Latest news with #FoundersFund
Bloomberg
5 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Neuralink Raises $650 Million in Late-Stage Funding Round
Neuralink Corp., Elon Musk's brain chip company, raised $650 million in a Series E funding round. At least 11 investment firms, including ARK Investment Management, Founders Fund and Sequoia Capital, participated in the round, according to a statement released Monday. Since the previous funding round in August 2023, the company said it has enrolled five patients with severe paralysis and announced a clinical trial in Abu Dhabi on May 14.
Mint
13 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
AI is here for plumbers and electricians. Will it transform home services?
The next time you book a plumber, artificial intelligence might be taking your call or returning your message. Or, it might reach out because it knows your air conditioner needs an upgrade well before the summer. Netic, a startup based in San Francisco, is selling an AI-based platform that helps home-services firms automatically reach out to clients in need of maintenance or upgrades, and takes calls and messages on their behalf. Founded in 2024, Netic is part of a growing crop of startups looking beyond the saturated white-collar market and toward home-services operators like electricians, plumbers, roofers and HVAC—which stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning—specialists. The startup Monday said it has raised $20 million with funding from venture-capital firms including Greylock and Founders Fund. While Netic's mission to automate sales and business operations seems simple, it can be a challenge to actually integrate AI into services businesses that run on manual labor—and it certainly can't replace the work of skilled human technicians. The rise of AI in skilled trades is getting a boost from private-equity firms, which have invested heavily in the area and are now injecting the technology into their portfolio companies—hoping for productivity gains and hefty returns. Netic's customers are mostly private-equity-owned home-services companies, as well as some larger owner-operated firms, the startup said. Asheem Chandna, an investor at venture-capital firm Greylock who served as lead investor in Netic's seed round, said home-services businesses often have 'underutilized capacity," or staff who aren't being put to work most efficiently. The point of AI, then, is to optimize the pairing of technicians with customers when they need help, and to reach them before they do, Chandna said. Netic's platform, which uses generative AI models and fine-tuned language models, is designed to use a certain AI model for each technology function, from customer verification to urgency and priority analysis, said Melisa Tokmak, the startup's founder and chief executive.. For instance, Netic's algorithms pick up on signals from customer calls, bumping a regular maintenance call to lower priority or escalating repairs for weather and emergencies. Or, a customer who has a quote from a rival firm might be pushed to the top. To help drive sales, Netic's AI creates marketing campaigns that predict when customers might need a maintenance call based on data like an impending storm, the region and property type. The platform also works with various customer management software for the trades, Tokmak said, and is meant to minimize the amount of integration between software that businesses have to deal with. One customer, Chris Hoffmann, CEO of St. Louis-based home-services company HB Solutions Group, said that many startups are automating the work of booking appointments over the phone through AI voice agents. Hoffmann gets so many pitches for AI products, he said, that he's often turning down vendors hawking their wares. But Netic's AI platform, along with taking calls and answering messages with more accuracy and recall than humans can, helps Hoffmann Brothers plan and prioritize which of the firm's hundreds of technicians should take appointments and when, he said. 'I have to match my capacity with my customer demand on a daily basis," Hoffman said. 'And that's really hard, because I don't always get to choose how many people's air conditioners are going to break when they call me." Still, even with the amount of AI that Hoffmann has put into his firm, only 20% of customer calls are being answered by Netic's AI platform. 'We're still human first," he added.
Globe and Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Elon Musk's Neuralink Raises $600M in a Recent Funding Round
Elon Musk's brain-implant company, Neuralink, has raised $600 million in a recent funding round, which pushed its pre-money valuation to $9 billion, according to Semafor. This latest round follows a $280 million Series D raise in 2023, which was led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. The company was previously valued at $5 billion based on private stock trades and had been rumored in April to be seeking around $500 million in new funding. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Interestingly, Neuralink is developing a brain-computer interface that includes a rechargeable, skull-mounted wireless implant with electrode threads that connect directly to the brain. The device is designed to help people with neurological disorders, such as paralysis or ALS, to control computers and other devices using only their thoughts. Neuralink recently announced that its patient registry is now available globally and that the U.S. FDA has granted its device a 'breakthrough' designation. Indeed, the company made headlines earlier this year after its first human patient was able to use the implant to browse the internet, post on social media, play video games, and move a computer cursor with his mind. Elon Musk has said that the chip could one day help treat a wide range of conditions, such as obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia, and might even allow healthy individuals to use telepathy or surf the web directly with their brains. What Is the Prediction for Tesla Stock? When it comes to Elon Musk's companies, most of them are privately held. However, retail investors can invest in his most popular company, Tesla (TSLA). Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 16 Buys, 10 Holds, and 11 Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average TSLA price target of $282.70 per share implies 16.7% downside risk. See more TSLA analyst ratings Disclaimer & Disclosure Report an Issue
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What to know about Stablecoins as GENIUS Act sees them grow in popularity
A new cryptocurrency regulation bill called the GENIUS Act is moving through the Senate, bringing increased attention to a lesser-known type of digital asset. On May 19, the Senate voted 66-22 to move the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act forward. The GENIUS Act is new legislation that creates regulation for the payment of stablecoins. Stablecoins, by definition, are digital currencies that are backed by another form of money. It basically, such as the U.S. dollar, and creates a government-backed cryptocurrency. It then can be traded or used by consumers with more confidence than the currently, un-backed, currencies. Supporters say the bill, soon to be debated in the Senate, could stabilize stablecoins for broad use in payments and investments. Critics, however, worry that it might pose risks to consumers and the economy. Here's what to know about stablecoins: Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically by being linked to a dollar or a commodity such as gold. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, which can be highly volatile, stablecoins aim to offer price stability while retaining the advantages of digital assets, such as fast transactions and decentralized storage. Because stablecoins don't change value much, they are easier and safer to use for people who are new to crypto, as well as for businesses and traders. Stablecoins usually cost around $1 if they're pegged to the U.S. dollar. However, the price may fluctuate slightly between $0.99 and $1.01, for example, depending on market conditions or supply and demand. Peter Thiel, the former CEO of PayPal, has backed the stablecoin Reserve Protocol through his venture capital firm, Founders Fund. Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm also known as a16z, has heavily invested in MakerDAO, the organization behind the DAI stablecoin. Circle, the funding company that issues USDC stablecoin, has funding from Goldman Sachs as well as BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, and Marshall Wace LLP. One big concern about stablecoins is transparency. Some companies that create stablecoins have been questioned about whether they actually have enough money or assets to back up all the coins they've issued. This makes people unsure about how valuable and stable these coins are. Regulators are also cautious because stablecoins operate outside of regular banks, which could cause problems for the overall financial system and might not protect consumers well. Stablecoins vary a lot in their operation. Many are run by central organizations, which goes against the idea of decentralization that is important in cryptocurrencies and can make people worried about trusting them. Stablecoins have also been linked to illicit activities, including money laundering and avoiding government controls on financial transactions, prompting calls for stricter regulations and oversight.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Founder Fund Backs 'Future TSMC of Bulgaria'
EnduroSat, a Bulgarian satellite manufacturer, has raised €43 million ($49 million) in a funding round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Raycho Raychev, EnduroSat CEO and co-founder, and Delian Asparouhov, partner at Founders Fund, discuss why Bulgaria is becoming a hub for space firms with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on 'Bloomberg Technology.' (Source: Bloomberg)
