el producto #415 🚀
Record-breaking AI funding, Meta improves its smart glasses, Grammarly acquires Coda, YouTube's voice replies, Getting started in a new role, The power of annual reviews, UI patterns for Gen-AI & more
Hi friends 👋
Happy weekend and welcome to a new edition of el producto
🎰 The week in figures
$10B: Databricks has just closed a record-breaking $10B funding round, valuing the company at $62B. This surpasses OpenAI’s $6.5B raise from earlier this year and signals that, despite a shaky market, investor enthusiasm for AI is alive and well. What’s interesting here isn’t just the size of the raise—it’s how Databricks has positioned itself as a cornerstone of AI infrastructure. With a $3B revenue run rate projected by January and over 500 customers paying $1M+ annually, they’ve proven that their pivot to AI-driven data was the right call
$500M: Perplexity has raised a $500M at a $9B valuation. The company’s worth has 9x since April, indicating how breakout AI companies can raise effectively infinite money as VCs work to secure equity in companies that could, one day, list. With the fresh money in hand, Perplexity bought a startup called Carbon to.. “search through your files and work messages […] sometime in early 2025”
$250M: Liquid AI, an AI startup co-founded by renowned roboticist Daniela Rus, has secured $250M Series A at over $2B valuation. The company specializes in liquid neural networks—an innovative AI architecture inspired by roundworm brains—that offer adaptability and efficiency by predicting neuron behavior over time. These networks are not only smaller but also demand significantly less computing power than traditional models. Liquid AI plans to apply this technology in sectors such as e-commerce, consumer electronics, and biotech while collaborating with AMD to optimize performance on the chipmaker’s hardware
$200M: Oura, known for its smart ring, raises 200M at a $5.2B valuation
$150M: Nubank invested $150M in South African neobank Tyme Group's Series D, valuing the company at $1.5B and elevating it to unicorn status
$100M: Cursor, a startup building AI tools for developers, raises $100M
$100M: Insurtech startup bolttech raises $100M
nr. 1: Temu is the US’ most downloaded free iPhone app in 2024. This year, 3 of the top 10 are Chinese-based apps with the rest US-based. ChatGPT is a new entrant, displacing Max (HBO), which dropped off entirely (possibly as a result of a name change in May ‘23 which may have impacted discoverability)
📰 What’s going on
OpenAI has launched “Projects” which allows users to organise their interactions with ChatGPT. When you start a project you can name it and assign it a color. Claude and Perplexity both have similar features, making interacting with chatbots easier, so to some extent, OpenAI is playing catch up a little here
Google unveiled Veo 2 - its latest video generation model. Veo generates high-quality videos up to 4K and comes with an advanced understanding of physics which allows it to follow detailed instructions
Google released Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking, an experimental self fact-checking "reasoning" AI model with Gemini Flash 2.0 speeds
Google also announced a new product called Agentspace, which can answer questions across an entire organisation including from sources with unstructured data. It has pre-built connectors available for third party apps including Jira, Confluence and Google Drive
YouTube is testing voice replies on videos which will allow viewers to comment / reply to videos using voice notes
Meta adds live AI assistant translations and Shazam to its smart glasses
Apple plans major iPhone updates including a thinner budget iPhone, a larger foldable phone, and a 19-inch foldable laptop, all packed with AI features
Slack will integrate deeply into Salesforce’ Agentforce 2.0. As part of this, Slack will get a library of customizable AI agents that can perform various tasks, from onboarding employees to managing complex cross-functional projects. At a time when some companies are introducing return to office working, only for their onboarding to be outsourced to an AI agent, this does feel like a strange time to be in tech
IP Copilot analyzes conversations from Slack, Jira and other workplace tools to identify potential opportunities for filing patents. It was founded by a team with over 1,000 patents between them. And it’s a stark reminder for many employees that their ideas are often owned by the companies they work for
American neobank giant Chime submitted a confidential filing for IPO. The company was last valued at $25B in 2021, has raised $2.65B to-date, and has 7M customers (and 18M app downloads)
Klarna’s CEO says the AI has replaced hundreds of staff and stopped hiring
Grammarly has acquired productivity startup Coda for an undisclosed amount. The deal aims to transform Grammarly’s AI assistant into an "AI productivity platform" by integrating Coda’s tools, offering features like generative AI chat and enhanced productivity capabilities
📚 Good reads
AI brings up the next revolution in Human-Machine interactions. Ben Thompson explains how Generative AI could bridge the next computing paradigm, just as applications bridged mainframes to PCs and the Internet bridged PCs to mobile. According to Thompson, Gen AI's impact on UI and natural interfaces could unlock the true potential of wearable computing. We’re witnessing the future of human-computer interaction unfold in real-time
A market map of AI Agents, by Michael Tefula. If you’re looking for a quick understanding of what the AI agent marketplace looks like right now, this handy market map might help you to understand the various different categories
Everything in business is about fighting entropy. Matt MacInnis, COO of Rippling, shares why most companies slow down as they scale, and his advice for how startup founders and executives can prevent it. “Clear thinkers come to the table with relevant experience and an ability to describe the way things are. First principles thinkers use that as a springboard to come up with novel solutions“
14 UI patterns for generative AI. Intercom’s co-founder Des Traynor explores new types of UI that are emerging in the generative AI age
The power of annual reviews. Anne-Laure Le Cunff shares some tips for effective and powerful self-reviews, as well as few templates
Getting started in a new Product role. Leah Tharin shares her approach to starting a new job successfully. Bonus: if you are starting a new role, feel free to ping me and I will share with you an onboarding guide/template that I have been refining for the last 6 years
The best of Lenny’s newsletter in 2024. Lenny shares a selection of his (and others) articles in 2024, sorted by “jobs to be done” for PMs. One to bookmark
Similarly, Adam Fishman shares the best of 3 years publishing his newsletter, also sorted by topics of interest
That’s all for this week. As usual, feel free to reach out and share your thoughts by replying back to this email or commenting on Substack
Thanks for your support!
Angel