AI Innovations, Legal Battles, and Market Dynamics: Today's Tech Pulse
Good morning from OWITH.ai, the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in the AI and tech world.Doppel, a cybersecurity startup founded in 2022 by Kevin Tian and Rahul Madduluri, has successfully raised $70 million in a Series C funding round, achieving a valuation exceeding $600 million. This latest investment, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from new and existing investors, comes just six months after their previous funding round. Doppel specializes in combating AI-powered social engineering attacks, using deepfake technology to simulate and expose vulnerabilities to enterprises. Their platform is particularly beneficial for training and testing companies against impersonation threats. Initially launched to help crypto firms with impersonation issues, Doppel soon expanded its focus due to the broader implications of deepfake technology. The company's tools demonstrate the potential risks posed by such technology, especially in real-time synchronous deepfake conversations, which have improved significantly in recent months. The mission is not to eradicate deepfakes entirely but to prevent their malicious use in social engineering attacks. Doppel's rapid growth is evident from a 400% increase in its enterprise customer base since 2024, serving numerous Fortune 500 companies. The Series C funding aims to fuel further engineering advancements, speed up operations, and expand the company's reach. Notable investors include CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, NTT Docomo Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and sports-associated entities like Aurum Partners and an investor group led by WNBA stars. Despite competition from companies like Bolster, ZeroFox, KnowBe4, and Netcraft, Elliott Robinson from Bessemer highlights that Doppel stands out with its focus on the evolving social engineering attack landscape beyond traditional email and domain-based threats. Customer service sectors are particularly vulnerable due to their operational nature of always being helpful and compliant with requests. Despite the challenges posed by AI advancements in deepfakes, Doppel aims to equip both human operators and AI models with the reasoning skills necessary to discern safe practices from potentially harmful ones. This approach underscores the idea that human intuition remains a critical component of cybersecurity defenses.In addition to Doppel's developments, various other startups have secured funding across different industries. Notable ventures include Lambda's $1.5 billion Series E for superintelligence cloud services, Venn's $52 million Series B for multifamily housing operating systems, and Maxima's $41 million for accounting automation AI platforms. These investments underline the ongoing innovation and financial backing within the tech startup ecosystem.Google has unveiled its Gemini 3, an advanced AI model touted as the company's most intelligent model yet. It is designed to excel in coding and reasoning and will be integrated into Google's search engine right from its launch. The release includes a Gemini agent for multi-step task completion, a redesigned app offering comprehensive answers, and a new software development platform called Antigravity. This launch is part of Google's substantial investment in AI, amounting to $85 billion this year, with plans for more in 2026.In legal news, a U.S. judge ruled that Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp did not breach antitrust laws. The Federal Trade Commission had accused Meta of monopolizing the social networking market. However, the court found that the FTC failed to prove Meta's ongoing monopoly power, noting increased competition from platforms like TikTok.MeanwhileSupport the showThanks for listening! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin
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