Startups Weekly: Drama at Techstars. Drama in AI. Drama everywhere.

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Welcome to Startups Weekly — Haje‘s weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday.
Well, folks, it looks like Techstars’ drama just got a new plot twist. CEO Maëlle Gavet is making her exit, leaving co-founder David Cohen to swoop back in and save the day — or at least try to. Gavet’s three-and-a-half-year tenure was a roller coaster of controversy, from employee exodus to shutting down accelerator programs faster than you can say “pivot.” Despite an $80 million deal with JPMorgan turning into a Titanic-level disaster and losing $7 million in 2023, she insists she wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. As for Cohen? He’s excited about his return as CEO.
Linktree just hit 50 million users, proving that everyone and their grandma now has a link-in-bio. From a humble 2.7 million in 2019 to this astronomical number, they’re basically the popular kid at school that everyone wants to sit with. Linktree is rolling out social commerce features so creators can slap storefronts on their pages and earn commissions from big brands like Adidas and Sephora. With over $300 million in monthly sales already flowing through those links, it’s clear they’re not messing around.
Looks like OpenAI’s latest chatbot, Sky, did its best Scarlett Johansson impression and got hella busted! The AI voice was flirting too closely with ScarJo’s iconic voice. OpenAI swears it wasn’t trying to re-create her sultry tones from “Her,” but the internet couldn’t help but notice the uncanny resemblance. CEO Sam Altman even tweeted “her” because, well, why wouldn’t you, really? Now that Johansson has lawyered up faster than you can say “deepfake,” OpenAI yanked Sky’s voice from its product, while the legal machinations are rumbling around to find a solution to this mess.
OpenAI, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be hurting all that much. ChatGPT’s mobile app just hit a revenue jackpot with the launch of GPT-4o. Despite promising free access on the web, OpenAI decided to nudge mobile users toward a $19.99 monthly subscription if they wanted in on the action. Plot twist: People are shelling out more than their Netflix subscriptions for it. In its first week alone, net revenue spiked by 22%, raking in up to $900,000 daily and totaling a whopping $4.2 million from May 13 to 17.
Bonjour! In the latest episode of “How Much Money Can We Throw at AI,” French startup H just snagged a cool $220 million in seed funding. Yes, you read that right — seed funding. With a founding team that boasts more ex-Google DeepMind employees than a Silicon Valley reunion, H is aiming to revolutionize productivity with their “frontier action models.” Translation: They’re building robots to do our jobs better than we can. Remind me why I’m sitting here typing this newsletter with my actual literal fingers? What is this, the 1920s?
Welcome to the job market in 2023, where instead of flipping burgers, you could be programming a robot to do it for you. Brian compiled a list of 81 robotics companies that are hiring faster than you can say “artificial intelligence.” From humanoids that might steal your job (or make your coffee) to drones ensuring your Amazon packages arrive before you’ve even clicked “order,” there’s never been a more thrilling — or terrifying — time to dive into robotics. So go on, apply now and secure your place in the brave new world of mechanical overlords 🤖.
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