Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

Artificial intelligence is the buzzword in today's times and more and more companies are investing in the AI space. While there are big players like Nvidia, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple, other companies are also hopping on the bandwagon. <keyword id="20128940" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Salesforce" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Salesforce" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Salesforce">Salesforce</keyword>, the cloud-based software giant, is also a part of the <keyword id="21041186" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-race" source="keywords">AI race</keyword>. According to a report in Reuters, the company recently announced its plans to <keyword id="20312439" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="acquire" source="keywords">acquire</keyword> <keyword id="23031429" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tenyx" source="keywords">Tenyx</keyword>, a <keyword id="19913824" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup" source="keywords">startup</keyword> that specialises in artificial intelligence-powered voice agents. The acquisition, for which the financial terms have not been disclosed, is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year. Upon completion, Tenyx’s co-founders, Chief Executive Officer Itamar Arel and Chief Technology Officer Adam Earle, along with their team, will be integrated into Salesforce. Founded in 2022 and based in California, Tenyx has carved a niche for itself by providing AI voice solutions across various industries, including e-commerce, healthcare, hospitality, and travel. The startup’s innovative approach has made it a valuable asset for Salesforce as the company seeks to strengthen its AI-driven offerings. This acquisition represents a significant step in Salesforce’s broader strategy to enhance its technological capabilities and reignite revenue growth. The move comes after a period of scrutiny from activist investors, which led Salesforce to announce last year its intention to double share buybacks and step back from its aggressive acquisition strategy. At that time, Salesforce had even disbanded its mergers and acquisitions committee, signalling a shift in focus. However, the acquisition of Tenyx indicates that Salesforce is now revisiting strategic acquisitions as a means to accelerate growth. The acquisition also mirrors recent moves by other major technology companies as they compete for AI talent and tools. Earlier this year, Microsoft acquired the AI startup Inflection for $650 million, while <keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amazon" source="keywords">Amazon</keyword> bolstered its AI capabilities by hiring co-founders and key employees from another AI startup, Adept, in June. These deals underscore the intensifying competition within the tech industry to secure a foothold in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence. Salesforce’s decision to pursue this acquisition comes on the heels of a strong financial performance in the second quarter, where the company surpassed Wall Street’s expectations for both revenue and profit. The growth was primarily driven by increased expenditure on Salesforce’s enterprise cloud products, highlighting the ongoing demand for robust cloud solutions. As Salesforce integrates Tenyx into its operations, the company is likely to leverage Tenyx’s expertise to further refine its AI-driven services, potentially leading to new product developments and enhanced customer experiences. The acquisition also signals Salesforce’s recognition of the growing importance of AI in the future of enterprise technology. With AI increasingly becoming a cornerstone of business operations across industries, Salesforce’s investment in Tenyx positions it well to remain competitive in a market where innovation and advanced technological capabilities are key to long-term success.

