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The startup idea that convinced a UW computer science legend to leave Google after 27 years
Jeff Dean, who earned his computer science Ph.D. at the University of Washington, is leaving Google after 27 years and taking three of the company's top AI researchers with him. Their startup, Discovery Loop, aims to automate the scientific method itself, and Google is helping fund it.
Anthropic confirms it's building an in-house chip team for Claude
The AI startup is hiring engineers to design custom chips for its Claude AI model, according to a job listing and a company statement.
Ted Leonsis co-founded Proxy Foods AI raises $6M
D.C. startup Proxy Foods AI raised $6 million in seed funding led by Ted Leonsis to expand its artificial intelligence platform for recipe development.
Outdoor rec businesses sought for free business accelerator program
The ActivatOR Outdoor Recreation Growth Accelerator program is aimed at businesses ranging from startups to established companies.
MrBeast Sales Slow, Angel Stock Falls, MUBI and Neon Look for Hits, and Will an NBA Franchise Set a Sales Record?
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) You probably remember egg prices spiking a few years ago. This led to a lot of debate between the pro-market/pro-competition/antitrust/Neo-Brandesian crowd and the center/center-right/center-left/abundance/libertarian crowd over the cause, whether it was the avian flu outbreak or whether industry consolidation led to price fixing, using avian flu as a convenient cover. Basel Musharbash wrote a whole investigation at BIG looking at it. Well, two years later, we have our answer: it was price fixing. The Justice Department found proof, via emails, of price fixing. Indeed, just the threat of an investigation brought prices down two years ago: I bring this up because at least half a dozen of my favorite political writers and pundits, who were skeptical about price fixing at the time, haven’t written any mea culpas on this issue. It’s really dispiriting and makes it much, much harder to trust their work on other issues. If you take a hard stand on an issue, then you get it wrong, you need to explain how and why you got it wrong. Or update your priors. This is how epistemological bubbles are formed! All of which is to say, it’s time for another installment of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. Last issue, I mostly focused on the “wrong” side of the equation, so today’s is a bit more balanced, but with one big mea culpa (though I still stand by my original concerns). Let’s dive right in! Subscribe CORRECTION: UFC Didn’t Release Subscriber Data (But Seems to Have Bragged About It Internally) In my analysis of the viewership of UFC Freedom 250, I wrote... “Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers.” Well, that datecdote did not come from a PR rep, but from great reporting from James Faris at Business Insider. The actual quote was this: “Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.“ This wasn’t the biggest goof in the world; even Faris emphasized to me that this is more a “clarification” than a correction. Still, it sounds like, internally, the folks at Paramount were very happy about this result—and I’m guessing they were happy with this news getting out—even though the gains didn’t last through the quarter, dropping to 700K adds. RIGHT: MrBeast’s Struggles Continue... I’m very skeptical about MrBeast’s burgeoning media “empire” and, in particular, its $5 billion valuation, as I wrote earlier this year and last year. Sure enough, according to Business Insider, regarding its “booming” consumer products division_:_ “US sales volume grew 13% year-over-year in 2025, following a 33% leap the previous year, according to a presentation deck dated May 2026....A February 2025 investor deck viewed by Business Insider showed Feastables’ net revenue more than doubled in 2024 from 2023, to $215 million, and was forecast to grow 74% in 2025, to $375 million.” [Emphasis mine.] If you told investors that you projected 74% growth but delivered 13%,1 that’s not ideal. But it’s not just MrBeast. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime had sales drop in half for their energy drinks. It’s one thing to build a successful entertainment company and an entirely different thing to succeed in the heavily-consolidated-but-also-very-competitive consumer packaged goods space! CPGs are dominated by a few firms with very wide moats compared to YouTube, which has few barriers to entry. These businesses require different skill sets and have completely different business environments. WRONG: Does the NBA Have an $8 Billion Bidder? Almost as soon as I published my article about the NBA’s finances, casting skepticism on NBA expansion, I saw this Front Office Sports headline: One group “claims to have already raised $8 billion” for the Vegas expansion team. I mean, wow. That’s just $2 billion less than what the Los Angeles Lakers were valued at when they were sold just last year. And they’re arguably the most popular team in the NBA. (Side note: the new owner is now under an investigation for fraud in how he went about financing the Lakers and the Dodgers purchases.) So much for the “dried up” language I used in that article. (This is why I usually stick to my “Entertainment Nuance Guy” tone in articles...) I went off old