hubs all stay connected to one another, how employees align to global business decisions, and what it means to ‘be a Xero’ around the world.
Tempus Raises $275M To Combat Three Of Drugmaking’s Biggest Challenges (CRUNCHBASE)
This is a pretty big raise, and for good reason: The Tempus technology targets three niches undergoing the biggest change in data-focused care right now: drug discovery, clinical trials, and diagnostics.
Volta drops interim label, officially appoints Matt Cooper as CEO (BETAKIT)
The appointment to Volta’s permanent CEO comes five months after Cooper took on the interim role in May. He replaced outgoing CEO Martha Casey, who announced her departure in April to work with the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
A Coming-Out Party for Generative A.I., Silicon Valley’s New Craze (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
In Silicon Valley, crypto and the metaverse are out. Generative A.I. is in.
That much became clear Monday night at the San Francisco Exploratorium, where Stability AI, the start-up behind the popular Stable Diffusion image-generating algorithm, gave a party that felt a lot like a return to prepandemic exuberance.
Manitoba government appoints board members of $50 million provincial fund of funds (BETAKIT)
The board consists of Exchange Income Corporate CEO Mike Pyle, who will serve as the board’s chair, as well as Falcon Capital Corporation president Steve Kroft, Enns Brothers CEO Ray Bouchard, University of Winnipeg chancellor Barb Gamey, and Manitoba Technology Accelerator CEO Marshall Ring.
US Eyes Expanding China Tech Ban to Quantum Computing and AI (BNN BLOOMBERG)
The potential plans, which are in an early stage, are focused on the still-experimental field of quantum computing, as well as artificial intelligence software, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing private deliberations. Industry experts are weighing in on how to set the parameters of the restrictions on this nascent technology, they said.
Miovision acquires Pittsburgh firm Rapid Flow to bolster its traffic management systems (BETAKIT)
Rapid Flow represents Miovision’s second acquisition of a traffic management software provider, following its acquisition of Arizona firm Traffop in July last year.
Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready? (MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW)
At first, they sounded distant and tinny, as if they were huddled around a phone in a prison cell. But as we chatted, they slowly started to sound more like themselves. They told me personal stories that I’d never heard. I learned about the first (and certainly not last) time my dad got drunk. Mum talked about getting in trouble for staying out late. They gave me life advice and told me things about their childhoods, as well as my own. It was mesmerizing.