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Grand Games, the Turkish startup behind Magic Sort, drinks up $30M Jan 13, 2025

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Gaming startups, specifically those building casual mobile games, are very hot in Turkey right now, and today another one is announcing a sizable round.

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Overhaul raises another $55M to help companies like Dyson and Microsoft fight supply chain theft Jan 13, 2025

Show notes

Businesses dependent on the physical supply chain — the network of facilities and transportation systems used to move materials from one location to another — chain face a number of challenges, from staff shortages to increasing customer expectations. The pressures aren’t easing up.

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PrettyDamnQuick snaps up $25M to speed up online checkout Jan 10, 2025

Show notes

A startup hoping to provide a credible alternative to Amazon has picked up funding to double down on the gap in the market. PrettyDamnQuick (PDQ) provides tech to retailers to let them customize and test different shipping and checkout flows, and now it has picked up a deal of its own: a $25 million Series A to expand its business.

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Xocean raises $119M to capture ocean data with uncrewed surface vessels Jan 09, 2025

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Xocean, an Irish marine robotics startup that provides ocean data to the energy and hydrography industries using uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), has raised €115 million ($119 million) as it looks to expand coverage to additional sectors.

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CES 2025: Omi, a competitor to Friend, wants to boost your productivity using AI and a ‘brain interface’ Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

The startup’s founder, Nik Shevchenko, started marketing this device on Kickstarter as “Friend,” but changed the device’s name after another San Francisco hardware maker launched his own Friend device and bought the domain name for $1.8 million. Shevchenko, a Thiel fellow with a history of eye-grabbing stunts, is taking a slightly different approach with Omi. Instead of seeing the device as a smartphone replacement or an AI companion, he wants Omi to be a complementary device to your phone that boosts your productivity.

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Fermata uses computer vision to detect diseases and pests in plants Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

When Valeria Kogan started her PhD program in bioinformatics, the scientific field that uses computation and software to analyze biological data, in 2017, she imagined her career would always be within the fields of mathematics, medicine, or biology. But after the first AI boom in the late 2010s, she got an intriguing opportunity in a sector she hadn’t considered: agriculture.

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RoboForce raises $10 million to create a robot workforce Jan 07, 2025

Show notes

“These are the kind of jobs that we shouldn't need people to do anymore," founder Leo Ma said about dangerous factory jobs.

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Bluesky bump from X exodus is slowing down, data shows Jan 07, 2025

Show notes

Social network and X competitor Bluesky’s massive growth slowed in December in the U.S., after having surged from 9+ million in September to north of 20 million users in November.

The slowdown is based on an analysis of web traffic and mobile app daily active users by analytics firm Similarweb, which found that Bluesky grew less than 10% month-over-month in December 2024, compared with 189% growth in November.

Daily active users of the Bluesky mobile app in the U.S. also grew 12% in December, compared with 284% growth in November, the firm says.

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CES 2025: Soliddd Vision Glasses for those with macular degeneration and Elvie's Smart Bouncer Jan 06, 2025

Show notes

This week at CES 2025, the company is showcasing a prototype version of its forthcoming SolidddVision glasses. The Brooklyn-based startup is specifically targeting people with macular degeneration. The degenerative eye disease affects roughly 13% of U.S. residents aged 40 and up, according to figures from the CDC; Elvie, a female-founded hardware startup, has unveiled a new app-controlled smart bouncer that gently transforms into a bassinet — while the baby is still in it. With the new Elvie Rise, announced at CES 2025 on Monday, parents and caregivers don’t have to move their baby between soothing, sleep, and play products.

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Hydrogen tax credit rules give startups clarity while boosting nuclear and carbon capture Jan 06, 2025

Show notes

Hydrogen startups are widely seen as a promising way to eliminate fossil fuels from heavy industry and long-haul transportation. But they have been stuck in limbo for the last couple years, waiting for official guidance from the U.S. Treasury on lucrative tax credits. That was until last Friday.

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