Mission Everywhere

Chandini Jain, CEO of Auquan. Auquan Auquan was founded in 2018 by Chandini Jain, a former analyst and derivatives trader. It launched an AI product in late 2023 that can automate research work usually done by analysts. It has since inked deals with UBS, Blue Owl Capital, and T. Rowe Price. The wave of fintechs building autonomous agents for finance firms designed to do the work of a junior analyst or banker is swelling. One such startup, Auquan, uses generative AI to automate the time-consuming but ubiquitous task of gathering and processing data and putting that information into a written template, like a due diligence report, an investment committee memo, or a pitch book. Demand for this kind of technology is heating up in the finance industry , which is often bogged down with manual processes around data management, processing, and analysis. Since launching in October 2023, Auquan has brought in close to $2 million in annual recurring revenue and secured UBS, T. Rowe Pri...

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian : WhatsApp says it disrupted a campaign in which 90 journalists and other members of civil society were targeted using spyware from Israel-based Paragon   —  Messaging app said it had ‘high confidence’ some users were targeted and ‘possibly compromised’ by Paragon Solutions spyware from Techmeme https://ift.tt/15Rpmxd

A passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The crash happened at 9 p.m. on January 29 over the Potomac River. Authorities say all passengers are believed to be dead and are investigating the collision. Read the original article on Business Insider from Business Insider https://ift.tt/YNbf0BS

Tom Warren / The Verge : Sources: Satya Nadella and Microsoft execs moved quickly to get engineers to test and deploy R1 on Azure and GitHub in 10 days, an unusually fast turnaround   —  Microsoft was ready for the next step in AI models.  —  Microsoft was ready for the next step in AI models. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/zXarZ8m

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : DataBank, which provides high-performance compute-ready data centers for enterprise clients, raised $250M from PE firm TJC and $600M in a secondary share offer   —  The data center market is booming, driven by AI demand.  Just last week, OpenAI said that it plans to team up with backers including SoftBank … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/0OtrvDC

Bloomberg : Sources: bankers trying to offload ~$3B in X debt claim X had $1.2B in adjusted EBITDA in 2024, roughly flat from before Elon Musk's buyout, a sign of recovery   —  Investors are starting to get their most complete look yet at the financial picture of social media platform X in the chaotic three years since its buyout by Elon Musk. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/zOCcujA

More often than ever, car owners can't afford their loans. Joe Raedle / Getty Images More car owners are upside down on their car loans than ever before. Price hikes during an inventory shortage four years ago are to blame. Dealers who remained disciplined on pricing are now digging customers out. Four years after a pandemic inventory crunch sent car prices to record highs, the number of drivers who can't afford their car loans is on the rise, worrying dealers who warn this will only compound a growing affordability problem in the market. The share of car owners with "negative equity" — meaning they owe much more on their loan than the car is worth — was hovering around 24% at the end of 2024, according to data from car shopping website Edmunds. That's up significantly from around 18.5% in 2023. The amount these customers are "underwater" on their loans is also on the rise, a concerning data point for dealers and car companies looking to stok...

Nick Khan and Dana White have helped TKO find success in recent years. ABC/Getty Images and Jeff Bottari/Getty Images WWE and UFC have been surging in popularity. Their growth has helped owner TKO grow its media rights, sponsorship, and live events businesses. The company plans to expand its international events business and more to build on the momentum. The owner of Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment is going for a technical knockout. TKO Holdings' combat sports are surging in popularity after boosting content output and pursuing new high-profile distribution deals. WWE kicked off this month a $5 billion, 10-year deal with Netflix to stream its "Monday Night Raw." The debut drew 4.9 million views globally — including more in the US viewers than the program averaged on cable TV last year — and viewership has stayed strong in the early weeks. UFC, meanwhile, has become a content factory. According to an analysis by influencer-m...

Dario Amodei : DeepSeek makes US export controls to China even more important, and DeepSeek-V3 is not a unique breakthrough but an expected point on a cost reduction curve   —  A few weeks ago I made the case for stronger US export controls on chips to China.  Since then DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/4w0Xp29

The author and her wife took a trip with their moms and love it. Courtesy of the author I traveled with my spouse, my mother, and my mother-in-law. We flew from Delaware to San Francisco; it was the best vacation ever. The trip was special because our moms were there with us. Many people think vacationing with one's mother-in-law sounds like a nightmare. Then add your own mother into the mix, and it's usually a recipe for disaster. However, flying across the country, from Delaware to San Francisco , with my spouse, mother-in-law, and mother was the best vacation I've ever taken, and it had little to do with the Golden Gate City. Don't get me wrong, San Francisco was amazing, and the trip down the coast was breathtaking. But the oohing and ahhing from the backseat as our mothers took it all in made the trip so special. I had time to explore alone with my mom Two of my favorite moments from our vacation were visiting Alcatraz Island and driving down (litera...

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch : Valencia-based Quibim, which is developing foundational AI models for medical imaging, raised a $50M Series A co-led by Asabys and Buenavista   —  Quibim, a Spanish startup that's developing foundational AI models for medical imaging spanning oncology, immunology, neurology, and metabolic disorders … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/EXg21T7

A report compiled by Management Consulted found starting salaries in consulting have remained stagnant for two years. Thomas Barwick/Getty Images Consultant starting salaries have remained flat since 2023, a new report found. Management Consulted found salaries were largely stagnant at boutique, MBB, and Big Four firms. The industry has been impacted recently by slowing demand and AI-fueled productivity increases. Starting salaries for consultants at both top firms and boutique consultancies largely remained flat for the second year in a row, according to a new report from Management Consulted, a company that provides online resources and career coaching to professionals trying to land jobs in consulting. The report found that starting pay has remained stagnant since 2023 as the consulting industry reels from a slowdown in demand for services, despite some recent signs of improvement. Previously, annual increases of 5 to 10% were standard for the industry, according to Mana...