Salesforce joins the AI race, announces plans to acquire AI startup Tenyx

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The tech industry is anticipating an upswing thanks to Trump's election this week.</li><li>VCs expect possible deregulation to boost innovation, with Musk potentially influencing government policies.</li></ul>Some venture capitalists <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-trump-return-startups-venture-capital-2024-11">expect US President Donald Trump</a> to dial back regulation, potentially making it easier to develop new technologies and do business in Silicon Valley. Many of these hopes are pinned on Elon Musk's involvement in the new administration."The most exciting thing of all will be putting Elon in charge of government efficiency," Ben Narasin, founder and general partner of Tenacity Venture Capital, told BI of the election outcome. "He's going to take a chainsaw through calcified butter, and it's going to be awesome to attack the bloat and overreach that we've had in the government."Trump is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-could-be-donald-trump-advisor-wsj-reports-2024-5">reportedly considering Musk</a> for White House roles, including ones that would audit various federal programs and organizations.Musk, in turn, has proposed creating a "Department of Government Efficiency" — cheekily nicknamed DOGE, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-elon-musk-love-affair-dogecoin-2022-7">a nod to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin</a> — that he said would remove dealmaking regulations that have slowed M&amp;A in the tech sector in recent years.While many in Silicon Valley dislike Trump, many VCs and startup founders crave more freedom to pursue riskier new technologies unburdened by regulation. In short, tech is stoked about this."Trump-Vance ticket is the first unabashedly pro-tech presidency in our Nation's history," said Augustus Doricko, CEO and founder of cloud seeding startup Rainmaker. He expects an onslaught of tech innovation during the Trump administration.In conversations with more than a dozen VCs and Silicon Valley executives following the election, many have echoed this sentiment — including those who supported Kamala Harris in the election."With a major push to remove unnecessary red tape and over-regulation in key areas, we could really have a century of crazy building, innovation, and acceleration," Aaron Levie, the CEO of cloud company Box and a Harris supporter, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://twitter.com/levie/status/1854237056287060266">posted on X Wednesday. </a>"Excited for Elon's efforts here."Mark Pincus, an early Facebook investor and the founder of Zynga, responded on X, "Effective accelerationism! E-acc," referring to the recent Silicon Valley movement that wants <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/effective-accelerationism-humans-replaced-by-ai-2023-12">technological advancements in AI</a> to move as fast as possible, without any guardrails.<h2 id="04af9d99-2642-43c3-875c-92cb63b01ca9">Regulation has held Silicon Valley back in recent years</h2>VCs during Biden's presidency have complained about how tough it's been to get deals done. The outgoing administration was an antitrust enforcer and put many tech mergers and acquisitions on hold that it deemed anti-competitive. This is particularly galling for VCs because they rely on selling startups in M&amp;A deals for many of their exits and returns.Limits on tech M&amp;A have "caused the rate of venture capital return of distributed proceeds to fall drastically, making new capital formation near impossible," said Louis Lehot, a top tech lawyer at law firm Foley &amp; Lardner. Silicon Valley is looking for a relaxation in the government's stance here "to enable exits and new capital formation, which is the cycle of innovation," he added.For example, regulatory pressure had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-23/google-s-aborted-deals-for-wiz-hubspot-show-antitrust-s-shadow-over-tech">dampened deal-making at Google</a>, with the tech giant abandoning two potential purchases this year, including cybersecurity startup Wiz, which would have been one of the tech giant's biggest-ever acquisitions.The US also opened antitrust investigations into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-acquihire-deal-inflection-ai-antitrust-probe-us-regulators-competition-2024-6">Microsoft</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-backs-justice-department-nvidia-antitrust-investigation-2024-9">Nvidia</a> earlier this year over their dominance in the hot AI space. The Federal Trade Commission is probing Microsoft's aqui-hire of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-hired-inflection-team-amid-board-concerns-about-openai-2024-3">Inflection AI,</a> and the Department of Justice is investigating Nvidia's acquisition of Israeli AI startup Run:ai.While some lawmakers say that allowing a few companies to influence the majority of AI research, development, and monetization poses an economic risk, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-vcs-in-silicon-valley-2024-7">many VCs have cried foul and accused FTC commissioner Lina Khan</a> — who has frequently sued to block mergers — of an anti-business bent and say it's tricked down to closing fewer startups deals, too.Investors were also critical of what they call <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocurrency-bitcoin-influence-election-trump-harris-2024-10">unclear rules for cryptocurrency under the Biden regulation</a>. Many VCs and founders in the space donated to Trump and other Republican candidates, which they consider more favorable toward crypto technologies and markets.VCs are now hopeful that Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-presidency-affect-big-tech-2024-11">could roll back</a> some antitrust and crypto policies that a Harris administration may have continued, although nothing is certain about the new administration's approach.Trump's running mate and former VC JD Vance has <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4491363-vance-biden-ftc-chief-is-doing-a-pretty-good-job/">publicly said</a> that Khan is "doing a pretty good job," referring to her antitrust enforcement for Big Tech companies. At the end of Trump's first term, regulators under his administration launched antitrust investigations into Big Tech companies, including Amazon; and filed antitrust lawsuits against Google and Meta."At a high level, we expect Trump to cut corporate taxes and regulations, helping startup M&amp;A and investment," said Mason Angel, general partner at Industrious Ventures. "We may see new acquisition efforts by big tech with a new FTC director."Musk's influence could also help slim down the government's involvement in tech deals, these VCs told BI."Elon is a positive force who's had to run multiple companies that are heavily regulated, so he has a realistic view; since he's lived it, he can be influential," Narasin said of Musk's track record of building Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. "He's pro-startup, pro-business, pro-everything that will help the US population. A good, healthy economy is good for everybody."<h2 id="a31623cb-2e54-4906-802e-37c294e98064">VCs anticipate an innovation boom</h2>America is a country of entrepreneurs, and that's especially true in Silicon Valley. Some VCs and founders say that having an entrepreneur like Musk influencing the Trump administration and potentially wiping away regulations will bring prosperity to the industry.Indeed, <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-trade-us-presidential-election-dollar-treasuries-stocks-crypto-djt-2024-11">the stock market responded exuberantly</a> to Trump's decisive win on Tuesday night, which could eventually be a boon to venture firms seeking investments. Limited partners such as pensions and endowments have been choosier recently thanks to high interest rates and few exit options for startups. But their return to funding venture firms would, in turn, mean that more founders are building and getting funded."I would like to see the President given the power to unilaterally remove, or at least streamline, regulations around major projects or economic areas that will make it possible to actually build new things," tech blogger Ben Thompson <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://stratechery.com/2024/president-trump-take-two-big-tech-little-tech-chips-and-hardware-elon-musks-triumph/">wrote after the election.</a> "There needs to be a way to cut through all of the red tape that has accumulated.""I think the next four years will be imbued with aspirational mega-projects and visionary initiatives without precedent," Rainmaker's Doricko said. "New cities. Lunar and Martian colonization. Free electricity. Weather control."Angel, whose VC firm invests in the space, industrial, and defense sectors, says that those industries will experience strong growth."Trump created the Space Force in 2019, and his close relationship with Elon Musk will bring renewed attention and government investment into the field," Industrious Ventures' Angel said. "Same goes for the US industrial and defense bases."As various sectors within the tech industry ebb and flow, VCs say they're optimistic about the idea of having one of their own helping to call the shots at the federal level."Elon's going to be an enormously positive monster who delivers a cleaned up, slimmed down, pro-business government, and there will be prosperity for everybody," Narasin said.

