Latest news with #Anam
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How Video Game The Sims Inspired An $11 Million-Backed Startup
Think this is nice? It's a version of the weekly Under 30 newsletter and would be even better in your inbox. Ben Carr and Caoimhe Murphy You log onto an online lesson, ready to meet your new instructor. They greet you warmly, respond in real time, and gesture naturally as they speak. It takes a moment to realize: this isn't a person at all, it's AI. The lifelike avatars, complete with micro expressions and nuanced body language, were created by Anam, an AI startup launched by Under 30 Europe alum Caoimhe Murphy and her cofounder Ben Carr. The AI avatars have been sold to companies like L'Oreal and Henkel, which customize them to act as educators, customer service agents, or even therapists. One of the main use cases is as instructors in workforce training videos. For instance, executives at Henkel's haircare brand Schwarskopf found that their hairdressers were going to TikTok to learn best practices. 'They needed a training platform that was engaging and could be controlled,' Murphy said. 'That's where Anam came in.' While AI agents have been on the rise in the last year, the initial idea for Anam stemmed from Murphy's childhood obsession with The Sims, a video game where users customize digital characters. She officially founded the company in 2023 to bring her version of digital characters to life. Last week, Anam closed a $9 million seed round led by Redpoint Ventures, bringing their total funding to $11 million. The funding will go toward Anam's product engineering team and go-to-market strategy, as well as the company's expansion to the U.S. Murphy and Carr met while working together at an AI video startup Synthesia—which is currently valued at some $2 billion—where Murphy worked on the go-to-market strategy and Carr worked as a research engineer. The pair sought to design a personalized AI experience beyond the traditional chatbot or text to video interaction. While most AI avatar startups rely solely on mouth movements to replicate human interaction, Anam's technology renders every pixel of the human face to hold a natural conversation in real-time. The avatars blink, raise their eyebrows and move their shoulders with less than a second of reaction time. 'I've never written a line of code in my life which is very atypical for a generative AI founder,' Murphy said. 'But I am very commercial and I think that is how we have been able to build a business that is technical but still drives value.' Anam recently launched a feature called 'One Shot,' which creates an AI persona from only a picture that can hold real-time conversation and respond to prompts. However, this technology is currently a private tool to mitigate the ethical risks of misuse. 'It's incredible technology but also dangerous if found in the wrong hands,' Murphy said. 'Our enterprise customers are the only people that have access to it because we want to put up the right guardrails before it is open to the public.' Despite the growing AI market, Anam doesn't view other AI startups as their competition, but humans themselves. 'Our vision is to have AI personas that feel indistinguishable from real life,' Murphy said. 'We need to create personas that feel even more engaging and realistic [than human beings].' More next week, Alexandra, Alex and Zoya Jorge Richardson (right) and his cofounders. 'My vision was and still is to put free drinking water access on every street corner of every city around the world,' said under 30 alum Jorge Richardson, the cofounder and CEO of Hope Hydration. This week, they're taking one step closer. They closed a $20 million Series A, bringing their total funding to $26 million. But they're not just a water company. Instead, they fund the initiative on advertisements shown on the screens of their water filtration systems (which they set up at places like Cannes Lions and Coachella). Read on to find out how they're using ads to provide free and clean drinking water here. -Glioblastoma Research Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to funding brain cancer research founded by Under 30 Social Impact alum Amber Barbach, announced it awarded a $50,000 grant to Under 30 Science honoree Dr. Shane Shahrestani to launch Project Kenny—the first effort to develop a fully implantable, rechargeable device that delivers continuous brain cancer treatment without external hardware. Shahrestani, who earned his MD from USC and PhD in Medical Engineering from Caltech, previously cofounded StrokeDx, a startup creating portable imaging tools that rapidly identify stroke type. The new project is now underway at Cedars-Sinai. -Bilt Rewards, the credit card startup that lets users earn points on rent payments, this month announced $250 million in additional funding. The round was led by General Catalyst and GID and brought Bilt's valuation to $10.75 billion. According to billionaire founder and 30 Under 30 alum Ankur Jain, the startup is on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue by the first quarter of 2026. Bilt also announced a major shift in its operations, parting ways with Wells Fargo—its previous card issuer—and partnering with Cardless, the fintech behind credit cards for companies like Coinbase. -Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment alum Sydney Sweeney is adding another title to her resume (and one we, at Forbes, love most): Founder. The Euphoria star is reportedly set to launch a lingerie brand, backed by Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez, and Coatue's Ben Schwerin. Sweeney is no stranger to the world of fashion, having served as an ambassador or campaign face for a range of fashion and beauty brands, including Tory Burch, Miu Miu and Guess. -While TikTok is flooded with videos claiming 'recession indicator' after 'recession indicator' (or economic changes like lipstick sales increasing as more consumers look for the little luxuries in a time of strife), one big luxury is also taking a swing: Golf! Not only did golf apparel brand Good Good Golf close a $45 million fund this spring, but golf shirts are apparently the current craze on Wall Street. You might notice more bankers, investors and the like showing up to their city jobs with logoed polos. It's allegedly because they're giving a "head nod' to the other men who are "part of [their] secret society.' (Business Insider) -Every wonder what it's like to be a summer intern in New York City? These students tell all: Some are splitting rent with roommates to make (often unpaid) life in one of the most expensive cities possible; others are super-commuting from Connecticut. There's an occasional outing to a TikTok hot spots for food, drinks and, of course, pilates. But mostly, they're 'trying to level up [their] game' and 'prove to [themselves] that [they] could maneuver the real world.' (The New York Times) -Big news in the newsletter business! 2017-founded newsletter platform Substack announced this week a $100 million Series C. The round was led by BOND and Peter Chernin's The Chernin Group (TCG), and big names participated, too: A16z, Klutch Sports' Rich Paul, and Skims CEO Jens Grede. The platform has more than 5 million paying subscribers (Variety)
