Morning VC Brief丨2024.08.14

Morning VC Brief is an expert daily curation of tech and venture news. Feel free to forward; the sign-up is here

00. TL;DR

1/ Made by Google 2024

2/ xAI releases Grok-2

3/ OpenAI Releases Upgraded Coding Test for AIs

4/ Credit industry infrastructure provider Setpoint raises 31M Series B

5/ Data development platform Encord raises 30M Series B

6/ Healthcare BNPL provider PayZen raises 32M Series B

7/ XR device management platform ArborXR raises 12M Series A

8/ Hair loss treatment startup Pelage Pharmaceuticals raises 14M Series A-1

9/ SEO for AI Search Profound raises 3.5M Seed Round

01. Tech News

1/ Made by Google 2024

Gemini Live launches for Android and The Pixel 9 line gets Gemini AI infusion. Gemini Live allows for conversational back-and-forths between users and the AI, reacting more realistically to human speech and ideally responding more like a human in turn.

Pixel Buds Pro 2 infused with Gemini: Headphones are a natural fit for virtual assistants, and Google’s hoping to make the Pixel Buds Pro 2 compelling with the addition of Gemini Live.

New AI-powered photo-editing tools: Google announced a series of updates to its editing suite that will come to the Pixel 9 line of phones. Its screenshot app will let screenshots be searched through, Pixel Studio will allow AI-generated images to be made on the devices. More

2/ xAI releases Grok-2

xAI launched Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini in beta today with improved reasoning. The new model can now generate images on the X social network, though Grok access is currently limited to Premium and Premium+ users on X.

xAI noted that the company plans to deploy Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini in AI-driven features on X, including improved search capabilities, post analytics, and reply functions. Link

3/ OpenAI Releases Upgraded Coding Test for AIs

OpenAI on Tuesday released an improved set of coding challenges that AI companies can use to test their models’ programming capabilities. The challenges are drawn from a collection of real programming problems dubbed SWE-bench. To improve the benchmark, OpenAI graded many of the original 2,294 problems, and chose 500 that it deemed high quality. Link

02. Venture News

1/ Credit industry infrastructure provider Setpoint raises 31M Series B

Setpoint’s approach to automating debt facility management is rapidly becoming the new standard for the asset-backed industry. Its Asset OS software digitizes, organizes, and verifies data, creating a real-time asset source of truth. This round was led by 645 Ventures with participation from Citi and Wells Fargo, Andreessen Horowitz, Fifth Wall. Link

2/ Data development platform Encord raises 30M Series B

Encord builds a data development platform for computer vision & multimodal AI teams. Intelligently manage, clean and curate data, streamline your labeling and workflow management, and evaluate AI model performance. This round was led by Next47 with participation from CRV, Crane Venture Partners, and Y Combinator. Link

3/ Healthcare BNPL provider PayZen raises 32M Series B

PayZen aims to make healthcare more affordable by enabling patients to pay their bills in interest and fee-free installments over time. PayZen claims that revenue has expanded sixfold in each of the past two years. This round was led by NEA with participation from 7WireVentures, Signal Fire and Viola Ventures. Link

4/ XR device management platform ArborXR raises 12M Series A

ArborXR provides enterprise-grade extended reality (XR) mobile device management, content management, and content distribution solution. ArborXR is empowering major Fortune 500 companies like Bank of America, Pfizer, Delta, Walmart, and UPS to transform their employee development programs. This round was led by Mercury Fund, Cortado Ventures with participation from Impact Venture Capital and Lewis & Clark Ventures. Link

5/ Hair loss treatment startup Pelage Pharmaceuticals raises 14M Series A

Pelage Pharmaceuticals uncovered a unique biological mechanism with the potential to reactivate hair growth in people with alopecia. The company advances clinical program with First Patients Dosed in Phase 2 Study for Hair Loss. This round was led by Google Ventures to accelerate Phase 2 clinical program.

6/ SEO for AI Search Profound raises 3.5M Seed Round

Profound launched to help brands better figure out how they appear in AI searches by tracking common search queries for brands. Search is changing, and as consumers increasingly turn to AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude to search for things, brands need a new strategy. This round was invested by Khosla Ventures, South Park Commons and angel investors. Link