Silicon Valley is betting a Musk-inspired Trump could unleash a startup boom

<keyword id="6355629" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="google" source="Orion">Google</keyword> on Tuesday announced its <keyword id="14193636" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups-accelerator-programme" source="Orion">startups accelerator programme</keyword> that will nurture about 20 startups led by women founders in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>. The programme is aimed to help women founders address challenges that are unique to their experience, including fundraising, hiring and many others. The inaugural batch of Google for <keyword id="8826137" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups-Accelerator" source="Orion">Startups Accelerator</keyword> - India Women Founders programme will accept up to 20 women-founded/ co-founded startups in India, including startups at the minimum viable product stage, and support them through a three-month programme. The programme will place special focus on areas like access to networks, access to capital, hiring challenges, mentorship and many others which, for a variety of social reasons and low representation, prove challenging for female founders. In addition to these, the curriculum will include workshops and support around AI/ML, Cloud, UX, android, web, product strategy and growth, as well as provide access to a global community of women founders. India is the world's third largest startup capital, trailing only the US and China. It boasts over a 100 unicorns with 22 getting added to the list just in 2022, spanning verticals such as e-commerce, healthtech, fintech and many others. However, only 15 per cent of these <keyword id="3357129" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-unicorns" source="Orion">Indian unicorns</keyword> have one or more women founders. "The new programme is part of a larger effort by Google towards improving the representation of women across different sections of India's digitally-trained workforce, be it entrepreneurship, professionals looking to upskill or young graduates seeking a head start on their career, with the ultimate objective of making technology universally relevant and helpful," the tech giant wrote in a blogpost. The applications for the programme are open till July 10, it added. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/mukesh-ambani-and-disney-to-get-into-an-intense-bidding-war-for-another-ipl-package-heres-why-it-matters/articleshow/92203554.cms">Mukesh Ambani and Disney to get into an intense bidding war for another IPL package – here’s why it matters</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/elon-musk-lost-as-much-as-mukesh-ambanis-total-wealth-in-2022/articleshow/92203221.cms">Elon Musk lost as much as Mukesh Ambani's total wealth in 2022</a>

