🕶️ Factories Are Leaving Earth

Eight bullets of updates

1. 🏢 OpenAI changes course: plans to restructure as a public benefit corporation amid $40 billion investment stakes.

2. 🚗 BluSmart investors propose $30M funding to revive the startup, contingent on co-founder Jaggi's resignation.

3. 🏙️ San Francisco bounces back with the AI boom, says Nvidia CEO, despite 89k households leaving during the pandemic.

4. 📊 ServiceNow acquires data.world to boost AI data strategy, addressing 60% AI project failure due to poor data.

5. 🚖 Uber partners with Pony AI for robotaxi expansion into the Middle East, tapping into markets like Abu Dhabi.

6. 🤖 Amazon unveils its new Vulcan robot, bringing tactile sensing to warehouses and aiming for 75% automation in fulfillment centers.

7. 📈 Carta ditches its shutdown biz to back SimpleClosure’s $15M Series A, driving 12x revenue growth in 2024.

8. 🛡️ Latvian startup Origin unveils BLAZE, a cost-effective drone interceptor for NATO, priced 10x lower than threats.

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OpenAI’s world domination tour: now boarding

OpenAI has unveiled a new initiative, OpenAI for Countries, designed to partner with governments worldwide to enhance local AI infrastructure and better serve international markets. Through this program, OpenAI will work with national governments to expand data center capacity and customize its AI tools—like ChatGPT—to suit local languages and specific needs. Funding will come from both OpenAI and the participating governments, with an initial goal of launching 10 projects globally, though specific locations have not yet been disclosed.

The broader ambition is to promote what OpenAI calls “democratic AI,” aiming to encourage adoption of Western AI models over competitors from China. This initiative aligns with OpenAI’s ongoing infrastructure expansion under Project Stargate, a major data center effort reportedly set to grow beyond the U.S. The two programs may intersect, with OpenAI for Countries potentially utilizing Stargate’s infrastructure or tapping into its investor base for additional support.

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LLC vs INC: a guide for startups

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These companies just raised money

1. 🚨 Ox Security raises $60M to scan AI-generated code, aiming to double its $10M annual revenue this year.

2. 🔋 Breathe secures $21M Series B to enhance battery performance prediction, reducing EV charge time by 27%.

3. 🧠 WisdomAI, launched by Rubrik’s co-founder, secures $23M to solve data "hallucinations" with GenAI-driven queries.

4. 🎮 Sett emerges from stealth with $27M to revolutionize mobile game marketing via AI, aiming to make it 25x cheaper.

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Welcome to the age of space manufacturing

Jessica Frick and her startup, Astral Materials, are turning sci-fi into science fact by building high-heat furnaces designed to manufacture top-tier materials in orbit. From ultra-pure semiconductors to next-level pharmaceuticals, the promise of microgravity production is finally catching fire, thanks to lower launch costs and new tech to bring goods back to Earth. Companies like Space Forge, Redwire, and Varda are already showing off success stories—think antiviral drug crystals and stronger alloys—while the long game could see factories floating in space and even asteroid mining. What once felt like an experimental flex is racing toward becoming a multibillion-dollar mainstay of the global economy. Read more on WIRED.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. TODAY! Slidebean’s Crash Course in Financial Modeling l May 8 l Online

2. Crash Course on Startup Fundraising with Caya (Slidebean CEO) l May 20 l Online

3. Startup Battlefield 200 | Deadline: June 9 | Global

4. Entrepreneur First London - Summer | Deadline: July 1 | UK

5. Startmate | Deadline: July 13 | Australia

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