Enterprise Weekly #433: Open Sourcing Llama, Enterprise Adoption of GenAI, and More
Today, we’re talking about 🦙
That’s right. Meta just introduced a new large language model (LLM) - Llama 2.
What’s game changing is that Llama 2 is open-source, and free for research and commercial use. While the race to build the strongest LLMs has historically been a closed-sourced competition, many believe “the open sourcing of Llama 2 will shake up the entire LLM market” and unleash the true power of the models onto builders/developers, allowing organizations to more effectively build generative AI powered tools and experiences.
What’s surprising is that Microsoft is a major partner in the project, making Llama 2 available through their Azure platform. Reminder: Microsoft invested $13B in competitor and ChatGPT parent company, OpenAI. So why would Microsoft bet against its own? Apparently, it’s due to their “commitment to democratizing AI and its benefits,” but also in helping define “Windows as the best place for developers to build AI experiences tailored for their customers.” Makes sense.
On the enterprise front, we’ve seen a lot of hesitation in adopting generative AI. In addition to the usual cost, complexity, and resource constraints, we’ve been hearing that executives are in a state of analysis paralysis. They fear the space is changing at too rapid of a pace to keep up with and could render their investments obsolete in just a matter of days. With over 335 generative AI startups out there, 51% are Series A or earlier, highlighting the early-stage nature of the space and that winners are still yet to be determined. Luckily, Llama 2 gives enterprises a less risky and cheaper opportunity to build vs. buy as the market continues to mature.
🍻 Join more events:
August 1st: Arthur’s AI Tinkerers NYC Inaugural Meetup
August 2nd: Work-Bench Next Gen API Experience Meetup Ft. Merge & Speakeasy
August 3rd: Work-Bench Lights On: DevOps Happy Hour
All Summer Long: Work-Bench Infrasummer
📚 Read more news:
Business Insider: Silicon Valley’s Entire Business Model Is A Scam
Business Insider: Goldman Sachs' Q2 Earnings Bombed. Here Are 5 Numbers That Best Explain What Went Wrong and Where the Company is Headed.
Forbes: AI Startup Hugging Face Is Raising Fresh VC Funds At $4B Valuation
WSJ: It’s Not All About ChatGPT. Less Flashy Business Software Draws Investors Too.
📚 Read more (th)reads:
Company: Spring Health
Role: General Manager
Technology: Mental Healthcare
Funding: $371M from Work-Bench, Northzone, Rethink, Kinnevik, Tiger Global
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Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Cambridge, MA
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Prospective raises $6M led by Point72 Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • New York, NY
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Leverage raises $7M led by Chicago Ventures
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Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Sunnyvale, CA
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Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • New York, NY
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Infrastructure / Developer Tool • Venture • Los Angeles, CA
Wing Cloud raises $20M led by Battery Ventures, Grove Ventures and StageOne Ventures
Infrastructure / Developer Tool • Seed • Tel Aviv, Israel
Unstructured raises $25M led by Madrona
Data / Ai / Machine Learning • Series A • Sacramento, CA
Runway raises $27.5M led by Initialized Capital
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Hammerspace raises $56.7M led by Prosperity7 Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • San Mateo, CA
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Lambda Labs raises $300M led by Nvidia
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Venture • San Francisco, CA