Customers of Indian crypto exchange WazirX unlikely to recover full funds

Customers of WazirX, the Indian cryptocurrency exchange that suffered a $234 million hack in July, are unlikely to recover their funds in full through the ongoing restructuring process, a company legal adviser said on Monday. George Gwee, a director at restructuring firm Kroll working with WazirX,

Validus, a Singapore-based digital SME lending platform, secures $50M debt financing to help enterprises in Indonesia

Validus, a Singapore-based digital lending platform for small and medium businesses, has secured $50 million in debt financing from HSBC under the ASEAN Growth Fund strategy. The company will use the proceeds to support the financial inclusion of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indo

Apple may ditch those old familiar USB-A ports in the new Mac mini

The Mac mini will be the next Apple device to say goodbye to USB-A, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple customers have probably gotten used to seeing the familiar, rectangular USB-A ports replaced with their thinner USB-C siblings. And while USB-C has its advantages, the transition can

Palantir's CTO, and 13th employee, has become a secret weapon for Valley defense tech startups

On August 5, Palantir's CTO Shyam Sankar stood in front of about 20 nervous new employees at the company's Washington, D.C., office and gave a speech you'd expect at a new hire meeting: company mission, Palantir's history, etc. But there was one part that would've seemed unfatho

‘Emotion AI’ may be the next trend for business software, and that could be problematic

As businesses experiment with embedding AI everywhere, one unexpected trend is companies turning to AI to help its many newfound bots better understand human emotion.  It's an area called “emotion AI,” according to PitchBook's new Enterprise Saas Emerging Tech Research rep

Why do so many home robots still suck?

“The Jetsons” debuted September 23, 1962. The first episode, titled “Rosey the Robot,” was an origin story of sorts for the titular character, describing how an overworked Jane hired the housekeeper. Sixty-two years after her debut, Rosey remains an important pop cultural touchstone

From InstaDeep to Paystack: Here are Africa’s biggest startup exits and how much they raised

Startups globally have faced challenges over the last couple of years when trying to exit, due to factors like a frozen IPO market and reduced attractiveness to buyers. In addition, large mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) deals have faced heightened regulatory scrutiny, particularly involving Big

Is OpenAI worth $100B?

OpenAI could reportedly increase its valuation to $100 billion. Nvidia and Apple are apparently in talks to contribute to the company’s next fundraising round, and Thrive Capital would lead the deal should it happen, according to The New York Times. OpenAI's annualized revenue reportedly

Amazon hires the founders of AI robotics startup Covariant

Amazon announced Friday evening that it has hired Covariant’s founders — Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan — along with “about a quarter” of the startup’s employees. It’s also signed a non-exclusive license to use Covariant's robotic foundation models. Earlier

Grammy CEO says music industry also has AI concerns

Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, caused a stir a few months ago.  He announced that the organization's prestigious Grammy Awards would finally accept music made with artificial intelligence. At first, people were confused, and then Mason came out to clarify that he meant on

AI brings a whole new dimension to the challenge of organizational transformation

Let's start with the premise that change is hard for everyone. It's even harder at scale for a large organization. As we've watched large organizations over the last 15 years try to embrace mobile, Big Data, the cloud and general digital transformation, we have seen many of them struggl

Watch out for these 10 hot startups from South Korea

The South Korean startup ecosystem has grown over the last decade as major tech firms and venture capital from the West has sought to make inroads in the country. No surprise there: South Korea has long been one of Asia’s strongest economies. Startups here have enjoyed good access to funding,

Investors are already valuing OpenAI at over $100B on the secondaries market

OpenAI is in talks to raise a new round of funding at an eye-popping $100 billion-plus valuation, sources told The Wall Street Journal this week. It turns out investors have already proven they are willing to value the company that high to get on OpenAI’s coveted cap table. Multiple companie

California's legislature just passed AI bill SB 1047; here's why some hope the governor won't sign it

Update: California’s Appropriations Committee passed SB 1047 with significant amendments that change the bill on Thursday, August 15. You can read about them here. Outside of sci-fi films, there’s no precedent for AI systems killing people or being used in massive cyberattacks. However