Tech News

Ubie, a Tokyo-based startup providing an AI-powered symptom checker app and hospital SaaS products, has closed a $19 million extension to its previous Series C round. This brings the health tech startup’s total funding to $45.2 million in Series C.

The extension round consists of 90% equity and 10% debt financing, according to the co-founder and CEO of Ubie Kota Kuto. With this round, Ubie has raised a total of $76 million since its inception in 2017.

The startup declined to comment on its company valuation, but a source familiar with the situation, who wished to remain anonymous, told TechCrunch its valuation is now estimated at $250 million. Investors in the latest funding include Sogo Medical, AAIC Investment, Japan Impact Investment, Rakuten Capital, Shoko Chukin Bank, Japan Finance Corporation and Mizuho Bank.

Ubie plans to use the proceeds to scale up its healthcare platform and ramp up its penetration into the U.S. after entering Singapore in August. The startup launched its symptom checker app earlier this year in the U.S. and opened a U.S. subsidiary in October. Kuto told TechCrunch that Singapore’s medical system is similar to Japan’s, given its geographical and cultural background, so the company decided Singapore would be “an appropriate first step for global expansion.”

The outlet is in discussions with pharma companies to increase partnerships, many of which have offices on the East Coast, Kuto explained. It expects to finalize and announce a handful of partnership deals early next year, Kuto added.

Ubie isn’t the only health tech company developing an AI-enabled symptom checker for users. A Boston-based startup, Buoy Health, built a symptom check app using AI; berline-based Ada Health also developed an AI-driven symptom assessment app; and IBM’s Mediktor helps people with symptom assessment. Kuto pointed out, as a differentiator, that Ubie offers a B2B product called Ubie for Hospital, also known as AI Monshin, and a B2C app for individual users. The Ubie for hospitals, allowing doctors to reduce their time for taking notes of patients’ histories, is a medical questionnaire software for patients to have a preliminary interview via a tablet while waiting before meeting doctors.

“Based on data extracted from about 50,000 medical research papers [created by more than 50 physicisans], AI Monshin [automatically] selects and asks around 20 questions from 3,500 types of question data,” Kota said.

Co-founded by medical doctor Yoshinori Abe and engineer Kubo, Ubie claims that more than 1,100 medical institutions in Japan use Ubie’s AI Monshin. The company also has more than 7 million monthly active users (MAUs) of its symptom checker app. Ubie employs approximately 200 people.

Japan’s health-tech Ubie wants to fuel its U.S expansion with $19M Series C extension by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Artificial intelligence is taking over almost every industry. The investment and finance industry is no exception. In Deloitte’s 2019 report, the firm reveals that AI is transforming the financial ecosystem to reduce costs and make operations more efficient by providing automated insights and alternative data, analysis and risk management.

Technology such as AI has digitized the finance sector, ranging from payments and remittances to lending. However, asset management is still in the nascent stage of digitization, according to the chief strategy officer and co-founder of Akros Technologies, Jin Chung.

Akros Technologies wants to disrupt the current asset management industry via its AI-driven asset management software platform that mines market data for stocks. Akros just raised $2.3 million from Z Venture Capital, the corporate venture capital wholly owned by Z Holdings, which also owns the Japanese messaging app Line and internet portal Yahoo Japan.

Akros intends to strengthen strategic ties with Z Holdings via strategic investment, the startup said. The latest funding, which brings Akros’s total amount raised to $6.1 million since its 2021 inception, will help Akros to scale its software platform and asset management products and ramp up its users, including local and global financial institutions and fintech companies.

The outfit is already in discussions with potential partners to expand its AI-powered product called portfolio management as a service, or PMaaS, an all-in-one operating system for portfolio management. Chung explained to TechCrunch that PMaaS “enables B2B clients such as financial institutions, fintech startups and robot-advisors to launch their own exchange-traded funds (ETFs) without having to set up ETF teams and infrastructure.”

He added that it expects to secure more than five B2B clients in the first quarter of 2023.

