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Flexport Cuts Jobs, Plans to Unload Excess Warehouse Space

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Oct 2, 2024 2:24pm PDT · 3 comments
Logistics company Flexport is making fresh job cuts and will sublease excess warehouse space to overhaul the money-losing fulfillment business it acquired from Shopify last year, according to a memo to staff on Wednesday. Flexport, which was valued at $8 billion in a 2022 funding round, has seen revenue drop since then amid a broader collapse in... Logistics company Flexport is making fresh job cuts and will sublease excess warehouse space to...
Sam Altman (left), Sarah Friar and Jack Dorsey. Photos by Getty Images
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How OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar Is Keeping Startup Flush With Cash

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments
At Square, Sarah Friar was the grownup who helped bring the fintech’s otherworldly CEO, Jack Dorsey, down to earth for investors. Now she has a shot at doing something similar for Sam Altman’s OpenAI—if she can last long term at the chaotic artificial intelligence startup. Since arriving at OpenAI as chief financial officer in... At Square, Sarah Friar was the grownup who helped bring the fintech’s otherworldly CEO,...
Art by Clark Miller
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Google Searches for Its Footing in Smart Glasses as Meta Gains Ground

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 1, 2024 9:15am PDT · 4 comments
Earlier this year, Google staffers began pitching their counterparts at Samsung—a longtime Google hardware partner—on an idea for a new collaboration between the companies: high-tech glasses. At the time, another big tech company, Meta Platforms, was starting to see success from its own Ray-Ban smart glasses, which allowed people to... Earlier this year, Google staffers began pitching their counterparts at Samsung—a longtime...
Lightspeed Venture Partners co-founder and partner, Ravi Mhatre. Photo via Flickr/TechCrunch.
Lightspeed, After Backing xAI and Anthropic, Aims to Raise $7 Billion in New Funds
By Laura Mandaro · Oct 1, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
Lightspeed Venture Partners co-founder and partner, Ravi Mhatre. Photo via Flickr/TechCrunch.
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Lightspeed, After Backing xAI and Anthropic, Aims to Raise $7 Billion in New Funds

By Laura Mandaro · Oct 1, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
Lightspeed Venture Partners is raising money for three new funds that could total around $7 billion, according to a person who has discussed the fundraising with the firm’s partners. It’s the latest firm seeking to raise billions after a period when institutional investors pulled back from venture capital. Close to 40% of the new... Lightspeed Venture Partners is raising money for three new funds that could total around $7...
Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank. Photo by Getty
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SoftBank to Invest $500 Million in OpenAI

By Kate Clark and Cory Weinberg · Sep 30, 2024 6:30am PDT
SoftBank’s Vision Fund has agreed to invest $500 million in OpenAI’s latest funding round, which values the developer of ChatGPT at $150 billion before the investment, a person familiar with the deal said. The deal would represent SoftBank’s first investment in the Sam Altman-led company. SoftBank would join lead investor... SoftBank’s Vision Fund has agreed to invest $500 million in OpenAI’s latest funding...
Art by Shane Burke.
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Wall Street Hunts for Its Blockchain ‘Killer App’

By Yueqi Yang · Sep 27, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
Two years ago, a behind-the-scenes giant in U.S. financial markets went live with one of Wall Street’s biggest and most ambitious blockchain initiatives. Known as Project Ion, the effort aimed to use blockchain to revolutionize settlement of stock trades, when buyers fork over the cash and get share certificates. Firms ranging from big... Two years ago, a behind-the-scenes giant in U.S. financial markets went live with one of Wall...
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Courtesy of Amazon Studios
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Amazon’s Upfront Ad Haul Tops $1.8 Billion Target

By Theo Wayt and Sahil Patel · Sep 26, 2024 12:47pm PDT
Amazon’s decision to introduce ads within its Prime Video streaming service is already paying off for the company. In talks with advertisers during the just-concluded upfront ad market for the coming year, Amazon exceeded its goal of drawing $1.8 billion in ad-spending commitments for its video-streaming services, including Prime Video,... Amazon’s decision to introduce ads within its Prime Video streaming service is already...
Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty.
Scale AI’s Sales Nearly Quadrupled in First Half
By Cory Weinberg · Sep 24, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty.
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Scale AI’s Sales Nearly Quadrupled in First Half

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 24, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Helping artificial intelligence companies improve the accuracy of their large language models is turning into a giant business for Scale AI, which labels data for big AI developers like Meta Platforms and Google. Scale nearly quadrupled its sales to almost $400 million in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year,... Helping artificial intelligence companies improve the accuracy of their large language models is...
Art by Mike Sullivan.
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Polymarket Discusses Fresh Funding Amid Election Betting Craze

By Kate Clark and Yueqi Yang · Sep 23, 2024 2:05pm PDT · 1 comment
Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market that has taken off as a place for people to bet on the U.S. election, on Taylor Swift’s engagement prospects and on who will win the Super Bowl, is in talks to raise more than $50 million in new capital, according to people familiar with the matter. Polymarket has also discussed the... Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market that has taken off as a place for people to bet...
Anthropic co-founder and CEO, Dario Amodei. Photo by Julien De Rosa/AFP via Getty.
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Anthropic Has Floated $40 Billion Valuation in Funding Talks

By Anissa Gardizy and Kate Clark · Sep 23, 2024 1:45pm PDT · 3 comments
Anthropic, OpenAI’s largest startup competitor, has started talking to investors about raising capital in a deal that could value the startup at $30 billion to $40 billion, roughly doubling its valuation from a funding that closed early this year, according to an existing investor who spoke to company leaders. Anthropic, which generates... Anthropic, OpenAI’s largest startup competitor, has started talking to investors about...
Rippling's Parker Conrad. Photo via Getty Images
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Why Startups like Rippling Are Choosing New Products Over IPOs

