Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: South Korea-based AI startup Upstage raised a $72M Series B from SK Networks, SBVA, formerly known as SoftBank Ventures Asia, and other investors  —  Artificial intelligence startup Upstage secured 100 billion won ($72 million) from investors including SK Networks Co. and KT Corp. to bankroll … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Josh Ye / Reuters: Baidu says that eight months after launch its AI chatbot Ernie Bot now has 200M+ users and 85K enterprise clients, after reaching 100M+ users in December 2023  —  China’s Baidu (9888.HK) said on Tuesday its artificial intelligence chatbot “Ernie Bot” has garnered more than 200 million users … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Financial Times: Microsoft invests $1.5B in Abu Dhabi-based AI group G42 for a minority stake, after G42 severed ties with Chinese suppliers; Brad Smith will sit on G42’s board  —  Agreement is latest move by US tech group to extend its reach into fast-growing sector  —  Microsoft has agreed to invest $1.5bn … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Anna Heim / TechCrunch: Berlin-based finmid, which makes embedded fintech tools for SMBs, raised a €23M Series A at a €100M post-money valuation, bringing its total raised to €35M  —  Berlin-based finmid — one of the many startups building embedded fintech solutions, in its case targeting marketplaces … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Times of India: India-based B2B e-commerce marketplace ProcMart raised a $30M Series B led by Fundamentum and Edelweiss Discovery Fund, following a $10M Series A in 2022  —  Bengaluru: ProcMart, an online B2B marketplace focused on supply chain solutions, has secured $30 million in funding. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: Mozilla and CheckFirst: Apple, Google, Meta, and others’ ad transparency efforts are a work in progress, months after the EU’s DSA mandated a searchable library  —  Efforts by tech giants to be more transparent about the ads they run are — at very best — still a work in progress … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Julie Creswell / New York Times: Ghost kitchens and virtual restaurant brands, which boomed during the pandemic after raising billions, are disappearing due to overtaxed kitchens and complaints  —  Ghost kitchens and virtual brands became a way for idle restaurant kitchens to generate revenue. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kari Paul / The Guardian: A look at Neopets, a website launched in 1999 to let users care for virtual pets, including how the site survived multiple acquisitions and Flash’s phasing out  —  An icon of millennials’ childhoods languished for nearly two decades.  Now it’s attempting a comeback – banking on the fact that it hasn’t changed at all Lees verder op Tech Meme

Anna Heim / TechCrunch: Berlin-based finmid, which makes embedded fintech solutions for SMBs, raised a €23M Series A at a €100M post money valuation, bringing total raised to €35M  —  Berlin-based finmid — one of the many startups building embedded fintech solutions, in its case targeting marketplaces … Lees verder op Tech Meme