Google to launch accelerator programme for women entrepreneurs in India

<ul class="summary-list"><li>AI startups have raked in over $35 billion in 2024, but many have inflated valuations.</li><li>VCs say that capital-intensive startups struggling to generate revenue are raising flat or down rounds.</li></ul>Down rounds and flat rounds for VC-backed startups have <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/vc-startup-down-rounds-decade-high">hit an all-time high</a> this year since 2014.And AI startups, which have been the darlings of the tech ecosystem since late 2022, aren't exempt from the trend.Case in point: buzzy startup Inflection AI raised $1.3 billion at a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/29/inflection-ai-lands-1-3b-investment-to-build-more-personal-ai/">$4 billion valuation</a> in 2023. When Microsoft paid $650 million to license Inflection AI's software earlier this year — and simultaneously hired key figures from the startup — the price tag fell short of the unicorn valuation the AI upstart had initially commanded.The Big Tech giant stopped short of officially acquiring Inflection AI, but that didn't stop the UK's competition regulator describing the acquihire as a "relevant merger situation." The deal was seen by some investors as an omen for a wider phenomenon in the AI ecosystem — an impending wave of flat rounds and down rounds."In light of the current hype surrounding the sector, we've observed early signs that the AI market may be overheating, with the increase in flat rounds, down rounds, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wave-ai-acquisitions-deals-who-could-get-bought-2024-5">acquihires</a> being indicative of the challenges ahead," Andreas Riegler, general partner at APEX Ventures, told Business Insider.AI startups raked in nearly $50 billion globally from VCs in 2023, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://news.crunchbase.com/ai/hot-startups-2023-openai-anthropic-forecast-2024/">per Crunchbase.</a> However, investor optimism appears to be fading in 2024. Startups are struggling to raise at the lofty valuations they did after the advent of ChatGPT-3, so many are looking at alternative funding arrangements.As growth slows, a spate of AI juggernauts have recently cut their valuations or entered acquihire arrangements that significantly slash how much they are worth. Jasper AI <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=d1540641a96b861283a8871d546a563e19e1c7e96e641adbf8c07bcd25acc706&amp;postID=66c889fb7d61a86c1873a0d6&amp;postSlug=ai-down-rounds-rise-valuations-investors-2024-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theinformation.com%2Farticles%2Fjasper-an-early-generative-ai-winner-cuts-internal-valuation-as-growth-slows">slashed its internal valuation</a> in 2023 as growth stymied, while the founding teams of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-hires-characterai-cofounders-licenses-its-models-information-reports-2024-08-02/">Character.ai</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/28/amazon-hires-founders-away-from-ai-startup-adept/">Adept</a> were absorbed by Google and Amazon, respectively."Investors went crazy for AI startups with zero revenue, at higher valuations, which will be an issue," said Umesh Padval, managing director at Thomvest Ventures. "Acquihires like Inflection.ai, Adept, and Character.AI will accelerate in the next 12 months, and these startups will have to face the music," he said."If they could be acquired for an equal amount of the last round, it's great, but it's not happening," he added. "The fact that they're selling means they're not growing otherwise."<h2 id="4f4e55ed-41da-4a23-a651-52483bc00bdb">Down rounds are on the rise</h2>In 2022, 90.2% of AI startups in the US raised up rounds, while 6.5% raised down rounds, according to PitchBook data. In 2024, the number of startups raising up rounds dipped to 81.1% — and down rounds rose to 11.4%.In 2021, the multiples in the market were at an all-time high. By 2023, startups that raised at inflated valuations could no longer justify the price tag — so had to resort to flat rounds, Padval said. Now, the AI ecosystem is in for a similar reckoning.Many startups entering these arrangements are strapped for cash because they focus on building foundational models, a capital-intensive process."A lot of them hired really expensive engineers to try to solve this problem," a London-based investor who was not authorized to speak on the record told Business Insider. "They also spend a lot of money trying to train these datasets, and what they realized is that now they're running out cash without any sort of traction to prove — so they've burnt a lot of money."The key problem is that these AI startups operate like typical software companies, "with the caveat that the infrastructure serving the customer was more expensive than before, so margins were lower," said Francesco Ricciuti, a deep tech VC at Runa Capital."Those that torch VC's money to chase growth will crash mid-flight. They will die just like the quick commerce startups," he added.<h2 id="e39c7c04-5af1-4e16-9514-c8a1902af4f7">Secondaries are becoming an attractive option</h2>Some VCs are reticent to back AI startups at the same lofty valuations they commanded in 2023 — so companies are thinking of inventive ways to raise capital."Startups aren't going out publicly and raising a flat round — but many are opting for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secondary-sales-startup-employees-are-pushing-companies-for-liquidity-2023-2">secondaries</a> as a means to do this," the London-based investor told BI.Secondary share sales have had a renewed importance in the last few years. Because of the scramble for AI talent, startups are starting to hire people with the promise of giving secondary sales to employees as a perk, Padval said."They're doing this to retain them — it's not a typical phenomenon, it's an AI phenomenon," he added.

