Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) in Malaysia, through Cradle Fund Sdn. Bhd. (Cradle), has launched a series of micro- conferences, MYStartup NXT, as part of the efforts to create an inclusive, impactful and sustainable startup ecosystem in Malaysia.
Mortar AI’s most recent version of its SaaS marketing automation platform incorporates features to help small to mid-sized agencies provide clients with AI-driven, automated campaigns that focus on first-party data and can help address challenges related to privacy compliance. The platform uses technology from Microsoft, Adform and LiveRamp and runs on Microsoft’s Azure.
Stripe and WhatsApp have partnered to enable Singapore businesses to accept payments in WhatsApp chats. With Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout integrated into WhatsApp, Singapore customers and businesses can buy and sell directly in the Meta-owned messaging app using credit cards, debit cards and Singapore’s real-time payment system PayNow.
Disney has agreed to license more than 200 characters, costumes, and environments (but not voices or talent likenesses) to OpenAI for Sora, its gen AI video platform. This is highly unusual for Disney, which generally sues AI models for copyright infringement; in fact, it sued Google for that a day before announcing the OpenAI deal. Disney will also invest $1 billion in OpenAI, nicely illustrating how very eager they are to join the AI party.