Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC)’s Post

GenAI represents a profound platform shift, but in its current state, we're still in the early innings. Up until now, GenAI has been layered onto existing applications to supplement human work. As we look at the year ahead, it’s going to be an exciting time as I predict truly unique businesses utilizing GenAI will emerge. More on my expectations for the future of GenAI and our $1B+ commitment to backing AI-powered enterprise tech startups in Crunchbase News below. Thanks to Gené Teare for taking the time to chat! https://lnkd.in/g3Kt7CXc

ICYMI: Earlier this year, we announced that we’d be committing $1B+ to invest in the next generation of AI-powered enterprise tech startups. We’re thrilled to see the momentum of this news continue as Sapphire Ventures President, Partner, and Co-Founder Jai Das recently shared his perspectives on the opportunity ahead with Crunchbase News, predicting: 🔹 A significant focus on AI in security during the 2024 presidential election 🔹 The greatest impact of AI will be work-related, saving people from mundane tasks 🔹 Broader adoption of GenAI, as all enterprise software companies begin to leverage its capabilities Read the article for more: https://lnkd.in/ex5pDrmr #VentureCapital #EnterpriseSoftware #GenAI

Harvey, a trailblazing AI-powered platform for professional services, has successfully raised $100 million in a Series C funding round. This significant investment, led by GV (Google Ventures) with participation from OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, and SV Angel, values the company at an impressive $1.5 billion. Congratulations to co-founders Winston Weinberg and Gabe Pereyra for continuing your successful push forward. Harvey has quickly become indispensable to tens of thousands of lawyers, professional service providers, enterprises, and governments worldwide. Over the past two years, the company has seen its ARR triple and its workforce double, highlighting the immense value and versatility of its platform. This latest funding will enable Harvey to scale its operations, enhance its AI capabilities, and expand its global footprint. The Series C round will be pivotal in advancing Harvey's mission to build the most trusted AI platform for professional services. The new capital will be invested in #engineering, #data, and domain expertise to develop AI-native systems that address complex knowledge work. Harvey plans to grow its team, refine its domain-specific models, and deepen partnerships with #cloud and model providers to integrate and enhance its AI offerings. This funding underscores Harvey's role as a pioneer in #AItechnology, driving more effective decision-making in professional services. The continued support from clients, validation from investors, and dedication from the team inspires confidence in Harvey's future as a catalyst for progress in the industry. #AI #ProfessionalServices #StartupFunding #Innovation #TechNews #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #TechEcosystem #LegalTech #Startups

GPTZero’s founders, still in their 20s, have a profitable AI detection startup, millions in the bank and a new $10M Series A Among each the young AI startups being ruthlessly pursued by VCs these days, GPTZero has already grown into profitability successful its archetypal twelvemonth and a fractional of life, generating millions successful revenue. Founded by 24-year-old Edward Tian and 26-year-old Alex Cui, who’ve been friends since precocious school, GPTZero offers a detection instrumentality that helps place whether a portion of contented was AI generated. The founders person chosen to instrumentality a $10 cardinal “preemptive” Series A led by Footwork co-founder Nikhil Basu Trivedi, the squad has exclusively told TechCrunch. (“Preemptive” is VC-speak for erstwhile an capitalist nabs a woody earlier the founders were trying to raise.)  This is rather the coup for Basu Trivedi. GPTZero has been watched by apical VC firms practically since Tian launched an archetypal mentation arsenic a web app successful December 2022, and 30,000 radical instantly swarmed it, crashing its Streamlit-hosted website. (Adrien Treuille, Streamlit’s co-founder, who sold to Snowflake for $800 million, aboriginal became an angel investor, Tian says.) The institution formally launched successful January 2023. Throughout 2024 truthful far, arsenic its lawsuit basal has grown, the young founders were fielding 4 to 5 calls from VCs per week, they said.  GPTZero grew 500% successful ARR successful the past six months, the founders told TechCrunch, adding that its idiosyncratic basal has grown from 1 cardinal to 4 cardinal successful the past 12 months. This makes it 1 of the fast-growing user apps of the year, by immoderate measures.  The institution has been profitable for the past respective months, they said, adding that they person much wealth successful the slope than the full raised successful the beingness of the company. To enactment a fig to that: much than $13 cardinal betwixt its $3.5 cardinal effect and the caller $10 million.  And the maturation continues. Users and gross person “more than doubled, possibly adjacent tripled, since January,” Basu Trivedi said. While they didn’t remark connected valuation, based connected a emblematic 20% Series A round, the woody has valued the institution determination astir the $50 cardinal people pre-money. Other investors successful the circular see education-focused (and women-led) Reach Capital; Jack Altman’s Alt Capital; Uncork Capital (Jeff Clavier’s fund); and Neo (Ali Partovi’s fund). How the VC won the deal Basu Trivedi, a Princeton alumni, won the pb connected this woody by playing the agelong game. He met Tian successful 2022, earlier GPTZero craziness, during an yearly lawsuit wherever a tiny radical of Princeton students sojourn Silicon Valley companies. Basu Tr...

