Vay, a German startup specializing in remote-controlled rental cars, is set to receive $60 million from Grab, with a potential for an additional $350 million upon achieving joint milestones. The investment will help Vay scale its operations in the U.S., where it currently operates in Las Vegas. Vay's technology uses human operators to remotely drive rental cars to customers. Grab's investment aims to tap into the growing market of consumers who prefer not to own cars. The two companies also plan to explore synergies in Southeast Asia, with Grab potentially using Vay's driving data to improve AI models for autonomous driving.

1Mind, founded by Amanda Kahlow, has raised a $30 million Series A round to further develop its AI sales agent, Mindy. Unlike other sales agents that focus on outbound communication, Mindy handles inbound sales, augments self-service websites, and replaces sales engineers on calls. 1Mind's AI agents are designed to replicate the human experience, providing comprehensive knowledge and deterministic AI to limit deviations. Currently used by over 30 companies, including HubSpot and LinkedIn, 1Mind aims to replace roles such as sales engineers and potentially higher-end account executives in the future, envisioning agent-to-agent transactions.

Scribe, a workflow documentation platform, has raised $75 million in a Series C round, valuing the company at $1.3 billion. The funding will be used to launch Scribe Optimize, a platform designed to identify where automation and AI can provide the most significant returns for enterprises. Scribe's existing product, Scribe Capture, automatically documents workflows, creating step-by-step guides with text and screenshots.

According to Scribe, customers using Capture have reported saving 35 to 42 hours per person per month and reducing new hire onboarding time by 40%. The company currently serves teams within 94% of Fortune 500 companies and has over 5 million users across 78,000 organizations. Scribe plans to double its headcount in the next 12 months and expand its presence in markets like the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Europe.

The company has documented over 10 million workflows across 40,000 software applications.

Slow Ventures hosted a three-hour "Etiquette Finishing School" covering topics from handshakes to office decorum.

The program included a fashion show and a lesson on caviar and wine.

Held at the Four Seasons in San Francisco, the free program accepted 50 founders out of a few hundred applicants, primarily male.

The idea began as a joke, with Slow Ventures gauging interest at Y Combinator's Demo Day.

Slow Ventures' Sam Lessin emphasized the need for tech leaders to be respectful due to the industry's impact and perceived threats.

The new Apple TV show 'Pluribus,' created by Vince Gilligan, includes a disclaimer emphasizing that it was 'made by humans,' positioned below a note about animal safety.

Gilligan, known for 'Better Call Saul,' expressed strong opposition to AI, calling it 'the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine' and comparing AI-generated content to 'a cow chewing its cud.'

'Pluribus' marks Gilligan's return to science fiction and reunites him with Rhea Seehorn, who plays a romantasya author dealing with an alien invasion.