information—from April, when I read/heard about the NBA downplaying expansion efforts—instead of doing a quick double-check for new news. That said...if you read the article, the market for Seattle is “slow”, with just one reported bidder. So I wasn’t entirely off. This goof has annoyed me since I first published it, mainly because it undercut that article’s real point, which I stand by: NBA franchises are really overvalued right now. Now, I get why NBA teams are overvalued. When it comes to owning sports teams, it’s basically never wrong to assume that some rich person somewhere will care more about owning a team (or just being part of a group since they’re so expensive) than the actual financials. There are only so many teams to own, and opportunities to buy in preferred markets don’t come along very often. This explains why the teams sell for such high multiples (usually above a 10 to 12.5 revenue multiple, which is very high). You only need one person to overpay! Beyond the ultra-wealthy luxury good explanation, I worry NBA teams are becoming speculative assets. More and more private equity investors are buying into NBA teams. But the value, in owning a team, comes from selling it later, not any meaningful relationship to revenue or profit growth. In other words, the newer NBA owners are increasingly expecting someone later to buy their inflated asset. That’s not sound economics; that’s the “greater fool” theory at work.2 At some point, actually making money has to matter. Especially since revenue growth is now below the growth of the stock market. (And this matters because the NBA doesn’t have easy levers to pull to drastically lower their costs—half of their revenue has to go to players and then you actually have to run a team, including coaching, training, travel, media expenses, and more—or raise revenues aside from one-off expansions in America and overseas.) I just don’t see how investors make their money back buying NBA teams, except for selling at a higher price later on down the line. But if revenue/profit growth continues to slow, at some point, someone will be left holding the bag. RIGHT: Baseball and Basketball are about equally popular. Related to the above, I wanted to cite two quick pieces of evidence for one of my other theories: that the NBA and MLB are about as popular as each other, but the NBA gets much, much better media coverage. One YouGov survey has that fans prefer basketball to baseball by 52% to 48%, which I’m guessing is within the margin of error for that poll. That’s virtually even, meaning they’re about the same popularity. Over on NBC, a recent Red Sox-Yankees game averaged 4 million viewers, higher than Sunday Night Basketball’s average of 3.4 million on the same network. A Yankees-Dodgers game averaged 3.9 million two weeks ago. Not every game averages this much, but it shows you that baseball isn’t far off from basketball, depending on the matchup. Altogether, the NBA is just slightly more popular than baseball, but NBC is paying MLB a fraction of what they pay the NBA, a point I’ve made before. RIGHT: Angel, MUBI and Neon Updates... I’ve long been skeptical about many of Hollywood’s buzziest startups/smaller indie studios. It’s not that they don’t make great movies—films like Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once are amazing—or that they’re not (rightfully) pushing the majors to make better films, but...they get a ton of hype, and that hype often doesn’t live up to the reality or difficulty in scaling up. Starting with MUBI, well, The Wall Street Journal wrote a feature on MUBI’s struggles last April, best summarized by the subheader “After Sequoia valued Mubi at $1 billion, a left-wing revolt sent the indie film company into a tailspin”. MUBI lost $7.3 million on $200 million in revenue in Q4 2025, but reportedly hit a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of Q1. As for Neon, Department M purchased a “significant stake” in the company earlier this year. How much is that “stake” worth? According to Deadline, “No financial figures for the Neon-Department M deal were disclosed.” So...that’s not great! If it was a big valuation, we’d hear about. Also, I found this curious: “Both Neon and Department M already have separate partnerships with Qatar. The Qatar Film Committee has a slate deal in place with the former, and a biopic production pact with the latter.” Color me skeptical about much Middle Eastern investment dollars. See: LIV Golf. Finally, as for Angel (formerly Angel Studios), their stock very, very slightly popped last month after Young Washington ($20 million budget) which made $45 million in the US, but their stock is still way down from its opening. Smaller Updates RIGHT: The WGA should focus on antitrust concerns! I’ve been on this for years. Post-WGA/AMTPT deal in 2023, I wrote an article for the Ankler calling on the WGA to focus and organize against industry consolidation. Sure enough, the WGA filed a lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger, and people are organizing around this issue now. I wish this energy had coalesced earlier (specifically to lobby Washington much earlier), but better late than never! WRONG: Actually, the chip shortage might be due to market manipulation. In my last “Long Reads for the Long Summer” article, I shared an article about how LLMs are causing memory chip prices to spike, which