✅ Timekettle’s new earbuds offer real-time translation on calls

Timekettle has introduced its W4 Pro earbuds at CES 2025, featuring real-time two-way translation for phone and video calls. The earbuds automatically translate conversations in 40 languages, with a latency of about three to five seconds. Users can enjoy bidirectional translations without losing voice quality, although translated audio is louder than the original.

The W4 Pro also offers conversation summaries using onboard AI. Additionally, the earbuds maintain the functionality of previous models, allowing users to share earbuds for face-to-face translations. They operate on a new Babel OS, which enhances translation speed and emotional tone. The W4 Pro is priced at $449 and will be available for purchase starting Sunday.

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❕ Circular unveils its next gen Ring 2 with ECG functionality and AFib detection at CES 2025

Circular has introduced its next-generation Ring 2 at CES 2025, featuring ECG (electrocardiogram) functionality and AFib (atrial fibrillation) detection. Set to retail for $380, the Ring 2 allows users to monitor heart health by capturing single-lead ECGs using a PPG (photoplethysmogram) sensor.

Improvements over the previous model include a battery life of up to eight days and enhanced sensors for tracking health metrics like sleep. The companion app has also been redesigned for better user experience. The Ring 2, available in gold, silver, black, and rose gold finishes, will launch in multiple countries, including the U.S., U.K., and France, alongside a new Digital Ring Sizing feature for ordering.

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🔻 Toyota’s Woven City is open for business and looking for startups

Toyota's Woven City, a 175-acre prototype city near Mount Fuji, is officially open for startups and innovation. Chairman Akio Toyoda announced at CES 2025 that the city aims to create a living laboratory for new technologies and is inviting inventors to join the initiative.

Woven City will launch a pitch competition and offer scholarships to support startups and individuals in developing their ideas. The city will feature projects like autonomous vehicles, electric air taxis, and even rockets, highlighting Toyota's commitment to investing in diverse technologies.

The first phase of Woven City, which began in 2021, includes facilities designed for collaboration among employees, scientists, and entrepreneurs. Toyoda emphasized that while the project may not be immediately profitable, it reflects Toyota's responsibility to invest in the future and support innovation.

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🫶 Nvidia is helping humanoid robots learn through Apple Vision Pro instruction

Nvidia is advancing humanoid robotics through its GR00T initiative, which utilizes a new feature called Blueprint for imitation learning. This technique allows robots to learn skills by observing and mimicking human actions. At CES 2025, CEO Jensen Huang explained that users can perform actions using Apple’s Vision Pro, which are then captured as a digital twin for robots to replicate in simulations.

The GR00T system aims to enhance the deployment of humanoid robots in various settings, such as factories and warehouses, by enabling remote teaching through teleoperation. Nvidia's collaboration includes major robotics firms like Boston Dynamics and Agility Robotics, positioning the company as a leader in integrating AI with humanoid technologies.

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🔸 Bench customers are now being forced to hand over their data or risk losing it, they say

Customers of the accounting startup Bench, which shut down on December 27, 2024, and was subsequently acquired by Employer .com, are facing challenges in accessing their financial data. To retrieve their data, customers are required to consent to terms that allow Employer .com to access it. Many customers are unhappy with this process, feeling coerced into agreeing to terms that may not be in their best interest.

Concerns have been raised about Employer .com’s lack of experience in accounting and tax services, and customers are frustrated by the perceived unfairness of the consent requirements and the company’s inadequate privacy policy. Some customers report difficulties in obtaining refunds for pre-paid services, further complicating the situation.

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🔵 The first AI chip startup to go public in 2025 will be Blaize

Blaize, an AI chip startup founded by former Intel engineers, is set to go public on the Nasdaq through a SPAC deal on January 16, 2025. Established in 2011 and headquartered in El Dorado Hills, California, Blaize focuses on manufacturing AI chips for edge applications, such as security cameras and drones, rather than for large data centers like its competitor Nvidia.

