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Traffic isdown , newsroom are undergoinglayoffsandpublishers fearthat AI technologieswill only make matter unfit . Entering the disturbance , intelligence - reader startupParticleis teaming up with publishers to seek out a Modern business enterprise fashion model for the AI era , where AI sum-up of news do n’t have to think of mixed-up revenues . The startup , built by former Twitter engineer , offers a news - read app that helps readers empathize all slant of the story by leverage AI to summarize news from across a ambit of publishers .
Now , the company is bringing its first publishing partners into the mix to help it guide its next step .
In addition , Particle has closed on $ 10.9 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners , a round that also include investment from Axel Springer , a global media troupe and household to brands like Business Insider , Politico , Welt and Bild .
The partnership and investments from media companies specify to show how serious Particle is about working alongside publishing house to meet their destination , rather than trying to solve their problem for them .
Of course , a focus on publisher ’ need does n’t necessarily render into success .
This year , the a16z - backedTwitter substitute Post Newsshut down , after team up up with publishers to try out with the micropayments clientele model where user would pay modest amounts of money to take an clause that appears in a Twitter - like provender . Artifact , the news program app from Instagram ’s atomic number 27 - founding father , alsorecently exitedto ( TechCrunch parent ) Yahoo , after its efforts in leverage AI to personalize the meter reading experience and summarize item-by-item story .
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However , Particle ’s assumption is that it will deliver something of note value to news consumer , beyond just AI summaries . It also aims to offer a good way to understand the news by analyzing all the dissimilar angle of a story using AI .
“ Part of Particle ’s thesis is … how a story is being reported from all English of the spectrum , ” explain Particle co - founderSara Beykpour , antecedently a senior director of product management at Twitter . “ We think that ’s important . ”
Beykpour had earlier go on products like Twitter Blue , Twitter Video and Twitter ’s conversation , and had spearheadedthe data-based app twttrwhile working at the company from 2015 through 2021 . Her carbon monoxide - laminitis at Particle is Marcel Molina , a former senior engine driver at both Twitter and Tesla .
Founded in February 2023 , the squad had started with a more societal focus , given their backgrounds , but within a pair of month narrowed in on news and information , Beykpour say .
“ We wanted to build an experience for consumers that really helps them geld through the noise and that helps them infer more [ and ] what ’s blend in on faster , and we desire to do that in a way of life that is a sustainable , winnings - win position for both the readers that are take in and the publishers and the journalists that are producing the content , ” she enjoin .
Similar to Artifact , Particle will offer a individualised news experience . But to assure citizenry do n’t get stick in their own “ filter bubbles ” — that is , reading only those stories that match their existing worldview — Particle will take a unlike attack to the building block of capacity . In Particle , that unit of measurement is not an individual tidings article , but the story as a whole , as told by multiple outlets . This tolerate readers to see a multi - perspective prospect of a story and then easily sink in through to the various source of the reporting . This fashion model also cuts down on duplication , so reader wo n’t be seeing stories that are essentially the same as one another .
Under the hood , Particle uses a mix of AI technologies , include GPT-4o , to summarize the news show .
For now , Particle is take the sources for the write up from across a spectrum of publishers and wo n’t allow users to input their own sources into the app . That could change in the hereafter , but Particle desire to control that readers are still being exposed to multiple viewpoints .
This is an area startup have tried to undertake before . A few years ago , Google engine driver tried to limit information overload and medium biaswith an app called Brief , but it used human editors to summarize news , not AI . Twitterlater acqui - hired that squad . before , the news program appSmartNews also launched a featurethat would show articles from across the political spectrum , but it ’s not a independent driver of downloads .
What Particle is n’t yet quick to reveal is its business example . That ’s because it has n’t settled on one yet .
“ We want to work with publishers on developing what that new mannequin look like . That ’s one of the reason we are working with publisher and tempt other publishing house and journalist to work with us so that we can develop it together , ” Beykpour enunciate .
But she said that all ideas are on the table , including revenue sharing , advertising and more .
With its Series A , Particle is adding Lightspeed’sMichael Mignanoto its board . Other backer now endorse Particle let in Jason Goldman , Vijaya Gadde , Lakshmi Shankar , Bruce Falck , Shane Mac , Jill Bowen , Mohamad Taha , Roger Sippl and Max Mullen .
Prior to its Series A , Particle had bring up $ 4.4 million in seminal fluid funding in April 2023 , endorse by Kindred Ventures , Adverb Ventures and GC&H Investments , as well as various angels , like Twitter and Medium co - founder Ev Williams and Behance laminitis Scott Belsky .
David Brinker , a former VP of contented partnership at Snap , andTony Haile , the former CEO of digital news startup Scroll ( acquired by Twitter ) , are the caller ’s official adviser .
With the funds , Particle is hiring for key theatrical role include a back - destruction engineer , SRE , community and editorial lead and a sensitive partnerships lead .
Particle ’s app is still inprivate beta testingwith a small radical on iOS ’s TestFlight . In time , it aims to support the web and Android , too .
