{{first_name | Leader}}, welcome back. Today’s updates:
Turn designs into live websites instantly.*
Hugging Face releases SmolLM3
Mistral in talks to raise $1 billion
Zoom brings video calls to Meta Quest headsets
Practical tools + must-read resources. Dive in ⬇️
IN PARTNERSHIP
Framer is a new no-code website-building tool that allows you to launch any website and marketing campaign in just days without needing a developer. It looks, feels, and works just like a design tool, but it has the power to output real websites that look, feel, and function like they were built by a developer.
Framer has an advanced CMS, out-of-the-box SEO optimization, built-in analytics, localization, and you can add advanced scroll animations to make your website come alive, all without code.
NEWS UPDATES
Hugging Face releases SmolLM3
Hugging Face open-sourced SmolLM3, a three-billion-parameter model with a 128k-token window and solid benchmarks in English, Mandarin, Spanish, and Arabic. The repo includes sliding-window attention, LoRA adapters, and an Apache-2.0 license for commercial use. Early tests show it can handle long Q&A with lower latency.
You can now build document‐heavy chatbots or analytics tools without paying GPT-4-level bills. Try a quick proof of concept: if accuracy meets your bar, you’ll save on cloud spend and keep sensitive data in-house under a permissive license.
Mistral in talks to raise $1 billion
Mistral is negotiating a fresh round that could bring its valuation above $6 billion and fund new large-language models. The company is already selling premium tiers of its Mixtral line and courting European governments for sovereign AI contracts. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz and NVIDIA, and the discussions could close before year-end.
If you rely on open-weight models, watch Mistral’s roadmap: deeper pockets mean faster releases and more enterprise support. A larger war chest could also shift API pricing, so line up pilot credits before the next tier arrives.
Zoom brings video calls to Meta Quest headsets
Zoom launched a Quest app that lets users join standard meetings in virtual reality, see shared screens on a large floating display, and interact with hand tracking. The app integrates with existing Zoom accounts and supports Meta avatars in 3-D meeting rooms. Businesses can roll it out through Zoom’s admin console without extra fees.
You can trial VR-based collaboration for design reviews or training without changing your meeting stack. Evaluate whether immersive calls reduce travel budgets or enhance engagement before investing in expensive mixed-reality hardware.
BEST LINKS
Productivity Tools
🔒 Capture – Protect and monetize digital media with C2PA tagging and blockchain records
🗓️ Any.do – Keep personal, family, and team task lists in one clean app
🎬 LTX Studio – Storyboard and render AI-driven video for marketers and filmmakers
📊 Amplemarket – Find prospects and run multichannel, AI-personalised outreach that converts
Get featured tomorrow: How do you use AI for business/personally? Interesting stories will be shared with 100K curious readers.
Useful Resources
Triage unfinished Jira tickets automatically (link)
Use Monday CRM templates to speed your deal tracking (link)
Analyze form responses in seconds with no-code AI helpers (link)
See how Canva lets every employee spend a week learning AI (link)
Read OpenAI’s framework for safer frontier-model development (link)
STRATEGIC AI DECISION
When could SmolLM3 replace a larger model in production?
MARKET
💰 Funding
Parspec landed $20M Series A to streamline construction supply chains with AI.
Brainfish raised $6.4M pre-Series A to grow its AI customer-experience platform.
💼 Who’s Hiring in AI
🐦 Launch your Startup in 15 mins!
How to build and launch your startup using AI (in 15 mins)
— #Aadit Sheth (#@aaditsh)
11:04 PM • Jul 8, 2025
PROMPT TUTORIAL
Designing a New Strategy for Business Impact
Develop a concise, high-value AI strategy that addresses a key challenge in [Key Area] for a [Company Type]. Recommend one practical AI solution that aligns with business objectives, improves outcomes, and can be implemented through clear next steps. Outline the specific business problem, the AI-driven solution, and the first three actions to kickstart adoption. Conclude with one potential risk and a practical mitigation approach to ensure responsible implementation and long-term success.
Company Type/Team: [Insert here]
Key Area: [Insert here]
P.S. You can still get the Prompting Playbook (free for you)
Stay curious, {{first_name | leaders}}
PS. If you missed yesterday’s issue, you can find it here.