Welcome to Monday’s Newsletter

In today’s scoop 🍨 

• 📊 The AI Revolution Hitting "Boring" Businesses

• 🌟 DeepSeek: The Underdog Shaking Up Silicon Valley

• 🎙️ ElevenLabs Turns Up the Volume with $250M in Funding

• 🔧 3 Trending AI Tools

📊 The AI Revolution Hitting "Boring" Businesses

Move over, cutting-edge tech—artificial intelligence has set its sights on the underdogs of the business world. Forget metaverse goggles and brain implants; the new playground for venture capitalists and private equity firms is as unsexy as it gets: accounting, property management, and HR services.

Why? Because AI is giving these "boring" businesses a major glow-up. It’s like that cliché makeover scene in every high school movie—only this time, it’s accountants ditching spreadsheets for AI-powered tools. Let’s break it down:

🎉 VC + PE + AI = Profit Party

• 📂 Rolling Up, But Make It AI: The roll-up strategy—once reserved for car washes and HVAC companies—is now being used to consolidate small businesses, like accounting firms, under one umbrella. AI makes them scalable and more profitable by automating tedious tasks.

• 💰 Big Bucks, Big Moves: Companies like Long Lake Management have raised over $600M in just 13 months. They've acquired a dozen companies and introduced AI tools to streamline operations—like generating presentations for homeowners associations.

• ⚙️ Double the Work, Same Team: General Catalyst-backed startups are turning traditional services into efficiency machines. Their goal? Equip accountants and HR pros to handle 2-3x the workload without burning out.

🔄 The Domino Effect

The excitement isn’t just for accounting. Legal services, insurance, and even customer support are next on AI’s radar. With VCs and PE firms pouring billions into these industries, the question isn’t if but when they’ll transform.

💭 Food for Thought

While we marvel at AI’s makeover magic, it begs the question: What’s next? Will AI revolutionize industries we haven’t even considered yet? Could it tackle areas like elder care or even public transportation?

The moral of the story? Never underestimate the "boring" businesses. They might just be the new frontier for innovation.

🌟 DeepSeek: The Underdog Shaking Up Silicon Valley

Look out, ChatGPT—there’s a new AI in town, and it’s making waves. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, sent shockwaves through the tech world with its R1 reasoning model which it released last week, leaving everyone from investors to chip manufacturers scrambling.

🚀 The Breakthrough

DeepSeek’s R1 model isn’t just another chatbot. It matches or even beats OpenAI’s flagship models in several benchmarks, like MMLU for general knowledge and AlpacaEval 2.0 for Q&A. But here’s the kicker:

• 💵 Training Cost: DeepSeek claims R1 cost just $5.6 million to train—pennies compared to OpenAI’s hundreds of millions.

• 🔓 Open Source: Unlike its American rivals, DeepSeek’s models are open-source, meaning anyone can inspect and improve the software.

• ⚡ Efficiency: DeepSeek managed this feat using Nvidia’s H800 chips, a less advanced (and sanctioned) hardware, forcing innovation.

💨 The Reaction

DeepSeek’s disruptive debut has everyone talking:

• Marc Andreessen called it “AI’s Sputnik moment.”

• Meta’s Yann LeCun praised the open-source approach, saying it’s pushing the industry forward.

• Meanwhile, Curai CEO Neal Khosla took to social media to claim it’s all a “state psyop”—a claim dismissed as baseless by many.

🚒 Market Turmoil

DeepSeek didn’t just rattle competitors; it shook global markets:

• 📈 Nvidia shares dropped 7%.

• 📊 Nasdaq futures fell 2.6%.

• 🚗 Even AI-focused companies like SoftBank saw steep declines.

The implications? If a $6 million budget can produce results rivaling billion-dollar models, tech giants may need to rethink their capital expenditures.

🌎 Global Implications

DeepSeek’s ascent raises big questions:

• 🚫 U.S. Export Sanctions: Are they actually slowing China’s AI progress? DeepSeek’s innovation suggests otherwise.

