LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman leads $30M investment in social petition site Change.org, joined by Bill GatesLinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is leading a $30 million investment round in the social petition site Change.org, and he is joined by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Sam Altman, president of startup accelerator Y Combinator. Change was founded in 2007, and Hoffman wrote in a post on LinkedIn that Change has close to 200 million users who have helped delivered 21,000 “victories,” instances of a government organization or business making a change due to a petition. [ Geek Wire ] Google has reportedly launched a new AI-focused venture capital programGoogle has launched a new venture capital program focused on artificial intelligence, Axios is reporting. Google declined to comment on the report, which states that the initiative will be led by longtime Google VP of engineering Anna Patterson and involve a rotating cast of engineers instead of the venture investors who work for Alphabet Inc.’s corporate venture unit, GV. It isn’t completely surprising that Google might create an investing practice around AI, particularly given Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s recent pronouncement that Google is becoming “AI first” rather than “mobile first.” [ Tech Crunch ] E735: #AskJason: Failing after prod-mkt fit, consumer app VC, patents, b-corps fundable?, focusThe tech industry is dominated by 5 big companies — here’s how each makes its moneyFood Delivery Startup Sprig Shutting Down ImmediatelyOn-demand food startup Sprig is making its final deliveries today, the company revealed in an email to customers. “It is with a heavy heart that my co-founders and I share that Sprig, Inc. will be shutting down the app today,” Sprig CEO Gagan Biyani wrote. “We apologize to those of you who relied on Sprig for daily meals, and to our extended Sprig team for how this will impact them.” [ SF.Eater] Apple Is Working on a Dedicated Chip to Power AI on Devices
Apple Inc. got an early start in artificial intelligence software with the 2011 introduction of Siri, a tool that lets users operate their smartphones with voice commands. Now the electronics giant is bringing artificial intelligence to chips. Apple is working on a processor devoted specifically to AI-related tasks, according to a person familiar with the matter. [ Bloomberg ] Equity podcast: The largest tech fund in history, and where are the IPOs?SHEWORX100: THREE PILLARS TO SCALING SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES“The SheWorx100 Summit was not ambiguous and awkward like other investor + startup events. The goal was clear: streamline access to capital and company growth for female founders” - Katherine Kuzmeskas, Founder & CEO, SimplyVital Health. EpiSoft helps doctors manage patients with chronic illnesses and gather research dataAsthma, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, mental health conditions: these are all illnesses classified as “prominent chronic conditions” according to Australia’s Department of Health. Data from the last National Health Survey found such conditions touch 1 in every 2 Australians – that’s half of the population suffering from at least one prominent chronic condition. [ Startup Daily ] On this day 22 years ago, Bill Gates wrote his legendary “Internet Tidal Wave” memoIn the spring of 1995, thanks to the rapid commercialization of the world wide web, the world was on the cusp of the internet era—a shift with profound implications for Microsoft, the company that dominated PC software. Its cofounder and CEO Bill Gates responded with a five-alarm internal memo, "The Internet Tidal Wave," that gave "the highest level of importance" to responding to this challenge in the most sweeping, ambitious manner possible.. [ FastCompany ] Read Mark Zuckerberg’s full commencement address at HarvardA Silicon Valley technical women’s group has cut ties with Uber, citing ‘continuing allegations’ about the treatment of female employeesThe Anita Borg Institute has told Uber that it was ending its partnership, due to “continuing allegations that Uber faces about the treatment of women employees as well as other business issues.” In a letter obtained by Recode that was sent to Uber’s CTO Thuan Pham and its head of human resources, Liane Hornsey, the Silicon Valley group — which focuses, in part, on getting more women into technical roles at companies — added that “we believe that with Uber's current internal focus you are unable to take full advantage of the programs and resources that ABI offers.” [ Re/Code ] Fun Friday: Cavs Warriors |