{{first_name | Leader}}, welcome back. Today’s updates:
micro1 raises $35M, valued at $500M, to build the AI platform for human intelligence*
Perplexity hits $20B valuation
OpenAI signs $8B Oracle cloud pact
Microsoft bundles vertical Copilots into Dynamics
Practical tools + must-read resources. Dive in ⬇️
micro1 has raised $35M in Series A funding led by 01A, valuing the company at $500M.
With 40% month-over-month growth, micro1 now works with frontier AI labs and Fortune 10 companies, such as Microsoft, powering models with the intelligence of top experts — from PhDs and professors to doctors and engineers.
At the center of the platform is Zara, an AI recruiter agent, which has facilitated over 500,000 AI-led interviews to help connect with world-class talent faster than anyone.
Their mission is to connect the brightest minds with AI’s toughest problems.
Perplexity Raises $200M; Hits $20B Valuation
Answer-engine Perplexity raised $200 M to scale its GPU fleet and land enterprise deals after daily users passed 15 million. Its new Pages add-on, which turns long web queries into ready-made research briefs, already drives the most paid sign-ups.
Have product leads test Perplexity’s API for internal knowledge bases; its pay-per-query cost can undercut existing chatbots while giving teams ad-free, Google-style search.
OpenAI Signs $8B Oracle Cloud Pact
Press leaks show OpenAI will spend up to $8 B a year renting dedicated Oracle Cloud regions for GPT-5 training and overflow inference, reducing reliance on Microsoft Azure. Oracle wins a marquee AI tenant under fixed-rate GPU pricing that rivals can’t yet match.
Use the deal as leverage in Q4 cloud renewals, push current providers to offer similar fixed rates, or add exit clauses before prices fall.
Microsoft Bundles Vertical Copilots into Dynamics
Starting in October, Dynamics 365 customers can add Sales, Service, and Finance Copilots for $20–$30 per seat, with pilots showing 60% faster CRM data entry and AI-drafted invoices in Outlook. The modules sit on existing Dynamics data, so rollout is mostly a licensing toggle.
Before approving, verify security scopes; Copilot ingests deal pipelines, support tickets, and P&L fields by default and may need role-based trims.
Productivity Tools
micro1 — Raises $35M Series A, valuing the company at $500M.*
Deepgram – Low-latency speech APIs turn calls into text and text back into natural audio.
SeamlessAI – Live prospect engine pulls fresh contacts to super-charge outbound sequences.
Lovo AI – Generate studio-quality voice-overs in seconds for videos, demos, or IVR flows.
Get featured tomorrow: How do you use AI for business/personally? Interesting stories will be shared with 100K curious readers.
Useful Resources
Learn to ship RAG apps that don’t break in production with evals, error analysis, monitoring, and $2k in credits* (link)
Pick the best free OCR model from a side-by-side benchmark of top open-source options (link)
Stop model hallucinations with OpenAI’s surprisingly simple “retrieval first” tweak (link)
Automate every hand-off in your sales pipeline with this AI workflow cheat-sheet (link)
Apply for OpenAI’s “People-First” fund if your project widens AI access (link)
Will AI study assistants like ChatGPT’s new Study Mode replace human tutors in the next 5 years?
💰 Funding
Atolio secured $24M to scale its AI enterprise-search across SharePoint, Slack, and Drive.
Sphinx raised $9.5M to put ChatGPT-like agents in every data analyst’s SQL editor.
💼 Who’s Hiring in AI
🐦 Prompt Your Brain:
This prompt literally trains your brain to think clearly
— #Aadit Sheth (#@aaditsh)
6:59 PM • Sep 9, 2025
AR Game & Filter Assets
Generate AR stickers from this character design
Attach [Character Sketch/Design]Sample Output
P.S. Get more such prompts in the Prompting Playbook (free for you)
Q: What’s the biggest benefit of using AI for predictions in business?
Correct Answer: Spot risks and opportunities early
Reasoning: AI can scan data sets in real time, spotting trend shifts before humans notice. Acting on early signals lets a business head off risks and capitalize on opportunities over competitors.
Stay curious, {{first_name | leaders}}
PS. If you missed yesterday’s issue, you can find it here.