Enterprise browser developer Island has secured $250 million in a Series E funding round led by Coatue, with participation from Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Canapi Ventures. The fresh investment has propelled the company’s valuation to $4.85 billion. Based in Dallas, Texas, Island enables businesses to develop customized enterprise browsers, granting them full control over their digital work environments. By leveraging tailored browsing solutions, companies can enhance security, application access management, device visibility, and workflow automation. Founded in 2020, Island operates with a team of 500 employees and currently serves over 450 enterprise clients. The company announced that the new...

Believing that AI models should excel not only in text generation but also in visual creation, OpenAI has enhanced GPT-4o’s capabilities, integrating its most powerful image generation features to date. These new features will initially be available to ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Team subscribers. Due to overwhelming user demand, OpenAI plans to roll out GPT-4o’s advanced capabilities to free-tier ChatGPT users in the coming days. GPT-4o has made significant advancements in accurately integrating text into images, drawing inspiration from uploaded visuals, and fulfilling complex creative requests. With these improvements, the model is positioned as a powerful tool that supports creative...

Roper Technologies, a leading provider of software and technology solutions, is expanding its presence in the healthcare sector by acquiring CentralReach for $1.65 billion. Previously operating under Insight Partners, CentralReach is expected to officially become part of Roper Technologies by April or May 2025. Following the acquisition announcement, Roper’s shares increased by 1.1%. Headquartered in Florida, Roper Technologies develops specialized software and technology-driven solutions for industries such as healthcare, law, and data analytics. Founded in 2020 and also based in Florida, CentralReach focuses on AI-powered home care technologies for individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. CentralReach’s software is designed to...

OpenAI, a leading force in artificial intelligence, has successfully closed a new funding round, securing a $40 billion investment at a $300 billion valuation. Just six months ago, OpenAI raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation, meaning its market value has nearly doubled in a short period, drawing significant interest from investors. The funding round was led by SoftBank, which contributed approximately $30 billion. Other major investors in the round included Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive. With this latest funding, OpenAI’s total investment now exceeds $60 billion. According to OpenAI, the newly secured capital will be used to push...

Spotify has announced a new partnership with ElevenLabs to make AI-generated audiobooks more accessible on its platform. Through this collaboration, authors will be able to use ElevenLabs’ AI-powered voice technology to create audiobooks and distribute them via Spotify’s Findaway Voices platform. As AI-generated voice content continues to grow, ElevenLabs’ advanced voice synthesis technology, which supports 29 languages, offers authors a wide range of narration options. The free version allows up to 10 minutes of text-to-speech conversion per month, while the Pro subscription, priced at $99 per month, provides up to 500 minutes of voice generation for longer content. Spotify will...