Welcome to The Flowlie Times.
AI features launched on Flowlie
We integrated generative AI features into Flowlie. To start, we are giving founders a way to enhance their company description to improve fundraising odds. In the future, we will introduce AI-powered deck feedback, ensuring a cutting-edge and dynamic experience for founders.
Articles we enjoyed:
1️⃣ Wendy's has introduced Wendy’s FreshAI, a generative AI platform developed in partnership with Google Cloud to enhance the drive-thru experience. The platform, tested in Columbus, Ohio, uses generative AI to handle casual conversations and menu customizations, allowing for real-time adaptation. Benefits include increased speed of service, with a test site showing service times 22 seconds faster than the market average, and a success rate of nearly 99% in accurately handling orders without human intervention during the pilot phase. Wendy's plans to expand FreshAI to more locations in the U.S., offering opportunities for franchisee pilots in 2024 and exploring integration with various channels beyond drive-thrus.
2️⃣ Venture capital is characterized by a constant state of anticipation, waiting for news on deals, founder ventures, and big exits. Amidst the immediacy of pitches and portfolio crises, important, silent processes are often overlooked. Decoding silence is crucial—no news from thriving portfolio companies can be positive, while it might signal trouble for struggling ones:
3️⃣ Microsoft Bing has introduced Deep Search, a new feature powered by GPT-4. Deep Search aims to provide more relevant and comprehensive answers to complex search queries by understanding search intent. The feature then goes deeper into the web, using various querying techniques to find results that may not appear in typical search results. Currently, it is available as an experimental feature for randomly selected small groups of users on Bing worldwide.
4️⃣ Google launches Gemini, the AI model it hopes will take down GPT-4
Podcast highlight
Kaia Parv, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of CrediLinq, joins Vlad Cazacu, co-founder and CEO of Flowlie, to discuss their recent $8.1M Seed and Seed Extension raise and the unique challenges of raising capital for both a technology startup as well as a private credit fund.
Venture announcements that caught our eye:
1️⃣ Paris-based startup Mistral AI has closed its Series A funding round, securing €385 million at a valuation of around $2 billion. Specializing in generative artificial intelligence, Mistral AI released its Mistral 7B model in September and plans to monetize foundational models through a beta developer platform. The funding was led by Andreessen Horowitz.
2️⃣ French procurement software startup Pivot has secured $21.6 million in a Series A funding round, just months after a $5.3 million pre-seed round in April. The company, offering a modern spend management solution, integrates with existing financial stacks and ERPs, simplifying purchase order workflows with a no-code interface.
3️⃣ Automated identity access management vendor Opal Security has raised $22 million in a Series B round led by Battery Ventures. The company plans to use it to double its team, scale customer support, and enhance product development. Opal aims to address challenges in access management with its suite, offering companies a consolidated view and control of employee access, with a focus on analytics and AI features to prevent identity-based threats.
Have a great week,
Mike from Flowlie