The startup claims that its AI-powered portfolio management platform can reduce “the overall cost structure [of] the traditional fund development,” including management fees and unnecessary fees involved in the investment process, by more than 80%. The outfit aims to maximize the finance management performance of data-driven ETFs and offer a portfolio management solution via the PMaaS for Akros’s users to help them compete with global ETF institutions like Vanguard or JPMorgan.

In August, Contents Technologies launched Korean pop music, also known as K-pop, and Korea Entertainment ETF, on the NYSE Arca Exchange under the ticker KPOP, using Akros’s PMaaS solution to develop the ETFs. In addition, Akros listed an AI-driven target income ETF, called Akros Monthly Payout ETF (ticker: MPAY), on the NYSE in May with monthly distributions at an annualized target rate of 7%, according to the startup.

To build a slew of investment strategies that lower the cost of portfolio modeling and generate scores of investment portfolios, Akros applies a generative AI model based on a decision transformer, which predicts future actions through the sequencing model, Chung said, adding the company also employs GPT-3 natural language processing (NLP) to analyze unstructured language data.

Akros plans continuously to enhance its engineering technology by bolstering its business to disrupt the asset management market and attract new partners across the globe, including Japan, Singapore and the U.S., co-founder and chief executive officer Kyle Moon said in a statement.

Founded by CEO Moon, CSO Jin and chief marketing officer Justin Gim, Akros employs seven people.

Moon previously worked for Qraft Technologies as head of AI research and CSO and had experience listing four ETFs on NYSE. Before co-founding Akros, Gim had more than nine years of experience in the asset management industry; Chung did research work for Bayesian deep learning in autonomous driving cars at Oxford Robotics Institute.

In March, Akros raised $3.75 million in funding from PeopleFund, a South Korean peer-to-peer lending platform. The company declined to provide its valuation when asked.

Akros Technologies, an AI-powered asset management platform, raises funding from Z Holdings by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

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Hello, Happy Thursday. There is a lot of news today, much of it posting as I write this — for example, the Federal Trade Commission is now suing to block Microsoft from buying Activision. So less chatter, more banter. — Christine

The TechCrunch Top 3

Let’s give ’em something to talk about: Given all of the ChatGPT popularity in the news lately, it is no surprise that a related company would be top news today. Instead of taking screen grabs, Ivan writes, ShareGPT creates a link to your ChatGPT conversations that you can grab instead.
Get your Frappuccino with a side of NFTs: Starbucks opened its blockchain-based loyalty program and NFT community to its first set of beta testers, Sarah reports. “Journey Stamps” will unlock new experiences beyond the free drinks and food that frequent drinkers can get from Stars.
Flying the friendly skies of capital: Something’s in the air up there. TripActions secured $400 million in credit facilities from Goldman Sachs and Silicon Valley Bank in a move that comes less than two months after the travel expense management company announced a $9.2 billion valuation. Mary Ann has more.

Startups and VC

Moving, starting a new job and getting married in a short span of time is the trifecta of stress for anyone (I know from personal experience). In the startup world, that trifecta might be what happened to marketing technology startup Banzai. Ingrid writes that the company acquired Hyros, raised $100 million and went public via SPAC. Congrats?

Meanwhile, France is having a good venture capital run. Mike reports on a few new funds, including IRIS Capital, which had a first close of €110 million as it works to reach a target of €150 million for its new venture fund.

Want more? Here’s five more:

Creating for creators: Lauren writes about Komi, a landing page tool for content creators, which raised $5 million.
Tools for school admins: Kenya-based edtech startup Zeraki is the latest to grab some funding to provide digital tools to help school administrators manage payments and paperwork. Annie has more.
An extra set of “eyes”: WeWalk secured a small raise to develop computer vision for a smart cane used by visually impaired people, Paul writes.
A car that can monitor your health: Renault China is looking at making super-premium EVs that will tell you if your blood pressure is high, Rita reports. No doubt from that person who just cut you off.
Domain name drag: Picking the right domain name can be just as difficult as creating a password no one will guess. Enter Smartynames, which Haje writes uses AI to find you the perfect domain name.

To prepare for a downturn, build a three-case model

Startups that develop case models are better equipped to deal with potential setbacks. Visualizing exactly how potential market shifts can impact your business is a great way to prepare for the unexpected.

