👋 I'm Ken Metral, founder of Cosmico. I'm a serial entrepreneur and passionate technologist. I have 20+ years of experience with degrees in IT, MIS, and an MBA from Florida International University.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the business landscape faster than ever, and nowhere is that more evident than in the realm of speech and voice AI. ElevenLabs, the well-funded voice tech startup founded by ex-Palantir engineers, has just unveiled Conversational AI 2.0—a major leap forward in its platform designed
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Grammarly, the AI-powered writing assistant known for helping millions of users improve their written communication, has secured a $1 billion capital commitment from General Catalyst. This substantial funding, announced recently, is part of an alternative financing strategy that offers a crucial lifeline to late-stage startups navigating today’s tighter capital
Robotics
Hugging Face, best known for its AI developer platform, has taken another major step into the world of robotics with the release of two new open-source humanoid robots: HopeJR and Reachy Mini. Announced Thursday, the robots are part of Hugging Face’s mission to democratize robotics and ensure that advanced
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Perplexity, the AI-driven search engine making waves as a potential rival to Google, has unveiled a powerful new tool for its Pro subscribers: Perplexity Labs. The tool, available now on the web, iOS, and Android (with Mac and Windows apps to follow), aims to move the platform beyond search and
Games
In a rare and unexpected move, Apple has made its first-ever video game studio acquisition, welcoming the two-person team behind Sneaky Sasquatch—RAC7—into the fold. While Apple insists this is a unique, situational acquisition rather than a broader shift in strategy, the decision offers meaningful insight into how the
Cybersecurity
Horizon3.ai, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup, is raising $100M in a round led by NEA, with $73M already secured, per an SEC filing. The funding will support expansion of its AI-powered security tools amid strong growth. While neither Horizon3.ai nor NEA have commented publicly on the funding, sources
Style & Beauty
In a bold move to expand its footprint in the prestige beauty market, e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) announced Wednesday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire rhode, the skincare brand founded by Hailey Rhode Bieber. The deal was revealed alongside e.l.f.’s Q4 earnings for
Retail
Meta is preparing to make a significant move into brick-and-mortar retail, following a strategy that may mirror Apple’s global store presence. The company is developing plans to open physical stores and hire retail employees, marking a strategic shift aimed at boosting sales of its hardware products like Meta Quest
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has quietly launched an updated version of its flagship R1 reasoning model, making it available to developers through the popular open-source platform Hugging Face. The update was announced in a WeChat post Wednesday morning. Minor Upgrade, Major Model According to DeepSeek, the new release is a
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Telegram is diving deeper into the AI race, announcing a landmark partnership with Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI. As part of the agreement, xAI’s Grok chatbot will be integrated directly into the Telegram messaging platform and its app ecosystem for at least one year. The deal is
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Anthropic has begun rolling out a new voice mode for its Claude chatbot app, allowing users to engage in fully spoken conversations with Claude. Currently in beta and available only in English, the feature is gradually being made available to mobile users over the coming weeks, the company announced via
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Opera is entering the AI browser race with the announcement of Opera Neon, a new browser designed to take on tasks on your behalf—from online shopping and form-filling to coding and content creation. Unveiled on Tuesday, Neon aims to redefine how users interact with the web by focusing on