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India’s Kombai raises $4.5M to simplify UI coding with AI on August 23, 2023 at 2:16 am

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Kombai, a startup that aims to help front-end developers easily convert UI designs to code using AI, has emerged from stealth and announced a $4.5 million in a seed funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Foundation Capital.

In response to rapid hardware advancements, software evolution has underscored a pressing need for superior user interfaces. Both emerging startups and leading tech firms are keen to develop distinguishing user interfaces. However, front-end developers often find the swift coding of these unique designs challenging. Kombai’s AI model, aimed at addressing this issue, is scheduled for public research release this Wednesday.

The Palo Alto-incorporated startup, which operates from an office in India’s Pune, was founded by former Mindtickle executives Dipanjan Dey (serving as Kombai CEO) and Abhijit Bhole (CTO) in April 2022 — after over 16 months of groundwork. It uses a collection of deep learning and heuristics models, each designed to tackle a specific aspect of interpreting UI designs and generating code from said interpretation.

“The model tries to develop an intuitive understanding of the design… and then it starts generating the code,” Dey said in an interview.

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Kombai, named after the Indian dog breed by the dog-loving co-founders, uses a step-by-step approach to create UI code. In its process, Kombai intelligently clusters logical elements, forming a streamlined div structure while ensuring CSS has minimal hardcoded widths and margins. The generated code is segmented into discernible components, each aptly named to facilitate comprehension and potential reuse. Recognizing patterns, Kombai pinpoints loops and conditions, substituting static text with variables. In its final touch, it leverages publicly available multi-modal large language models (LLMs) to refine particular segments of its auto-generated code, culminating in a polished end product.

The LLMs account for under 5% of the final output’s character count, while the bulk of it is produced by the AI model directly, Dey said.

Even though generating code using AI involves a number of steps in the background, Kombai’s model produces the result in a few seconds to help save plenty of time for front-end developers.

The generated code can be downloaded by front-end developers or copied directly into their respective IDEs. Developers can also modify the code depending on their requirements and incorporate it into their codebases.

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Dey noted that developers typically spend 25–75% of their working time writing UI code such as styles in CSS, Document Object Model (DOM) in HTML and framework-specific boilerplate. While the demand and complexity of front-end development have gone up as designing has become crucial for businesses, there is a lack of standardization in front-end technologies, the co-founder told TechCrunch.

Before launching its model for public research, Kombai collaborated with more than 500 developers during the last six months as part of its private research preview.

The startup looks to emerge as “reverse Dall-E for UI design” and make front-end development fun again for the five million front-end and 15 million fullstack developers worldwide, Dey told TechCrunch.

Kombai currently requires front-end developers to have a Figma account to sign up or integrate Figma’s API token to fetch designs from the interface design app. However, Dey said the model could potentially be easily integrated with other design tools including Adobe XD.

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“The only reason we are not going to XD is primarily because of our bandwidth,” he said.

The seed round included participation from 20 angels, including some undisclosed SaaS CEOs and CTOs and a few late-stage investors.

“In Kombai’s team, we discovered a rare blend of tech and product expertise needed to solve the problem with a fundamentally new approach. We’re thrilled by the remarkable strides the team has taken in developing the product and the positive developer feedback,” said Alok Goyal, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, in a prepared statement.

Kombai, which currently has a workforce of 13 people comprising senior front-end engineers and deep-learning experts, will expand its team with a few more engineers over the next few months.

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“Excellent designer tools like Figma and Adobe XD have emerged in the last decade. But they do not generate meaningful code that can be used by developers. On the other hand, LLM-based tools like ChatGPT and Github Copilot are great for generating code suggestions from textual inputs, but they don’t work for UI development. As a result, developers need to manually translate all parts of a UI design into code, which is frustrating and incredibly time-consuming. We believe this presents a huge opportunity that has practically been begging for a solution. That’s why we’re thrilled to partner with the Kombai team in their mission of enabling the world’s 20 million developers to spend more of their time on hard, interesting problems, not mundane CSS,” said Ashu Garg, Partner at Foundation Capital.

Kombai plans to utilize some of its funding to start inbound and to continue investing in research and development, improve its base models and build compatibility with a range of libraries and frameworks used by developer teams.

​ Kombai, a startup that aims to help front-end developers easily convert UI designs to code using AI, has emerged from stealth and announced a $4.5 million in a seed funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Foundation Capital. In response to rapid hardware advancements, software evolution has underscored a pressing need for superior user 

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GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT RETURNS FOR ITS 5TH EDITION AT THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT – HOUSE OF LORDS, PALACE OF WESTMINSTER

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Theme: “People, Planet, and Profit in the Age of AI and Innovation”

London, United Kingdom — The Global Sustainability Summit (GSS) is officially back for its landmark 5th Edition, continuing its legacy as one of the leading international platforms driving sustainable development, climate action, ethical investment, innovation, and global collaboration.

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Convened annually at the prestigious British Parliament, House of Lords, Palace of Westminster, by Ambassador Canon Chinenem Otto, the Summit has, over the last four years, successfully fostered international dialogue and partnerships that have contributed to the advancement of global sustainability goals, the establishment of sustainability-focused ministries, departments and policy structures across national and subnational governments, and the attraction of major investors into sustainable development projects, corporations and emerging economies.

This year’s summit, themed “People, Planet, and Profit in the Age of AI and Innovation,” will explore how emerging technologies, responsible leadership, sustainable finance, innovation, and global partnerships can shape a more inclusive, resilient and environmentally conscious future.

The 5th Edition promises to be the most impactful yet, bringing together world leaders, policymakers, diplomats, investors, academics, innovators, climate experts and youth leaders from across the globe to discuss actionable solutions toward achieving a sustainable and equitable future.

Among the distinguished speakers, delegates and honorees already lined up for the Summit are:

• His Excellency Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq — Executive Governor of Kwara State, Nigeria and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum

• His Excellency Senator Prince Bassey Otu — Executive Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria

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• Ambassador Patricia Espinosa Cantellano — Former Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Former Foreign Minister of Mexico

• Lord Marvin Rees, Baron Rees of Easton OBE — Member of the House of Lords, United Kingdom

• Hon. Neema K. Lugangira — Secretary-General of Women Political Leaders (WPL), Brussels and Former Member of Parliament

• Her Excellency Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah — President of the Republic of Namibia

• His Excellency Nangolo Mbumba — Former President of Namibia

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• Former President of Tanzania

• Her Excellency Ambassador Professor Olufolake AbdulRazaq — First Lady of Kwara State, Nigeria and Chairperson of Nigeria Governors’ Spouses Forum

• Your Excellency Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, PhD, CON — Executive Governor of Katsina State and Chairman of the Northwest Governors Forum, Nigeria

• Hon. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma — Governor of Khomas Region, Namibia

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• H.E. Mr. Veiccoh Nghiwete — High Commissioner of the Republic of Namibia to the United Kingdom

• Her Excellency Ms. Macenje “Che Che” Mazoka — High Commissioner of Zambia to the United Kingdom

• Ms. Danielle Newman — Partner Lead, ICT, World Economic Forum

• Leanne Elliott Young — Co-founder, Institute of Digital Fashion & CommuneEast

• Ms. Chloe Russell — Producer & Presenter, Art, Science and Nature

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• Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger — University of Cambridge & University of Waterloo

• Dr. Alexandra R. Harrington — IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL)

• Professor Payam Akhavan — Massey College, University of Toronto

• Mr. Mallai C. E. Sathya — President, Dravida Vetri Kazhagam and International Movement for Tamil Culture Asia

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The Summit will feature high-level panel discussions, strategic investment conversations, sustainability awards, policy dialogues, innovation showcases, youth engagement sessions and international networking opportunities focused on climate resilience, ethical financing, food-water-energy sustainability, circular economy, artificial intelligence, diplomacy and sustainable development.

Speaking ahead of the Summit, Convener Ambassador Canon Chinenem Otto noted:

“As the world rapidly evolves through artificial intelligence and technological innovation, we must ensure that sustainability remains people-centered, environmentally responsible and economically inclusive. The Global Sustainability Summit continues to serve as a bridge connecting governments, institutions, innovators and investors to accelerate practical sustainability solutions globally. Our fifth edition is not only a celebration of progress made over the years, but also a renewed call for global collaboration and actionable impact toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Zero ambitions.”

The Global Sustainability Summit continues to position itself as a catalyst for transformative partnerships and sustainable global progress, reinforcing the urgent need for collective action toward a more resilient and sustainable future.

More announcements regarding additional speakers, partners and summit activities will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

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US May Completely Cut Income Tax Due to Tariff Revenue

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President Donald Trump says the United States might one day get rid of federal income tax because of money the government collects from tariffs on imported goods. Tariffs are extra taxes the U.S. puts on products that come from other countries.

What Trump Is Saying

Trump has said that tariff money could become so large that it might allow the government to cut income taxes “almost completely.” He has also talked about possibly phasing out income tax over the next few years if tariff money keeps going up.

How Taxes Work Now

Right now, the federal government gets much more money from income taxes than from tariffs. Income taxes bring in trillions of dollars each year, while tariffs bring in only a small part of that total. Because of this gap, experts say tariffs would need to grow by many times to replace income tax money.

Questions From Experts

Many economists and tax experts doubt that tariffs alone could pay for the whole federal budget. They warn that very high tariffs could make many imported goods more expensive for shoppers in the United States. This could hit lower- and middle‑income families hardest, because they spend a big share of their money on everyday items.

What Congress Must Do

The president can change some tariffs, but only Congress can change or end the federal income tax. That means any real plan to remove income tax would need new laws passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. So far, there is no detailed law or full budget plan on this idea.

What It Means Right Now

For now, Trump’s comments are a proposal, not a change in the law. People and businesses still have to pay federal income tax under the current rules. The debate over using tariffs instead of income taxes is likely to continue among lawmakers, experts, and voters.

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Epstein Files to Be Declassified After Trump Order

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Former President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing federal agencies to declassify all government files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier whose death in 2019 continues to fuel controversy and speculation.

The order, signed Wednesday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, instructs the FBI, Department of Justice, and intelligence agencies to release documents detailing Epstein’s network, finances, and alleged connections to high-profile figures. Trump described the move as “a step toward transparency and public trust,” promising that no names would be shielded from scrutiny.

“This information belongs to the American people,” Trump said in a televised statement. “For too long, powerful interests have tried to bury the truth. That ends now.”

U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that preparations for the release are already underway. According to sources familiar with the process, the first batch of documents is expected to be made public within the next 30 days, with additional releases scheduled over several months.

Reactions poured in across the political spectrum. Supporters praised the decision as a bold act of accountability, while critics alleged it was politically motivated, timed to draw attention during a volatile election season. Civil rights advocates, meanwhile, emphasized caution, warning that some records could expose private victims or ongoing legal matters.

The Epstein case, which implicated figures in politics, business, and entertainment, remains one of the most talked-about scandals of the past decade. Epstein’s connections to influential individuals—including politicians, royals, and executives—have long sparked speculation about the extent of his operations and who may have been involved.

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Former federal prosecutor Lauren Fields said the release could mark a turning point in public discourse surrounding government transparency. “Regardless of political stance, this declassification has the potential to reshape how Americans view power and accountability,” Fields noted.

Officials say redactions may still occur to protect sensitive intelligence or personal information, but the intent is a near-complete disclosure. For years, critics of the government’s handling of Epstein’s case have accused agencies of concealing evidence or shielding elites from exposure. Trump’s order promises to change that narrative.

As anticipation builds, journalists, legal analysts, and online commentators are preparing for what could be one of the most consequential information releases in recent history.

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