Despite being unprofitable—with a reported loss of $87.5 million on $3.8 million in revenue in 2023—Blaize has secured $400 million in potential deals, including a significant contract with a defense entity in the EMEA region. CEO Dinakar Munagala anticipates the company will be valued at $1.2 billion after the merger. Blaize aims to capitalize on the growing demand for AI technology integrated into physical products, emphasizing practical real-world applications.

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🔵 Karmen secures $9.4 million for its revenue-based financing products

Karmen, a French startup, has raised $9.4 million in a funding round to enhance its revenue-based financing products aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing cash flow challenges. The funding includes equity from Seventure Partners and additional debt from Financière Arbevel and Bpifrance. Karmen, which previously secured a €100 million debt vehicle, provides short-term loans ranging from €20,000 to €3 million for various business needs.

Currently serving around 600 clients, Karmen emphasizes a data-driven approach to assess loan applications, utilizing about 60 financial metrics in real time. The company's strategy includes embedded financing through partnerships with fintech firms and platforms like Qonto, aiming to increase this distribution method to 75% of new clients by the end of 2025. Karmen's co-founder highlighted the importance of risk assessment technology and AI in managing loan repayments effectively.

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🔵 Some shareholders of a16z-backed Divvy Homes may not see a dime from $1B sale

Divvy Homes, a rent-to-own startup backed by a16z, is set to be acquired by Brookfield Properties for $1 billion. However, some shareholders may not receive any payouts from the sale. Divvy has raised over $700 million from investors but is selling at half its peak valuation of $2.3 billion. Following the sale, the company plans to repay debts and preferred shareholders, potentially leaving common shareholders with nothing.

Divvy's CEO, Adena Hefets, indicated that the decision to sell was difficult and came after extensive reviews of the company's options amid challenging market conditions, including rising mortgage rates. Despite this disappointing financial outcome for some, Hefets expressed pride in the impact the company had on its customers.

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🇺🇸OpenAI's ambitious Stargate Project hits a funding snag

OpenAI's next big leap, the *Stargate project*, is reportedly facing financial hurdles. According to recent reports, the project, which aims to push the boundaries of AI development, doesn’t currently have the funding it needs to move forward.

Stargate is rumored to be a massive initiative focused on creating advanced AI systems, potentially requiring unprecedented computational power and resources. However, securing the necessary investment has proven challenging, raising questions about the timeline and feasibility of the project.

This development highlights the growing costs and complexities of cutting-edge AI research. Will OpenAI find the funding to keep Stargate on track, or will this become a roadblock in the race for AI supremacy?

What are your thoughts? Is the future of AI innovation at risk, or is this just a temporary setback? Let’s discuss! 👇

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🇮🇳India pledges $1.15 Billion for Startups and unveils ambitious reforms!

India is solidifying its position as a key player in the global economy. As part of the new 2025-26 budget, the government announced the creation of a $1.15 billion Fund of Funds for Startups to boost tech innovation and clean energy development.

📢What else was announced:

🟠A High-Level Committee for Regulatory Reforms to simplify bureaucratic processes and reduce compliance burdens for startups.

🟠Plans to launch a Deep Tech Fund of Funds to support startups working on advanced technologies.

🟠Extension of tax benefits for startups until 2030.

🟠A new scheme to support 500,000 first-time entrepreneurs, including women and underrepresented groups.

📌 Nuclear Energy Mission:
India also unveiled a $2.3 billion Nuclear Energy Mission, aiming to develop at least five indigenous small modular reactors by 2033 and achieve 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047.

Why does this matter❔
Startups have already created millions of jobs and attracted over $100 billion in investments in the past decade. India is targeting 8% economic growth to generate enough jobs for its young population and strengthen its global standing.

💡Quote:
“We are determined to ensure that our regulations keep up with technological innovations and global trends,” said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

✅ India continues to inspire with its ambition and reforms!

