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Six bullets of updates

1. 🚁 Archer plans to launch an air taxi network in LA by 2026, aiming to ease traffic for the World Cup.

2. 💡 AI servers' excess heat will warm the Olympics pool and 600 homes in Paris during the 2024 Games.

3. 📉 Techstars lays off 17% and ends JP Morgan-backed programs, impacting the startup ecosystem significantly.

4. 📅 Thursday dating app, which limits access to once a week, expands to San Francisco.

5. 🚗 China’s autonomous vehicle startup WeRide prepares for a US IPO, capitalizing on easing foreign IPO bans.

6. 🧑‍🏫 OpenAI has added Carnegie Mellon professor Zico Kolter to its board, strengthening its AI research prowess.

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Too ‘Humane’ - More returns than sales

Since its launch in April, Humane's Ai Pin has faced significant challenges, with more returns than sales. The $700 wearable device, designed to project a screen onto the user's palm, has seen over $1 million worth of returns out of $9 million in sales, leaving only 7,000 units with customers. The company had originally aimed to ship 100,000 units in the first year, but poor reviews have hampered these plans. Critics have highlighted the product's unfinished state and technical issues, including a warning about a fire safety risk with the charging case. This has contributed to reluctance among users to pay the purchase price and additional monthly subscription fees for data and cloud storage.

In light of these difficulties, founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno - both former Apple directors- are attempting to sell the company for between $750 million and $1 billion. Despite raising $200 million in funding, the company's performance contrasts starkly with its ambitious projections. A Humane spokesperson disputed some reporting inaccuracies but did not provide specific details. The company's struggle to meet expectations and ensure product safety has clouded its prospects, leading to discussions of a potential sale to companies like HP. Read more!

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. Financial modeling bootcamp for startup founders | August 12 -16 | Online sessions

2. SaaStock: Dublin | August 14 | Conference

3. How to close a Funding Round (it’s not just the pitch deck) | August 14 | Webinar

4. Crash Course in Financial Modeling | August 19 | Webinar

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These companies just raised money

1. 🦄 Mexican unicorn Stori has raised $212M in a debt and equity deal to accelerate its growth and expand its financial services in Latam.

2. 💰 CloudPay, a payroll services provider, has landed $120M in new funding to expand its services and enhance technology.

3. 💡 Flint Capital has raised $160M through an unconventional fund-raising strategy, aiming to disrupt traditional venture capital models.

4. 🚀 Anysphere, a GitHub Copilot rival, has raised $60M in Series A funding at a $400M valuation, with contributions from a16z and Thrive.

5. 🤝 Bardeen, an AI business agent startup, has secured strategic investment from Dropbox and HubSpot to enhance its AI-driven business solutions.

6. 🔬 Delft startup has secured €6.5M in funding for its nanotech innovation that enables material discovery within just one year.

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When chatbots get flirty

OpenAI's recent report highlights the potential risks associated with users forming emotional attachments to ChatGPT, especially as the AI becomes increasingly human-like in its interactions. Released in May, the latest version of ChatGPT features emotionally expressive voices that some users have described as "flirty" and "convincingly human", leading to instances where individuals have expressed feelings of affection towards the AI. The report warns that such emotional dependence might reduce users' need for human interaction, which could be beneficial for lonely individuals but detrimental to healthy human relationships. OpenAI suggests that these evolving interactions might change social norms and influence the way people communicate with each other.

The report also raises concerns about AI hallucinations or inaccuracies, where the AI's human-like qualities might cause users to trust its responses without sufficient fact-checking, thereby spreading misinformation. OpenAI calls for more testing and independent research to explore these risks further and to develop strategies to mitigate potential negative consequences.

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What NOBODY tells you about selling a startup

The reason tech startups can secure millions in funding for just a small percentage of equity is the anticipation that eventually, the company will go public or be acquired. However, selling a company is a lengthy and challenging process, we tell you all about it in this video! Don’t forget to subscribe for more 😎