MAM
GoaFest announces Creative Abbys & shortlist online
MUMBAI: The Awards Governing Council (AGC) of Abbys at Goafest 2014 has announced the team of jury chairpersons for the Creative Abbys.
The jury chairperson for the Integrated Advertising category is McCann World Group president, south Asia, Prasoon Joshi. The film category will be chaired by it Taproot chairman and chief creative officer Agnello Dias. Alok Nanda communications director Alok Nanda will chair the design category.
For Outdoor Advertising and Ambient DDB Mudra Group, India chairman and chief creative officer, Sonal Dabral will be the jury chair and for Radio Advertising it will be Contract Advertising National Creative Director, Ashish Chakravarty.
Commenting on the jury, chairman of the Awards Governing Council, Pratap Bose, said “We are delighted to have such a remarkable line-up of jury chairpersons this year. All of them are creative stalwarts and I am pleased that they will be judging the Creative Abbys this year. The judging process will be transparent and fair. KPMG will be monitoring the judging procedure.”
This year more than 3,000 entries were received. Shortlists for Goafest 2014 are being displayed at www.abbyshortlist.com.
If any, then issues related to shortlisted entries can be brought to the attention of jury chairperson in writing. The matter with proof submitted will be tabled in the second round for the jury to make a final call on. Metals awarded by the jury after the second round of judging will be final.
Goafest 2014 will be held at The Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, North Goa on 29–31 May 2014.
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.