• 🌐 AI Accessibility: Its low-cost model could democratize AI development globally.

⚠️ The Catch

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows. DeepSeek’s chatbot censors sensitive topics like Tiananmen Square and Xi Jinping, and its cloud infrastructure recently faced a major outage due to surging demand. Still, for a startup barely a year old, it’s punching far above its weight.

🔑 Takeaway

DeepSeek isn’t just challenging AI heavyweights; it’s redefining what’s possible with fewer resources. Whether it’s a game-changer or just another chapter in the AI arms race, one thing’s clear: DeepSeek has everyone talking.

Will it inspire a new wave of innovation, or is it the start of a high-tech turf war? 

🎙️ ElevenLabs Turns Up the Volume with $250M in Funding

Big news in the world of synthetic voices! ElevenLabs, the New York-based AI startup known for its cutting-edge voice cloning and dubbing technology, just hit the jackpot. The company closed a massive $250 million Series C funding round, led by ICONIQ Growth, bringing its valuation to $3 billion.

🛠️ What Does ElevenLabs Do?

Founded in 2022 by Polish childhood friends Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski, ElevenLabs is revolutionizing how we think about synthetic audio. Here’s the lowdown:

• 🎤 Voice Cloning: It takes just one minute of audio to create a basic voice clone, or 30 minutes for a pro-level replica.

• 🌍 Multilingual Mastery: Their tech can translate voices into 24+ languages, complete with regional accents and original tone intact. Think movie dubbing but way cooler.

• 📖 Broad Applications: From creating audiobooks and narrating movies to synthesizing voices for gaming, ElevenLabs’ tools are making waves everywhere.

🚀 Why the Big Bucks?

Investors are throwing cash at ElevenLabs for good reason. The company’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) soared from $25 million in 2023 to a projected $90 million by late 2024. At a valuation multiple of 37x ARR, ElevenLabs is playing in the big leagues.

Notable customers include heavyweights like:

• 📰 The Washington Post

• 📚 HarperCollins

• 🎮 Gaming developers like Paradox Interactive & AMGI Studios

With competitors like Google and OpenAI in the mix, ElevenLabs is proving it can hold its own.

😬 Not Without Controversy

The company has faced backlash over the misuse of its voice cloning tech, including allegations of creating fake news and unauthorized voice recreations. To address these issues, ElevenLabs has implemented detection tools and safeguards.

One recent drama involved the late French actor Alain Dorval’s voice being cloned for a movie. His family called foul on the project, accusing the company of breaking prior agreements. ElevenLabs insists they’re working to resolve the situation.

🔑 Takeaway

With this hefty funding round, ElevenLabs is cementing its place as a leader in generative AI for audio. Whether you're listening to an audiobook or watching a dubbed film, chances are ElevenLabs’ tech might be behind it. Love it or hate it, they’re changing the way we hear the world. What do you think—game-changer or a Pandora’s box of ethical dilemmas? Let us know!

🔧3 Trending AI Tools

• 🌐 ChatGPT Operator - Agent that performs web tasks autonomously using its own browser, enabling actions like typing, clicking, and scrolling on your behalf. (Use a VPN if you are in Europe)

• 📱 Wepost - AI-powered tool that streamlines social media workflows by automating content creation, publishing, and analytics, letting you focus on growing your brand.

• 💻 Lovable + Builder.io - AI-powered plugin that transforms Figma designs into pixel-perfect, full-stack applications, enabling rapid prototypes or production-ready apps with custom backends.

🌟 That’s a wrap for Monday!

Did today’s newsletter spark some curiosity or make you think, “Whoa, that’s cool”? Let us know—just hit reply and share your feedback. We’re all about getting better with your help!

And don’t keep the scoop to yourself! Pass it along to a friend who’s into AI or loves staying in the know. Let’s grow this community one smart inbox at a time. 🚀

Until tomorrow—stay curious! 👋