Hans India
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Endowments Dept to get 9% of TTD's Common Good Fund
Tirupati: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and the Endowments Department have agreed to increase the contribution from the Common Good Fund (CGF) to the Endowments Department from the existing five per cent to nine per cent towards strengthening temple infrastructure and increasing priest welfare across the State. This decision was taken during a high-level meeting held at Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala on Saturday. The meeting was convened following the directions of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who wanted certain issues that had come to the fore in recent times to be resolved. Senior officials discussed at length the facilities that need to be improved across temples in the state, including Tirumala, and addressed pending matters between the Endowments department and the TTD. The meeting was attended by Endowments Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, TTD Chairman BR Naidu, TTD Executive Officer J Syamala Rao, Endowments Secretary V Vinay Chand, TTD Additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdary, JEO V Veerabrahmam, and other officials from TTD and the Endowments Department. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Minister Anam stated that under the Endowments Act, there were provisions requiring the TTD to contribute up to nine per cent of its funds to the Common Good Fund. Until now, this contribution has been only five per cent. The board has decided to increase it in line with the provision. Anam explained that the state government, in keeping with its manifesto promise, wanted to provide financial support to unemployed priests across the State. As many as 590 unemployed Vedic scholars had been identified, and the government had decided to provide them with a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,000, he said. On temple renovation, he said that Rs 147 crore had previously been sanctioned from the Srivani Trust funds for the reconstruction of temples across the state. However, that amount has remained unused. An additional Rs 11 crore was due to be released from the same trust. The board and officials discussed these pending amounts and agreed to take appropriate decisions soon.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
New trust boards for more than 1100 temples across Andhra in August: Endowments minister Anam
. TIRUPATI: State endowments minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy has said that the Andhra Pradesh government will simultaneously constitute new trust boards for more than 1100 temples across the state in August. Speaking to reporters after a high level meeting of the endowments department with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams held at Tirumala on Saturday, the endowments minister attributed the delay in constituting new temple trust boards to the reluctance among the chairmans and board members appointed by the erstwhile YSRCP government in stepping down from their posts on moral grounds after a regime change in the state. S by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it legal? How to get Internet without paying a subscription? Techno Mag Learn More Undo hifting his focus to the meeting held with the TTD top brass including chairman BR Naidu, EO J Syamala Rao, Additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdary and Endowments department secretary V Vinay Chand, Anam explained that there was an elaborate discussion on the Common good fund (CGF) on whether to fix up a lumpsum contribution from the TTD to the state government or go with the 9% on overall annual revenues model every year. 'A decision on this will be arrived at soon by the chief minister, who will take into account everyone's considerations and take a final call on the issue', the Endowments minister said. Another key issue that came up for discussion was the delay in the disbursal of Srivani trust funds meant for the construction of Hindu temples in religious conversion-prone regions of the state. 'Funds to the tune of Rs 147 cr has been blocked by the TTD as user certificates related to the expenditure incurred on earlier disbursed funds to the tune of Rs 107 cr were not submitted to the Tirupati trust. We have informed the TTD that the UCs will be submitted in due course of time and requested them to release the next tranche of Rs 147 cr funds and the TTD top brass positively responded on the issue', Anam added. Responding to the union minister of state for home affairs Bandi Sanjay's remarks of over 1000 non-Hindus working in the TTD, the state endowments minister asserted that it is a fact that there are several non-Hindus working in the Tirupati trust. There is a strong sentiment among a majority of Hindus that non-believers cannot be allowed to be on the payrolls of the TTD, and both the state government and the Tirupati trust respect their sentiments. 'While it has already been decided by the AP government and the TTD to oust the non-Hindus from the organisation, all possible means, including legal aspects, are being explored to expedite their ouster,' Anam clarified. Another key issue that came up for discussion was the proposals from the Vijayawada Kanaka Durga temple authorities to seek TTD's support in executing their plans for a twin ghat road project. 'There is a land parcel of about 2 acres close to the Indrakeeladri temple, which was donated by a devotee to the TTD. Since there exists no mechanism where in one temple trust can shift the ownership of land received as donation to another temple trust, we have asked the TTD authorities to consider the possibility of leasing out this land parcel after holding due consultations with the donor who donated it to the TTD. If this proposal materialises, it will help immensely in terms of de-congesting the existing road infrastructure around the Indrakeeladri temple at Vijayawada', Endowments minister added.
