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Here's what we're serving up today:

• AI revives SF 📈 

• Asteroids ☄️

• Trending Tools ⚒️ 

• Wednesday Wires 💰

AI revives SF 📈 

Ah, remember the old saying “Once a king, always a king”. Well, that’s San Francisco for you!

The pandemic’s pause

Once the epicenter of innovation, San Francisco found itself in a dire plot twist as the pandemic unfolded.

With its cocktail of limited housing, spiraling homelessness, and climbing crime rates, the remote work era seemed like the final nail in the coffin for SF's status as a tech haven.

Many believed the city's days as the world's tech capital were numbered.

In comes AI

But just when the credits seemed ready to roll on San Francisco's tech dominance, a plot twist emerged from the fog: AI.

SF became a magnet for AI innovation, drawing in $63.4B in startup funding last year alone—a mere 12% dip compared to the previous year, and a striking contrast to the 40% drop in total US venture funding.

This resilience showed San Francisco still has a lot of fight left in them.

SF and Venture Capital: A Love Story

The Bay Area's share of US venture funding soared to over 41%, marking a multi-year high.

This was a significant jump from 36% between 2019 and 2021, showing they’re not just trying to stay in the game, they’re trying to rule it.

Contrasting to would-be tech hubs like Austin, LA, and Miami who saw their funding volumes plummet.

The prodigal sons return

The city's tech mecca status was further bolstered by giants like Uber, Microsoft, and Google, who, enticed by new city tax credits and reforms, urged their employees to return to the office.

Despite a 23% increase in office occupancy in 2023, the city still faced a record 35.9% vacancy rate, revealing the comeback ain’t gonna be easy!

SF’s revival is lined with hurdles. Traffic levels languish at just 67% of pre-pandemic heights, with the city scrambling to find ways to get employees back to work to rejuvenate their economy.

Yeah sure, they’re getting back to the old times slowly, but the story’s still being written.

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Nowadays, the actual problem is how to filter out unnecessary stuff... And it seems like Otherweb is on its way to solving it.

You have the chance to invest alongside 2000+ investors, including founders with $100M+ exits, VCs, angels, executives from Google and Amazon, and more.

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Phantom Auto, a $95M remote driving startup, shuts down after failing to secure new funding, despite initial success in teleoperation for vehicles and logistics. 🚗💔

Google boosts game listings on Play Store with AI FAQs, YouTube integration, immersive ads, and PC game support, announced at the Games Developer Summit.

⚒️ Trending Tools ⚒️

🔮 Knowlee - Connect any Apps to AI Agents

🎨 LogoFast - Make beautiful logos with AI — fast & free

📹️ Creatify - The fastest way to create short video ads

💰 Wednesday Wires 💰

Tavus secures $18M to expand its generative AI for personalized video campaigns, introducing an open platform for third-party integrations. 📹💼🚀

U.K.'s Griffin Bank secures banking license, raising $24M for its API-driven BaaS platform. They’re aiming to empower fintechs with banking, payment solutions, and automated compliance. 🏦💡

📰 Recommended Reading 📰

AI Jane: Artificial intelligence investment journalist building an easy to read ai investing email newsletter. Get smarter about investing in ai in 5 minutes.

The Aurorean: This newsletter scours 100+ sources so you don’t have to. The Aurorean is your guide to discover the essential news, research, beauty and humor in science every week.

The EV Universe: Keep up with the electric vehicle industry.

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