Jun 13, 2025 5 min read Daily Rundown

⛵ Crashed, But Funded

Google Cloud Crashes, Barbie Meets GPT, AMD’s AI Chip Push, Pinterest Shops Social

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If the servers keep crashing and the valuations keep rising—what’s powering all this, exactly?

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QUICK HITS

CEO of Scale AI will join Meta's AI division to focus on artificial general intelligence.
Databricks Projects $3.7 Billion Annualized Revenue Target Ahead of Expected IPO.
US Robotics Startup Gecko Robotics Achieves Unicorn Status with $125M Series D.
AMD Unveils Instinct MI350 Series Accelerators with Massive Performance Gains for AI Workloads.
AI Notetaking App Fireflies.ai Hits $1B Valuation, Partners with Perplexity.

Google Cloud Outage Disrupts Major AI Platforms and Tools Globally

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and some Cloudflare services experienced significant outages starting around 10:00 a.m. PT, causing widespread disruptions to AI development tools, data storage services, and various AI platforms including ChatGPT and Claude.

Extensive Service Impact: GCP confirmed the outage affected multiple services including API Gateway, Agent Assist, Cloud Data Fusion, Google App Engine, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Identity Platform, Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, and Vertex AI Search, while Firebase also went down.
AI Development Ecosystem Disruption: Developer tools like LlamaIndex's LlamaCloud, Weights & Biases, Windsurf, Supabase, and Replit reported issues, while platforms like Character AI were also affected, alongside other internet services such as Spotify and Discord.
Strategic Timing Concerns: The outage occurred just days after OpenAI and Google Cloud announced their partnership, highlighting Google Cloud's growing market leadership in enterprise AI through its extensive developer and database tools offerings.

This outage highlights the risks of depending on single cloud service providers, as the failure of one major platform can affect many connected services. It emphasizes the need for redundancy planning for enterprises, especially as providers like Google grow their dominance in AI infrastructure, creating vulnerabilities in a centralized digital ecosystem.

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BUSINESS

Pinterest Partners with LTK to Expand Affiliate Shopping Content

Pinterest has announced a new partnership with affiliate shopping platform LTK that will automatically cross-post the best-performing image posts from LTK to Pinterest, boosting Pinterest's strategic position in the social commerce sphere.

Automatic Content Cross-Posting: The partnership will see high-performing image posts from LTK's influencer platform automatically shared on Pinterest, expanding product listings and affiliate shopping content.
Platform Integration Strategy: Pinterest will feature high-performing creator content originally posted on LTK's influencer shopping platform to strengthen its position in social commerce.
LTK's Growing Influence: LTK reports that 38% of millennial and Gen Z women in the US are using the platform, with 40 million consumers shopping on LTK and driving $4.1 billion in trackable sales annually.

LTK (which stands for "like to know") provides a platform for influencers to showcase affiliate products, and this partnership allows Pinterest to tap into LTK's successful creator economy while giving LTK creators additional reach on Pinterest's visual discovery platform.

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INDUSTRIES

Mattel and OpenAI Form Strategic Partnership to Develop AI-Enhanced Toy Experiences

Barbie-maker Mattel and OpenAI have teamed up to bring generative AI to toy-making and content creation, marking new territory for OpenAI, which has signed licensing deals with news publishers and enterprise players, but never a toymaker.

First Product Launch Timeline: The companies expect to announce their first "AI-powered product" later this year, with the goal of enhancing "fan engagement in a safe, thoughtful, and responsible way," spanning across physical products and digital experiences.
Enterprise Integration Strategy: As part of the deal, Mattel employees will get access to OpenAI tools like ChatGPT Enterprise to "enhance product development and creative ideation," while the company maintains full control over products being created without licensing its IP to OpenAI.
Expanding Entertainment Portfolio: The partnership aligns with Mattel's growing entertainment arm, which includes upcoming films based on Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket, Barney, UNO, and Masters of the Universe, plus plans to launch its first self-published game in 2026.

This collaboration reflects OpenAI's strategy to embed itself across industries while providing a foothold in Mattel's expanding entertainment sector, boosted by the success of the 2023 "Barbie" movie. The partnership prioritizes safety, privacy, and security, positioning both companies to explore how AI can transform traditional play experiences and expand the reach of iconic toy brands innovatively.

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STARTUP

Canary Raises $80M Series D for Hotel Management Platform

Hotel guest management platform Canary announced Thursday an $80 million Series D funding round led by Brighton Park Capital, bringing the company's total funding to nearly $180 million since its launch in 2018.

Comprehensive Guest Management Solution: Canary offers a product suite covering the entire guest journey from booking to departure, including mobile check-in services, text-based front desk communication, and AI-powered assistance through voice, web, and text using LLM technology.
Extensive Market Reach: The platform now serves 20,000 hotels across 100-plus countries, with clients including major hotel brands like Rosewood Hotels, Marriott, Best Western, and Wyndham, providing customized and branded experiences for each hotel.
Strategic Growth Focus: Founded by Harman Singh Narula and SJ Sawhney to address the underserved hotel technology market, the company plans to use the new capital for growth and hiring more employees, with participation from Y Combinator, Insight Partners, and Fidelity.

The funding addresses increasing hotel operational complexity with evolving guest expectations and staffing shortages, as Canary helps digitize guest interactions to improve both experience and efficiency.

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