In funding news, France-based Planity raised $48 million to expand its software product for hair salons, while Dutch startup Monumental secured $25 million for its brick-laying robots. The customer data company Segment may be put up for sale by its parent company Twilio due to activist pressure. In the podcast world, topics ranged from Reddit's upcoming IPO to the wedding industry's outdated practices. Lastly, SoftBank Group's Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking $100 billion for a new AI chip venture, and OnePlus is set to release its first smartwatch in years.
Key takeaways:
- Google has launched two new open large language models, Gemma 2B and Gemma 7B, as part of its ongoing efforts to dominate the generative AI market. These models are available for both commercial and research use.
- MariaDB, a database company, could potentially go private in a $37 million deal, 14 months after it went public via SPAC.
- Several significant events occurred in the tech industry, including a cyberattack on Change Healthcare, layoffs at Rivian, potential acquisition of Dunzo by Flipkart, and the launch of usernames by Signal for privacy.
- SoftBank Group's Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking $100 billion to build a new venture that would compete with companies like Nvidia in the AI chips market.