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Vibe-coding startups are tripling valuations, deeptech is pulling in billions, and AI is quietly swallowing entire categories — from doorbells to sports broadcasts. This isn’t random; it’s software collapsing layers and dragging value up the stack. Which brings us to chat. OpenAI just turned ChatGPT into a platform, launching an app store where music, food, and tools run without downloads or onboarding. This is the WeChat-for-AI moment: no home screen, no installs, just prompts.
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Seven bullets of updates
🤑 Vibe coding startup’s valuation triples to $6.6B just five months after its last round with a fresh $330M raise.
👐 YC-backed Givefront raises $2M to help nonprofits modernize payments and boost donor engagement.
🌎 Remote jobs now make up 15% of all work worldwide, proving flexible work is reshaping hiring for good.
🥑 Estonian biotech lands €1.2M to scale up fermentation-made fats for the food industry, aiming for a greener future.
📹 Ring doorbells can now ID visitors by uniform and objects, using new AI-driven video descriptions.
⚡ Trump Media inks $6B deal to expand into fusion energy, aiming to power next-gen data centers during the AI surge.
🧬 European deeptech startups snagged €2.5B in H1, showing serious momentum for advanced tech solutions.
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Self-driving tech is coming for sports broadcasts
Photo by Chris Chow on Unsplash
Peripheral Labs just raised $3.6M in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures with a simple idea: bring self-driving car tech to sports broadcasts.
Instead of relying on 100+ cameras, their system uses about 32 cameras and advanced perception software to track players in 3D, capturing movement and biomechanics from every angle.
If it works, broadcasters spend less, coaches get deeper motion insights, and fans can watch plays from any angle they want. The team is now talking with North American leagues, competing with companies like Arcturus, and hiring to make the tech faster, cheaper, and sharper.
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The REAL Cost of Letting ChatGPT Think
Is ChatGPT quietly rewiring your brain? 🧠 MIT researchers found that relying on AI can shrink critical thinking, memory, and even your ability to recall your own ideas. In this video, we break down the science, show what’s happening inside your head, and share how to use AI as a tool—without outsourcing your brain.
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A growth calculator that lets you forecast the impact of your ARPU (average revenue per user) and Churn Rate on the long-term potential of your subscription business.
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OpenAI just turned chat into a platform
OpenAI has opened an app store inside chat, where users can do things like play music, order food, or run tools without leaving the conversation. For developers, this means building interactive mini-apps that live entirely inside the chat window.
The strategy is familiar: WeChat, but for AI. There’s no app to download and no account setup—users just type a prompt and they’re in. Distribution becomes instant, and chat becomes the default place where work, shopping, and entertainment happen.
That creates a big opportunity. Expect a rush of chat-native apps, from e-commerce to internal ops tools, all designed around conversation instead of buttons and screens.
The tradeoff is platform risk. OpenAI is still figuring out how developers make money, likely through digital goods, and the rules around ranking, fees, and access will evolve. The reach is massive—but developers are betting on someone else’s ecosystem.