AI startups should brace for a wave of down rounds, investors say. Here's how it might play out. 

The rise of <keyword id="19904566" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Artificial-Intelligence" source="keywords">Artificial Intelligence</keyword> (<keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI" source="Orion">AI</keyword>) has ignited a mix of fascination and anxiety worldwide. The amazement is often centred on AI's transformative potential, while the apprehension tends to focus on the spectre of AI usurping human jobs. Although AI taking over jobs still seems like a far-off prospect, the real and present danger is humans leveraging AI against each other in the job market. Now, fresh insights from Microsoft and LinkedIn have confirmed this, revealing that individuals who don’t acquire <keyword id="20958400" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-skills" source="keywords">AI skills</keyword> risk losing <keyword id="19899522" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="career-opportunities" source="keywords">career opportunities</keyword> to those who do. This research, which surveyed over 30,000 individuals across 31 countries, highlights a striking trend: nearly 70% of leaders now prioritise AI proficiency over experience in hiring decisions. Essentially, they are more inclined to choose a candidate with AI knowledge over a seasoned professional lacking such skills. “Learning basic AI skills — such as prompt engineering, machine learning or data literacy — is the best insurance to shortcut your competitiveness against people who might have more experience,” Aneesh Raman, a vice president and workforce expert at LinkedIn, told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/18/ai-skills-can-help-you-land-a-job-or-promotion-faster-says-new-research-.html">CNBC Make It</a>. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gen Z's AI advantage: Outpacing experience with cutting-edge skills" comment="subhead" text="Gen Z's AI advantage: Outpacing experience with cutting-edge skills"><keyword id="159493" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gen-Z" source="Orion">Gen Z</keyword>'s AI advantage: Outpacing experience with cutting-edge skills</cmsannotation> With the growing emphasis on AI skills in hiring, younger candidates with AI acumen are likely to have a competitive edge over their more seasoned counterparts, potentially fast-tracking their rise within organisations. Gen Z, the digital native generation, is more prone to incorporating these AI tools at work compared to millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers. Moreover, 77% of leaders are inclined to grant early-career professionals with AI expertise more significant responsibilities at work, the findings from Microsoft and LinkedIn reveal. In fact, Lydia Logan, IBM’s Vice President of Global Education and Workforce Development, predicts that the swift adoption of AI in the workplace will notably transform entry-level job duties. Raman notes that AI can also propel <keyword id="20687191" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="young-professionals" source="keywords">young professionals</keyword>’ careers by offering rapid access to personalised career guidance, market analysis and other data-driven insights, boosting their confidence and proficiency in their roles. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Hype around AI only just starting to build" comment="subhead" text="Hype around AI only just starting to build">Hype around AI only just starting to build</cmsannotation> Colette Stallbaumer, general manager of Microsoft Copilot and co-founder of Microsoft WorkLab, has insisted that the hype around AI is far from reaching its peak. In fact, it is only just starting to gain momentum. The report by Microsoft and LinkedIn adds that the adoption of generative AI tools has surged in workplaces, doubling over the past six months. This trend isn't limited to programmers and engineers; professionals across various fields such as architecture, project management and administration are increasingly seeking to build their AI aptitude as well. Even industries traditionally outside of tech, such as healthcare, finance and marketing, are swiftly integrating AI technologies to streamline operations and bolster productivity. This rapid adoption is creating a surge in demand for professionals proficient in AI tools, opening up new <keyword id="19970109" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="job-opportunities" source="keywords">job opportunities</keyword>. Stallbaumer notes: “Less than two years after generative AI burst onto the scene, we’re seeing this technology being woven into the fabric of work across a wide range of industries. This is happening at a pivotal time where the pressure, volume and pace of work from the COVID-19 pandemic has hardly let up. Employees are overwhelmed and turning to AI for help.” Some tech giants like Google and Amazon are also investing in training their workforce in AI skills, although this proactive approach remains an exception rather than the norm. Only a quarter of companies surveyed by Microsoft and LinkedIn have plans to provide training on generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. As more professionals embrace AI tools to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in their roles, the journey towards integrating AI into everyday work practices appears to be accelerating. This promises a transformation—one that will bring fresh opportunities as well as renewed challenges.

