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VCs pledge not to take money from Russia or China, and Databricks raises a humongous round

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here....

Dec 20, 2024

OpenAI is done with Shipmas and staring down daunting challenges for 2025

Most notably, there’s co-founder Elon Musk, who now runs rival startup xAI, and is in the midst of a heated legal battle with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman....

Dec 20, 2024

Fanatics CEO Helps Rapper Lil Baby Fight Gambling Addiction

I just do s**t. I don't gamble no more." Mike Rubin is the founder and CEO of Fanatics Betting and Gaming, a global digital sports platform and the name behind Fanatics Casino and Fanatics Sportsbook....

Dec 20, 2024

OpenAI announces new o3 models

OpenAI saved its biggest announcement for the last day of its 12-day "shipmas" event. On Friday, the company unveiled o3, the successor to the o1...

Dec 20, 2024

OpenAI's next-generation o3 model will arrive early next year

After nearly two weeks of announcements, OpenAI capped off its 12 Days of OpenAI livestream series with a preview of its next-generation frontier model....

Dec 20, 2024

Italian Privacy Watchdog Fines OpenAI $15.5 Million Over ChatGPT Data Use

Italy’s Data Protection Authority said that it fined OpenAI over its use of personal data to train its flagship ChatGPT service....

Dec 20, 2024

The end of 12 Days of OpenAI is upon us

Welcome back! Today marks the last announcement stream from OpenAI’s “12 Days of OpenAI” event. Yesterday, we saw better ChatGPT functionality with certain apps like Notion introduced — if you missed ...

Dec 20, 2024

New York’s largest tech unicorn on our list ranks far ahead of the rest

Cybersecurity startup Wiz retains its No. 1 spot on Crain’s list of New York’s largest tech unicorns — and it’s far ahead of the rest....

Dec 20, 2024

Epic Games Store is giving away a hidden gem from 2023; it has great reviews and will provide you with hundreds of hours of fun

It is a hidden gem from 2023 that has received great reviews for one simple reason. It is an incredibly entertaining and addictive game that will keep you hooked for hundreds of hours. The game is Ast...

Dec 20, 2024

Third Epic Games Store Free Mystery Game Revealed to be a ‘Slay The Spire’ Style Deck Builder

The free games revelation continues on Epic Games Store as they announce Astrea: Six Sided Oracles as the third mystery game. Claim Astrea: Six Sided Oracles now for free as it stays in the store for ...

Dec 20, 2024

Binance Founder CZ Amazed to Learn Revolut Has Listed BNB

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, shared he just found out that Revolut, Europe’s largest unicorn company, has listed BNB....

Dec 20, 2024

Klarna Partners With Iconic Luxury Retailers Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman

Klarna, the AI-powered global payments network and shopping assistant, has partnered with Neiman Marcus, one of the largest luxury retailers in the U.S., and famed New York City-based Bergdorf Goodman...

Dec 20, 2024

The Rise of Blockchain Security Market: A $37.4 billion Industry Dominated by Tech Giants - Chainalysis (US) and Consensys (US)| MarketsandMarkets™

Delray Beach, FL, Dec. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Blockchain Security Market is expected to rise from USD 3.0 billion in 2024 to USD 37.4 billion in 2029 at a CAGR of 65.5% during the forecasted...

Dec 20, 2024

Robinhood competitor eToro preparing for IPO - report

Since that initial attempt to go public, eToro has reportedly significantly improved its profitability. The firm reported a core profit of $107 million last year, a strong turnaround from the loss of ...

Dec 20, 2024

Consumer Fintech Chime Files for IPO

Consumer Fintech company Chime has confidentially filed for an initial public offering or IPO, according to a report from Bloomberg....

Dec 20, 2024

Maintaining minute-by-minute employee log: Rippling employee alleges toxic work culture, social media divided

Patel accused the company of failing to provide adequate training, micromanaging employees, and setting unrealistic expectations....

