Joyce Shen’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, February 10, 2025

📌 Musings and Readings 

Investments in French AI ecosystem reach $85B as Brookfield commits $20B (TechCrunch)

DeepMind AI crushes tough maths problems on par with top human solvers (Nature)

AI Company Asks Job Applicants Not to Use AI in Job Applications (Link)

That AI-restored Beatles song won Grammy for Best Rock Performance (The Verge)

EU lays out guidelines on misuse of AI by employers, websites and police (Reuters)

Agentic Reasoning: Reasoning LLMs with Tools for the Deep Research (Paper)

👏 Deals

Jump, a UT-based company that helps financial advisors reduce administrative work by converting meeting conversations into tasks, notes, CRM updates, and compliance records, has raised $20m in series A financing.

Desteia, a New York-based company providing real-time supply chain visibility, predictive analytics, and intelligent automation, has raised $8m in seed financing.

GetWhys, a startup building an AI platform to analyze customer insights to deliver actionable data for content comparison, helping businesses refine communication and strategies, has raised $2.75m in seed financing. 

Qount, a TX-based company developing an AI-powered accounting software to enable accounting firms to enhance client collaboration and operational efficiency, has raised $17m in financing.

Ivo, a CA-based company building an AI legal contract review platform to automate document analysis, redlining, and risk identification while integrating with Microsoft Word to enhance accuracy and efficiency, has raised $16m in series A financing.

ThreatMate, a cybersecurity startup automating security tasks by providing a unified AI platform for attack surface management, enabling organizations to monitor and manage external, internal, and cloud assets from a single dashboard, has raised $3.2m in seed financing.

Cognida.ai, a Chicago-based company focusing on pragmatic AI applications to provide solutions tailored for everyday business needs, has raised $15m in series A financing.

TrueFoundry, a CA-based company developing an AI platform to accelerate machine learning deployment by automating infrastructure, optimizing performance, and enabling efficient model training and inference, has raised $19m in series A financing.

Presto, a CA-based startup leveraging machine learning to provide personalized charging recommendations to optimize the charging experience for electric vehicle drivers, has raised $15m in seed financing.

REEV, a MA and France-based medical tech startup developing AI-powered wearables to analyze gait patterns and provide personalized mobility assessments to help people affected by neurological gait disorders regain independence and improve movement, has raised $9.2m in financing.

&AI, a CA-based startup offering an AI platform designed for patent attorneys to automate tasks and streamline end-to-end litigation workflows, has raised $6.5m seed financing.

Lynx, a MA-based fintech company leveraging machine learning to optimize healthcare payments through payment processing APIs, enabling seamless transactions and efficient management within the healthcare sector, has raised $27m in series A financing.

Self Inspection, a CA-based startup utilizing machine learning to accelerate automobile inspections by automating the process of capturing and analyzing vehicle images, detecting damages, and generating condition reports, has raised $3m in seed financing. 

ImpediMed, a CA-based medtech company specializing in bioimpedance spectroscopy technology to help healthcare professionals with lymphedema detection, assessment, and monitoring, has raised $15M in financing.

Salience Labs, a UK-based company developing photonic switches to enhance AI infrastructure, addressing networking limitations for more efficient AI performance, has raised $30m in financing.