Open AI rival Anthropic unveils Claude 2, its next-generation AI chatbot

Today, the top story is about a chatbot named Claude. Well Claude 2 to be exact, Anthropic’s second-generation text-generating AI model.

Tech company layoffs are never good news, but the era of tech layoffs is evolving in an interesting way (TC+).

Meanwhile, taking on OpenAI has become an art form. Today’s contender is China’s search engine pioneer Sogou, which unveiled an open source large language model.

If you’re one of those who thinks time is money, Google hears you loud and clear. You can now schedule paid appointments on Google Calendar.

And, don’t hang up, it’s just Nothing’s Phone (2) speaking, letting you know that it is ready for preorders. Find out how much it will set you back.

More top reads

Founder events — yay or nah?: A month ago, Alexis Ohanian tweeted that if he could do one thing differently while building Reddit, it would have been to decline most founder-focused events. This sparked a debate from people on both sides. Which side are you on? Fill out this quick survey.

Out of the dark: Savvy, a platform to secure SaaS apps, launches out of stealth with $30 million.

Growing up: Ivy secured $7.7 million to allow merchants to accept instant bank payments at checkout.

Just got paid: Collective, a financial management platform for freelancers, raised $50 million.

In security news: More businesses, like banks, hotels and hospitals, are coming forward to say they were affected by the MOVEit mass-hack. And HCA Healthcare reported its own breach of 11 million patients’ personal data. Also, a cybersecurity expert is being accused of stealing $9 million in cryptocurrency.

Keep it moving: Raft, which used to be Vector.ai, closed on $30 million to service freight forwarders.

There’s a first time for everything: Apple launched an online store on China’s WeChat app.

Prompting AI: Y Combinator alum and prompt engineering startup Vellum.ai raised $5 million as demand for generative AI services scales.

Big win: A judge ruled that Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard merger can’t be blocked by the Federal Trade Commission.

Those finances won’t model themselves: Jirav, a startup developing financial planning software for businesses, raised $20 million.

Talkin’ it up: Pylon wants to make it easier to manage those B2B conversations in Slack.

Shop ’til you drop…the remote: Roku users can now buy products from Shopify merchants using their TV remote.

You can bank on it: Solaris raised $42 million, at a flat $1.6 billion valuation, to expand in embedded finance after a tough 2022.

Keep reading:

Twitter blocks links to rival Threads, while CEO downplays reports of traffic decline

Why SUSE is forking Red Hat Enterprise Linux

India deals a 28% tax blow to online gaming

Sapphire Ventures plans to invest over $1B in enterprise AI startups

The quest for solid-state EV batteries (TC+)

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Late for the generative AI Train? 5 clear steps for speeding ahead in 90 days

Right now, founders working with generative AI tend to fall into three categories, says Will Poole, managing partner and co-founder at Capria Ventures:

• Ahead of the Curve: companies that have already shipped something.
• Fast Followers: watching and prototyping but have not shipped yet.
• Late for the Train: don’t yet know how to get on the train/don’t have any resources to apply now.

In a deep dive that aggregates the advice he’s giving founders in Capria’s portfolio, Poole looks at examples of Type 1 and Type 2 generative AI applications, shares strategies for raising awareness across organizations and explains how to build three-person Red Teams that can disrupt things from the inside.

“This article is for any founder who feels like they’re late for the train, or is all aboard but not going fast enough.”

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