$100 million from China as a lifeline for air taxi startup Lilium

Thanks to the cash injection, the people of Munich can now continue to tinker. Also: Uber pleases the stock exchange with excellent figures and the first ChatGPT victims.

Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

Lily After a few setbacks, we managed to collect at least a first part of the necessary new investments. The Munich air taxi developer will receive 100 million US dollars from the Chinese company Tencent, according to a statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Chinese company had previously provided Lilium with a financial injection. Tencent has also promised to give a further 75 million dollars if Lilium’s management succeeds in raising the same amount from other investors, as reported by the “Handelsblatt”.

Lilium plans to launch the first manned flight in the second half of next year. Successful execution of this plan is a prerequisite for the certification of the electric VTOL. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

On Founder scene: Filming is currently underway for the new season of “The Lion’s Den”. The entrepreneur and influencer will be there Tijen Repair – which, according to information from the founding scene, has so far left a mixed impression on the set: some praise Onaran for her professional commitment as an investor. Others, on the other hand, say that the mood is “poisoned”. She is said to have a rough tone and clashed with Nils Glagau, among others. You can read all the details in the article by our colleague Daniel Hüfner today. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Uber was able to increase its sales by 29 percent in the first quarter, after the driving service business was able to increase by 40 percent compared to the same period last year. Grocery delivery growth was eight percent. The Californian company has thus generated $549 million in free cash flow. In the same period last year, the group had burned $47 million in cash. These significantly better than expected results also pleased the stock market: the company’s shares shot up by twelve percent. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal und Reuters]

Chegg has revealed to investors that the artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbot ChatGPT has an impact on the growth rate of new customers. Shares in the California online education company fell nearly 40 percent in after-hours trading. At the same time, the company reported a seven percent decline in sales year-on-year. Chegg isn’t the only software company to benefit from the startup’s new development OpenAI is affected. The Information counted over 13 companies including Grammarlywho are under pressure. [Mehr bei The Information und CNBC]

Samsung restricts employees’ use of AI tools like ChatGPT after the company found the services were being misused. Some employees of the South Korean tech company are said to have uploaded sensitive code to ChatGPT. Samsung itself has not yet developed its own generative AI product. [Mehr bei Bloomberg]

Tesla has increased its vehicle prices in several key markets after a series of price cuts this year. These include the USA and China, but also Canada and Japan. The Model 3 and the Model Y of the US electric car manufacturer are affected. Despite the increase, the price of Tesla vehicles remains lower than at the beginning of the year. Tesla CEO Elon Musk signaled on a conference call in April that the automaker will aim for larger sales volumes versus higher margins. [Mehr bei CNBC]

Inflection AIthe AI ​​startup created by Linkedin-Co-founder Reid Hoffman and Google Deepmind-Co-founder Mustafa Suleyman has launched its first AI chatbot product. Similar to the viral chatbot ChatGPT by OpenAI uses the Inflection product called Pi generative AI technology. Users can interact through dialogues, ask questions and give feedback. Pi, which stands for “personal intelligence,” was released on multiple platforms including the web and via an iOS app on Tuesday. Pi is currently free to use. [Mehr bei Bloomberg und Reuters]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: News, results, game reports from district league clubs to regional league teams, so celebrate Prematch Successes. Now Verena Pausder is participating in a round of millions for the soccer app. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

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Happy Wednesday!

Your Gründerszene editors