betaworks

Calling all women in VC come hang with us at Betaworks next week before you sign off for the holidays! CC: my co-hosts Ashley Ryder Sofia Badalamenti Link in comments!

Join us tonight for some demos and pizza at betaworks. Dennis Crowley and Gabe Warshaw will be demoing the transformative audio experiences they are building with BeeBot and Baton and Michelle Wu will be sharing a provocative art piece. 3 generations of ITP students. 3 brilliant creative technologists all at betaworks tonight! Please especially come and meet the team if you are interested in applying to Camp. We love meeting applicants. Link in comments to RSVP.

𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩: 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐈 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 🚀 betaworks, NYC's original Venture Studio, has been shaping the future of innovation for years. Since 2016, their Camp program has focused on machine learning and AI—offering something far beyond a typical accelerator. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Partner Jordan Crook and Founder/Managing Partner John Borthwick about what sets Camp apart. Spoiler: it's not your standard demo-day-driven program. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡: The 13-week program emphasizes zero-to-one product development with tight user feedback loops, paired with deep technical expertise in the cohort’s theme. 𝐀 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 Camp supports pre-seed founders across stages—from those seeking their first check to companies that have already raised up to $3M. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬: 75% of alumni raise funding within 30-45 days post-program. Notable alum? Hugging Face —now a $4.5B open-source ML giant. 🗓️ 𝐔𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 - 𝐃𝐞𝐜. 13: The February 2025 cohort focuses on the application layer of AI, including workflow automation, AI agents, and future-of-work applications (vertical and horizontal). 👉 Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, with a priority deadline of December 13, 2024. For more details, check the link in the comments—or reach out to Analisa Svehaug for more info.

i'm not sure why i need to write something ABOUT this. i just wrote like 1000 words. but i'd be happy if you took a look at the nine AI companies we've seen that are actually solving big problems.

We just finished up betaworks AI camp a few weeks ago (a smashing success with 6 of 9 companies closing their preseed rounds BEFORE demo day) Always bittersweet when the birdies leave the nest but there is good news. We’re looking for more birds. 🕊️🦅🦆🦜🦢🐓🦃🦉🦩🐦⬛🐦🔥🪿 If you’re an amazing builder and looking to transform(or create) industries with AI, apply to the next AI camp ($500k in funding, 13-week program, shoulder to shoulder with other AI builders, and more) right here: https://lnkd.in/esyc3twE

The first people to tell a great story in a new medium define it forever. Disney did this on animation. Pixar did this on CGI. And we are doing this on the medium that will define the decades to come: Artificial Life. We just had our betaworks demoday and the room was electric. We all grew up loving characters, but for the first time in history, characters can love us back. Everyone is treating Artificial Life as a computer science problem or a consumer app play. But the biggest opportunity isn't a consumer app. It's the creation of a new medium. That's why we assembled a dream team: - Emmy-award winning creative technologists - Andrew Stern - who created the first virtual pet experience EVER almost 30 years ago - Fred Seibert - former president of Hanna Barbera and Frederator Studios, executive producer of Adventure Time and 200+ shows. Our characters have real emotions and needs. Their animations are cherry-picked on the fly by LLMs. We already have scenarios where agents interface with each other autonomously. And our internal tooling allows us to spin up characters in days, not months. Soon, kids won't just watch stories. They'll live them. The next Disney won't make movies. The next Pixar won't make animations. They'll create life. And we're already doing it. Watch our demo below, or access the YouTube link in the comments.