AI skills could help professionals seize more job opportunities, accelerate Gen Z careers: Microsoft-LinkedIn report

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cloud-optimization-aws-microsoft-google-ceos-2024-2">Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet</a>'s first-quarter earnings surpassed Wall Street's estimates. </li><li>Execs credit some of the gains to their AI efforts, which they say have helped boost cloud revenue. </li></ul>Some of the biggest tech companies are spending big on artificial intelligence, which appears to be boding well for their cloud businesses.Over the past two weeks, the major cloud providers Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet have reported quarterly earnings that exceeded Wall Street's expectations. That appears to be partly because their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-alphabet-quarterly-earnings-profits-ai-investment-payoff-2024-4">investments in AI</a> have bolstered revenue in their cloud divisions, which are made up of data servers that customers use to power and train their AI models. Amazon, Microsoft, and <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-today-google-alphabet-microsoft-earnings-ai-chatgpt-futures-2024-4">Alphabet's shares</a> also climbed after earnings were reported, evidence that doubling down on their AI strategies seems to be paying off."AI contributed to an acceleration of growth at those companies' cloud businesses," Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson Companies, told Business Insider regarding Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet. "These three hyperscalers are seeing significant customer demand and are investing to meet that demand."Take <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-job-cuts-aws-roles-cloud-computing-division-aws-2024-4">Amazon Web Services</a>, the e-commerce giant's cloud segment, which reeled in net sales of $25 billion in its first quarter— a 17% increase compared with last year during the same period, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-stock-amzn-quarterly-earnings-call-report-live-updates-2024-4">Amazon's latest earnings</a>.Part of that growth, Amazon execs say, has come from its latest AI efforts. Last September, Amazon unveiled Bedrock, a suite of large language models that AWS customers can fine-tune for their business needs. Two months later, Amazon released Q, its generative-AI assistant, to select users; as of this week, it's generally available to AWS customers. On top of that, the tech giant has bet billions on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-ai-company-amazon-betting-billions-on-anthropic-2024-3">Anthropic</a>, the startup behind the AI chatbot Claude."We see considerable momentum on the AI front where we've accumulated a multibillion-dollar revenue run rate already," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on the company's latest investors call. AWS is now seeing a $100 billion annual run rate, according to its earnings.AWS's competitors are in the same boat. Microsoft Cloud generated <a target="_blank" href="https://news.microsoft.com/2024/04/25/microsoft-cloud-strength-fuels-third-quarter-results-3/">$35.1 billion</a> in revenue — up 23% year over year — that CEO Satya Nadella credits partly to investments in AI tools such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ai-copilot-future-openai-2024-3">Copilot</a>. He said in the company's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=00e8b3523ad0e7a82bac1175bca6b5f076bcf92f51bb4f5884e68d7217c28834&amp;postID=66325878a7714381cef0adc6&amp;postSlug=ai-is-paying-off-for-some-major-cloud-providers-2024-5&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us%2FInvestor%2Fearnings%2FFY-2024-Q3%2Fpress-release-webcast%3Focid%3DFY24_soc_omc_br_li_Earnings">earnings release</a> that Copilot was "orchestrating a new era of AI transformation" and was "driving business outcomes across every role and industry.""The number of Azure AI customers continues to grow, and average spend continues to increase," Nadella said on Microsoft's first-quarter earnings call.Similarly, Google Cloud reported sales of <a target="_blank" href="https://abc.xyz/assets/91/b3/3f9213d14ce3ae27e1038e01a0e0/2024q1-alphabet-earnings-release-pdf.pdf">$9.6 billion</a> — a 28% jump from last year during the same timeframe, according to Alphabet's latest earnings. Ruth Porat, Alphabet's chief financial officer, said on the most recent investor call that the numbers reflected "an increasing contribution from AI." After all, Google Cloud now comes with generative-AI services through <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-gemini-explainer-ai-model-2023-9">Gemini</a>, a family of large language models the search giant launched in December that competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT.Still, critics may wonder whether these tech giants' gains will be short-lived, as some business leaders question whether the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-leaders-worry-that-their-industry-is-based-on-hype-2024-4">AI industry is overhyped</a>. The research firm Capital Economics predicted in late April that the so-called <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-bubble-crash-2026-artificial-intelligence-ai-interest-rates-2024-4">AI-fueled stock-market bubble</a> would burst in 2026 as higher interest rates and inflation weighed down equity valuations.But Luria, the D.A. Davidson Companies analyst, said he didn't think that was likely to happen."While some stocks may be getting ahead of themselves, AI is very much real and not hype," he told BI.The cloud providers seem to agree that AI isn't going anywhere. Amazon's Jassy detailed a plan in his annual letter to shareholders in April on how Amazon would make AI its next big focus. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sundar-pichai-google-wartime-general-alphabet-ai-battle-earnings-2024-4">Google CEO Sundar Pichai</a> said on Alphabet's latest earnings call that the company was well "positioned for the next wave of AI innovation and the opportunity ahead." Microsoft recently announced it was investing $1.7 billion into expanding <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/microsoft-announces-1-7-bln-investment-to-advance-indonesia-s-cloud-and-ai-ambitions-1033308624">cloud services and AI across Indonesia</a> over the next four years.While the biggest players in tech may still be at the beginning of their generative-AI journeys, some execs remain optimistic that the gains from AI will continue to be critical to their growth — at least for now."It's still relatively early days in generative AI and, more broadly, the cloud space, and we see sizable opportunity for growth," Jassy said.Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet didn't immediately return requests for comment from BI before publication.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet are doubling down on AI for the cloud &mdash; and it seems to be paying off

