AI investment

European tech is showing signs of strength with recent activity including ElevenLabs’ valuation doubling, ASML’s investment in Mistral AI, and Klarna’s NYSE IPO valuing it over $17 billion. This has reignited discussions about Europe’s ability to compete with US and Asian tech ecosystems. However, challenges remain, including macroeconomic pressures, market fragmentation, and the need for pension fund investments in venture capital, hindering expansion. The “EU Inc.” initiative aims to address regulatory hurdles.

GSR Ventures Managing Partner Zhu Xiaohu predicts that large language models (LLMs) will “devour” 90% of AI Agents. His comments, shared on Xiaohongshu, follow previous skepticism about embodied AI and highlight his firm’s bullish stance on the broader AI landscape, evidenced by investments in companies like Robopoet and LiblibAI. Zhu likened AI Agent startups to early internet webmasters, suggesting they learn from successful internet companies. His perspective sparks debate about the long-term viability of standalone AI Agents.

Meta is in advanced talks to invest over $10 billion in AI data labeling startup Scale AI. This deal, if finalized, would be a historic private financing, reflecting the importance of data in the AI landscape. Scale AI, which provides data labeling services crucial for training machine learning models, has experienced rapid growth. Meta’s investment signals a shift toward external AI partnerships and supports its strategic focus on AI, including its Llama language model and AI-powered integrations across its platforms.