AI Funding, Political Criticism, and Beauty Brand Success: The Latest in Tech and Business News from OWITH.ai
Good morning from OWITH.ai: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in AI and tech world. FAL, a generative media platform for developers, raised a $49 million Series B funding round led by Notable Capital in February 2025. The company, founded by Burkay Gur and Gorkem Yurtseven, focuses on providing developers with the platform and expertise to use generative AI models for image and video generation. With over 50 enterprise clients and a community of over one million indie developers experimenting with the platform, FAL has experienced rapid growth. The potential for generative media is vast, expected to represent a multitrillion-dollar opportunity in the next decade. Operating in a competitive market alongside platforms like Runway and Synthesia, FAL differentiates itself by working across both open and closed source models. The company plans to expand its GPU fleet significantly in 2025 as they believe it will be a defining year for generative media.JD Vance, the U.S. Vice President, recently spoke at the AI Action Summit in Paris, criticizing the EU's Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act as overly restrictive. He warned about the dangers of Chinese tech and authoritarian regimes using technology to infiltrate and seize information infrastructure. In other news, Thomson Reuters won a copyright ruling against an AI startup for unauthorized use of content to build an AI platform. Workday introduced AI agents to handle digital tasks and roles within businesses, emphasizing that they will coexist with human workers. Apple partnered with Alibaba for AI features in China, CATL filed for a Hong Kong IPO, DoorDash beat revenue expectations, and Anduril secured a deal to produce goggles for the U.S. Army. Google I/O is set for May, Shopify shut down a fraudulent store selling swastika tees, and Meta is in talks to acquire FuriosaAI.E.L.F. Beauty CEO Tarang Amin discussed the company's success with Gen-Z and millennial consumers by focusing on building the brand online through platforms like TikTok and Twitch. Amin highlighted the diversity within the company's team and successful marketing campaigns addressing gender inequality on corporate boards. In other news, President Trump is pressuring Ukraine for a deal involving rare earth minerals, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell dismisses the possibility of Trump firing Fed board members. Elon Musk defends his Doge group's work in checking government spending, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reveals that Musk's bid to acquire OpenAI was rejected.Hyperscalers are increasing their AI capex spending, with companies like Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft planning to invest up to $320 billion in AI technologies in 2025. This increase in spending on datacenters and AI compute is accelerating the AI landscape. The Pragmatic Optimist newsletter has relaunched with a focus on helping investors navigate the evolving AI ecosystem and identifying long-term investment opportunities. Providing industry research posts, subscriber chats, and access to the portfolio for paid subscribers, the newsletter offers valuable insights for investors at an annual rate of $80 until the end of March. With analysts boasting a 71% success rate and an average return of 29% per rating, it is a valuable resource for investors.Thanks for listening! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin