Payments startup Flutterwave hits $3.2B valuation, backed by Ripple
African payments infrastructure company Flutterwave has hit a new valuation and landed blockchain company Ripple as investor and partner.
The Download: the first brain implant power user and South Korea’s AI obsession
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. This man with ALS is the first “power user” of a brain implant that lets him speak Casey Harrell has had a set of electrodes embedded in his brain for almost…
DOJ claims xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines are a matter of ‘national, economic, and energy security’
The Justice department says the Pentagon needs xAI to keep using its unpermitted gas turbines.
Plaud says its software business topped $100M in ARR after shipping over 2M AI notetakers
Plaud is trying to make a mark in a crowded market full of AI-powered meeting notetakers.
Robinhood’s note on 10% layoffs shows blaming AI isn’t cutting it
Unlike many of his tech industry peers who have cut thousands of jobs citing the need to restructure to make the most of AI, Robinhood’s CEO Vlad Tenev conspicuously made no mention of AI in his note about layoffs.
SpaceX passes Amazon as valuation balloons to $2.7T
SpaceX’s valuation has increased by $1 trillion since its shares started trading on Friday.
Probably raises $9M to build a more reliable kind of AI
Probably wants to prevent hallucinations and factual errors from reaching users, and achieve accuracy on par with deterministic systems.
India orders temporary ban on Telegram over exam fraud concerns
The restrictions include a nationwide ban on Telegram until June 22 and a requirement to disable the app’s message editing feature.
This startup’s super metals could soon be in military drones, luxury watches, and chef’s knives
Instead of heating metals, Foundation Alloy beats them into submission. The startup has raised $22 million to scale up production of its alloys.
SpaceX to acquire Cursor for $60B in stock, days after blockbuster IPO
The deal is supposed to help SpaceX’s struggling AI division. The company told IPO investors it sees a $26 trillion addressable market in AI.
Threads adds new personalization and community features as it reaches 500M monthly users
The Meta-owned social platform announced a series of new features launching today, including a “Your Algo” tool that lets users control what they see in their feeds