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Les Amis, the app helping women form friendships, launches in New York ... and more Aug 19, 2025

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Les Amis is an app designed to make it easy for women to form friendships and attend local events. Also, why did Paradigm built a spreadsheet with an AI agent in every cell? The company raised a $5 million seed round and is releasing it's AI-powered spreadsheet to the general public.

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Hank Green’s Focus Friend app is climbing the App Store charts — and it’s extremely cute Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

This is the premise of Focus Friend, a productivity app created by Honey B Games and Hank Green, the longtime online creator/entrepreneur/educator/sock salesman. Though the app was soft launched last month, Focus Friend is only now gaining momentum on the App Store charts — likely because Green and his brother, author John Green, are posting about it more — reaching No. 4 among all free apps and No. 2 among productivity apps. Also, another crypto company is headed for the public markets. This time, it’s Gemini Space Station Inc., the New York-based crypto exchange and custodian bank founded by billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

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Buzzy AI startup Multiverse creates two of the smallest high-performing models ever ... and more news Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

It humorously calls this family the Model Zoo because one is like the size of a fly's brain and the other the size of a chicken's. Also, Ultrahuman acquires viO HealthTech to launch enhanced cycle and ovulation tracking. Cycle and Ovulation Pro is available starting Friday as a premium PowerPlug in the Ultrahuman app for $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year for users in the U.S., U.K., EU, Australia, and Canada; and Loveable projects $1B in ARR within next 12 months. Loveable is a vibe coding startup growing phenomenally quickly, according to new sales projections from CEO Anton Osika.

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Anthropic nabs Humanloop team as competition for enterprise AI talent heats up ... and more Aug 18, 2025

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While an Anthropic spokesperson confirmed that the AI firm did not acquire Humanloop or its IP, that’s a moot point in an industry where IP lives in the brain. And what Humanloop’s team is bringing to Anthropic is experience developing the tools that help enterprises run safe, reliable AI at scale. Also, India’s Rapido begins testing food delivery to take on Swiggy, Zomato. Rapido's beta food delivery service has popped up in three key localities in Bengaluru before a broader rollout.

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Cohere hires long-time Meta research head Joelle Pineau as its chief AI officer ... and more Aug 15, 2025

Show notes

Cohere has hired Joelle Pineau, Meta's former VP of AI research who previously oversaw the tech giant's fundamental AI research (FAIR) lab. In her newly created Chief AI Officer role, Pineau will oversee AI strategy across Cohere's research, product and policy teams. Also, Monarch Tractors won’t be built by Foxconn after Ohio factory sale. The tractors were the only vehicles being built by Foxconn in Ohio after Lordstown Motors, Fisker Inc., and IndiEV went bankrupt.

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Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron leaves to join self-driving startup Waabi as COO Aug 15, 2025

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Self-driving truck maker Waabi has hired autonomous vehicle industry veteran and Uber Freight CEO, Lior Ron, to step in as chief operating officer, as the startup looks to scale its commercial operations ahead of its planned launch of driverless trucks on public highways later this year.

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Sam Altman, OpenAI will reportedly back a startup that takes on Musk’s Neuralink Aug 14, 2025

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Neuralink has been making serious progress. Soon Sam Altman and OpenAI could be backing a challenger.

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Anduril opens solid rocket motor factory amidst ongoing chemical chokepoint Aug 14, 2025

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As more solid rocket motor suppliers are coming online, a supply chain chokepoint looms.

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TDK backs Ultraviolette with $21M to take India-made electric motorcycles global Aug 13, 2025

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Ultraviolette aims to expand its electric motorcycles to 40 European countries, as well as Latin America and Southeast Asia.

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Nigerian profitable food delivery Chowdeck lands $9M from Novastar, Y Combinator Aug 13, 2025

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Chowdeck, a Lagos-based food delivery startup that has stayed profitable in a notoriously tough and low-margin market, has raised $9 million in Series A funding to launch a quick commerce strategy and expand into more cities in Nigeria and Ghana.

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