Dec 20, 2024

Revolut’s European Unit Faces Highest ECB Capital Requirement

Revolut Ltd.’s European unit faces the highest individual capital requirement set by the European Central Bank for significant lenders in the region, as the fintech pursues rapid growth to challenge t...

Dec 20, 2024

Bolt’s UAE arrival rattles the ride-hailing market

The arrival of global ride-hailing platform Bolt in the UAE will shake up a market long dominated by Careem and Uber, the CEO of Dubai Taxi Company (DTC) said. Estonian company Bolt, which operates in...

Dec 20, 2024

The last day of '12 days of OpenAI' is expected to bring biggest drop yet

On the last day of its 12 days of OpenAI, a holiday-themed campaign in which OpenAI livestreams a new demo or product launch every day, OpenAI is rumored to be dropping an o3 model, with OpenAI CEO Sa...

Dec 20, 2024

Elon Musk Announces Major New Updates From The Boring Company

Major New Updates From The Boring Company! Elon Musk's Boring Company recently secured 675 million dollars in funding, announced a new Prufrock machine, and more! Plus we get more updates from Giga Sh...

Dec 20, 2024

Deel Acquires Pay Compensation Leader Assemble

Deel has announced the acquisition of Assemble, a compensation management platform. Assemble is an all-in-one compensation platform that delivers a...

Dec 20, 2024

Ninth Circuit Takes up Key Issue in OpenAI Coding Copyright Case

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the country’s largest federal appeals court, agreed to take up a key legal question in a copyright case from open source programmers against OpenAI Inc. ...

Dec 20, 2024

NK responsible for 61% of global cryptocurrency heists: Chainalysis

Hackers affiliated with North Korea stole a record $1.34 billion from cryptocurrency platforms across 47 incidents this year, according to blockchain data analysis firm Chainalysis, Friday. This amoun...

Dec 20, 2024

$25 billion valuation Chime takes another step toward an IPO

Digital bank Chime has reportedly filed its confidential IPO paperwork with the SEC, with an eye toward a 2025 debut....

Dec 20, 2024

Design News: WiZ smart lighting launch, scented Christmas candles, Basquiat-inspired bubbly bottles

WiZ smart lights, a cheaper alternative to Philips Hue, include lightbulbs, LED strips and lamps. Read more at straitstimes.com....

Dec 20, 2024

Senators urge Biden to grant ByteDance 90-day reprieve from law requiring sale

Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Republican Senator Rand Paul on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to extend by 90 days a Jan. 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell the U.S. assets of its sho...

Dec 20, 2024

The most popular startup stories on SmartCompany in 2024

Our most popular startup stories of 2024 included our weekly funding roundups, Canva's acquisition of Leonardo.ai, and Finder's redundancies....

Dec 20, 2024

Universal's Novel AI Suit Likely to be Dismissed, Can be Refiled

A California federal judge appeared ready to dismiss music industry claims against Anthropic PBC alleging the AI startup’s chatbot copies song lyrics without permission, but said that she’d likely all...

Dec 20, 2024

Anduril RMS eyes revolution in solid rocket fuel with Alitec propellant

Anduril Rocket Motor Systems (RMS) is in the final stages of qualifying a new solid rocket propellant that will increase range, payload, and speed of a missile by up to 40%, according to an Anduril st...

Dec 20, 2024

Nearly 80,000 Cases of “Impossible” Meats Recalled Due to Presence of Foreign Matter

They're one of the most-recognized brands of plant-based meat products—and health experts remind us not to write them off just yet....

Dec 19, 2024

OpenAI Under Fire, Backflip 3D Raises $30 Million, Gemini AI For XR

Supreme Court tackles TikTok ban, Meta & Musk challenge OpenAI shift, Backflip’s 3D AI emerges, Samsung/Google Adding AI to XR OS, Google Veo 2, 'Party Versus' MR Release...

Dec 19, 2024

Payday, Explained

The good news? MyPay™ from Chime can help. MyPay lets you get up to $500* of your pay before payday, giving you the freedom to jump on last-minute deals, handle unexpected expenses, and gain more cont...

Dec 19, 2024