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2013年12月27日
Oxford University continues to be a hotbed of AI talent, fuelling not just academic research into AI but also the ambitions of startups and large technology companies alike. The latest Oxford-based AI startup to make headlines is Diffblue, a University of Oxford spin-out that is applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to software development.
The young company has raised $22 million in Series A funding, one year since leaving academia. The round is led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments National research center, alongside Oxford Sciences Innovations (OSI), and the Oxford Technology and Innovations Fund (OTIF).
Born out of ten years of research, Diffblue describes its core AI as being able to build an exact mathematical model of any code base, with just a few examples provided. The resulting model then allows a deep semantic understanding of what a computer program is trying to do, from which a number of aspects of software development can be automated. Initially, Diffblue are working on three products built on the core AI engine.
The first is a testing product that automatically spots bugs and writes tests, which is one of the lower-hanging and most laborious parts of quality software development. It’s also a crucial one, especially for mission-critical applications where a software failure can cost lives or huge amounts of money.
The second Diffblue product in the works is a security product that automatically flags up exploitable bugs and generates tests for those bugs.
The third product is a refactoring product that automatically rewrites badly expressed or out of date code (think: an AI that can automatically upgrade a codebase to support the latest implementation of a programming language or framework).
However, founder Daniel Kroening, who is Professor of Computer Science at University of Oxford, tells me the much bigger and more ambitious vision is that Diffblue can become smart enough to write entire computer programs on its own, just by being given a few examples of the desired outcome , such as writing bespoke software to control a smart home.
His broader thesis is that society will never produce enough software developers, despite the best efforts to do so over the last ten years. Therefore, the more that AI can augment or even replace existing software development, the better chance it has to scale in order to meet growing demand.
Instacart CMO Cheryl Law is no longer at the company, TechCrunch has learned.
Instacart confirmed the departure. We were tipped off about her departure a bit before the whole Amazon making a $13.7B bid for Whole Foods thing went down. Law joined Instacart at the beginning of the year and was previously the CMO of Prosper.
Instacart’s challenges can change on a nearly daily basis — especially following Amazon’s bid for Whole Foods. The company has to ensure it can load up its team with effective executives that can navigate its increasingly complex web of logistics, growth and operations. This can sometimes be the norm at startups, as priorities change as they scale (and in Instacart’s case, raise a ton of money). The company raised $400 million at a $3.4 billion valuation in March.
Managing this new delicate situation with Amazon will most certainly not be Instacart’s only problem. It has to keep its shoppers and drivers happy, which has proven to be challenging and not a trivial issue female short sleeve t-shirt. But it also has to expand its brand internationally and into larger markets dominated by regional retail outlets. It has to forge partnerships, expand its operations and — perhaps the most difficult part — get a ton of people using it so the unit economics show some significant progress at scale.
Instacart increasingly appears in a tricky position as it tries to both navigate the complex economics of on-demand delivery and the looming threat of Amazon — which now owns hundreds of grocery chains that are part of Instacart’s delivery network. The startup’s reach is much broader than that, but it also has to contend with the willingness of a massive online retail giant to barrel into the physical retail space. While Amazon’s intentions with Whole Foods are still not clear, it’s likely a safe bet that the deal may alter the calculus of Instacart’s operations.
The young company has raised $22 million in Series A funding, one year since leaving academia. The round is led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments National research center, alongside Oxford Sciences Innovations (OSI), and the Oxford Technology and Innovations Fund (OTIF).
Born out of ten years of research, Diffblue describes its core AI as being able to build an exact mathematical model of any code base, with just a few examples provided. The resulting model then allows a deep semantic understanding of what a computer program is trying to do, from which a number of aspects of software development can be automated. Initially, Diffblue are working on three products built on the core AI engine.
The first is a testing product that automatically spots bugs and writes tests, which is one of the lower-hanging and most laborious parts of quality software development. It’s also a crucial one, especially for mission-critical applications where a software failure can cost lives or huge amounts of money.
The second Diffblue product in the works is a security product that automatically flags up exploitable bugs and generates tests for those bugs.
The third product is a refactoring product that automatically rewrites badly expressed or out of date code (think: an AI that can automatically upgrade a codebase to support the latest implementation of a programming language or framework).
However, founder Daniel Kroening, who is Professor of Computer Science at University of Oxford, tells me the much bigger and more ambitious vision is that Diffblue can become smart enough to write entire computer programs on its own, just by being given a few examples of the desired outcome , such as writing bespoke software to control a smart home.
His broader thesis is that society will never produce enough software developers, despite the best efforts to do so over the last ten years. Therefore, the more that AI can augment or even replace existing software development, the better chance it has to scale in order to meet growing demand.
Instacart CMO Cheryl Law is no longer at the company, TechCrunch has learned.
Instacart confirmed the departure. We were tipped off about her departure a bit before the whole Amazon making a $13.7B bid for Whole Foods thing went down. Law joined Instacart at the beginning of the year and was previously the CMO of Prosper.
Instacart’s challenges can change on a nearly daily basis — especially following Amazon’s bid for Whole Foods. The company has to ensure it can load up its team with effective executives that can navigate its increasingly complex web of logistics, growth and operations. This can sometimes be the norm at startups, as priorities change as they scale (and in Instacart’s case, raise a ton of money). The company raised $400 million at a $3.4 billion valuation in March.
Managing this new delicate situation with Amazon will most certainly not be Instacart’s only problem. It has to keep its shoppers and drivers happy, which has proven to be challenging and not a trivial issue female short sleeve t-shirt. But it also has to expand its brand internationally and into larger markets dominated by regional retail outlets. It has to forge partnerships, expand its operations and — perhaps the most difficult part — get a ton of people using it so the unit economics show some significant progress at scale.
Instacart increasingly appears in a tricky position as it tries to both navigate the complex economics of on-demand delivery and the looming threat of Amazon — which now owns hundreds of grocery chains that are part of Instacart’s delivery network. The startup’s reach is much broader than that, but it also has to contend with the willingness of a massive online retail giant to barrel into the physical retail space. While Amazon’s intentions with Whole Foods are still not clear, it’s likely a safe bet that the deal may alter the calculus of Instacart’s operations.
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