<ul><li><keyword id="6354743" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amazon-india" source="Orion">Amazon India</keyword> on Friday confirmed the acquisition of <keyword id="4994766" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="glowroad" source="Orion">GlowRoad</keyword>, a women-focused <keyword id="623994" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-commerce" source="Orion">social commerce</keyword> company.</li><li>Several media reports suggest that GlowRoad was valued at $75 million in this deal.</li><li><keyword id="18635" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword> believes that the move will help the company achieve its goal to digitise 10 million businesses by 2025.</li></ul>Amazon India on Friday confirmed the acquisition of GlowRoad, a women-focused social commerce company. This is the first investment ecommerce giant Amazon has made to grow its social commerce vertical in India. Though the transactional details of the acquisition have not been revealed, several media reports suggested that GlowRoad was valued at $75 million in this deal. TechCrunch and Economic Times<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/amazon-acquires-reseller-platform-glowroad-to-bolster-social-commerce-ambitions/articleshow/90987418.cms?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=update&amp;ncode=84f1fd2cbcf57e646c4069c0e7654a795cdef8eacdf35ffc12176d234712e5a50eb7dce5cc8faf0dd69e01b8210009d59aff80b374da1320677d663dcc32d94d8f2bad7f26e87c038f3aa21855862ce3"> reports </a>also suggested that Amazon acquired the company in an all-cash deal. Amazon believes that the move will help the company achieve its goal to digitise 10 million businesses by 2025. “Amazon continues to explore new ways to digitise India and delight customers, micro- entrepreneurs and sellers and bringing GlowRoad onboard is a key step in this direction. Together with GlowRoad, Amazon will help accelerate entrepreneurship among millions of creators, homemakers, students, and small sellers from across the country. This acquisition will complement GlowRoad’s already loved service with Amazon’s technology, infrastructure, and digital payments capabilities, bringing more efficiency and cost-saving for everyone,” Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider. GlowRoad was founded in 2017 by Sonal Verma, Kunal Sinha, Nitesh Pant, Shekhar Sahu and Nilesh Padariya. The founders of the company, cumulatively, held close to 50% shareholdings in the company. Founders Verma and Sinha owned a relatively larger chunk among the other founders. The company has raised over $31 million to date, from marquee investors like Korea Investment Partners, Vertex Ventures, CDH Investments and RB Investments. Accel is the largest shareholder in the company, with nearly 19% stake, according to business intelligence platform Tracxn. The five-year-old startup raised its last round in November 2020, when it raised $7 million. GlowRoad is a social commerce network, which enables suppliers to sell their products to end customers through resellers across more than 20,000 pincodes in 2,000 cities. The company focuses on Tier II and III markets through resellers, who are typically housewives, temporary workers or students. According to the company’s website, a reseller can make up to ₹20,000 per month if they sell close to 100 products a month. It claims to have over 6 million resellers on the platform. The company competes with DealShare, CityMall and YouTube-owned SimSim. Meesho too was in the segment, but the company changed its business model to a full-fledged ecommerce platform. SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sustainability/article/by-commuting-less-heres-how-employees-and-companies-contribute-to-global-climate-change-and-sustainability-goals/articleshow/90994259.cms" style="">By commuting less, here’s how employees and companies contribute to global climate change and sustainability goals </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/hcl-tech-paytm-nestle-tvs-motor-among-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-april-22/slidelist/90992626.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">HCL Tech, Paytm, Nestle, TVS Motor among stocks to watch out for on April 22</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oneplus-new-upcoming-phone-in-india-oneplus-10r-5g/articleshow/90994523.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Here's what the upcoming OnePlus 10R 5G will look like</a>