will make all electronics more expensive. Well, turns out, three RAM manufacturers control 90% of the market, and now a private lawsuit accuses them of price-fixing. So yeah. WRONG/UPDATE: The Odyssey will hold! Two weeks ago, I wrote, “As of this moment, we haven’t had a super-blockbuster, though The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could all cross the $500 million mark. (At this point, The Odyssey would need a very strong hold to get there.)” Well, it’s safe to say it’s going to have that hold! It only dropped 30% in weekend two and IMAX screenings are sold out all month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also off to a great start. RIGHT: People are rushing to get shows out yearly. I’ve long been bullish on yearly, weekly-released shows, and Leslie Goldberg at The Ankler wrote about how many people in town are now listening. WRONG: Mark Carney reverses Canada’s stance on homegrown production. After writing about Canada installing domestic production quotas, Canada has backed off. WRONG: I don’t trust Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s online “views”. When I originally wrote about the latest Spider-Man film’s record-breaking trailer, I thought this was just YouTube views, but after watching this Corridor Crew video and doing more research, well, it’s all social views of the trailer globally. Really? That stat includes TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts views. Basically, I don’t trust it anymore. (This film will probably set record, but I trust the pre-sales data more.) RIGHT: Celebrity Production companies are still struggling. I’ve written about this for years, but the company that I didn’t track was Kevin Hart’s HartBeat, which was valued at $650 million but is struggling now and might just end soon, especially after Kevin Hart pulled his endorsement deals. And Bad Robot is moving to NYC. CORRECTION: SpongeBob is a “second run” title. In my 2025 recap article, I had _SpongeBob SquarePants_labelled as a “library” title, when it is still a “second run” show, with new episodes still coming out on Nickelodeon. CORRECTION: In my last “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong” update, I offered a correction from Doug Creutz and misspelled TD Cowen. Thanks, Grammarly! 1 Though he could have increased prices to make up for the gap, he couldn’t have increased them that much. 2 There’s a theory, which I think that Daryl Morey created and Bill Simmons popularized, that, to be successful building your team, you only need a handful of bad GMs in the league to take advantage of. To be clear, Daryl Morey’s theory was also for signing bad contracts, that you could always get out of bad contracts. Basically, there’s always someone who will make a bad trade. It’s not the same exact thing, but similar enough to the Greater Fool Theory that I really like it.
When does advanced science create entrepreneurs — and does it matter?
A new NSF Engine in Cleveland revives an old question — whether a startup or an incumbent should turn research into products — and brings up a better one: whether that distinction serves the people it’s meant to.
Exclusive: Former OpenAI exec Fidji Simo discusses her battle with POTS and her startup’s plans to cure it with AI and 3,500 vials of blood (so far)
Simo is a cofounder of ChronicleBio, which aims to cure complex chronic diseases by analyzing biological data with the latest AI models.
Felicis hires Graham Littlehale to lead hard-tech startup focus
The venture capital firm, best known for bets on Shopify, Notion, and Mercor, has hired a new partner to invest in physical world technologies.
I got fired twice. It led me to start my own company.
Alex Stephany says getting fired twice pushed him toward entrepreneurship. He now leads Beam, an AI startup with about 200 employees.
Nvidia's CUDA faces new threats from AI coding agents
Nvidia has long dominated because of its CUDA software. Now, AI-driven software is challenging this moat as startups and giants innovate.
HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA
2X, a Philadelphia-based business-to-business technology and services firm, announced in early June the acquisition of Manassas-based Knownwell, a startup
D-FW Business Datebook: Startup week starts with big-name lineup
DFW Startup Week starts Monday and runs through Thursday with a week of speakers, seminars, networking events and other activities to boost entrepreneurs and North Texas’ startup scene.
Mississippi startup brings military-tested tech to footwear made in state
Paul Thomas returned to Mississippi to launch Numadx, a startup using air-pressure technology for better insoles.
A London Startup Is Selling Permanent Stick-On Tattoos—and It Wants to Do Mail Order
Concerned parents of the world, unite.
AI Cognitive Health Startup Mantis Biotech Rethinks How Women Are Diagnosed
The AI Catching Brain Fog, ADHD, And Dementia Between Doctor Visits
Shark Tank, Colossal, Shondaland speakers headlining DFW Startup Week
DFW Startup Week, hosted by the SMU Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, is free to attend and will take place from Aug. 3-6.
I learned from Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick, built my own AI startup
I spent my 20s working at Tesla, Apple, CloudKitchens, and Rivian to learn from top founders before launching my own AI manufacturing startup.