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : DeepSeek debuts a family of multimodal, MIT-licensed open-source models including Janus-Pro-7B, which it claims beats OpenAI's DALL-E 3 in GenEval and DPG-Bench   —  DeepSeek, the viral AI company, has released a new set of multimodal AI models that it claims can outperform OpenAI's DALL-E 3. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/VI6xZLb

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more Jayden Daniels of the Washington Commanders during a 2024 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Kara Durrette/Getty Images We're just weeks away from the Super Bowl, and the lineup will be decided by this weekend's Conference Championships. First up is the NFC Championship, and we'll show you where to watch the Commanders vs. Eagles at home. The Washington Commanders head to Philadelphia to square off with the Eagles. It's the Washington team's first Conference Championship appearance since 1991. A few weeks ago, this might have been considered a cut-and-dried Eagles game, but the Commanders' recent playoff success has proven the once down-on-its-luck team to be a real contender for the Super Bowl. The Eagles and the Commanders had good seasons, dominating the NFC East in first and second, respectively. The Eagles went 14-3 in the regular season, while the Comman...

Hall of Impossible Dreams : A look at the growing prevalence of LLM-written posts that have been backdated and attributed to human authors on Physics Forums, which was founded in 2001   —  What Internet Will Look Like in the Future  —  cripes does anybody remember Google People  —  Does anybody remember PhysicsForums? from Techmeme https://ift.tt/8hpywCG

The author is a firefighter in Washington state. Courtesy of Robert French After dropping out of college, I worked for AmeriCorps and then became a firefighter in Washington. I often fight wildfires, which can be grueling; I sometimes have little food and terrible shelter. Although it's a difficult job, I'm glad I can help save people's lives and homes. Last year, I fought wildfires on a fire engine with the Washington Department of Natural Resources. I worked in the Washington Methow Valley district, and whenever there was a wildfire in that area, they sent me and my fellow firefighters out to deal with it. While the conditions are sometimes grueling, I'm glad I could help out communities in some way. I took this job because it's where my expertise was I dropped out of college during the pandemic because I felt that college was not preparing me for real life or developing me into an adult. From there, I joined AmeriCorps and worked a couple of seaso...

Caiwei Chen / MIT Technology Review : Rather than weakening China's AI capabilities, US sanctions appear to be driving startups like DeepSeek to innovate by prioritizing efficiency and collaboration   —  The AI community is abuzz over DeepSeek R1, a new open-source reasoning model.  —  The model was developed by the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/bnAJ3xL

New York Times : Some crypto executives worry Trump's memecoin undercut the industry's credibility at the very moment crypto is seeking a prominent place in mainstream finance   —  The president's promotion of a speculative digital coin left some crypto investors feeling blindsided, while others saw it as a gimmick … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/A0nYdtr

Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal : Zuckerberg says Meta is building an AI engineer that will “start contributing increasing amounts of code to our R&D efforts” and is planning a 2GW+ data center   —  Social-media giant to spend between $60 billion and $65 billion, Zuckerberg says from Techmeme https://ift.tt/f4YOCG7

Reuters : Sources: ByteDance has earmarked over $20.6B in capital expenditure for 2025, with about half of the amount on AI-related infrastructure outside China   —  ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has earmarked over 150 billion yuan ($20.64 billion) in capital expenditure for this year … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/IF2NMyX

Samsung on YouTube : A livestream of Samsung Galaxy Unpacked January 2025   —  #GalaxyUnpacked is now LIVE.  Join us.  #GalaxyAI #SamsungWatch our ASL stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/QhhG6Q- XWFMTo view the YouTube streams on a deskto... from Techmeme https://ift.tt/fgz5mhL

Cherlynn Low / Engadget : A live blog of Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025, where Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S25 lineup, new Galaxy AI features, and more   —  We're expecting the first major Android flagships of the year in the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra.  —  The start of Samsung's Samsung Unpacked event … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/1zSmlai

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : Sam Altman denies Musk's Stargate claim that “they don't” have the money, adding “what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies”   —  Billionaire Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are fighting on X about Stargate, the enormous infrastructure project … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ub8j9ye

New York Times : Antenna estimates Netflix drove 650K+ new US subscribers in the days surrounding the NFL games, and the Paul-Tyson fight drove 1.43M US subscription sign-ups   —  Jake Paul fighting Mike Tyson, the NFL on Christmas Day and a Super Bowl-level Beyoncé performance turned out to be great for Netflix's business. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/fVaoirI

Tulsi Gabbard disclosed more than $1.2 million in income from a book advance, paid speeches, and media contributor fees. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images When Tulsi Gabbard left her job as a Democratic congresswoman in 2021, she wasn't that rich. Now a MAGA celebrity, Gabbard has raked in more than $1.2 million in the last year. That includes a $297,000 book advance, $170,130 in speaking fees, and $199,500 from Fox News. When Tulsi Gabbard departed Congress four years ago, she was not particularly wealthy. Still a member of the Democratic Party and just over a year after the end of her bid for that party's presidential nomination , Gabbard filed a financial disclosure in May 2021 that listed a modest checking account, a handful of investments, and a home mortgage of at least $500,000. Her annual salary over the course of her eight-year tenure, as with all other rank-and-file House members, was $174,000. Four years and a political transformation later, Gabbard's pers...

Max Goldbart / Deadline : Parrot Analytics estimates Severance season 1 earned $200M+, with ~50% coming in the year following the finale; Ted Lasso generated $609.4M from Q3'20 to Q3'24   —  Parrot came to these figures via its Content Valuation methodology, which uses a formula to correlate audience demand with subscribers and therefore revenue. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/QGNeFLn