Latest news with #ToruHanai
The Star
30-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
Cast AI secures $108 million funding to expand cloud automation
People walk behind the logo of SoftBank Corp in Tokyo December 18, 2014. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY (Reuters) -Cast AI, a Miami-based startup that helps businesses automate cloud infrastructure management, said on Wednesday it has raised $108 million in a late-stage funding round led by G2 Venture Partners and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The oversubscribed round, which also saw participation from existing investors such as Aglaé Ventures, valued the company at $850 million, a person familiar with the matter said. This brings Cast AI's total funding to over $180 million, as it looks to expand to more markets and cater to growing demand. The company helps businesses reduce cloud costs and improve performance by automating how applications use cloud resources like CPUs and GPUs. Cast AI said demand is rising quickly as more organizations adopt AI tools and struggle with the high cost of cloud computing. "Reducing costs is key. But it's not just about costs—it's about automatically finding the right models and availability of GPUs and CPUs, maintaining performance and cutting costs," Cast AI founder Laurent Gil told Reuters. "Over the past six months, we have seen a major acceleration in demand for Kubernetes automation as AI adoption surged." Kubernetes is an open-source tool that helps manage apps on the cloud. Cast AI counts 2,100 companies around the world as customers and some large clients include Akamai, German automaker BMW, FICO and HuggingFace. The company said the new funding will be used to expand its automation platform, hire more talent and reach more global customers. Its new backers, including SoftBank and G2, also invest in AI companies such as OpenAI and Crusoe Energy Systems. The ChatGPT creator, SoftBank and cloud firm Oracle are key partners behind the $500 billion Stargate project to build several data centers in the United States. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
CBS News
28-04-2025
- CBS News
Stranded man airlifted from Mount Fuji — then rescued again days later after he returned to get his phone
A climber airlifted with altitude sickness from near the peak of Japan's Mount Fuji last week returned to the slope and was rescued for a second time just four days later, authorities said Monday. The climber was identified only as a 27-year-old Chinese student living in Japan. He made an emergency call on April 22 and was airlifted after developing symptoms of altitude sickness, police said, adding that his climbing irons also were damaged. On Saturday, he returned to the mountain's Fujinomiya trail nearly 10,000 feet above sea level to look for his cell phone and other belongings left behind, Shizuoka prefectural police said. Another climber found him there unable to move after he apparently got sick for a second time, police said. "He was suspected of having altitude sickness and was taken to hospital," a police spokesman in the Shizuoka region told Agence France-Presse on Monday. It was not known whether he was able to find his phone in the end, local media reported. Japan's Mount Fuji is aeen covered with snow from a plane in March, 2013. Mount Fuji, at 12,388 feet, is Japan's highest mountain. Toru Hanai/REUTERS The mountain's hiking trails are officially open only from July to early September, but there is no penalty for hiking off-season. There also is no charge or penalty when a climber needs to be rescued, but the Chinese student's case prompted an uproar on social media and generated calls for him to be charged, at least for his second rescue. Following the man's rescue, police in Shizuoka prefecture reiterated its advice against climbing the mountain during the off-season as the weather could suddenly change, making it hard for rescuers to respond, the BBC reported. Medical facilities along the trails are also closed. Police urged all climbers to use caution, noting that the mountain has low temperatures and is covered in snow even in spring. The 3,776-meter-high (12,388-foot-high) mountain was designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 2013. A symbol of Japan, the mountain called "Fujisan" used to be a place of pilgrimage and is increasingly popular among hikers today. To control overcrowding and risks from rushed overnight climbing through rocky slopes to see the sunrise, local authorities last year introduced an entry fee and cap on the number of entrants on the most popular trail and will introduce similar rules on other main trails this year. But exactly how many tourists visit Fuji — and how many is too many — is up for debate, Thomas Jones, a professor of sustainability and tourism at Japan's Ritsumeikan University, told CBS News in 2023. "You would have to find consensus" for what constitutes carrying capacity, he said, "and at the moment there isn't really anything like that. So, there isn't really a kind of concerted effort to limit the number of visitors there." In 2023, more than 220,000 people climbed Mount Fuji between July and September, according to the BBC.