The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift
This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 The Trump regime is trying to usher in a “Golden Age in Science” where scientific research is run like a Trump family business, artificial intelligence is all that matters, profit is everything, and expertise is for chumps. Or at least that’s the vision emerging from a new 123-page “Report to the President” from Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a normal administration, you could probably skip over learning about a science policy document — but this is no normal administration, and this is no normal science policy document. Instead, it’s Trump’s attempt to end the actual golden age of science that was kicked off in 1945 with the publication of '“The Endless Frontier” by Vannevar Bush. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) [ Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Liz Dye · Jul 29 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Bush, at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s request, laid out a vision of federal support for science that centered on funding universities to do basic research, saying that as long as those institutions were “vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.” Kratsios’s report is supposed to be the successor to Bush’s, and even apes the format, but this isn’t really a document about science policy. It’s one about ending science research as we know it in favor of shoveling cash at big tech companies. While it might be temping to wave this away as an aspirational policy document, Trump has already begun to shift billions in research funds to AI projects and has taken a hatchet to science funding across the board. He’s teed up the shift Kratsios proposes here, and since neither Congress nor the Supreme Court seem inclined to stop him from doing whatever he wants with taxpayer money, it isn’t doomering or hyperbole to say we are staring down the barrel of a world where the only “science” the government intends to support is for-profit tech and defense advancements. Science for dummies Part of how you can tell this isn’t a document about science is that you are immediately faced with an absolute wall of business-speak of the worst sort. Did you know we must “tightly couple our science and technology enterprises to ensure that groundbreaking ideas invented in the United States are rapidly prototyped, tested, manufactured, and scaled domestically”? You do now! That tone isn’t surprising, because Kratsios has no background in science or research. He has a bachelor’s in political science and spent most of his career working for Peter Thiel at Thiel Capital. After a stint in the first Trump administration as Chief Technology Officer, where he also did not do any science, Kratsios was tasked in 2020 with overseeing the Pentagon’s research budget for a brief time, a position that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “carries a great deal of power in terms of dictating investment allocations.” He spent the Biden years at Scale AI as “head of strategy,” which you will also note is neither a science nor a research job. But Scale AI has contracts with the Department of Defense and, as the Washington Post wrote in 2023, “has been aggressively pitching itself as the company that will help the US military in its existential battle with China.” And now you have the necessary background for our new golden age, which is going to be a golden age of taking money away from scientists and universities and giving it to companies like Scale AI. A note from Aaron: Working with brilliant contributors like Lisa takes resources. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one to support our work. 👇 Subscribe In a genuinely galling move, Katsios spends a lot of time slamming universities because of “administrative burdens on researchers” and the “well-documented inefficiencies” in academia, the message being that those damn universities waste the time of amazing researchers with paperwork. Except it’s the administration that is attempting to impose inefficient, unnecessary burdens on those researchers with a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require senior political appointees to approve every science grant and ensure it aligns with Trump’s personal priorities. Researchers would also have to seek prior government approval to attend conferences or publicize their research. And political appointees could terminate any grant at any time if they feel like it. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) [ The murder of expertise ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) Lisa Needham · Jun 11 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) But when it comes to AI, we’re going to “restore permissionless innovation.” The report proposes to give lucky ducky innovators a pile of cash up front for grants lasting five years or longer, saying “awards should be fully-funded in year one, with all resources earmarked upfront, to minimize administrative burdens and reduce pressure for researchers to generate intermediate results to secure continued funding.” Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to make the Very Special Tech Bros show results or get money parceled out year by year like the plebes at universities. The report also proposes that we should have “fast grants” with “simplified applications requiring just a few pages of writing” because that is definitely how science works, just writing a bit off the dome and getting some cash. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) [ Tech elites are turning AI into ChatGPTrump ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Paul Waldman · July 29, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Oh, and we should have prizes and challenges, where multiple teams compete. The proposed prizes include incentives like “advance procurement commitments,” which means the federal government agrees to buy whatever is being developed. There’s also “regulatory fast-tracking,” making sure all those great AI thingies don’t have to wait too long to be unleashed on a market. These aren’t incentives to do science. These are incentives to develop things with tax dollars that you can then sell to the government for more tax dollars. In the suggestion that might be the most unhinged, the most very opposite of how both government and research work, our new age will include “golden tickets.” That’s where an individual reviewer in an agency — yes, just one person — can “recommend unconventional proposals that may not pass consensus-driven review panels” because somehow this will “surface valuable ideas too divisive for committees and attract higher quality reviewers by empowering them to exercise independent scientific judgment.” Yes, that’s saying that a random person in an agency should be able to shovel money at some idea even if it can’t pass a review panel, and that the opportunity to do so will attract better employees because apparently all the best minds in science are chomping at the bit to be allowed to unilaterally fund AI research based on their personal vibes. But that isn’t at all how actual science works, and actual scientists aren’t unhappy about review panels. They work collaboratively, not siloed in some secret race to create the next AI chatbot. A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined whether peer review panels succeed in helping agencies predict which research ideas will best advance science. Peer review was better at finding “diamond in the rough” applicants than a single government program official. How about that. Trump always wants a taste It’s painfully clear that what Katsios is trying to do here is turn the whole of government science research and funding into the sort of “move fast and break things” paradigm that is the hallmark of big tech. That method works to line the pockets of tech executives, but it isn’t science. There’s a reason the government funds different kinds of research than private tech companies do. What Katsios either fails to understand or deliberately ignores is that the federal government is the main funder of basic research precisely because it can take a long time for it to bear fruit and is not intended to be profitable as such. “Basic” here does not mean rudimentary or simple, but rather research that is designed to advance scientific knowledge instead of achieving a specific outcome or product. Big tech companies don’t widely fund that sort of research, because it doesn’t make them money. Industry dollars account for only about 20 percent of basic research funding, while the government contributes around 60 percent. Big tech companies and startups do, however, rely on and benefit from that basic research. A 2019 study found that 35 percent of all patents obtained by venture-backed startups from 1976 to 2016 cited federally supported research. Basic research funded by the NIH contributed to every single drug the FDA approved from 2010 to 2016. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) [ The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Noah Berlatsky · Jul 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Unlike inventing the next ChatGPT, actual science is slow and iterative. Government funding of research that, on its face, would not appear to lead to any big new invention is actually what underpins those big new inventions. If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide, and we wouldn’t have Ozempic. If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic across computer servers. The report assiduously ignores that a symbiotic, profitable relationship between the federal government, universities, and private companies already exists. Each federal research dollar generates about $1.50 to $3.00 in long-term economic benefits. The $36 billion the government awarded in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2025 generated $94 billion in new economic activity. Trump’s proposed new golden age is intended to strip those billions from universities, resulting in the dismantling of departments and the shuttering of labs. But Katsios has a plan for that: Universities should just become trade schools to churn out no-show STEM degrees! “Require universities and community colleges to embed practical technical training and externships into STEM curricula. Let hands-on experience and industry credentials count toward degrees.” It’s quite the feat to, on the one hand, strip schools of funding for scientific research while simultaneously demanding to control what is taught and, oh, also, colleges need to give degrees to employees at big tech companies just for being employees at big tech companies. The new golden age would also exacerbate the brain drain Trump’s policies have already caused. Nature found that in the first quarter of 2025, US scientists submitted 32 percent more job applications abroad than in 2024. A March 2025 poll by Nature of roughly 1,600 scientists found that over 1,200 said they were considering leaving the country. Europe is investing $565 million to make it a “magnet for researchers” and provide funding for scientists who relocate. The new golden age is also about embedding Trump’s xenophobia into the fabric of American science. The report complains of an “over-reliance on foreign students” that “creates a security challenge our institutions are ill-equipped to address” and that a “reliance on foreign talent sidelines American students.” This is, to put it mildly, nonsense. International students pay far higher tuition and often receive no financial aid. Their tuition dollars are what make it possible for American students to get financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported over 378,000 jobs. Those 1.1 million international students accounted for only six percent of the total number of students in higher education that year, but were such an economic engine that for every three international students, one job was created or supported. It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities and their leading role in scientific research is that there is no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving millions and billions to Silicon Valley types who, in turn, give him millions in cash. There’s no way for his children to invest in universities that the government then gives no-bid contracts to, fattening the family’s bottom line, which is pretty much the Trump sons’ current venture capital practice. Trump and Katsios’s view of science is narrow, cramped, and wrong. We’re not in a crisis, we’re not a failed state. We’ve been a science superpower for decades, and the only thing that threatens that is Donald Trump. Tech bros are already living high off the hog in this administration. They don’t need any more of our tax dollars. Hopefully this new golden age never comes to pass. Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share We’ll be back with more tomorrow. If you appreciate today’s PN, please do your part to keep us free by signing up for a paid subscription. 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 Thanks for reading, and for your support.
Live shopping startup Whatnot eyes massive $20 billion valuation
Whatnot, a live shopping startup, aims for $20 billion valuation in financing talks, driven by livestream sales in fashion and collectibles.
AI doctor startup Doctronic acquires Summer Health to move into pediatric care
AI doctor startup Doctronic aims to broaden its reach beyond adult primary care by acquiring text-based pediatric care platform Summer Health. | AI doctor startup Doctronic aims to broaden its reach beyond adult primary care by acquiring text-based pediatric care platform Summer Health.
Innovation Connector Launches Business Impact Masterclasses to Strengthen East Central Indiana Businesses
By Ted A. Baker, CEO, Muncie Innovation Connector, Inc.— MUNCIE, IN—The Innovation Connector is deepening its commitment to entrepreneurial and business excellence with the launch of its new Business Impact Masterclasses, a four-part professional education series that helps entrepreneurs, startups, nonprofit leaders, and established businesses grow through practical, action-oriented learning. Beginning in September 2026, the Business Impact Masterclasses will replace the annual Innovation Connector Business Showcase Week, marking the next evolution of the organization’s business education programming. This initiative reflects the Innovation Connector’s commitment to delivering premium educational experiences that empower entrepreneurs, strengthen organizations, and accelerate business growth. Through expert-led...
Startup Martinsville opens applications through Aug. 14 for Southside business boot camp
Entrepreneurs across Southside Virginia have another opportunity to turn their business ideas into thriving companies.
Ozlo's Sleepbuds 2 build on Bose's sleep earbud legacy
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Exclusive: Co-Founded By Former Whoop CTO, Throne Science Raises $10M To Track Gut Health From The Toilet
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A Two-Person Startup Has Fixed One of the Most Hated Sounds in Modern Life
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Thinking Machines Lab cofounder steps down, citing stress and illness
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Why 3 secretive biotechs are keeping their science close to the chest
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This AI startup is interviewing like it's the 2010s
Mercor's head of product, Osvald Nitski, said that the AI training company has moved away from take-home assignments that can be completed with AI.
How AI Economics Is Changing For Startups And Small Businesses
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Colorado startup combats youth mental health crisis with playdate scheduler
AI isn’t replacing workers. It’s creating bosses.
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How Free Batteries Help NYC Small Businesses Save on Electric Bills
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The event that turned an aerospace engineer into an AI founder
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Exclusive | Elon Musk’s Boring Company Eyes $20 Billion Valuation in New Funding Round
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AI Lab Midjourney Eyes Suite of Apps After Buying Astrology Startup Co-Star
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Bidder emerges for bankrupt Triangle startup
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The greenest goodbye: Human composting and the science of becoming soil
In 2020, Recompose was the first U.S. company to develop the technology needed for the commercial composting of human bodies, disrupting a funeral industry that had been largely unchanged for decades. Now 14 states have legalized the climate-friendly practice and more than a dozen others are considering it. Additional startups have launched to offer a greener goodbye and all are looking to scale.
AMD to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic, WSJ Reports
Advanced Micro Devices will invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic as part of a deal under which the AI startup will purchase up to 2 gigawatts of AMD's next-generation AI chips, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Israeli startup is using AI to shorten cloud architecture timeline
With most IT projects failing, AutoPipe believes AI can turn weeks of cloud planning into hours
Asha Sharma-appointed Xbox VP of engineering leaves just three months after moving over from Microsoft's CoreAI team
Xbox engineering boss, who only joined the team three months ago, is leaving for an AI startup.
Your Startup Might Be a Parasite. Here Are the 4 Warning Signs
Humans generally abhor parasites, but we make exceptions for businesses.
Gov. Shapiro highlights life sciences growth with visit to Philadelphia biotech incubator
The $125 million Innovate in PA 2.0 initiative aims to help startups grow, commercialize new technologies and keep life sciences companies in Pennsylvania.
Sony Music Entertainment files new lawsuit against AI startup Udio
Sony Music Entertainment on Monday filed a new lawsuit against AI startup Udio, alleging the company infringed on the copyrights of more than 30,000 recordings.
Sony Music Entertainment files new lawsuit against AI startup Udio
Sony Music Entertainment on Monday filed a new lawsuit against AI startup Udio, alleging the company infringed on the copyrights of more than 30,000 recordings.
Social map startup Corner has raised $7.5 million in funding
Corner, a social app for saving and sharing local spots, has raised $7.5 million.
The Lean Startup Playbook Forgot Something Important: These 5 Mental Skills Determine Whether Your Idea Survives
A business school professor shares the mental roadblocks that keep people from innovating.
These 5 Side Hustle Businesses Keep Costs Low and Profits High
With minimal startup expenses, strong demand, and room to scale, these side hustle ideas offer a path from extra cash to a full-time business.
Five years after a $82 million IPO, Jungo sells its business for just $300,000
Israeli driver-monitoring startup will become a stock market shell after transferring its operations to controlling shareholder Ophir Herbst, while retaining roughly $9.8 million in cash.
How Cascade Plans To Help Constructors Win New Business Worth Millions
London-based startup Cascade has raised $3.5 million of new funding for a platform that promises to connect construction firms with valuable new business opportunities
Colossal Biosciences reportedly in talks to raise new capital at $20B–$30B valuation
The de-extinction startup is looking to double or triple its previous valuation, according to the report.
Wooly Mammoth startup Colossal seeking at least $20B valuation
Its research could be foundational in pharmaceuticals, climate change reversal, and longevity.
This $46 Million Toilet Startup Is Betting Smart Seats Can Be A Billion-Dollar Business
Medical tech company Casana raised $46 million to launch a toilet seat that monitors your health. Their goal? Make sittables the next wearables.
Traverse City business incubator names a startup veteran to top role
Stacey Feeley will helm the business incubator 20Fathoms after years as an entrepreneur herself.
Delivering Access
There was once a time when you healthcare without mentioning Honeybee Health Inc. In 2019, CNBC listed it as one of the 100 most promising startups. In
New Jersey aims to turn science into startups
The investment manager of the NJII Venture Studio says new venture infrastructure aims to turn research into startups and jobs.
Moonshot just gated new users from its new Kimi model
The Chinese AI startup said it saw massive demand over the last two days and had to pause new subscriptions to reduce strain on its GPUs.