Business Insider
11-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Anam builds digital humans that can have lifelike conversations. Read the pitch deck that it used to raise $9 million.
Anam has raised $9 million to build AI personas that can converse in real time. The Redpoint-backed company was cofounded by two Synthesia veterans in late 2023. Anam has 2,000 clients and is tracking $5 million in annual revenue, cofounder Caoimhe Murphy said. Redpoint Ventures, with participation from SV Angel, led the latest round. Anam, founded in October 2023 and named for the Irish word for "soul," had previously raised a $2.3 million pre-seed led by Concept Ventures. Today, Anam has 2,000 clients ranging across education, sales, customer support, healthcare, and beyond. The hair brand Schwarzkopf uses Anam as an education tool for stylists, for instance, while language learning platform Preply uses it to simulate learning environments. Other competitors like Tavus and HeyGen are also trying to solve what is a vastly difficult technical problem, Anam cofounder and CEO Caoimhe Murphy told Business Insider — from flawless lip syncing to realistic facial movement to near-immediate response times to the ability to scale to hundreds of thousands of users. "There's no real winner right now," she said of the race to build the highest quality product. "That's why the market's so exciting." Anam generates every pixel of its avatars, Murphy said, as opposed to how other rivals may only partially generate avatars or use a video on loop and just dub the mouth. "That's where real expressivity and natural conversation comes through," she said. The company recently released a feature called One-Shot, which can generate an AI persona from a photograph in minutes. Murphy and Ben Carr, Anam's cofounder and CTO, previously worked together at AI video unicorn Synthesia. Murphy worked in sales, and Carr worked as an AI research engineer. Anam has 16 employees and is tracking $5 million in revenue this year, Murphy said. It makes money by charging per minute of conversation. "They're building the next interface layer between humans and machines," Redpoint partner Meera Clark said in a statement. Here's a look at the pitch deck Anam used to raise $9 million in seed funding. A slide has been redacted to share the deck publicly. Three key bets have allowed us to solve this problem. We are the first company to develop a custom diffusion model and train it on specific data and we have built custom infrastructure to support delivery at speed and scale. Our bets focused on the hardest components of the problem We're changing the status quo Use cases Interview assistant -- leverage Anam's technology to practice interviews or even run them!
Business Insider
11-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Anam builds digital humans that can have lifelike conversations. Read the pitch deck that it used to raise $9 million.
Anam, an AI startup building digital humans that can have lifelike conversations, has raised $9 million in seed funding. Redpoint Ventures, with participation from SV Angel, led the latest round. Anam, founded in October 2023 and named for the Irish word for "soul," had previously raised a $2.3 million pre-seed led by Concept Ventures. Today, Anam has 2,000 clients ranging across education, sales, customer support, healthcare, and beyond. The hair brand Schwarzkopf uses Anam as an education tool for stylists, for instance, while language learning platform Preply uses it to simulate learning environments. Other competitors like Tavus and HeyGen are also trying to solve what is a vastly difficult technical problem, Anam cofounder and CEO Caoimhe Murphy told Business Insider — from flawless lip syncing to realistic facial movement to near-immediate response times to the ability to scale to hundreds of thousands of users. "There's no real winner right now," she said of the race to build the highest quality product. "That's why the market's so exciting." Anam generates every pixel of its avatars, Murphy said, as opposed to how other rivals may only partially generate avatars or use a video on loop and just dub the mouth. "That's where real expressivity and natural conversation comes through," she said. The company recently released a feature called One-Shot, which can generate an AI persona from a photograph in minutes. Murphy and Ben Carr, Anam's cofounder and CTO, previously worked together at AI video unicorn Synthesia. Murphy worked in sales, and Carr worked as an AI research engineer. Anam has 16 employees and is tracking $5 million in revenue this year, Murphy said. It makes money by charging per minute of conversation. "They're building the next interface layer between humans and machines," Redpoint partner Meera Clark said in a statement. Here's a look at the pitch deck Anam used to raise $9 million in seed funding. A slide has been redacted to share the deck publicly. Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam Anam