A three-case model attempts to predict best-case, down-case and base-case scenarios, writes Matt Barbieri, partner-in-charge at accounting firm Wiss & Co.

“Typically, the base-case scenario falls between the extremes. For example, in financial modeling, you might say that Peloton experienced both its ‘best case’ and ‘down case’ scenarios within a year.”

Four more from the TC+ team:

Energy boost: Haje takes a look at Rootine’s $10 million Series A deck in his latest Pitch Deck Teardown.
Finally some good news in VC: Women are rising through the ranks at VC firms, according to a new survey that caught Dominic-Madori’s eye.
Scooting ahead: Duffl’s David Lin talks to Christine about why his company has been able to buck traditional rapid grocery delivery woes.
What’s in store for the ad market?: Alex pours through some numbers to forecast what the Q1 ad market is shaping up to be.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

All of the tech layoffs prompted Airtable to put out a memo earlier this week promoting its tools for job seekers. Now it is Airtable’s own employees who might need to use them. Natasha M reports that the company, which was last valued at $11 billion for its no-code software, laid off over 250. And not only that, but it seems that the move also included some executive departures, including the chief revenue officer, chief people officer and chief product officer.

And here’s another five for you:

Know where you’re going: Rebecca writes that Google combines Maps and Waze teams as pressures mount to cut costs.
Know when to fold ’em: Twitter and Apple have not been playing nice, so now it seems if you pay for a Twitter Blue subscription via iOS, get ready to pay $11 to offset App Store fees, Ivan writes.
Know when to put on the brakes: Safety capabilities are the reason for Tesla’s new plans to add radar to its vehicles…again, Rebecca reports.
Know when to bundle: It has arrived… Disney+ now has its ad-supported tier meant to compete with Netflix, Lauren writes.
Know how to move on: Manish writes that Foxconn invested another $500 million into its India business, where Apple plans to have more iPhone production over the next three years.

Daily Crunch: Airtable lays off 250+ as CEO cites importance of ‘being a lean organization’ by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

Virgin Orbit is retargeting a launch that was supposed to take place as soon as next week from Cornwall, England — and that was to be the first spaceflight to depart from British soil — due to additional technical to-dos and remaining regulatory hurdles.

In a statement, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said the company would retarget launch for “the coming weeks.” In addition to remaining technical work and outstanding launch licenses, Hart said the limited two-day launch window also moved Virgin to delay the mission. He did not elaborate on what technical work is needed for flight readiness.

Just a few hours after the announcement broke, the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the regulatory body that licenses launch, released its own statement to rebuke Virgin’s claim that remaining regulatory issues were in part the reason for the mission delay.

“The UK space regulation process is not a barrier to a UK space launch,” Tim Johnson, CAA’s director for space regulation, said. “Virgin Orbit has said in its statement this morning that there are some technical issues that will need to be resolved before launch. These in no way relate to the timing of when a licence will be issued by the Civil Aviation Authority.”

Virgin Orbit was due to launch from Spaceport Cornwall on December 14. LauncherOne, Virgin’s launch system, is composed of a Boeing 747 and a rocket. The aircraft carries the rocket to high altitude before releasing it on its journey to space, so while this isn’t due to be the first vertical launch from U.K. soil, it will be the first spaceflight mission.

The news came as something of a surprise; as late as Tuesday, Virgin representatives were telling the news media that the mission would be a “go” upon regulatory approval.

UK regulator says it’s not to blame for Virgin Orbit mission delay by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

For some reason, Niantic added a feature to Pokémon Go in which sometimes Pokémon can be HUGE and sometimes they’re tiny. This feels like a relatively useless feature that doesn’t really change gameplay at all, but I mean, sure, I will take a tiny Poochyena, please and thank you!

Rolling out now, the Pokémon Poochyena, Mightyena and Mawile can appear in size XXS or XXL. Why those three Pokémon only? I don’t know, ask Professor Willow. In reality, it is probably to create a sense of excitement that they can draw out as they slowly roll out, uh, small Pikachu and big Eevee. Or, as they appear in-game, Pokémon that’s far from camera and Pokémon that’s close to camera.

