Sydney Thomas’s Symphonic Capital raises $13.5M for inaugural fund 

April 10, 2025
Symphonic Capital announced today in a blog post that it raised $13.5 million for its inaugural fund to invest in early-stage companies.  Sydney Thomas launched the firm in 2022 after leaving Charles Hudson’s Percursor Ventures, where she was the first hire.  Thomas said her fund will focus on founders outside of the Bay who are […]

YouTube rolls out a free AI music-making tool for creators

April 10, 2025
YouTube is launching a new feature that will allow creators to use AI technology to generate instrumental backing music that can be added to their videos. In an update published to its Creator Insider channel this week, the company shared that it’s beginning to roll out an update to its Creator Music marketplace that will […]

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy urges companies to invest heavily in AI

April 10, 2025
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy thinks companies should invest “aggressively” in AI now to reap the full financial rewards in the future. In his annual letter to Amazon shareholders published Thursday, Jassy said “substantial capital” is required to keep up with the pace of AI innovation and customer demand for AI products. He added that Amazon, […]

Rebooted Digg launches early-access community with $5 fee

April 10, 2025
The reboot of early-internet social news site Digg is underway. Original founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian have launched an early-access community for some of the first people who signed up after last month’s announcement that the pair had bought Digg and planned to relaunch it as something new. The early-access program is […]

NHTSA’s self-driving safety staff reportedly ‘disproportionally affected’ by DOGE cuts

April 10, 2025
The cuts that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency made at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in February “disproportionately affected” employees working on vehicle automation safety, according to The Financial Times. That division was formed in 2023 and therefore included a number of staffers who were still in their initial probationary hiring period, which […]