Factor nabs $3m, eyes global expansion + OpenAI unveils 'ChatGPT Agent'
Plus: Govt unveils advanced technology PRO, commits $231m.
Happy Friday!
Kia ora Caffeinators, coming to you with a special espresso shot bonus newsletter today because dang it there’s just too much good stuff to talk about to wait until next week.
We’ve got a great energy startup nabbing $3m in investment to fuel global growth + fresh news on the advanced science PRO and of course Sam Altman is back to drop another economy rattling feature on us.
Here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
Factor nabs $3m, eyes global expansion
Pod Pick: Revolution Social - Why Twitter Failed with Jack Dorsey
OpenAI unveils ‘ChatGPT Agent’ so prepare for AI vertigo all over again
Govt unveils advanced technology PRO, commits $231m
As always, thank you to everyone who has upgraded to a paid subscription or simply recommended Caffeine to friends and whānau. We couldn’t do any of this without you.
Finn and the CAFFEINE team
Factor nabs $3m, eyes global expansion: Put this in the ‘made Finn absolutely nerd out during an interview’ category of Caffeine. As you all know, I never shut up about how energy is upstream of everything else we want to do in our economy and no startup, founder or even government can afford to ignore it. We don’t get to build the future we’re all so excited about if we don’t build the energy systems required to power that future. One startup doing the hard mahi of making that possible is Factor, which just secured $3 million of investment to accelerate the development of its pricing automation platform for energy companies globally.
The round was led by friends of Caffeine Icehouse Ventures and backed by other prominent New Zealand and Australian investors including Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1, Motion Capital, Black Nova, Flying Fox, Blackbird and AngelHQ, plus US-headquartered Metagrove Ventures and FUNC Ventures.
Factor is developing a suite of plug-and-play tools that automate what has traditionally been a clunky, spreadsheet-based pricing process for energy retailers, distribution networks, and other energy tech companies. The company's AI-powered solution addresses a critical gap in the energy sector, where 70% of electricity is consumed by industry with complex needs, but where pricing management remains largely manual and inefficient.
And I get it, pricing management might not sound like the sexiest area to be solving in but it’s absolutely fundamental to the future of energy. None of the sexy deep tech power solutions which we’re all so excited about will make a difference if there isn’t an infrastructure layer to price and package that power. I had an excellent chat with co-founder Jess Venning-Bryan unpacking all of the above so look forward to that in the coming weeks.
Pod Pick: Revolution Social - Why Twitter Failed with Jack Dorsey: I think we can all agree that there are probably enough podcasts in existence at this point and the bar for actually listening to one your friend (or in this case, internet stranger) recommends to you is getting pretty god dam high. Bearing that in mind, please add one more podcast to your doubtlessly full content plate because it’s an absolute scorcher.
I think the above thumbnail probably does most of the selling for me but to spell it out, Twitter employee number one Evan ‘Rabble’ Henshaw-Plath has launched a new pod and the first guest is Jack Dorsey. They have a fascinating, revealing conversation about the past failures, present toxicity and potential hopeful future of social media. And make sure to subscribe because the upcoming guests are fairly titanic in the space future guests include, people like : Kara Swisher, Yoel Roth, Cory Doctorow, Chris Best, co-founder of Substack. Check out the full episode here.
OpenAI unveils ‘Agent Mode’ so prepare for AI vertigo all over again: I get that we’re all numb to the torrent of AI headlines at this point but if I can recommend paying attention to just one of them this week it would be this. OpenAI has unveiled its ‘Chat GPT Agent’, a beefed up version of its previous ‘Operator’ which allows the system to take actions on your behalf and is a major step into the long promised ‘agentic’ A.I future.
The company describes the new capabilities, available to users on more premium tiers, like this:
“You can now ask ChatGPT to handle requests like “look at my calendar and brief me on upcoming client meetings based on recent news,” “plan and buy ingredients to make Japanese breakfast for four,” and “analyze three competitors and create a slide deck.” ChatGPT will intelligently navigate websites, filter results, prompt you to log in securely when needed, run code, conduct analysis, and even deliver editable slideshows and spreadsheets that summarize its findings.”
The capabilities of advanced AI tools take time to filter through our economy and we are still coming to terms with the full usefulness of existing models and seeing incredible companies built off the back of them. Truly agentic capabilities like this will unlock possibilities which are on a different order of magnitude that I am not sure our economy is fully prepared for but I am excited to see.
I haven’t had time to play around with the tools yet as it is was not available in NZ at time of writing but will report back with my impressions once it lands. Read the full announcement here.
Govt unveils advanced technology PRO, commits $231m: I was whipping up the preview newsletter this morning and then saw this and finally made the call I needed to switch to a full Daily Shot. PM Chris Luxon and Science Minister Shane Reti announced new details of the 4th and final Public Research Organisation which will replace the disestablished Crown Research Institutes. It’s the cornerstone of their science sector shakeup and could have pretty profound effects on New Zealand’s relationship with emerging technologies.
The Government has committed an initial $231 million over four years to:
Invest in science and technology that supports industries with the potential to shape New Zealand’s future
Develop skills and grow expertise in new and promising technologies
Help boost New Zealand’s economy by innovating and commercialising new technologies into real-world businesses and products.
The Institute is intended to have a central base in Auckland, as an existing centre of innovation, and will invest in a broad network of smaller centres to conduct research in collaboration with universities, industry, and existing research institutions.
The first major investment, announced in May, is based at Wellington’s Robinson Research Institute, specialising in Future Magnetic and Materials Technologies.
Additional investments will be confirmed following advice from the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council, which will meet for the first time today.
My ears pricked up a bit during the livestream of the announcement when Luxon was asked about whether the Government its paying enough attention to the potential risks of AI technology and he answered with:
Addressing fears about AI, Luxon said it was important that the framework managed the negative implications.
“But I do want to be very clear, in a country where we have low levels of economic productivity, this is one of the five things that we know are absolutely critical to embracing more of in order to lift the living standards of New Zealanders,” he said.
“There is a lot more upside with AI. And this is a country that needs to embrace a lot more AI, quantum computing, and synthetic biology.
I think this ‘there is a lot more upside with A.I’ is doing a lot of work with the Government’s current strategy. I agree the upsides of A.I are terrific but the power in these systems which makes those upsides possible is precisely the same power which could cause massive harm and disruption.
It seems irresponsible to be so laser focused on how much money we can make as a nation without considering who is really going to pay the costs as individuals.
Just incase you’ve had a bad week, at least know you aren’t having as bad a day as that couple who got caught having an affair on the Jumbotron at Coldplay.
Please enjoy my favourite of the current crop of memes.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co