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 23, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
Parker Conrad is excited. Eager to demonstrate a corporate travel booking tool his company, Rippling, is about to introduce, Conrad opens his laptop and shows off a page that has the kind of flight and hotel selection layout familiar to anyone who has used Google Flights. “Let me show you some stuff,” he said. His company, which... Parker Conrad is excited. Eager to demonstrate a corporate travel booking tool his company,...
Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty.
WhatsApp Dominates Meta AI Use
By Kalley Huang · Sep 20, 2024 7:00am PDT
Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty.
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WhatsApp Dominates Meta AI Use

By Kalley Huang · Sep 20, 2024 7:00am PDT
A year after Meta Platforms introduced its artificial intelligence assistant, a picture is emerging of how people are using it—and how that differs from usage of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the leading conversational AI. Most people who use Meta AI daily do so through WhatsApp, according to a person who has seen recent internal data; the... A year after Meta Platforms introduced its artificial intelligence assistant, a picture is...
Art by Shane Burke
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AI Chip Startups, Seeking an Edge on Nvidia, Sell to Mideast

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 19, 2024 6:00am PDT
Startups that design artificial intelligence chips are eyeing the Middle East as a lucrative market where they can gain an advantage on market leader Nvidia. SambaNova Systems, Cerebras and Groq—three of the dozens of startups developing AI chips—in the past year have announced deals to supply semiconductors and computer systems for... Startups that design artificial intelligence chips are eyeing the Middle East as a lucrative...
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, left, and Octo.AI CEO Luis Ceze. Photo by Getty; screenshot via YouTube.
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Nvidia Recently Discussed Acquiring Software Startup OctoAI for $165 Million

By Anissa Gardizy, Aaron Holmes and Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 17, 2024 11:37am PDT
Nvidia has been in advanced talks to buy OctoAI, a Seattle-based startup that sells software to make artificial intelligence models run more efficiently, according to a message sent to shareholders. The purchase would add to a string of small AI startup acquisitions by the AI chip heavyweight, which is trying to strengthen its software and... Nvidia has been in advanced talks to buy OctoAI, a Seattle-based startup that sells software to...
Art by Clark Miller
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Why AI Developers Are Skipping Google’s Gemini

By Erin Woo · Sep 16, 2024 3:11pm PDT · 12 comments
One of Google's efforts to catch up to OpenAI in the artificial intelligence race is struggling. Google’s conversational AI, Gemini, is too difficult for app developers and businesses to use compared to rivals’ technology, according to interviews with developers and several Google employees that help companies use the AI. One of Google's efforts to catch up to OpenAI in the artificial intelligence race is...
Photo by Getty
ByteDance Steps Up AI Chip Efforts
By Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · Sep 16, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Photo by Getty
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ByteDance Steps Up AI Chip Efforts

By Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · Sep 16, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is accelerating efforts to make its own artificial intelligence chips as it looks for an edge over its rivals in China’s AI chatbot market. ByteDance is aiming for mass production of two semiconductors it has designed by 2026, in collaboration with chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.,... TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is accelerating efforts to make its own artificial...
Art by Mike Sullivan
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Tiger Global Plans to Join OpenAI’s Funding Round

By Kate Clark · Sep 13, 2024 7:13am PDT
A clearer picture is emerging of OpenAI’s massive financing, which values the ChatGPT developer at $150 billion. Venture capital firm Tiger Global Management plans to participate in the multi-billion dollar round, according to people familiar with the matter. Tiger would join Thrive Capital, Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple and the Abu Dhabi AI... A clearer picture is emerging of OpenAI’s massive financing, which values the ChatGPT...
OpenAI's Chief Operating Officer, Brad Lightcap. Photo by STR via Getty
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OpenAI COO Says ChatGPT Passed 11 Million Paying Subscribers

By Amir Efrati · Sep 12, 2024 2:44pm PDT
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has more than 10 million paying subscribers and another 1 million subscribers that are part of higher-priced plans for business teams, COO Brad Lightcap recently told staff in a message, according to a person who viewed the message. Those numbers, which the company hasn’t publicly disclosed, imply that the artificial... OpenAI’s ChatGPT has more than 10 million paying subscribers and another 1 million...
OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai earlier this year. Photo by Ryan Lim/AFP via Getty.
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OpenAI in Talks with UAE Investment Fund for $7 Billion Fundraising

By Kate Clark and Cory Weinberg · Sep 12, 2024 11:35am PDT · 4 comments
OpenAI has told investors it may try to raise as much as $7 billion in a massive fundraising round that would value it at $150 billion. It is in talks with MGX, the $100 billion United Arab Emirates-backed investment fund, according to people familiar with the matter, as well as tech and VC investors such as Microsoft and Thrive Capital. A... OpenAI has told investors it may try to raise as much as $7 billion in a massive fundraising...
Art by Mike Sullivan.
Stripe’s Challenges With Wells Fargo, Goldman Highlight Payments Risks
By Michael Roddan · Sep 10, 2024 10:39am PDT · 2 comments
Art by Mike Sullivan.
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Stripe’s Challenges With Wells Fargo, Goldman Highlight Payments Risks

By Michael Roddan · Sep 10, 2024 10:39am PDT · 2 comments
Last year, staff inside Stripe got some alarming news: The payment giant’s relationship with a key bank partner was about to change—for the worse. Wells Fargo executives had told Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison they wanted to end a partnership powering Stripe’s payments, according to three former Stripe employees... Last year, staff inside Stripe got some alarming news: The payment giant’s relationship...