Fitbit's Whoop Challenger Quietly Added a Game-Changing Upgrade
The Fitbit Air launched with great hardware and work-in-progress software. Now, a new partnership with a cult-favorite health startup may shore up the new tracker's biggest weakness.
5 Small Business Ideas You Can Start for Less Than $1,000
These small business ideas require minimal startup capital but offer plenty of room to grow.
High impact, high science: How First Flight is building North Carolina’s innovation future
First Flight Venture Center has spent more than three decades helping science and technology startups grow into companies that create jobs, attract investment and strengthen North Carolina’s economy.
High impact, high science: How First Flight is building North Carolina’s innovation future
First Flight Venture Center has spent more than three decades helping science and technology startups grow into companies that create jobs, attract investment and strengthen North Carolina’s economy.
Nexus unveils first startup school cohort of companies
Nexus Louisiana introduced the inaugural cohort of companies in its Stealthmode Startup School and announced the winners of its DevDays Education Challenge during a recent showcase, highlighting the o… Already an INSIDER? Sign in. Already an INSIDER? Sign in
How Entrepreneurs Can Turn A $20,000 Investment Into A Growing Business
Wondering how to turn $20K into a thriving business? Compare startup ideas, costs and strategies for sustainable growth.
Darden Alum’s AI Finance Platform Lightens the Load for Startups and Small Businesses
For Michael Fajardo (MBA ’20), the word is a nod first to Michael Porter, the strategist whose Five Forces framework he studied at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. But it also meant something simpler: a person who carries the bags, lightens the load and helps someone keep moving.
A $399 Smart Ring Aims to Replace the 150-Year-Old Blood Pressure Cuff
A three-year-old startup says it has produced a smart ring that can track blood pressure as accurately as a traditional arm cuff and that — eventually — it could be able to make medical diagnoses. If the company, called Vital Signals, can successfully deliver on the promise, it would represent a significant breakthrough in consumer wearables.
Best business insurance for online startups and e-commerce stores
Get the business insurance your e-commerce store needs, including cyber liability and general liability coverage.
AI slop movies are the new direct-to-video cash grabs
An AI startup is trying to capitalize on the hype for Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Daniel Ek's body-scanning startup Neko Health raises another $700M
Neko Health has developed proprietary body-scanning technology, which it couples with bloodwork, to assess a person's health.
American AI is expensive. Some startups are turning to cheap Chinese models
AI is a fast-growing business expense. Some companies are cutting costs by switching to cheaper Chinese AI models.
Daniel Ek’s Neko Health Raises $700 Million From Billionaires, Celebs
Neko Health, Daniel Ek’s startup developing body-scanning technology, has raised $700 million from venture capitalists, billionaires and celebrities to open new facilities, including one in New York later this year.
How Trash Rangers went from local startup to regional player
When Jake Poche launched Trash Rangers in 2018, the idea was simple: reliable service from a company that would actually show up when it said it would. Today, that same promise has carried the business from a residential garbage service in Ascension Parish into a regional waste provider that stretches across the Capital Region — […]
Apple looks to shrink AI models for iPhones
Apple is reportedly in very early discussions with PrismML, a Silicon Valley startup spun out of the California Institute of Technology and backed by Khosla Ventures, about technology that could dramatically reduce the size of powerful AI models so they can run directly on iPhones, CNBC reports. PrismML recently announced that it compressed Alibaba’s open-source […]
Apple in talks with startup that shrinks AI models to run on an iPhone
PrismML says its compressed version of Alibaba’s Qwen model uses up to 15 times less memory, potentially advancing Apple’s AI push.
Vieu launches AI-ready map of business relationships, challenging sales-tech incumbents
Vieu, a Seattle startup founded by former Microsoft leaders, launched its "Business Graph" — a live map of business relationships built from observed signals like shared work history and board affiliations, rather than the self-reported connections on LinkedIn.
Vieu launches AI-ready map of business relationships, challenging tech incumbents
Vieu, a Seattle startup founded by former Microsoft leaders, launched its "Business Graph" — a live map of business relationships built from observed signals like shared work history and board affiliations, rather than the self-reported connections on LinkedIn.
Aggie Venture Accelerator Welcomes Inaugural Cohort of Life Science Startups
The University of California, Davis Innovation and Economic Development Office has announced the inaugural cohort of the Aggie Venture Accelerator (AVA), selecting SinewUS, Pharm to Food and ThriveSpan Labs as the program’s first participating startups.
AI fueling startup boom across the United States
Nationwide, economists say we’re seeing a business formation boom that's closely correlated with AI’s growth.
Why AI is driving a record boom in new US startups
Artificial intelligence is acting as a force multiplier for entrepreneurs, sparking a record wave of new businesses.
