Temasek, Main Sequence back enzymatic recycling tech startup Samsara Eco in $65M

November 8, 2024

The Download: AI vs quantum, and the future of reproductive rights in the US

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that they’ll be a game changer for fields as diverse…

June 26, 2024

As consumers increasingly demand environmentally friendly and sustainable products, companies strive to seek alternative solutions, which creates a market ripe for growth for some environmental tech companies’ offerings. One example is Samsara Eco, an Australia-based startup that makes and sells fossil-free polymer resins to its customers. These resins can be integrated into supply chains and […]

Video editing app Captions releases AI edit feature that automatically adds effects to your video

June 26, 2024

Video editing app Captions, which is backed by a16z, Kleiner Perkins, and Sequoia Captial, has launched a new feature that takes an existing unedited video and adds custom graphics, zooms, music, sound effects, transitions, and motion backgrounds based on the content. There are a few restrictions for AI edit — it should be a vertical […]

Rainforest lands $20M to challenge Stripe with embedded payments for SaaS providers

June 26, 2024

Rainforest, a startup that embeds payment processing into other software platforms, has raised $20 million in Series A funding — less than a year after announcing the close of its seed financing. Raising back-to-back rounds was more common in 2021 but we don’t see it happening as often in this new environment. Rainforest’s traction is […]

CData, which helps orgs use data across apps and to build AI models, snaps up $350M

June 26, 2024

Artificial intelligence startups continue to dominate the headlines when it comes to VC mega-rounds, but there’s also an interesting opportunity out there for those building tools that enable working with data-heavy apps like AI in the first place – especially for organizations that may still have one foot (or both feet) in the legacy data […]

The Download: Introducing the Play issue

June 26, 2024

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Supershoes are reshaping distance running Since 2016, when Nike introduced the Vaporfly, a paradigm-shifting shoe that helped athletes run more efficiently (and therefore faster), the elite running world has muddled through a period…

The Download: AI vs quantum, and the future of reproductive rights in the US