AI-assisted defense tech startup Anduril Industries is planning to raise at least $500M and up to $1B in a Series E round that could boost its pre-investment valuation to $7B+, according to The Information. Based in California, Anduril produces AI-powered software platforms, hardware for object and people detection, and interception drones, among other defense technologies. More: - Backed by investors such as PayPal's Peter Thiel, Anduril was started by Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey in 2017 after he sold Oculus to Facebook for $2B.
- In June 2021, the startup announced a $450M Series D funding round that Luckey said would go toward turning U.S. warfighters and allies into "invincible technomancers" that use autonomous systems.
- At the time, the company had a post-money valuation of $4.6B.
- In January, Anduril won its largest contract to date, a nearly $1B award to serve as a systems integrator partner for Special Operations Command's counter-drone efforts.
- Anduril's Lattice counter-drone system uses AI-enabled sentry towers to detect "hostile" drones in airspace and deploys its own drones to fight back.
- The autonomous technology relies on computer vision and machine learning.
THE INFORMATION 
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Meta AI said it's pursuing a long-term research project that will explore how the human brain processes text and speech to develop better AI language models. The initiative, announced today, is a collaboration between Meta and neuroimaging laboratory NeuroSpin and Inria, the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology. More: - According to Meta, the idea is to better understand how humans process language to gather insights and develop AI that can process and learn speech as efficiently as people.
- For example, the project could improve AI for tasks involving word anticipation, such as virtual assistants that can better predict the next word someone says in a sentence.
- Meta and its collaborators have done some research already, publishing two scientific papers on their findings:
- The first demonstrated that AI language models resemble human brain activity then the model is attempting to come up with the next word in a phrase.
- A second paper found that AI models could be improved by copying the way the brain anticipates words and ideas ahead of time.
Zoom-out: - For example, when fed the words “Once upon a…," an AI system could predict the next word as "time," but a human can also associate the phrase with ideas like plot narratives, making them several steps ahead of AI.
- By pushing algorithms to make predictions further ahead, you could potentially help them learn more efficiently, said Jean-Rémi King, Meta AI senior research scientist.
CNET
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Movable Ink, a provider of AI-powered content personalization software, announced $55M from a Series D funding round led by Silver Lake. Contour Ventures Partners, Intel Capital, and others also participated. Movable reported a pre-money valuation of $1.3B. More: - Movable's AI analyzes information such as site traffic, conversion data, and engagement with marketing content to decide the best content to display to an individual.
- Its AI is "adaptive and accounts for changes in a customer’s behavior" rather than using human labels, according to CEO and co-founder Vivek Sharma.
- The marketing software startup said it will invest in AI-driven products and expand its workforce from 550 people to 700+ by the end of 2022.
- In February, the company strengthened its AI stack with the purchase of Coherent Path, which uses AI to tailor email experiences.
Zoom-out: - Movable said it's achieved other milestones as of late:
- It surpassed $100M in annual recurring revenue.
- It expanded its client roster to include Public.com, MGM Resorts, The Los Angeles Times, Cirque du Soleil, Epic, and others.
- It has started an expansion in Europe, including in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
TECHCRUNCH
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The U.S. Department of Defense will shift control of Project Maven, the Pentagon's signature AI program, to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The NGA, which has already worked with the Pentagon on Maven since its 2017 launch, processes and analyzes satellite imagery and helps to map the Earth. More: - Project Maven is focused on using machine learning to process imagery and detect objects in drone footage. It's meant to help the military better identify targets and reduce decision-making time.
- The NGA will assume operational control of at least part of the AI program, NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert Sharp said this week.
- This will include responsibility for AI algorithms, labeled data, testing and evaluation, and the platform itself, Sharp said.
- The transfer is a part of President Biden's fiscal year 2023 budget request.
- The agency already uses AI and ML for geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, analysis at scale. It leads the Pentagon's GEOINT AI and ML efforts.
- “This move brings together two major DoD AI and ML efforts under one roof,” Sharp said, noting that it gives the NGA "millions of eyes to see the unseen."
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Conversational AI platform SoundHound AI has gone public following a merger with a blank-check firm. The deal with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co. values the voice AI platform at $2.1B. SoundHound is now listed as SOUN on the Nasdaq. More: - SoundHound is known for Houndify, a voice-enabled AI platform for conversational intelligence that helps companies integrate conversational voice assistants into their products.
- Its customers have included Snap, Hyundai Motor Co, Mercedes-Benz, and Mastercard.
- Houndify supports an automatic speech recognition (ASR) and natural language understanding (NLU) engine to converse and respond with intelligence.
- SoundHound also has an app that identifies songs based on humming or singing.
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🍋 FRESH FUNDING 🍋 - AI Medical Service (Tokyo, Japan), deep learning technology to develop endoscopic AI: $70M C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, participation from Globis Capital Partners, World Innovation Lab, Incubate Fund.
- Mendel (San Jose, Calif.), clinical AI/ML platform: $40M B led by Oak HC/FT, participation from DCM.
- Baseten (San Francisco, Calif.), general AI tech: $20M led by Greylock, South Park Commons Fund, participation also from the AI Fund, Caffeinated Capital, et al.
- Jarvis ML (Cupertino, Calif.), enterprise ML platform: $16M Seed led by Dell Technologies Capital.
- ThroughPut (Palo Alto, Calif.), supply chain AI: $6M from undisclosed sources.
For the latest on AI startup funding and more in the VC community, subscribe to our newsletter, Inside Venture Capital.
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- Baidu and Pony.ai received permits to begin offering robo-taxi rides to the public in Beijing.
- University of Texas at Austin researchers used AI to design an enzyme variant that's capable of breaking down PET plastic in under 24 hours.
- HPE introduced two developer tools — Swarm Learning and Machine Learning Development System — to improve AI model accuracy and address infrastructure burdens.
- Zest AI has partnered to bring its AI-lending software to members of the Kentucky Credit Union League and the Nebraska Credit Union League.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and analyst at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily tech news. Since starting work at Inside, she has covered various topics including virtual reality, drones, and e-commerce. Prior to that she was a public policy and investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, where she won a Pulitzer Prize nomination and First Amendment Award for reporting on the rising costs of pensions. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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