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🌱 Google’s X Launches Heritable Agriculture to Revolutionize Crop Yields Using AI

This week, Google’s X “moonshot factory” announced the spinout of a groundbreaking startup—Heritable Agriculture. This new company aims to transform agriculture by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve crop yield and make farming more sustainable.

🍀 While plants are naturally efficient, the agricultural industry heavily strains our planet, contributing to 25% of greenhouse gas emissions, excessive groundwater use, and soil erosion. Heritable is tackling these issues by analyzing vast datasets to help farmers optimize plant growth and make agriculture more environmentally friendly.

🤖 Using AI, Heritable studies plant genomes to identify traits that could lead to higher yields, lower water usage, and better carbon storage. The startup is focused on enhancing traditional breeding methods, with future plans to incorporate gene editing techniques like CRISPR for more advanced plant optimization.

With backing from investors including Google, Heritable Agriculture is set to commercialize these innovations and help bring sustainable farming into the future 🌍

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🎉 Fizz brings on TikTok alum to supercharge Growth!

College social app Fizz is leveling up! The company has hired David Vasquez, former Head of Creator Monetization and TikTok Shop Product Lead, as its new Head of Product.

What’s coming next for Fizz?

🟣Smarter Recommendations – Vasquez aims to build a TikTok-style recommendation engine to serve users the most relevant content.

🟣Marketplace Expansion – In-app payments, peer-to-peer transactions, and even brand integrations are on the way.

🟣More Video Content – Video length increased from 15 to 30 seconds, leading to a 350% spike in video creation!

🟣Advertising & Brand Partnerships – AI companies are already showing major interest.

🔥 Fizz is on fire:

📈 +245% daily posts since the start of the year
📈 +61% daily active users
📍 Available at 300+ colleges
💵 Raised $41M in funding

The future of student social media is here. Are you ready?👍

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🏈 Startups taking over the Super Bowl!

While the Super Bowl is famous for football and halftime shows, startups are making a splash this year with big-money ad slots. Here are five startups airing commercials during the game:

🔥 Ramp – Fintech startup featuring Saquon Barkley, who’s not just an investor but also the star of their first-ever Super Bowl ad.

🤖 OpenAI – Debuting its first-ever TV commercial, signaling its commitment to AI dominance.

💊 Hims & Hers – A controversial ad taking shots at big pharma’s weight-loss drugs, despite an FDA investigation into its own products.

🥤Poppi – The prebiotic soda brand returns with an ad tackling the guilt of drinking traditional soda, featuring social media stars.

💰Papaya Global – Workforce payment platform back for a second year, after tripling its web traffic with last year’s ad.

🖥 Super Bowl ads cost millions, but they give startups bragging rights and a shot at major brand recognition.

Would you spend VC cash on a Super Bowl ad? Drop your thoughts below!👇

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🖥 Softr Expands Beyond Airtable: No-Code App Building Just Got More Powerful!

If you’ve ever wanted to build a client portal, internal tool, or dashboard without hiring a developer, Softr just made that even easier. The popular no-code app builder has announced a major update for 2025: users are no longer limited to Airtable as a data source!

🆕 What’s new?

✅ More database options – Now, you can connect Google Sheets, Notion, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, and more

✅ Drag-and-drop simplicity – Build apps with predefined blocks like lists, charts, forms, and tables

✅ New AI-powered features to speed up app creation

✅ Built-in permission controls – Set user roles so clients, employees, and admins see only what they need

✅ Coming soon: Workflows & native tables, so you won’t even need an external database!

💡Softr is known as one of the easiest no-code platforms for beginners, helping 600,000+ users build apps without writing code. The company’s freemium model and strong word-of-mouth growth have led to 5,000+ paying customers – all without a dedicated sales team!

Would you build an app without coding? What features would you love to see next? Let’s discuss! 💬

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🤖Figure AI in talks to raise $1.5B at a $39.5B valuation

Silicon Valley robotics startup Figure AI is reportedly raising a massive $1.5 billion round, pushing its valuation to $39.5 billion—15x its last valuation!

🥇What’s driving the hype?
The AI boom is fueling a surge in humanoid robotics. Figure AI, which builds robots for commercial and residential use, has already sold units to BMW and recently secured a second major customer.

🥈Who’s investing?
The funding round is expected to be led by Align Ventures and Parkway Venture Capital.

🥉Big picture
Figure AI isn’t alone—Apptronik recently raised $350M, and Meta is rumored to be exploring robotics as well. With Figure projecting 100,000 robots in production, the humanoid robotics space is heating up fast!

Will humanoid robots be the next AI revolution?🤔

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🚢 Saronic Raises $600M to Build the "Shipyard of the Future"!💥

Autonomous warships are no longer science fiction. Saronic, an Austin-based defense startup, just secured a $600M Series C to build "Port Alpha" – a cutting-edge factory for mass-producing autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) and large unmanned ships. This funding quadruples Saronic’s valuation to $4B, making it one of the most valuable defense tech startups in the U.S.🇺🇸

✔️Big investors: Elad Gil, General Catalyst, a16z, 8VC & more
✔️Mass production: Saronic has already built three ASV models (up to 24 ft long) and plans to scale even bigger
✔️Strategic importance: Strengthening U.S. naval capabilities amid growing competition with China 🌍
✔️Defense tech boom: Saronic joins Anduril (valued at $14B+) and Shield AI (reportedly aiming for $5B) in shaping the future of military innovation

Saronic is still scouting for a location for Port Alpha, but CEO Dino Mavrookas says operations are set to begin within five years.

With $850M raised to date, Saronic is moving fast – and so is the defense tech industry. Expect more big funding rounds and high-tech military innovations to come! 🚀

💬 What do you think about the future of autonomous warships? Let’s discuss!

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⏰ AI coding Startup Codeium nears $3B valuation

AI-powered coding startup Codeium is reportedly raising a new funding round at a staggering $2.85 billion valuation, just six months after its $150M Series C at $1.25B. The round is led by Kleiner Perkins, according to sources.

💵With $40M in annual recurring revenue (ARR), Codeium is valued at nearly 70x ARR, significantly higher than competitors like Anysphere (25x ARR). The startup is carving out its niche by targeting enterprise clients rather than individual developers, with over 1,000 companies like Anduril, Zillow, and Dell using its free tier.

🗓 Founded in 2021 by MIT grads Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen, Codeium is competing with AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot, Poolside, and Magic. Last year, it launched Windsurf Editor, an AI agent that can autonomously write code.

👍 Why are investors betting big on Codeium? Will it outpace rivals in the AI coding revolution? Share your thoughts

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Capim Raises $26.7M Series A to Revolutionize Dental Care in Brazil 🦷

Brazilian SaaS startup Capim has secured an impressive $26.7 million Series A to expand its “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) solution for dental services. The funding round was co-led by Valor Capital and QED Investors, with participation from investors like ONEVC, Canary, NXTP, and others.

What is Capim⬇️

Founded in 2021 by Marcelo Lutz and Roberto Biselli, Capim is a vertical SaaS platform designed to help dentists digitize their clinics, manage operations, and increase revenue. One of its standout features is a BNPL option that allows patients to spread dental payments over up to 36 installments - a more flexible and affordable alternative to traditional credit cards.

Why is this a game-changer❔

✅ Easier access to dental care for more than 60,000 patients so far
✅ Lower interest rates**—50% less than traditional banks
✅ 4,000+ new clinics added in 2024, now serving 6,000 clinics and aiming for 10,000 by year’s end
✅ Hybrid revenue model – SaaS subscriptions + financial services
✅ Break-even achieved in 2023

📢 What’s next?