We’ve already had sizes of Pokémon since the game first came out in 2016 — usually this was used for horrible Reddit jokes in which people would nickname their Pokémon after certain body parts, then screenshot the appraisal screen, in which the Professor would say, “Your [body part] is huge!” if the Pokémon was of a larger size. You know what I mean. You can’t nickname Pokémon with that language anymore, but as a consolation, now there is a feature in the Pokédex that shows you the size ranges of Pokémon that you have caught. When you catch a new smallest or largest Pokémon for each species in your Pokédex, you will get a fun little pop-up congratulating you.

You’ll know if you’ve come across a superbig or supersmall guy in the wild because, uh, their sizes will be different. And there will be little animations that tell you this. Personally, I think these animations are a bit similar to those that appear when you find a shiny Pokémon in the wild, and a large Mawile simply is not as exciting as a shiny one, but hey, I didn’t design the game. If I did, I would have a shiny Mawile.

In Pokémon Go, you can now capture superbig or supersmall friends by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

GitHub Copilot, GitHub’s service that intelligently suggests lines of code, is now available in a plan for enterprises months after launching for individual users and educators.

Called GitHub Copilot for business, the new plan, which costs $19 per user per month, comes with all the features in the single-license Copilot tier along with corporate licensing and policy controls. That includes a toggle that lets IT admins prevent suggested code that matches public code on GitHub from being shown to developers, a likely response to the intellectual property controversies brewing around Copilot.

Available as a downloadable extension for development environments including Microsoft Visual Studio, Noevim and JetBrains, Copilot is powered by an AI model called Codex, developed by OpenAI, that’s trained on billions of lines of public code to suggest additional lines of code and functions given the context of existing code. Copilot — which had over 400,000 subscribers as of August — can surface a programming approach or solution in response to a description of what a developer wants to accomplish (e.g., “Say hello world”), drawing on its knowledge base and the current context.

At least a portion of the code on which Codex was trained is copyrighted or under a restrictive license, an issue with which some advocacy groups have taken issue. Users have been able to prompt Copilot to generate code from Quake, code snippets in personal codebases and example code from books like “Mastering JS” and “Think JavaScript”; GitHub itself admits that, about 1% of the time, Copilot suggestions contain code snippets longer than ~150 characters that match the training data.

GitHub claims that fair use, or the doctrine in U.S. law that permits the use of copyrighted material without first having to obtain permission from the rightsholder, protects it in the event that Copilot was knowingly or unknowingly developed against copyrighted code. But not everyone agrees. The Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit to advocate for the free software movement, has called Copilot “unacceptable and unjust.” And Microsoft, GitHub and OpenAI are being suedin a class action lawsuit that accuses them of violating copyright law by allowing Copilot to regurgitate sections of licensed code without providing credit.

GitHub’s liability aside, some legal experts have argued that Copilot could put companies at risk if they were to unwittingly incorporate copyrighted suggestions from the tool into their production software. As Elain Atwell notes in a piece on Kolide’s corporate blog, because Copilot strips code of its licenses, it’s difficult to tell which code is permissible to deploy and which might have incompatible terms of use.

GitHub’s attempt at rectifying this is a filter, first introduced to the Copilot platform in June, that checks code suggestions with their surrounding code of about 150 characters against public GitHub code and hides suggestions if there’s a match or “near match.” But it’s an imperfect measure. Tim Davis, a computer science professor at Texas A&M University, found that enabling the filter caused Copilot to emit large chunks of his copyrighted code including all attribution and license text.

GitHub plans to introduce additional features in 2023 aimed at helping developers make informed decisions about whether to use Copilot’s suggestions, including the ability to identify strings matching public code with a reference to those repositories. And for GitHub Copilot for business customers, GitHub claims it won’t retain code snippets for training or share code, regardless if the data comes from public repositories, private repositories, non-GitHub repositories or local files.

But it’s unclear whether those steps will be enough to allay companies’ fears over legal challenges.

GitHub launches Copilot for business plan as legal questions remain unresolved by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch