Outdoor sports and recreation experienced a surge during the pandemic, with activities like golf, fishing, and pickleball seeing significant growth. Unlike other pandemic trends, the interest in outdoor activities persisted, reaching a record 175.8 million participants by the end of 2023, representing 57% of Americans aged six and older, according to the Outdoor Industry Association.

This boom revealed a lack of innovation within the industry, characterized by outdated practices such as over-the-phone bookings and cash payments. Entrepreneurs saw opportunities, leading to the development of SaaS software for hunting and fishing guides, AI-powered golf tee time booking platforms, and even startups for finding pickleball courts, attracting investments from figures like Kevin Durant.

Venture capital interest grew substantially, with investments in sports tech companies rising from $48.60 million in 2019 to $949.26 million in 2021. Despite a drop in 2023, investments remained 290% higher than pre-pandemic levels at $189.71 million.

Benjamin Lazarov, co-founder and CEO of AnyCreek, recounted how booking a hunting guide in Vermont in 2022 led him to create a tech solution for the industry. His frustration with outdated methods highlighted the need for technological advancements, spurred by pandemic-induced changes in consumer behavior. Lazarov noted the acceleration of tech adoption, with a new generation of guides operating primarily online.

Similarly, Mallard Bay, a startup for booking hunting and fishing guides, saw significant growth post-lockdown. From its launch in 2019 to expanding to over 100 guides by 2021, the company benefited from increased demand for streamlined online services.

Loop Golf, another startup, responded to the growing difficulty in booking tee times due to the rise in golf’s popularity. Co-founder and CEO Matthew Holden emphasized the persistent demand for golf post-pandemic, leading to the creation of an automated booking system to ease the process for players.

Changes in consumer behavior during the pandemic have had lasting effects. People now expect online interactions with businesses, a shift seen across various sectors, including outdoor recreation. The transition to digital solutions, as seen in restaurants adopting cashless transactions, has proven beneficial, enhancing business operations and profitability.

Scott Holloway, managing partner at Starting Line and investor in AnyCreek, highlighted the trend of younger generations prioritizing experiences over physical goods. Startups supplying gear and accessories, such as Eastside Golf and Malbon Golf for golf enthusiasts, and Nettie and Recess for pickleball players, are capitalizing on this trend.

Early entrants like Hipcamp and AutoCamp demonstrated consumer demand for innovation in outdoor recreation. Despite advancements, many services, from canoe rentals to ziplines, still operate with outdated websites and methods, presenting further opportunities for tech-driven improvements.

The market for outdoor recreation remains vast, with significant potential for software to revolutionize consumer experiences. As Marc Andreessen noted, “software is eating the world,” and the outdoor recreation sector is one of the last areas ripe for digital transformation. Entrepreneurs and investors alike recognize the massive market opportunity to ride this wave of demand for technological integration.

Google has surged ahead in the artificial intelligence race, overcoming previous setbacks to unveil its advanced Gemini models, Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2, which have outperformed OpenAI’s GPT-4o in key benchmarks.

In the past year, Google’s AI initiatives faced significant challenges. The Bard chatbot’s initial demo provided incorrect information about the James Webb Space Telescope, resulting in a $100 billion loss in Alphabet’s market value. The Gemini image generation feature also encountered issues with historical inaccuracies and biases, leading to its swift retraction. These incidents cast doubt on Google’s ability to compete in the fast-evolving AI sector, especially with OpenAI’s GPT-4o gaining prominence and Microsoft aggressively integrating AI into its products.

This week’s introduction of Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2 has significantly changed the narrative. Gemini 1.5 Pro, Google’s latest large language model, has demonstrated superior capabilities compared to GPT-4o. It processes and analyzes up to 1 million tokens, setting a new benchmark for AI comprehension and contextual understanding. It also achieved the top position on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena leaderboard, outperforming OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude-3.5 Sonnet.

Gemma 2, a 2-billion-parameter model, defies the notion that larger models are inherently better. Despite its smaller size, it competes effectively with larger models like OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, Mistral AI’s Mixtral 8x7B, and Meta’s Llama 2, showcasing Google’s expertise in model efficiency and optimization.

Google’s comeback represents more than just technical advancements; it reflects a strategic shift in AI development and deployment. The rapid improvements in Gemini and Gemma indicate a more agile and responsive development cycle, essential in the fast-paced AI landscape. Additionally, Google’s emphasis on responsible AI development, demonstrated by its handling of the Gemini image generation controversy, highlights its mature approach to ethical challenges in AI.

For enterprise AI, where performance, efficiency, and reliability are critical, Google’s advancements provide a strong alternative to the OpenAI-Microsoft dominance. This resurgence is crucial for CIOs and CTOs developing their AI strategies.

Despite these achievements, Google faces ongoing challenges. The company must translate its technical successes into business value for its cloud customers. Its history of discontinuing promising projects may concern potential adopters. Furthermore, with OpenAI and Anthropic continuously innovating, Google needs to maintain its momentum to solidify its leadership.

Google’s revival signifies a new phase in the AI revolution, where heightened competition drives rapid advancements. This dynamic environment promises rich AI-driven opportunities and challenges for businesses and technologists. Google’s journey from setbacks to significant strides underscores its resilience and innovative capacity, reinforcing the tech industry’s principle that today’s failures can lead to tomorrow’s successes.

Despite the technical breakthroughs, Google still faces hurdles in public perception, highlighted by its recent decision to retract an ad for the Gemini chatbot following backlash. This indicates ongoing work to fully regain trust, but the robust foundation provided by its latest models positions Google strongly for the future.

The Floorr, launched earlier this year, is reshaping the digital styling industry by equipping personal shoppers and stylists with tools to expand their businesses. Accessible via the web and iOS, The Floorr offers a comprehensive suite of features, including tools for conducting sales, hosting tailored styling sessions, creating mood boards, and engaging in text or voice chats with clients, all within a single platform.

The platform’s latest addition, the “Styling Sessions” tool, enables stylists to assemble complete outfit looks using products from The Floorr’s marketplace or by uploading images of in-store items. This new feature aims to streamline the styling process, making it easier for stylists to offer personalized services.

Recent Developments and Financial Backing

On Thursday, The Floorr announced a $1.7 million pre-seed funding round, with backing from notable investors, including Carmen Busquets, co-founder of Net-a-Porter, and Nigora Tokhtabayeva, a jewelry designer and founder of Tabayer. This funding round underscores the growing interest in digital fashion platforms.

Founder’s Insight and Market Trends

Founder Lupe Puerta, who has a background in luxury retail from her time at Harrods and Net-a-Porter, observed a growing trend among luxury brands to adopt digital platforms. This shift has been fueled by the increasing demand for virtual consultations and online styling services, as seen with companies like Next Level Wardrobe, Thread, and Wishi. Additionally, the rise of virtual try-on technology, AI-powered style assistants, and subscription boxes like Stitch Fix and Wantable has made finding curated looks more accessible.

Tools and Partnerships

The Floorr also provides a sales dashboard for stylists, offering analytics on clicks, orders, items sold, and earnings. This dashboard helps stylists manage their businesses more efficiently. The platform partners with high-end retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Browns, Chloé, Farfetch, Neiman Marcus, Net-a-Porter, Saks, and SSense, offering a wide selection of luxury items.

Commission Structure

Personal shoppers on The Floorr earn an 80% commission from sales, significantly higher than the typical retail commission rate for apparel, which is around 15%. In traditional retail settings, personal shoppers usually earn a base salary with a commission of 0.5% to 2.5%.

Current User Base and Clientele

The Floorr has onboarded 200 personal shoppers so far. It caters to luxury fashion enthusiasts, including business professionals and Hollywood celebrities. Customers are invited by a stylist to use the client-focused app, which facilitates remote shopping without the need for in-person meetings. The average order value on the platform is $2,500, with the highest order this month reaching $130,000.

Greenely, a Swedish energy tech startup, has secured €8 million in Series A funding to expand its energy management platform to neighboring Nordic countries. The funding round, which is approximately $8.7 million at current exchange rates, was led by Belgian investment company Korys, with participation from existing investors Luminar Ventures and other shareholders.

Greenely serves around 200,000 households in Sweden, offering freemium energy consumption analytics and optimization services. These services help paying customers save on electricity costs by implementing strategies such as charging electric vehicles when energy prices are low. The platform also enables users to access government payouts through automated optimization of energy demand, reducing pressure on the grid.

Currently, Greenely’s energy optimization services are available only to customers who also purchase energy from the startup. However, with new European legislation expected to be implemented in Sweden by the end of the year, Greenely plans to offer these services independently of energy supply contracts.

The company also provides options for installing home batteries, such as the Pixii Home, allowing households to store energy for later use. This setup helps customers respond to fluctuations in wholesale electricity prices, further optimizing energy costs. Additionally, Greenely’s platform integrates with solar installations and heat pumps, enabling users to sell surplus energy during high-price periods and store it when prices are low.

Greenely’s CEO and co-founder, Tanmoy Bari, highlighted the benefits of their “residential virtual power plant” (VPP) technology. This system lets customers participate in balancing the electricity network, offering both cost savings and potential revenue through government payouts. Bari mentioned that average annual savings per customer are around €250, with the potential for higher savings, especially for electric vehicle owners.

In 2023, if the VPP technology had been fully operational, Greenely customers could have earned more than €3,000 in balancing payments. While customers need to consider the cost of purchasing a home battery, Bari estimates that the investment could be recouped within two to three years.

Greenely’s Market Expansion

Greenely’s new funding will support its expansion into Finland and Norway, leveraging a harmonized market for frequency balancing services across these countries. The startup also has plans to explore other European markets with high smart meter penetration, such as France and the UK, though Germany is not currently on the roadmap due to lower smart meter adoption.

Funding Overview

Korys’ investment director Brieuc de Hults and investment manager Quentin Dupont expressed enthusiasm for supporting Greenely’s mission to revolutionize household energy consumption and contribute to a net-zero future. The startup aims to become the largest residential virtual power plant in Europe, with plans to continue adding customers in Sweden and beyond.