With fresh capital, Capim plans to:

1️⃣Launch a POS (point-of-sale) terminal with lower transaction fees for clinics
2️⃣Expand its AI-powered tools to boost efficiency
3️⃣Scale its go-to-market strategy to onboard more clinics and patients

As healthtech and fintech converge, Capim is proving that access to essential medical services shouldn’t be a financial burden. Will this BNPL model redefine healthcare payments in Brazil?🇧🇷

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Ramp Nearly Doubles Its Valuation to $13B After $150M Secondary Share Sale!💵

Fintech startup Ramp has achieved a massive milestone, nearly doubling its valuation from $7.65 billion to $13 billion following a $150 million secondary share sale.

➡️This growth comes as the company expands its offerings beyond expense management into travel, bill pay, and treasury services.

✔️Who’s Investing?
New and existing investors, including Stripes, GIC, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, and others, participated in the secondary share sale, purchasing shares from early investors and employees.

📊 Ramp’s Key Achievements:

✅ Customer Growth – The company’s client base has expanded from 25,000 to over 30,000 businesses.

✅ Massive Payment Volume Increase – Ramp’s transaction volume across corporate card payments and bill payments skyrocketed from $10B in early 2023 to $55B today.

✅ AI-Driven Efficiency – The company kept its burn rate at under $2M/month in 2024, leveraging AI to optimize operations.

✅ New Treasury Product – Moving closer to digital banking, Ramp now earns revenue from treasury services in addition to interchange fees and SaaS subscriptions.

✅ Enterprise Business Growth – This segment has more than doubled in the past year, solidifying Ramp’s presence in the corporate finance space.

🔼What’s Next for Ramp?

Ramp now has over 1,000 employees and is positioning itself for an IPO in the long run. Competing with Brex, Navan, and Mercury, Ramp is rapidly expanding and reshaping the fintech landscape.

💡Is Ramp on its way to becoming the ultimate financial platform for businesses? Let’s discuss!👇

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💥 Alpine Eagle raises €10.25M to revolutionize counter-drone warfare

As drones become a dominant force in modern conflicts, Alpine Eagle is stepping up with a next-gen airborne counter-drone system. The Munich-based startup has secured €10.25M ($10.96M) in Series A funding to scale its Sentinel technology - an innovative, cost-effective solution to neutralize hostile drones.

🔥The Growing Threat

Cheap FPV drones ($500) can destroy multi-million-dollar tanks, exposing weaknesses in traditional defense systems. Many ground-based solutions struggle with high costs and terrain limitations, making affordable, scalable countermeasures more urgent than ever.

🛰 How Sentinel Works
Unlike stationary counter-drone turrets, Sentinel is airborne, offering key advantages:

✅ No terrain restrictions – It detects and engages threats regardless of obstacles
✅ Not a static target – Unlike fixed defenses, it can reposition and avoid attacks
✅ Active threat elimination – Uses kamikaze interceptors to capture or destroy enemy drones
✅ AI-powered adaptability – Learns from real-world data to refine its tactics

💸Strong Backing from European Investors:

Alpine Eagle’s funding round was led by British deep-tech VC IQ Capital, alongside General Catalyst, HCVC, and funds from Estonia, Germany, and Poland. The startup aimed for a consortium of investors aligned with the need to strengthen Europe’s defense tech ecosystem.

⚔️ Beyond the Battlefield
While the primary focus is military defense, Alpine Eagle sees broader applications in securing military bases, critical infrastructure, and law enforcement operations. The UK is a key expansion market, reinforcing the company’s growing European footprint.

🛡️The Future of Defense Tech
Alpine Eagle is part of a new wave of AI-driven defense startups pushing the boundaries of autonomous security solutions. The goal? Fewer soldiers operating large-scale drone swarms, shifting their role from piloting to mission management - a game-changer in modern warfare.

With its AI-powered counter-drone swarms, affordable production, and strategic European backing, Alpine Eagle is set to become a key player in next-gen defense technology.

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