Google is funding 20 Black and Latino AI startup founders with $150K each! 💸 . Through the Google for Startups Founders Funds, these innovators receive financial support, Google Cloud credits, mental health resources, and expert mentorship. This initiative has invested over $50 million in 570 founders in five years! 💰💡 . These startups are tackling challenges like wildfire prevention, sustainable fashion, education, and public safety. Among the 2024 recipients are Manny Smith of EdVisorly and Seke Ballard of Beta Financial Systems. . "AI can enable startups to build transformative products and solve complex challenges," says Maya Kulycky, VP at Google Research. . Source: AfroTech . Follow for more inspiring tech news! . Download the Techy app now: https://ow.ly/vYCK50Su939 . #Google #AI #AIInnovation #DiversityInTech #DiversityandInclusion #BlacktechTalent #BlackTech #AfroTech #SupportBlackBusiness #BlackTechMatters #BlackOwned #StartUp #Minneapolis #Minnesota #TwinCities #MPLS #MinneapolisBusiness #MinnesotaCompany

🧑 Jon Lee, founder and CEO of Singapore-based AI firm Vizzio Technologies, has been revealed as Dennis Lee, formerly of software development startup Elipva. 💼 Lee was ousted from Elipva in the late 1990s after it emerged that he faked his credentials, something he repeated while running Vizzio. 🎓 Despite these revelations, Lee has gained investment in Vizzio and was featured in The Information's 50 most promising start-ups list. - Want full insights? Subscribe to Tech in Asia to read the entire article.

"Employees know that the companies they should be working for have lower valuations that have more upside.” Falcon acknowledged that won’t last forever: “When we raise our Series C next, it’s likely our valuation will go up—the question is, is it in line with the revenue so that the next time it will continue to go up? If it is, that’s fine. If not, we’re back to the same problem." William Falcon, CEO of Lightning AI, speaks to Sharon Goldman and Allie Garfinkle of Fortune about the challenges presented by an exuberant fundraising market, in "For AI startups, lofty valuations could be a hurdle in the race for talent": ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gDuHarpe Also featured in this article: • Matt Schulman, CEO of data compensation platform Pave • David Katz, a partner at Radical Ventures • May Habib, CEO of enterprise generative AI platform Writer • Aishwarya Srinivasan, a senior advisor at Microsoft for Startups • Renen Hallak, CEO of AI infrastructure platform VAST Data • Jett Fein, general partner at VC firm Headline • Matt Turck, a partner at FirstMark #Startups #Fundraising #VC

[ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] A power list of best / top #genai startups to watch out for in 2024, combining rankings from 6 #venturecapital and top company lists - with Paul van der Boor: https://lnkd.in/daJU7kAw

Magic has raised a total of $465 million so far, mostly from US investors obviously. Meet Eric Steinberger and Sebastian De Ro, the brains behind the AI startup. Magic’s AI can write its own code, bringing us closer to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). While the Seed ($5M) & Series A ($23M) had a small participation from European investors. In the Series B ($117M) & Series C ($320M), US investors dominate. 💸 ROI VENTURES is proud to have been one of Magic's first backers. It is worth noting that all 4 funding rounds took place within 2 years, with a team of 23 people. 📈 Despite the lack of growth funding in Europe, deeptech AI companies like Magic are relying on partnerships with big cloud providers like Google. Another example of this trend is Mistral, which has also secured backing from US investors and collaborates with both Microsoft and Google. It is simply not possible to build a foundational AI model without huge funding, partnerships and access to talent. Aleph Alpha, a German promising AI company, recently stepped back from the race due to high costs and regulatory uncertainty. 😬 But there are also many startups working on solutions at the application layer. And we need to find ways to fund their growth in Europe. The positive side? European leaders are increasingly recognizing the importance of venture capital. The recent appointment of a Startup Commissioner offer hope for future European tech growth. Lastly, I’m grateful to see that Magic’s story and the broader discussion about Europe’s innovation gap made it to Die Presse am Sonntag by Susanne Bickel & David Freudenthaler. 🙌 #innovation #startups #venturecapital