Amazon acquires its first social commerce startup in India

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> is launching a Black Business Accelerator that includes education and mentorship for founders. </li><li>The company says it's aiming to "help build sustainable equity and growth" for Black businesses.</li><li>Black founders only receive about 1% of all <keyword id="6357097" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Venture-Capital">venture capital</keyword> funding, studies show. </li></ul><a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/small-business/amazon-commits-150-million-to-empower-black-entrepreneurs">Amazon</a> announced Tuesday that it is launching an initiative known as the Black Business Accelerator. The company says it's committing $150 million over the next four years to give Black business owners access to "financial support, business education and mentorship, and marketing and promotion of their brands and products as third-party sellers in our store."This new initiative was created in partnership with Amazon's Black Employee Network, the US Minority Business Development Agency, and the U.S Black Chamber. The company says it's aiming to "help build sustainable equity and growth" for Black businesses. "Black entrepreneurs have less access to capital, mentorship, and growth opportunities. They are also significantly underrepresented in retail," Amazon said. "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 6% of U.S. retail businesses have a Black owner-even though Black Americans represent 14% of the U.S. adult population."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-funding-for-diverse-female-founders-tripled-they-only-get-tiny-percent-all-funding-2021-2">Only 1% of Black founders seeking venture capital</a> actually receive funding, according to <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/06/a-vcs-guide-to-investing-in-black-founders">the Harvard Business Review.</a> The publication says the low numbers due to venture capital investors being largely white and not "good at recognizing and developing Black entrepreneurs." Insider previously reported that only 4% of people working as venture capitalists are Black, and the number of Black people leading investments is only 3%, according to <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/campaigns/us/audit/survey/diversity-venture-capital-human-capital-survey-dashboard.html">the National Venture Capital Association.</a>"As the fastest-growing category of small businesses, Black-owned businesses are significant contributors to the economic vitality of U.S. communities," Joann Hill, head of business development for the MBDA, said in a press release. "We are proud to partner with Amazon on its Black Business Accelerator to support the growth and global competitiveness of Black-owned businesses."Google announced its own initiative back in March, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-launches-2-million-scheme-for-black-founders-in-europe-2021-3">pledging $2 million to fund Black tech startup founders</a> in Europe. "Selling on Amazon unlocks a powerful and proven economic engine that enables entrepreneurs to build their brands and sell their products to our more than 300 million global customers," Amazon said. "We know that customers value the wide selection and diversity of products offered by these businesses, and we are excited to see the offerings these new sellers will bring."Are you a Black entrepreneur or founder? We want to hear about your experience. Get in touch with this reporter at amayo@insider.com"

You Searched For "Amazons startup accelerator programme" and got 8 results

Salesforce joins the AI race, announces plans to acquire AI startup Tenyx

Divyanshi Sharma

Silicon Valley is betting a Musk-inspired Trump could unleash a startup boom

Samantha Stokes,Riddhi Kanetk…

Google to launch accelerator programme for women entrepreneurs in India

IANS

AI startups should brace for a wave of down rounds, investors say. Here's how it might play out.

Riddhi Kanetkar

AI skills could help professionals seize more job opportunities, accelerate Gen Z careers: Microsoft-LinkedIn report

Kunal Kambli

Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet are doubling down on AI for the cloud and it seems to be paying off

Aaron Mok

Amazon acquires its first social commerce startup in India

Kritti Bhalla

Amazon is launching a startup accelerator for Black entrepreneurs that could help fix one of the biggest problems in venture capital

Aleeya Mayo

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides