Backed by Cortical Ventures, Firsthand, Company Ventures and angel investors, the Company also shared proprietary research validating widespread addressable markets

NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — 2nd Set AI, a company providing AI solutions for enterprises looking to deploy generative images and video to enhance creativity while protecting IP and brand guidelines, today announced its formal launch along with pre-seed funding led by Cortical Ventures with participation from Firsthand.vc and Company Ventures as well as a collection of AI expert angels. The new capital will allow 2nd Set AI to accelerate hiring, build new business relationships and open up an Early Access Program to help top entertainment organizations generate images and videos from their valuable IP.

The company also released proprietary research around accuracy, responsibility, and efficiency of image generation. Its team studied the major image generation models in use in industry and found substantial issues with inaccuracy, particularly in more complex compositions. Aside from broad inaccuracies and off brand content, the research found a range of issues with unauthorized replication (IP piracy), toxicity, and bias. Finally, it found that the above issues combine to create a much higher fully loaded cost of deploying generative images once the above issues are taken into account.

Founded in 2024 by AI veterans Jeffrey Smith and Saurav Pandit, 2nd Set AI offers a suite of generative visual capabilities for enterprises, chiefly IP rights holders and licensees. Its platform allows entertainment and sports media companies to use images of people and characters for which they control the rights to generate new images and videos from those owned images. Uniquely, the 2nd Set AI platform is constantly checking and revising its own work to ensure the highest quality outputs available, greatly exceeding the accuracy of solutions provided by even much larger companies. This enables traditional media companies to use generative media with confidence that generative media produced from their valuable IP will honor their business goals and protect their brand equity.

“When founding 2nd Set, we recognized that this was a huge moment for the impact of generative media on traditional media sectors like entertainment, advertising and marketing, stock media, and more,” said Smith, CEO & co-founder.  “But as practitioners, we recognized that there was a huge mismatch between the outcomes that were promised and the extant models on the market. Most providers were greatly overpromising their capabilities and users were getting frustrated and disillusioned. One major advertising organization we talked to was producing 96 image contact sheets to cherry pick one good image, and that was after a human reviewed all of them! We recognized that there was a major missing component in the generative media stack: a multimodal reasoning model that understood business requirements. We serve organizations seeking to transform existing imagery they already own or license and use it in new ways using generative visual models.”

In his prior role, Smith spent six years at Facebook/Meta where he managed the PyTorch team, and led key acquisitions and research. He remains an active angel investor and LP in venture capital funds. Pandit has worked for years at the intersection of AI and creativity, including NLP and Computer Vision AI, and in the world of stock media at Pond5 and Shutterstock. Smith and Pandit have partnered before in two previous startups, Intent Media (still in operation as Black Crow Labs) and John Done, an early vocal agent startup.

“One thing that stands out from our research is that there is not one single model that is good at doing everything, and is well behaved in every possible way,” said Pandit, chief science officer & co-founder.  “For example, for superior spatial layout and scene coherence, Open AI’s GPT-4o, with its powerful native LLM reasoning, seems to be a good choice. But it collapses with an increasing number of object attributions in the prompt. Conversely, Google’s recent Imagen models are more robust to increasing the count of things, but don’t get spatial relationships. The flagship 4 Ultra version of Imagen performs better than Imagen 4 in some ways, but of course it costs more. And both of them struggle generating crowds.  The newest Flux Kontext models provide balanced performance, but are heavily guard-railed and aggressively block prompts.So you can see that choosing the right set of AI tools for your task could require your org to have a team of AI engineers constantly onboarding and testing new image and video gen models – which by the way come out every other week! Our team knows this pain because we lived it!”

2nd Set AI is already partnering primarily with several large IP rights holders, primarily across entertainment, sports, and licensed media, across large bodies of content including images, logos, videos, comic character libraries, even entire sports leagues. The company has rolled out an intelligent agent that allows IP rights holders to request a report – delivered via an in-depth analysis and shareable infographic – that illustrates how often their IP is generated by various commercially available generative models. IP rights holders who would like to check for unauthorized replication of their owned imagery are encouraged to try it by going to this page or email it directly at [email protected].

“Having come up through the technical ranks in the early stages of the AI revolution and with years of startup and big tech experience at companies including Meta and Shutterstock, Jeff and Saurav are exactly the kind of founders we look to partner with,” said Jeremy Achin, cofounder and managing partner, Cortical Ventures. “This is a massive challenge not solvable without the right technical underpinnings. In contrast to overly optimistic and risky generative AI technologies from other companies, 2nd Set has developed a platform that reasons throughout the entire generative process to ensure accuracy and compliance.”

About 2nd Set AI

Founded by AI experts from Meta and Shutterstock, 2nd Set AI is a dedicated team of researchers and creative technologists in New York City, backed by experienced AI investors including Firsthand.vc, Cortical Ventures, and Company Ventures, as well as notable AI angel investors. For more information, visit 2ndset.ai.

About Cortical Ventures

Cortical Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs building the next generation AI Companies. The firm was started by DataRobot founder Jeremy Achin and Igor Taber, who previously led Corporate Development at DataRobot and was an early investor in the company while he was at Intel Capital. Cortical Ventures was started to invent, incubate and invest in the companies leading the AI revolution. The firm is backed by leading VC firms and partners, AI luminaries and top founders and operators in the industry.

Press Contact:
Tim Turpin
[email protected] 

SOURCE 2nd Set AI

By Elliot Weld ( August 13, 2025, 2:16 PM EDT) — Garmin International Inc. and Israeli wearable tech firm CardiacSense Ltd. have reached a resolution in a case in a suit over a patent covering devices that measure bodily data….

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Just in time for those last trips of the summer, Amazon and other retailers have launched some top-notch Fitbit deals. One of them includes 25% off the Fitbit Charge 6, which is our favorite fitness tracker out there.

We like the Charge 6 for its role as one of the few fitness-focused trackers that also includes built-in GPS. It’s also housed in a thin, lightweight body that users love, especially for long-term exercise, sleep tracking, and more. The normal price tag on the Charge 6 also offers a pretty solid value proposition, so an extra $40 off definitely doesn’t hurt.

✅Recommended if: you prefer a small smartwatch that’s comfortable to wear to sleep or while working out; you need something with an accurate HR sensor and GPS tracking; you like having a watch with support for Google Maps and Wallet, among other apps.

❌Skip this deal if: you prefer a watch with an especially bright display in outdoor sunlight; you need something with an altimeter or a cEDA sensor; you’re looking for a watch with premium-level GPS accuracy and have the budget to upgrade.

The Fitbit Charge 6 is our top pick for the best fitness tracker category, especially because of its thin, nimble design. Where modern smartwatches often go large and bulky, the Charge 6 offers a refreshingly lightweight design that makes it a great candidate for sleep tracking and exercise.

It also features a useful haptic button, an improved sensor for HR monitoring, and access to apps like YouTube Music, Google Maps, Wallet, and more.

It is worth noting that it lacks some of the extra sensors included on premium smartwatches, such as an altimeter and cEDA sensor. Some have also criticized the accuracy of the GPS sensor, so those looking for a precise GPS might also want to consider upgrading.

Buendia’s Stoik Gym is a place for bodybuilders and influencers to call home, but it’s also targeting the general fitness population as demand surges for serious strength training

Jeremy Buendia wants to create a place where hardcore lifters and everyday fitness enthusiasts can work out side by side in the same gym. 

To make that vision a reality, the four-time Mr. Olympia men’s physique winner and Instagram star has launched Stoik Gym, a new facility outfitted with cutting-edge strength training equipment, recovery zones and communal gathering spaces. 

“This gym was designed with the professional bodybuilder, the fitness enthusiast and even the weekend warrior in mind,” Buendia told Athletech News. “We wanted a place that could welcome all levels of people passionate about strength training and recovery.”

With Stoik gym, Buendia is also hoping to create more opportunities for bodybuilders and fitness influencers to have ownership stakes in gyms. 

Not Your Average Gym

Located in Buendia’s hometown of Roseville, California, the first-ever Stoik Gym features top-of-the-line strength training equipment from Skelcore, a recovery room with a sauna and cold plunge, and a community lounge area that includes a kitchenette. 

Buendia hand-selected each piece of equipment, along with the layout of the entire facility, he says, optimizing every detail, including where to place mirrors for maximum feedback on form. 

Inside, lifting junkies will find a range of equipment Buendia says they “can’t get anywhere else” in Northern California, including free weights, plate and pin-loaded machines, and more advanced pieces such as a bent-over linear row, assisted Nordic hamstring curl and standing leg curl, among others. All the gym’s equipment is exclusively provided by Skelcore, a fast-growing brand based in Miami that partnered with Buendia to create the concept. 

“I’ve had the privilege of traveling the world, working out with the best trainers and in the best facilities,” Buendia explained. “When it came time to outfit the gym with the best in strength equipment, we decided to go with Skelcore. Their product range, quality and ability to satisfy all of our needs made it an easy choice.”

Stoik Gym — pronounced like the word “stoic” —  is an intense place to train, which is just how Buendia wants it. 

“Something I’ve made clear to the members who come in is that we’re a bodybuilding-friendly environment (and) we’re a content-creation environment,” he said, noting that influencers are encouraged to film content inside the gym. 

“There are going to be guys in here throwing around 400 pounds on the bench press and squatting 600 pounds,” he added. “You’re going to hear guys grunting.”

But it’s not all fun and filming. While Stoik is open to the general public, Buendia is serious about creating an environment that cultivates a certain type of personality he wants to represent his brand. 

Inside the Roseville facility is a prominently displayed list of “Gym Rules,” which include basics like re-racking weights and wiping down machines after use, but also more specific requirements such as maintaining good hygiene and one that reads, “Don’t come into the gym smelling like cigarettes or marijuana.”

Additionally, anyone under the age of 18 needs to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA and pass an interview, with their parents in attendance, in order to become a Stoik member. 

“I hold that standard because Stoik as a brand represents something more than just a gym,” Buendia explained. “I want people to wear ‘Stoik’ across their chest with pride as a badge of honor.”

See Also

The result, he hopes, will be a unique community of hardcore lifters working out alongside general fitness enthusiasts, all of whom want something more than what they can find in their local big-box gym (Stoik Gym comes in at just under 10,000 square feet, which Buendia and Skelcore have identified as the sweet-spot size for a modern strength training facility). 

Memberships cost $109/month for a 12-month commitment and $129 for a month-to-month plan, although family and student plans are available at discounted rates. Stoik also offers a “creator membership,” priced at $399, which allows members to create content with a videographer. 

Stoik Gym officially opened to the public around three weeks ago, and so far, the response has been just what Buendia envisioned as influencers, bodybuilders and everyday people (of a certain mindset) train together.

“The amount of exposure and free marketing we’ve gotten in the first (few) weeks — not just because of my name and my following, but because of the other influencers that are in the gym posting content — is crazy,” he said.

Expansion on the Horizon

Looking ahead, Buendia is thinking bigger than just one location. The brand is actively exploring expansion opportunities across the U.S. and potentially internationally. For upcoming gyms, Stoik plans to offer minority ownership stakes to bodybuilders and fitness influencers who want to have equity in a fitness business of their own.

For Buendia, this mission is as personal as it is professional. He noted the all-too-common phenomenon of pro bodybuilders wondering what to do with their lives after their career wraps up (for some, this realization happens mid-career). 

“We want to create opportunities for bodybuilders, or other fitness enthusiasts, to have a career beyond the stage,” Buendia said. “If there are any bodybuilders out there looking for an opportunity that’s lucrative, reach out to me or the Stoik team.”

This spring, the Putnam County baseball team began using electronic communication from the dugout to its catcher.

The Panther catcher wore an AirPod 2, and PC coach Chris Newsome used the live listen feature on an iPad, which was connected to the AirPod 2 via Bluetooth, to call pitches, relay bunt coverages, and more.

“When I looked at all of our options like signs, wristbands, etc., the technology option kept coming up as the most beneficial and in many ways the easiest coach-to-catcher communication option,” Newsome said. “Signs can be stolen, wristbands can be hard to read and are susceptible to weather and/or sweat and dirt. The AirPod Pros and an iPad gives us the ability to speak directly to the ear of the catcher and not be limited to the name of a called pitched or pickoff like certain systems.”

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) approved the use of one-way communication with the catcher in July 2023 and it was implemented for IHSA baseball and softball for the 2024 season.

“I like that the NFHS and IHSA allow for this,” Newsome said. “I’d be in favor of expanding some sort of technology to include the pitcher and even position players down the road.”

IHSA Assistant Executive Director Matt Troha said IHSA officials have not received much positive or negative feedback about the one-way communication from coaches or umpires.

“Anecdotally from watching regular season and state series contests, we know that many teams did utilize them,” Troha said. “Given that, we feel that the implementation was a success.

“I believe most coaches are open to exploring the use of technology or rule changes if they believe it makes the game better. I also believe that there is an expectation that as different rules or technology are implemented at other levels of sport (collegiate and pro), many are likely to trickle down to the high school level at some juncture.”

Given that one-way communication was successfully implemented in baseball and softball and the NCAA approved the use of helmet communication at the FBS level, will other IHSA sports soon be using such devices?

“One-way communication is dictated by the NFHS rulebooks and we are not aware of any national rule committees that are currently considering that,” Troha said.

Troha said the use of one-way communication in football has been discussed at the national level.

“I believe there is universal concern about how it would/could fundamentally change the sport if quarterbacks were coached throughout the entirety of the play,” Troha said. “The NFL obviously utilizes a system where they shut off the communication devices during the play based on the play clock, but they also only have 14 or 15 games per week in highly controlled environments. Getting that technology to work and be properly enforced across thousands of high schools would be a massive challenge. Then factor in the cost and those are two significant hurdles.”

Kevin Crandall, the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association president and former head coach at Rochelle, said while the IHSFCA hasn’t polled it’s members on the issue, he feels most coaches would be in favor of communication technology.

“I think the vast majority of coaches would be for it, probably vehemently for it,” Crandall said. “The only questions I could foresee would be the cost factor for some schools. But I think it’d be something that most coaches would advocate for.”

For Putnam County baseball, the technology came fairly cheaply as the Panthers just needed to buy AirPods for $149 and ear holders for $15 to pair with an iPad the program already had.

SportsCom, which has a partnership with the IHSA, offers an annual subscription for baseball/softball communication for $425. It can be used on smart watches that a coach/player already owns or the company offers refurbished devices at a discount.

Patriot ConX offers watches for baseball/softball and football with the single watch package, which includes a coach’s command center, one player receiver watch, one case, and two charging cords, for $449.99. A five-watch package is $1,099.9,9 and a 10-watch package is $1,999.99.

CoachComm has a listen-only device that can be clipped to a player’s equipment or enclosed in an arm band for $700, compatible with all Cobalt Plus headset systems.

PortaPhone offers a coach-to-player helmet system for $795 and Quibit has a device that’s mounted in helmets that receives only and can be set to any channel for $145.

Coaches and administrators around the country will see how one-way communication works at the high school level as the University Interscholastic League, which governs high school sports in Texas, has approved wearable technology such as watches, wristbands and belt packs to communicate game calls starting this fall, according to an article on Dave Campbell’s Texas Football website, texasfootball.com. There will be no limit to the number of players who can wear a device during a game. In-helmet communication is not allowed.

“It makes communication a lot better,” said Crandall, who coached Rochelle from 1994-2017. “The choices now are to bring the quarterback over and give him the play or send it in with somebody, but once in a while, it becomes a little like telephone and the play doesn’t always get in exactly like you called it. Or you can signal it in. If the coach could just talk to the player, it would make communication much easier with a lot less chance of miscommunication.”