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We’re back! And here to bring you the latest news and startup 🚀 features to start your week.
You ready?
As always, please support the newest Featured Startups, as many are looking for feedback and just starting out!
We have some good stuff this week including our new featured podcast section, so let’s get to it!
Table of Contents
Weekly Sponsor
Mailbird: Email Management
Founded in 2012 as a fully remote startup, Mailbird is an innovative email client that consolidates multiple inboxes and apps into one streamlined platform. With over four million downloads, the company recently expanded to Mac after years of success on Windows. Cofounded by Michael Olsen and Michael Bodekaer, Mailbird offers features like unified inbox, email tracking, and third-party app integrations.
Key Highlights:
Global remote team spanning four continents
Multiple Stevie awards for team culture
Targeting to integrate AI for enhanced email management
Currently serving users worldwide with a focus on simplifying digital workflows
The startup's future looks promising, with plans to continually improve user experience and leverage emerging technologies like AI to transform how people manage their digital communications.
Check out the startup at their website here.
Featured Startups
KillerStartups’ Mission is to help entrepreneurs achieve the next big thing. Our role is to connect you with founders you can help, and founders who can help you!
When we featured Uber in 2010, Founder Travis Kalanick might have still been your driver.
Uber raised their first $1.6MM three months after we featured them. $4.9B later, we are still proud to have discovered them.
🚀 Submit Your Startup to Get Featured and More! - SUBMIT YOUR STARTUP
Our question to you is: How can YOU help these companies?
With our newest polling feature, you can rate these startups and provide feedback about YOUR thoughts!
Check out our brand new feature for this week!
Weekly Featured Podcast
Performance Podcast E4: Liz Faircloth
30-Second News Picks
Appcharge raises $26M to help gaming apps cut out Apple and Google from virtual goods revenues - TechCrunch
Image Credits: APPCHARGE
Our 30-Second Summary:
Appcharge, a Tel Aviv-based startup, has raised $26 million to help gaming developers create their own direct-to-consumer stores for virtual goods, bypassing traditional app store monetization models. The company, founded by Maor Sason in 2022, positions itself as a "Shopify for gaming" that allows publishers to sell in-game currencies and items directly to consumers. By acting as a "merchant of record" and handling complex tasks like fraud prevention and tax registration, Appcharge aims to help game developers regain control of user relationships in the wake of legal battles between companies like Epic and Apple over app store monopolies. Despite currently processing only $200 million in annual purchases compared to the $107 billion mobile gaming market, the startup sees potential in community-driven traffic and complementing emerging alternative app store strategies. The funding round was led by Creandum and includes investments from gaming giants like Supercell, reflecting growing industry interest in alternative monetization methods.
🚀 Submit Your Startup to Get Featured and More! - SUBMIT YOUR STARTUP
Growth Marketing Agency for Startups - Sponsored
Adogy is a digital media agency that obtains media placements in top-tier publications, and grows your site traffic!
Whether your goal is Digital PR or SEO, our expert team is ready to develop and execute a custom content strategy to meet your current needs.
"Of course, paying a monthly retainer to a PR agency is out of reach for most small businesses and individual thought leaders. That’s where Adogy comes in. They leverage their relationships and give you an accessible way to reap greater rewards from your thought leadership articles through featured quotes in key media. They’re also experts in using SEO to help direct new audience members to your brilliance." William Arruda - Personal Branding Speaker - Forbes Senior Contributor |  |
Our 30-Second Summary:
In a comparative test by CBS News, journalists Kris Van Cleave and Nancy Chen explored the effectiveness of AI in travel planning by independently planning a trip to Las Vegas using different methods. Van Cleave used Google's Gemini AI, while Chen relied on traditional travel websites. The AI approach proved faster and slightly cheaper, with Van Cleave's total trip cost at $741.48 compared to Chen's $780.05. However, the experiment revealed significant limitations in AI's travel planning capabilities. While the AI successfully booked a trip and made some good recommendations, it also provided outdated or incorrect information about attractions like the Bellagio's botanical garden and fountain shows, and failed to account for recent changes like the Mirage casino's closure. The investigation concluded that while AI can be a quick and potentially cost-effective travel planning tool, it still requires human verification and oversight to ensure accuracy and up-to-date information.
🚀 Submit Your Startup to Get Featured and More! - SUBMIT YOUR STARTUP
Image Credits: Chona Kasinger/Bloomberg
Our 30-Second Summary:
Amazon is working on an ambitious plan to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the AI chip market, which is valued at over $100 billion. At its engineering lab in Austin, Texas, Amazon engineers are developing custom AI chips to reduce the company’s reliance on Nvidia. Despite Amazon’s vast resources, the lab operates with a scrappy, startup-like atmosphere, reflecting the complexity and experimental nature of the project. While Amazon is unlikely to rival Nvidia’s market position soon, this effort represents a significant push by the cloud computing giant to establish itself in the AI hardware space.
🚀 Submit Your Startup to Get Featured and More! - SUBMIT YOUR STARTUP
Interested in advertising to a large audience of startup founders and entrepreneurs? 🚀
Contact [email protected] for more details!
Notes From KillerStartups Staff 👀
Our team is happy to announce the newest features on KillerStartups, including the site redesign and polling feature. We could not accomplish these goals without a supportive and powerful community like yourselves! Thank you!
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