Technology investor Invictus Growth Partners has secured $574 million for its second flagship fund and related co-investment vehicles, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Founded in 2019 by John DeLoche and William Nettles, Invictus specializes in growth buyouts of lower middle-market businesses in sectors such as cloud, cybersecurity, and fintech. Invictus targets founder-led, bootstrapped companies generating at least $10 million in annual recurring revenue. Betting Big On AI With its new fund, the California-based firm will strengthen its focus on AI and machine learning technologies driving key industries.
South African tech academy WeThinkCode_ has been awarded $2 million in funding from Google’s charitable arm, Google.org, to expand its AI training programs. The programs will provide 12,000 learners in South Africa and Kenya with the necessary tools to succeed in the job market. There is a significant digital skills gap on the continent, with 90% of companies being negatively impacted by the lack of AI skills, according to a recent SAP report. WeThinkCode_ bridges the gap by providing training to unemployed youth from low-income backgrounds, helping them become software engineers. WeThinkCode_’s funding from
Join our Patreon for extra-long episodes and ad-free content. In this episode, Techish hosts Michael and Abadesi break down startup hype culture, especially all the smoke and mirrors around AI. They chat about tweaking revenue numbers, investors turning a blind eye, and why tech needs more ethics and less ego. They also chat about Apple’s latest WWDC drops, MAGA influencers in the White House, and why good journalism still matters. Chapters00:25 Unicorn Faked Its AI With 700 Indian Engineers? 16:09 Can Liquid Glass Rescue Apple From Its Flop Era? 25:18
Fireflies.ai, the AI meeting assistant used by 75% of Fortune 500 companies, has reached a $1 billion valuation. Co-founders Krish Ramineni and Sam Udotong met while studying at the University of Pennsylvania and later at MIT, according to Tech Funding News. Udotong is a Nigerian American with a background in aerospace engineering and computer science. Ramineni, who is originally from India, worked at Microsoft before co-founding Fireflies. What is Fireflies? Fireflies enables workers to summarize key information from meetings. It currently serves over 20 million people and more than 500,00 organizations. Its
Join our Patreon for extra-long episodes and ad-free content. Techish hosts Abadesi and Michael dive into how AI is shaking up applications and why some grads are crushing it while others are stuck, Timbaland swapping out human artists for AI, and the future of adult content. Chapters00:27 Is It a Graduate Recession?11:29 Timbaland Debuts AI-Generated Artist TaTa24:59 OnlyFans on Sale for $8 Billion [Patreon-Only] Listen To The Episode You can find the Techish podcast on Spotify, Apple, and all good podcast apps. Watch On YouTube Extra Reading & Resources No
Renowned producer Timbaland has launched his own AI entertainment company, Stage Zero, with its first artist, TaTa. The company was co-founded with his creative partner, Zayd Portillo, and film producer Rocky Mudaliar, according to Rolling Stone. Timbaland will handle most of the production for this new artificial intelligence venture, calling the new genre “A-Pop.” “I’m not just producing tracks anymore,” Timbaland said in a statement. “I’m producing systems, stories, and stars from scratch. [TaTa] is not an avatar. She is not a character. TaTa is a living, learning, autonomous music
Workday will face a collective-action lawsuit alleging that its AI-powered hiring tools discriminate against workers age 40 and older. The lawsuit was filed in February 2023 by Derek Mobley, a Black, disabled man in his 40s, who claims that he applied for over 100 jobs without securing a role, as stated by ITPro. The Independent reported that another plaintiff, Jill Hughes, said that she received automated rejections for hundreds of job applications “often received within a few hours of applying or at odd times outside of business hours,” as stated by
Krisp has announced the launch of AI Accent Conversion for Latin America, making it the first AI-powered voice provider to offer accent conversion services in the region. The noise cancellation app supports five Latin American English accents that represent around 85% of Spanish speakers across the major dialect groups in Latin America. This includes Mexican and Central American Spanish, Caribbean Spanish, Andean Spanish, and Standard Spanish. “By supporting the most widely spoken Latin American English accents, we’re not just improving call clarity but helping to bridge cultural and linguistic gaps
Join our Patreon for extra-long episodes and ad-free content. This week on Techish, host Abadesi is joined by TechCrunch reporter Dominic-Madori Davis. They break down: AI blackmail, the violence that’s rocking the crypto world, and why being frugal matters, Lauren Sanchez marrying Jeff Bezos, and what big racism payouts mean for tech giants. Chapters 01:07 Anthropic’s AI Chatbot Blackmails Engineer07:15 The Violence That’s Got the Crypto Elite Shook16:23 Why Keke Palmer Lives Below Her Means27:35 Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos’s Upcoming Wedding36:40 Google Settles $50M Race Discrimination Lawsuit [Patreon-Only] Listen
Michael Feldstein developed an AI Learning Design Assistant (ALDA) as part of a broader project aimed at addressing the needs of educators with the aid of AI. The project included a course that used AI tools to transform online course creation and was sponsored by D2L, VitalSource, and Engageli. Feldstein was the chief accountability officer at e-Literate, a publication dedicated to explaining educational technology (edtech). Now, he serves as the Chief Strategy Officer at 1EdTech, a leading member of a nonprofit edtech partnership dedicated to transforming the digital learning landscape. ALDA
