MAM
Bangalore Ad Club receives 1,150 entries for Big Bang Awards
BENGALURU: The Advertising Club, Bangalore (Bangalore Ad Club) said through a media release that it has received a record 1,150 entries for its annual Big Bang Awards to be held on 28 September 2018 in the Garden City. The Bangalore Ad Club says that this makes it the biggest awards in a 23-year history.
“We are celebrating Big Bang this year with the theme of # For The Love Of Advertising. We believe that the shine has gone out of traditional advertising and we want, in our small way, to try and bring it back, in spite of the sweeping changes wreaked by digital. We are looking at a year-long campaign, starting with Big Bang, to celebrate some of the iconic work in the past, award the best current work and discuss and debate the future of our beloved industry,” feels Big Bang Awards chairperson Malavika Harita. Harita is the current CEO of advertising and communications company Saatchi & Saatchi Focus.
Bangalore Ad Club says that as the advertising industry continues to grow, a shift in the advertising spaces with new opportunities and newer challenges seems to be emerging. The Big Bang Awards this year has lined up exclusive interactions with ad and marketing ITCV Foods CEO Gurus Hemant Malik, Colors Viacom 18 CEO Raj Nayak, noted ad-man and film-maker R Balki, who is known for his movies Padman, Pa, Ki and Ka and many more.
The Advertising Club Bangalore in association with Ananda Vikatan Group, its multimedia partner for Big Bang Awards, in a public service initiative have introduced the ‘Issued in Public Interest’, a new category under which social messaging campaigns will be recognised by the jury. The Advertising Club received 53 creatives as entries for public service, all of which will be recognised. “When it comes to public interest, it’s a challenge to categorise which is better. While we will award one gold trophy to the winner based on the jury scores. We will feature all the entries on our website, as a goodwill gesture,” says Advertising Club Bangalore executive director Arvind Kumar.
Digital
Anthropic eyes $900bn valuation in new funding round ahead of IPO: Reports
Claude maker may surpass OpenAI as investor interest heats up sharply
SAN FRANCISCO: Anthropic is exploring a fresh funding round that could value the company at more than $900 billion, potentially making it the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup, according to Bloomberg reports.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that the Claude maker is in early-stage discussions with investors and is entertaining offers at more than double its current valuation. No deal has been finalised yet.
The interest marks a sharp jump from February this year, when Anthropic raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion. Since then, investor appetite appears to have intensified, with multiple pre-emptive offers on the table.
According to TechCrunch, the company has received proposals to raise around $50 billion at valuations ranging between $850 billion and $900 billion. A decision is expected to be taken at a board meeting in May.
If the deal goes through at the upper end of that range, Anthropic would overtake OpenAI, which was valued at $852 billion in March, to become the most valuable AI startup globally.
The potential fundraise also comes against the backdrop of a possible initial public offering, which could be launched as early as October, the Bloomberg report noted.
The company counts tech heavyweights such as Amazon and Google, part of Alphabet, among its key backers. Both firms have continued to deepen their ties with Anthropic through multi-billion-dollar, performance-linked investments.
Interestingly, earlier reports had suggested that Anthropic was cautious about raising funds at valuations of $800 billion or more. The latest developments, however, indicate that market enthusiasm for advanced AI models and infrastructure may be shifting those thresholds quickly.
As the race for AI dominance accelerates, Anthropic’s next move could set a new benchmark for startup valuations, and signal just how high investors are willing to bet on the future of artificial intelligence.
