London-based startup Linq has raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding for its platform designed to give users control over their intimate images and help combat revenge porn and “sextortion” scams. Founded in 2024, Linq has developed an app that uses AI technology typically deployed to prevent media piracy, allowing users to grant and revoke access […]
Encrypted nudes app Linq raises $1.1m to stamp out revenge porn
The app also uses facial recognition technology to prevent someone other than the intended recipient seeing intimate images.
Dealroom.co | Slushy Raises $10.2M in Seed Funding
Slushy, a Miami-based adult content platform, raised $10.2M in Seed funding from Mantis VC, Electric Feel Ventures, Jon Oringer, Sean Rad, Edison Chen, and Brooklyn Johnny. The funds will be used to expand operations and development efforts. Slushy, founded in 2020 by David Gross and Fred Spivock, has integrated AI tools and introduced a new feature, Perfect Match, inspired by dating apps. The platform has seen over 250,000 videos posted to date.
Grant for the web
The Interledger Foundation’s Grant for the Web program awarded $200,000 in total to content publishers and publishing platforms in 2025. Grantees are implementing support for Web Monetization and exploring the viability of a revenue model between ad-supported access and paywalls using Web Monetization..
SaaS Pricing Models & How They Affect Valuation
Even if people haven’t heard of software as a service (SaaS), chances are they have used one. That’s what makes SaaS such a powerhouse in the world of digital assets. The SaaS business model relies on recurring subscriptions for its income. Subscribers pay to essentially lease software that is hosted in the cloud. This means there are no […]
Meet the AI OnlyFans: How one startup raised millions to build an ‘erotic companions’ platform | Kai Nicol-Schwarz
Meet the AI OnlyFans: How one startup raised millions to build an ‘erotic companions’ platform --- When AI erotic companion startup Oh raised a $4.5m funding round in January, it had something few in the shadowy new sector could boast. A roster of named investors, publicly backing the company. VCs are often bound by “vice clauses”, which prohibit firms from investing in controversial products like pornography or weapons. As a result, startups working on ethically contentious products often rely on angel investors and family offices to stay afloat. But Oh, which generates NSFW adult content and conversations with both fictional characters as well as bots based on real people, has tapped into a group of seemingly less squeamish investors: crypto VCs. It’s drawn backing from the likes of Tangent, Kosmos Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Bodhi Ventures and Tagus Capital. “Raising money for a business like this from non-crypto VCs is very difficult,” says Oh founder and CEO Nic Young, who positions the startup as a “decentralised platform” and offers payments via crypto. “A lot of crypto VCs don’t have vice clauses — it’s more liberal and free.” Oh wants to use those fresh funds to build the “AI OnlyFans”, with plans to roll out autonomous scantily clad bots that can market themselves on social media and direct message users with spicy conversation starters. The biggest challenge? Convincing enough users it’s not that weird turning to AI when you’re looking for romance. https://lnkd.in/eRF7a5Dn
Making money from Open Source Software: How we do it?
How we make money from open source software with RavenDB: dual licensing, AGPL, support reduction, and treating OSS like a commercial product.
The Money In Open-Source Software | TechCrunch
It’s no secret that open-source technology -- once the province of radicals, hippies and granola eaters -- has gone mainstream. According to industry estimates, more than 180 young companies that give away their software raised roughly $3.2 billion in financing from 2011 to 2014. Despite the growing popularity of open-source software, though, many open-source companies are not financially healthy.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang GTC 2026 Full Keynote
NSFW AI chatbot startup Oh scores £3.7m - UKTN
Oh, a startup that allows users to chat with AI-generated model characters, has announced a $4.5m (£3.7m) seed funding round.
TAOS Operating System
By the way, if the following sounds like advertising spiel, that's because it is. If you disagree with it being posted and have to flame someone, flame me - I'll cheerfully ignore you. I am in no way affiliated with Tantric - I just saw an article in Byte and found the email address. It's long, but read all the way through it and see just how much Micro$loth has blinkered the thinking of the general public. If this is on the market now, just think of what will be possible soon...
Anthropic commits to spending $200 billion on Google's cloud and chips: Report
The commitment suggests the AI startup accounts for more than 40 per cent of the revenue backlog Google disclosed to investors last week, according to the report.
Dark Web Informer on Twitter / X
‼️🇺🇸 LAPSUS$ Group is allegedly selling a massive dataset of https://t.co/Q6UlD72i8v, an AI recruiting platform with $500M+ revenue, is being auctioned on a popular cybercrime forum, TG, and their website.▪️Total Size: ~4TB▪️Data Includes: 211GB of database▪️939GB of source… pic.twitter.com/hEvp244uNO— Dark Web Informer (@DarkWebInformer) March 30, 2026
GGV Capital API-First Index
At GGV Capital, we are focused on finding the most promising developer-first software companies commercializing APIs, having already backed Agora, Authing, Pinwheel, Mindee and Stream. We are going all-in on API companies because they will fundamentally simplify software development. APIs will allow developers to offload lower-value and time-consuming components of application development so they can focus on higher-value work. For example, instead of a company asking its developers to spend months writing code to accept payments for its software, they can get up and running quickly with Stripe. For authentication, they can use Auth0. For chat, they can use Stream.We expect the use of APIs to continue growing exponentially in the next few years, and many promising companies are building with an API-first approach, including Algoia for search, Mux for video, and Commerce Layer for e-commerce. The public markets are also taking notice. Twilio and Agora are now publicly traded. Okta acquired Auth0 for $6.5B. SoFi acquired Galileo for $1.2B. We expect this trend to continue.2023 Q2 Update Highlights 1) Investment activity continues at a slower pace in Q22) Cohere raised one of the largest funding rounds of Q2 at $270M 3) Two additions to the API-First Index: Clerk & LibLab2023 Q1 Update Highlights1) Slower investment activity continues in Q1 2023 2) Stripe raised one of the largest funding rounds of 2023 at $6.5B3) Two additions to the API-First Index: Finch & SyncteraIn 2022, we tracked VC deal activity for 120+ API-first companies across categories. Find out what we learned:2022 Year in Review Report.GGV Capital is tracking 150+ API-first companies. We have now expanded the API-First Index to include the 60+ private companies that have raised $50M+ in funding. With this Index, we are focusing on API-first companies and have not included the broader and flourishing API economy (but are also very excited about this, having backed Kong and Tray.io!). If you are building API-first, we would love to meet you! Please contact us at apifirstindex@ggvc.com to be included in our list.
Ceartas raises $4.5m seed round co-led by The Sidemen
Ceartas, a start-up that uses AI to provide copyright protection for creators, raised $4.5m in seed funding led by Earlybird Venture Capital and Upside.
The Cloud Is a Prison. Can the Local-First Software Movement Set Us Free?
Tired of relying on Big Tech to enable collaboration, peer-to-peer enthusiasts are creating a new model that cuts out the middleman. (That’s you, Google.)
