AI startup roundup: Latest from Twitch, DeepMind and LinkedIn cofounders

Also - ML tools that monitor electrical infrastructure, public transport planning

Every week, AI Business brings you the latest startup news.

From funding rounds to acquisitions, and product launches to partnerships, AI Business covers all things artificial intelligence.

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Startup: Inflection AI is a developer of AI software products designed to make computers understand plain language founded by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.

Figure 1:

Latest funding: $225 million

The company disclosed that it sold a $225 million equity stake, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company was founded back in March.

Investors: Undisclosed

Funding plans: Undisclosed

Listen to a podcast here where Hoffman and Suleyman talks about AI, as partners in VC firm Greylock.

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Startup: Optibus is headquartered in Tel Aviv and offers an end-to-end software platform for public transportation planning and operations.

Latest funding: $100 million, series D

Investors: Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Verizon Ventures, Pitango First & Pitango Growth, Tencent, SOMV Momentum, BlueRed Partners

Funding plans: Optibus plans to expand its software platform to cover all public transportation planning and operations. It’s also looking to expand into new product and service offerings including real-time operations and electric vehicle management.

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Startup: Metatheory is an entertainment company attempting to build Web3 games and virtual worlds.

Latest funding: $24 million, series A

Lead investor: Andreessen Horowitz

Other investors: Pantera Capital, FTX Ventures, Breyer Capital, Merit Circle, Recharge Thematic Ventures, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Daedalus, Sfermion, Global Coin Research

Funding plans: Metatheory wants to build virtual worlds with franchisable IPs. Its first game, DuskBreakers, launched last December, selling 10,000 NFTS in just six days.

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Startup: Tractian is a Brazilian-based developer of tools that monitor machines and electrical infrastructure.

Latest funding:  $15 million, series A

Lead investor: Next47

Other investors: Y Combinator

Funding plans: The company will continue to develop its product while looking to expand its team size and geographical presence.

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Startup: ZMO.ai is a Chinese company using ML technologies to generate virtual models for e-commerce clothing sites.

Latest funding: $8 million, series A

Lead investor: GL Ventures

Other investors: GGV Capital, GSR Ventures

Funding plans: ZMO wants to try other models, like GPT-3, to allow the models to talk.

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Startup: Kaizan is a London-based company that is building client intelligence platforms to help companies grow revenue.

Latest funding: $1.2 million, pre-seeding funding

Lead investor: Jigsaw

Other investors: Entrepreneur First, Charlotte St Capital, Founders Factory, Silicon Roundabout Ventures, NICE, Ledger, IPONWEB, MIQ, Gtmhub

Funding plans: Kaizan plans to use the funds to continue its R&D

Startup: Cyscale is a British developer of a cloud-monitoring platform to enable better visibility and security.

Cyscale founders Ovidiu Cical, right, and  Manuela Ticudean, left.

Latest funding: $3.2 million,

Lead investor: Notion Capital

Other investors: Seedcamp, GapMinder, founder of Wercker Micha Hernandez van Leuffen, and David Mytton, founder of Console.dev and Server Density

Funding plans: The funding will be used to grow the team and enable international expansion

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In other news

Venture capital firm Flying Fish launches $70 million AI/ML fund

The Seattle-based VC plans to invest in early-stage machine learning and artificial intelligence startups across the U.S.

This is Flying Fish's second fund; its first was a $37 million fund that primarily focused on tech startups in the Pacific Northwest. It has previously backed the likes of smart calendar tool makers Reclaim.ai, virtual assistant developers Finn AI and e-commerce startup MessageYes, which was acquired by Nordstrom.