Enterprise Weekly #502: AI Feuds, NYC Pre-Seed GTM Summit, and More
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Happy Valentine’s Day to our readers – all of whom share a mutual love: enterprise software 🤓💛
The AI feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has escalated this week when Musk made an unsolicited $97.4B offer to buy OpenAI.
With OpenAI’s growth skyrocketing and reports surfacing of a $40B raise from SoftBank (a $15B increase than discussed just last week) at a $300B valuation, Altman was quick, confident…and possibly self-motivated(?)...to turn down the bid.
What many may forget is that Musk actually co-founded OpenAI in 2015, leaving in 2019. He now runs xAI, a competing AI startup. Since then, he has sued OpenAI a few times, claiming it abandoned its nonprofit mission. However, in a letter to employees on Monday, Altman wrote: “Our structure exists to ensure that no individual can take control of OpenAI…Elon runs a competitive AI company, and his actions are not about OpenAI’s mission or values.” One thing remains clear here: OpenAI’s governance continues to be under relentless scrutiny, especially as its influence on the AI world continues to grow.
On the Work-Bench front, we’re excited to announce our NYC Pre-Seed GTM Summit 🚀 coming up on March 12th! Led by our trusted sales and marketing advisors – Kiran Narsu and Ryan Narod – it’s designed to arm Pre-Seed enterprise, SaaS, and Infra founders with the exact sales and marketing playbooks needed to land customers and scale fast. No fluff. No theory. Just battle-tested tactics.
📚 Read more news:
Business Insider: AI Execs At Big Consulting Firms Share Their Favorite Prompts and How They Use the Technology
Crunchbase: Adapting The IPO Roadmap For Today’s Market
TechBrew: Why AI Models Might Seem to Perform Worse Over Time
The Information: Anthropic Projects Soaring Growth to $34.5B in 2027 Revenue
📚 Read more (th)reads:
Company: AuthZed
Role: Sr. Site Reliability Engineer
Technology: Managed Permissions Database
Funding: $15.9M from Work-Bench, General Catalyst, Amplify Partners, Y Combinator
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
Index raises $2.2M led by Bain Capital Ventures and Blackbird Ventures
Collaboration / Productivity • Seed • Sydney, Australia
Co-Founders: Simon Kubica (CEO), Christian Iacullo (CTO)
Gaia Dynamics raises $1.5M led by AI Fund and Zenda VC
Future of Work • Pre-Seed • Miami, FL
Noxus raises $1.5M led by SFC Capital
Collaboration / Productivity • Pre-Seed • London, UK
Future AGI raises $1.6M led by Powerhouse Ventures and Snow Leopard Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Pre-Seed • San Francisco, CA
Factor House raises $5M led by Blackbird Ventures
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Seed • Melbourne, Australia
&AI raises $6.5M led by First Round Capital
Future of Work • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Pinkfish AI raises $7.6M led by Norwest Venture Partners
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Pre-Seed • San Francisco, CA
Nirmata raises $9.6M led by Peak XV Surge
Risk / Security • Venture • San Jose, CA
Lingopal.ai raises $14M led by DCM Ventures
Future of Work • Series A • New York, NY
Plain raises $15M led by Battery Ventures
Sales / Marketing • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Suger raises $15M led by Threshold Ventures
Sales / Marketing • Series A • San Francisco, CA
ConverzAI raises $16M led by Menlo Ventures
HR Tech • Series A • Seattle, WA
Comulate raises $20M led by BOND and Workday Ventures
Future of Work • Series B • San Francisco, CA
Lucidity raises $21M led by WestBridge Capital
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series A • New York, NY
Positron raises $23.5M led by Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and Others
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Reno, NV
Antithesis raises $30M led by Amplify Partners
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Venture • Vienna, VA
Moderne raises $30M led by Acrew Capital
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series B • Miami, FL
SGNL raises $30M led by Brightmind Partners
Risk / Security • Series A • Palo Alto, CA
Voyantis raises $41M led by Intel Capital
Sales / Marketing • Venture • Tel Aviv, Israel
SpotDraft raises $54M led by Vertex Growth Singapore and Trident Partners
Future of Work • Series B • New York, NY
Sardine raises $70M led by Activant Capital
Risk / Security • Series C • San Francisco, CA
Tines raises $125M led by Goldman Sachs Growth
Risk / Security • Series C • Dublin, Ireland
Drata acquires SafeBase for an Undisclosed Amount
Risk / Security • Acquisition • San Francisco, CA
DataRobot acquires Agnostiq for an Undisclosed Amount
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Acquisition • Toronto, Canada
SailPoint raises $1.38B in its IPO
Risk / Security • IPO • Austin, TX
Harness acquires Traceable for an Undisclosed Amount
Risk / Security • Acquisition • San Francisco, CA