AI Productivity Platform Kindo Raises $7 Million in Funding


Payment giant Block announces laying off nearly half its employees. The CEO claims AI improves efficiency and reduces the need for human labor, but employees dispute this, believing the role of AI is exaggerated.
Embodied intelligence company StarMap has completed a 1 billion RMB Series B funding round, led by Jinting Capital and other existing shareholders. The company has raised nearly 3 billion RMB in total, with a valuation exceeding 10 billion, becoming the fourth 10-billion RMB valuation embodied intelligence company in China. StarMap was founded in September 2023, adopting an "integrated system + intelligence" development model.
Waymo completed $16 billion in funding, with a valuation of $126 billion. As an autonomous driving company under Alphabet, its services are already operating in cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Miami, and it has partnered with Uber to expand its business.
Shanghai Step Star completed a B+ round funding of over 5 billion yuan, setting a new record for the largest single investment in the large model sector in the country in the past year. This round was participated by multiple top-tier industry investment institutions, indicating that the competition in domestic large models has entered a new stage with increased capital and talent investment.
The AI research platform Manifold AI (Manifold Space), jointly established by Tsinghua University, Uber, and Manifold AI, has recently completed a pre-A round funding exceeding 100 million yuan. The platform focuses on supporting scientific research, especially in the debugging of machine learning models. Its core functions include scientific research support, data management, analysis collaboration tools, etc., aiming to promote innovation and development in the fields of scientific research and machine learning.