Link: Japan’s New Appetite for Risk Lures Venture Investors to Tokyo

The ideal scenario for Japan is that the country will generate a lot more startups like Tokyo-based Sakana AI, one of the pioneers in a technique of merging multiple AI models to create a new model. The company, founded last year, scored a $200 million valuation in January just off seed funding from New York–based VC firm Lux Capital, Khosla Ventures and other investors. It is the brainchild of two prominent former Google researchers, David Ha and Llion Jones, who both worked for what is now Google DeepMind, the company’s artificial intelligence lab. “When I started this company, it was very strategic,” Ha said. “There was no DeepMind of Japan,” which gave Sakana the chance to stand out more than it would have in Palo Alto. “And we intended to become a DeepMind kind of company.” #

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.