What smart people are saying about Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI
Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, accusing the AI startup of orchestrating a campaign to steal trade secrets from iPhone maker.
Working Strategies: Business startup a good option for seniors
Second Sunday Series – This is the 10th of 12 columns on career planning post-60, which will appear the second Sunday of each month from September through August. In last month’s Second Sunday column on career planning for folks in t…
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Work
OpenAI on Thursday unveiled ChatGPT Work, an agent in its popular chatbot designed to execute tasks across different applications and files, marking the startup's latest push into workplace automation.
Khosla-Backed Startup Claims Breakthrough With Largest-Ever AI Model on an iPhone
Apple is on a quest to shrink powerful AI models to run on iPhones, which could cut down on cloud computing costs and enhance user privacy. But a small startup that emerged from stealth mode earlier this year says it recently got an AI model running on an iPhone bigger than any previous mobile ...
Monumint founders pivot from OmniAI to banking AI solutions
Founders Tyler Maran and Anna Pojawis scrapped their startup OmniAI and launched Monumint, which builds AI agents for banks. Here's their pitch deck.
NAVER D2SF Invests in 23i, a Virtual Entertainment Startup
NAVER D2SF, the corporate venture capital arm of NAVER, has made a new investment in 23i (CEO, Hyungmin Kim), a virtual entertainment startup. As the global virtual entertainment market continues to grow rapidly, particularly in Korea and Japan, NAVER D2SF decided to invest in the team based on its ability to create expanded entertainment IP through strong content production capabilities and an in-house technology pipeline designed to maximize the strengths of virtual artists.
I vibe coded a 7-figure tool for my startup; the 4 steps I followed
John Hu left a banking career and his MBA program to build Stan. He and his cofounder went on to vibe code Stanley, an AI tool, in just 14 days.
SK Hynix’s Stock Market Bargain Mirage | AI & Business for July 7
Plus, AI giants offer discounts, and college kids are doing startups instead of summer internships.
Zoom to buy Seattle startup
Zoom has agreed to acquire an AI-powered marketing Seattle startup called Common Room.
Exclusive: College athletes tend to pick teams on vibes. He wants to change that
Shawne Robinson wants to make his startup the "trusted advisor" of U.S. college sports data.
Meet Naomi Osaka’s Business Partners Behind Her Wimbledon Comeback
Naomi Osaka has returned to IMG while continuing to build Hana Kuma, KINLÒ and an investment portfolio spanning sports and startups.
Apple veterans launch a $33 million fund for manufacturing tech
Omni Ventures will back pre-seed startups building AI, robotics, and automation tools for manufacturing.
Startups move to Colorado amid concerns state losing its luster for tech companies
A biotech startup and an aerospace startup said their moves to Colorado were based on lifestyle issues and the state’s business climate.
Shekel squeeze: How offshore talent is keeping Israel's startup nation scaling upwards
While reducing costs is one reason to hire offshore employees, ONE Offshore explained that most companies outsource to expand their teams.
A New Report Just Revealed a Widening Gap in Corporate Leadership. It Points to a Massive Opportunity for Startups
Good business is just doing right by people. Customer focus is both a driver of business success and a reflection of morality in action.
AI-native startups are hiring fewer entry-level workers, study finds
AI-native startups are running smaller, flatter teams and are hiring more senior talent rather than entry-level talent, a Harvard study found.
For one small business, AI was key to a quick start and expansion
Here Now Health isn't an AI-based company, but its quick path from an idea in founder Michelle Turner's mind to an operating mental health platform for foster children relied deeply on the technology now restructuring the U.S. economy. Working from her Virginia Beach home, she used AI tools to school herself in startup culture, create a business plan and fine-tune a presentation for early-stage investors. Funding began to flow, and the company, launched in January 2025, now has 16 employees and is certified in three states to provide Medicaid-funded mental health counseling for children entering the foster system, a gap in care she identified through her own experience as a foster parent.
His AI startup has a literal moat: a castle for an office
Rémi Louf is the CEO of the AI startup .txt. He works out of a castle with iron gates and a moat in Bourron-Marlotte, France.
I pay each startup employee $18,000 a year to live near the office
Sebastian Jimenez, the CEO of Rilla, explains why the AI startup invests $37,000 a year in perks for every employee, including a housing stipend.
Why Perplexity's founder doesn't think the American dream is over
Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity, praised America's startup culture on "The Joe Rogan Experience."
Inside the recruiting practices at the hottest AI coding startups
At Replit, X profiles have become the "main medium" for recruiting, said the company's chief people officer.
Trump filing shows he took in about $1.2 billion from crypto businesses last year
Mere startups when he took the oath of office, the new ventures have now eclipsed in revenue much of his vast property portfolio that took him decades to accumulate.