Elon Musk may be right about the funding Stargate. If you haven’t heard of Stargate (probably because you’ve been paying attention to important things), it’s a company that “intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years in building new AI infrastructure [data centers] for OpenAI in the United States.”
It was launched Tuesday at a White House press event, prompting the media to call it “Trump’s ambitious AI infrastructure venture.” Although the president gave his blessing to the project, he did not give it any government funding.
Also at the event were Oracle CTO/President/Co-Founder Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, all partners in the venture. Of the three, Ellison is the only one running a company that is currently making money. However, Oracle is only involved as a technology partner. Son, who lost $14 billion financing WeWork, is in charge of the financial side.
Shortly after announcing the project, Musk tweeted (eXed?), “They don’t really have any money. SoftBank has well under $10 billion insured. I have it on good authority.” OpenAI countered that it plans to “deploy $100 million immediately.” Softbank and OpenAI are “committing” $19 billion to Stargate, so there’s no reason to think the funds won’t be “allocated.”
To raise the rest of the money, Softbank will have to use “some combination of a massive fundraising effort, new debt or part sales [the] holding company,” according to The Wall Street Journal. One big question for investors: How will Stargate make money?
Now, this week’s roundup of AI-powered martech news and releases.
- Act The software has concluded a contract for purchase Banzai International. Act-On is an AI-powered marketing automation platform with an open data architecture designed to improve marketing efforts for businesses. The platform offers intuitive tools for campaign management and customer engagement.
- PureCars added RylieAI to his AutoMiner CDP. RylieAI is focused on helping car dealerships improve customer reach and operational efficiency.
- Equivalent upgraded its curation platform, which Equativ has now renamed Maestro. It centralizes programmatic campaign management and provides ad buyers with improved access to quality ad space. Key features include seamless integration with first-party data, cookie-free targeting solutions, advanced engagement management tools for improved campaign results.
- SundaySky launched the next generation of its AI-powered video platform. It now has AI avatars, in-app screen recording capabilities, advanced media generation capabilities.
- pharosIQ has enhanced its B2B marketing intelligence platform with new AI features for intent data and lead prioritization. Updates include improved global account targeting, deeper personality insights and more accurate content classification to help marketers understand customer intent and improve their strategies.
- Chatterbox The Pulse Ai platform can now analyze photos in customer reviews and display relevant images based on feedback trends. The platform also offers enhanced review generation tools for businesses with multiple locations.
- Suddenly has launched a new marketing solution specifically for the restaurant and franchise industry, which includes artificial intelligence features to help businesses improve their online presence, reputation, social media management and customer insights.
- The bestOptimove Ignite+ is designed to help new iGaming and sports betting operators scale effectively. The program offers access to CRM marketing tools, expert guidance and proprietary industry insights.
- CertainSession Advisor AI provides personalized recommendations for event management. The tool helps businesses drive engagement and measurable results at scale.
- ConversicaAI Agent powered by AnswersIQ for Auto provides auto inventory capabilities to improve sales teams’ ability to engage with potential customers in the automotive sector.
- UneeQUneeQ 2.0 is a platform for implementing digital humans that offer emotionally intelligent and engaging user interactions. The platform supports high-quality avatars with sub-second response times and can be customized for different industries and use cases, providing rich real-time analytics.
- NetizeAsk AI is a generative AI feature that helps businesses gain insights based on customer and employee feedback. The tool aims to provide clear, actionable answers that organizations can use to improve their experiences and operations.
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