Tech Funding News reports: “DRUID AI, a Romanian conversational AI company, is finalising a Series C funding round led by Cipio Partners, boosting its valuation and accelerating its expansion and innovation in AI-powered business communication solutions. According to a report from Recursive Media, Romanian conversational AI company DRUID AI is finalising a €46M funding round, increasing its valuation to approximately €276M.”
The Verge reports: “Google is shipping the latest “experimental” features of its Gemini 2.0 Flash AI model to more developers across all regions, and people are finding some concerning abilities that include editing out watermarks from photos. The company’s lightweight localized on-device AI model is now equipped with native image generation that can not only produce pictures from a text prompt but also let you conversationally edit images.”
Music Business Worldwide reports: “Los Angeles-based technology startup Creative Covenant Inc. has launched ARK, a new application designed to protect intellectual property rights for “human creators” across various industries. The platform uses blockchain technology and biometric verification to help artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives secure their work in the digital age, according to a press release.”
TechCrunch reports: “Discord on Monday announced the launch of its Discord Social SDK, a free toolkit that allows developers to leverage the platform’s social infrastructure to enhance their games’ social and multiplayer experiences. The toolkit allows developers to improve their in-game experiences, whether players have a Discord account or not.”
The Hollywood Reporter reports: “Sony Group’s flagship anime subsidiaries Aniplex and Crunchyroll revealed Monday that they have partnered to establish Hayate, a joint venture anime production company based in Tokyo, Japan. The companies say the entity’s primary purpose is “planning, developing, and producing anime content for the Crunchyroll streaming service.””
Game Developer reports: “Beginning today, Roblox Corp. is making its 3D model Cube open source for all developers to “fine-tune, develop plug-ins, or train it on their own data to suit their needs.” Cube is the company’s foundational model for its 3D generative AI creations, and will “underpin many of the AI tools we’ll develop in the years to come,” according to the announcement.”
The Verge reports: “A new third-party app store is launching for iPhone users in the European Union that describes itself as being “built specifically for mobile gamers.” Skich is the latest in a short list of alternative app marketplaces to take advantage of Apple’s App Store restrictions being loosened by the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), including AltStore Pal, SetApp Mobile, and Mobivention.”
Broadband TV News reports: “A new study of 5,000 US subscribers has found they’re finding new ways to save money through bundling. Bango’s Subscriptions Assemble study records that nearly a quarter of US subscribers (23%) over $100 per month on streaming and subscription services, equating to over $1,200 a year. Subscribers are swapping their standalone subscriptions for combined ‘bundle’ deals.”
GamesBeat reports: “Players who receive rewards for playing or downloading a game tend to feel more positively towards the game and are more likely to recommend it, according to a study conducted by user acquisition company Almedia. This is especially true, according to the study’s findings, if the reward in question has tangible value outside of the game, such as cash or gift cards.”
Music Business Worldwide reports: “US performance rights organization BMI has unveiled Spark, a new program offering its music creators access to industry tools, educational resources, and even health and wellness services. The initiative, available to BMI’s affiliated songwriters, composers, and producers, aims to support artists at every career stage, BMI announced Tuesday (March 11).”
