OpenAI wants to build family-friendly GPTs

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Good morning, and welcome to TechCrunch AM for January 30, 2024. Today we’re talking about a nine-figure AI round, another Indian unicorn facing valuation troubles, two semiconductor companies, two climate tech startups, and OpenAI’s decision to keep things SFW. It’s a busy week thus far!

– Alex

TechCrunch Top 3

Kore.ai raises $150M for conversational AI in the enterprise: Demand for AI tools to facilitate “business interactions,” or the times when employees interact with customers or one another, has helped Kore.ai draw big dollars from venture backers. The company’s massive round implies that VC demand for AI startup shares remains hot.
ClickUp buys Hypercal: Productivity app ClickUp is building “one app to replace them all,” according to its CEO, Zeb Evans. Now, the company is adding calendar functionality with its purchase of Hypercal. ClickUp last raised $400M at a $4 billion valuation back in 2021. Let’s see if that somewhat dated coffer can afford the company any more acquisitions this year.
Fidelity cuts the value of its holdings in Meesho: One fun way to track what late-stage startups are worth is to pore over the disclosure forms that large financial companies file, because they often tell us what a company is worth. In the case of Indian social commerce startup Meesho, Fidelity’s latest filing reveals that it thinks the company is worth $3.25 billion instead of the $4.9 billion valuation at which it last raised capital.

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Chips are green because of all the money involved: The ability to manufacture lots of semiconductors is considered a national security issue today. That means that the amount of investment that the sector will receive globally will likely outstrip natural demand. On the other hand, computing power is more in demand than ever to power the ongoing AI boom. So it’s not too surprising that Rebellions, a South Korean fabless AI chip startup, just landed $124 million in a massive Series B, partially predicated on work it announced recently to build an AI chip with Samsung.

But that’s not all. Semron, a German startup, wants to build “3D-scaled” chips that will allow companies and people to run AI models locally. AI in the enterprise! AI at home! AI on your device if it’s a TV or a phone! Welcome to our new future.

p0 wants to use AI to catch code flaws: No one wants to push an update to production that kills the service. That’s what p0 wants to prevent. The company is using large language models to analyze code and help developers catch serious issues in code before it is shipped. I wonder how long it’ll be until AI writes the code, more AI verifies that it’s good to go, and then even more AI deploys it? Heck, AI could even be dogfooding at that point, right? Maybe developers will code up a solution to the ever-present shortage of high-powered code slingers.

The latest in climate tech: Thankfully, not everything in the world (and this newsletter) is about AI. Some companies are still building vertical SaaS. BlueLayer is one such firm, and it is working on software that is specifically designed for carbon project developers, which I thought was pretty neat. It helps companies track carbon credits and provide reporting tools for other stakeholders. The company has raised $10 million to date.

Also: Haven Energy has closed a Series A less than a year after it raised a seed round. Investors are seemingly impressed by the company, which connects consumer solar power generators to battery techs who can up their in-house storage capacity. Why is that big business? A regulatory change in California is a key driver, Tim De Chant reports.

PG-13 OpenAI: On the heels of a global conversation about the use of modern AI tools for creating unsavory images, OpenAI has teamed up with Common Sense Media to offer family-friendly “chatbot apps powered by OpenAI’s GenAI models,” Kyle Wiggers reports. Given the appetite for AI regulation around the world, we think it’s a good idea to keep tabs on how major AI model companies are working to get ahead of legal strictures by cosplaying as moral leaders.

Plex raises $40M as it hunts for profitability: The streaming media economy is so large now that I have to admit I don’t know all the companies in the space. Tubi, for example. It’s on my Roku. What is it? I’ll never know. Another streaming company that I should pay more attention to is Plex. The company started off as a media server tool, but then started offering a free streaming service, monetized via advertisements. Plex also offers a paid version of its service that offers content downloads. Regardless, TechCrunch reports that the company could reach profitability late this year or early next year, so while streaming has not yet proven to be a profitable avenue for many companies, Plex appears to have found a way forward that is resonating with consumers.

Image Credits: Jason marz / Getty Images

Before you go

Yelp has more AI, short-form video coming your way: I don’t know about you, but what I want when I am looking at a menu is a short-form video of someone eating the food I am trying to learn more about. I kid, but it does seem that what I want from Yelp is not what most of its consumers want, if its latest feature load is built to answer user demands instead of trying to steer them towards more total engagement minutes with the app.

What strikes me here is that all apps kinda look the same today. There’s a feed, it’s very visual, and there are videos. Apparently we are not merely seeing the TikTok-ification of just social media, but all media. RIP patience, and attention spans.