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ShipBob’s TikTok Deal Spurs Growth, but Profits Remain Elusive

By Ann Gehan · Feb 22, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Last year was a tough one for venture-backed logistics firms, with a drop in demand for moving goods cratering Flexport’s revenue and forcing Convoy to shutter entirely. But ShipBob, which has the backing of SoftBank and Bain Capital Ventures, may have bucked the trend. The company, which sells Amazon-like warehouse and shipping services... Last year was a tough one for venture-backed logistics firms, with a drop in demand for moving...

Klarna headquaters in Stockholm. Photo by Shutterstock.

Sequoia to Appoint Andrew Reed to Klarna Board After Failed Moritz Ouster

By Maria Heeter and Kate Clark · Feb 21, 2024 1:58pm PST · 1 comment

Sequoia Capital has picked partner Andrew Reed to replace Matthew Miller on the board of ‘buy now, pay later’ company Klarna, according to people familiar with the matter. Miller had joined the board in January and recently led a failed effort to remove former Sequoia leader Michael Moritz from his position as... Sequoia Capital has picked partner Andrew Reed to replace Matthew Miller on the board of...

Matthew Miller. Photo by Sequoia.

Sequoia Retracts Request to Oust Moritz From Klarna Board

By Kate Clark, Maria Heeter and Cory Weinberg · Feb 20, 2024 12:48pm PST · 3 comments

Sequoia Capital has retracted its request to remove Michael Moritz as chairman of Klarna’s board, according to emails reviewed by The Information. Sequoia partner Matthew Miller, the director who in recent days had asked Klarna shareholders to remove Moritz, is instead leaving the Klarna board. Sequoia plans to appoint a new partner to the... Sequoia Capital has retracted its request to remove Michael Moritz as chairman of Klarna’s...

photo by Getty

Microsoft Develops AI Server Gear to Lessen Reliance on Nvidia

By Anissa Gardizy · Feb 20, 2024 8:00am PST · 1 comment

photo by Getty

Microsoft Develops AI Server Gear to Lessen Reliance on Nvidia

By Anissa Gardizy · Feb 20, 2024 8:00am PST · 1 comment

Microsoft is taking another step to reduce its dependence on Nvidia. The software giant is developing a networking card to ensure that data moves quickly between its servers, as an alternative to one supplied by Nvidia, said a person with direct knowledge. In addition to potentially saving Microsoft money, the company hopes the new networking... Microsoft is taking another step to reduce its dependence on Nvidia. The software giant is...

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Executives Fretted About China Ties of CapCut Editing-App

By Juro Osawa · Feb 20, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Last year, the second most downloaded free app in the U.S. on iPhones was CapCut, a video-editing app made by TikTok’s parent ByteDance and popular with TikTok users who use its templates and filters to create videos for the app. But CapCut—unlike TikTok itself—is directly run by ByteDance executives in China, a point confirmed... Last year, the second most downloaded free app in the U.S. on iPhones was CapCut, a video-editing...

Art by Shane Burke.

Scale, Anthropic Show Pickup in AI Venture Deals

By Cory Weinberg, Kate Clark, Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 16, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

For a brief period at the start of this year, it looked like venture capitalists’ hunger for artificial intelligence startups was ebbing, spooked by lofty prices and increasing competition from big companies like Google. But in recent weeks, investors have shown the kind of unbridled enthusiasm that colored much of last year—and... For a brief period at the start of this year, it looked like venture capitalists’ hunger...

Michael Moritz at a conference in 2019. Photo by Alex Flynn/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sequoia Pressures Former Leader Moritz to Leave Klarna Board Seat

By Maria Heeter, Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Feb 15, 2024 7:11pm PST · 6 comments

Sequoia Capital is pushing for one of its most venerated former partners, Michael Moritz, to step down from his personal board position at the “buy now, pay later” company Klarna. Sequoia partner Matthew Miller in recent days asked shareholders at Klarna to remove Moritz from the board of directors, a person with direct knowledge of... Sequoia Capital is pushing for one of its most venerated former partners, Michael Moritz, to step...

Jim Bankoff, co-founder and CEO of Vox Media. Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images.

Revenue Declines for Vox Media, Bustle in 2023 Reflects Wider Media Struggles

By Sahil Patel · Feb 15, 2024 6:00am PST

Jim Bankoff, co-founder and CEO of Vox Media. Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images.

Revenue Declines for Vox Media, Bustle in 2023 Reflects Wider Media Struggles

By Sahil Patel · Feb 15, 2024 6:00am PST

Advertising is no country for small digital media firms. Vox Media, the privately held firm that owns outlets such as New York magazine, The Verge and Eater, saw revenue fall roughly 15% in 2023, dragged down by weaker ad sales, according to people familiar with the matter. Similarly, Bustle Digital Group, which owns Bustle, Nylon and W... Advertising is no country for small digital media firms. Vox Media, the privately held firm that...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty

Salesforce to Invest in Nvidia Chip Reseller at More Than $1 Billion Valuation

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 14, 2024 4:23pm PST · 4 comments

Nvidia’s hot streak with artificial intelligence chips, which have been in high demand globally, is also lifting a slew of companies that resell the chips. Together AI, a startup that helps AI developers access Nvidia server chips to train and tweak their AI models, is raising more than $100 million in new funding that values the... Nvidia’s hot streak with artificial intelligence chips, which have been in high demand...

OpenAI's Sam Altman and Mira Murati. Photos via Getty Images.

OpenAI Develops Web Search Product in Challenge to Google

By Aaron Holmes and Amir Efrati · Feb 14, 2024 1:33pm PST · 15 comments

OpenAI has been developing a web search product that would bring the Microsoft-backed startup into more direct competition with Google, according to someone with knowledge of OpenAI’s plans. The search service would be partly powered by Bing, this person said. OpenAI has been developing a web search product that would bring the Microsoft-backed startup...

Meta Cuts Funding for Fact-Checking on WhatsApp as Elections Loom

By Kalley Huang and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Feb 14, 2024 1:13pm PST · 1 comment

Meta Platforms is reducing payments to news organizations that fact-check potential misinformation on WhatsApp, including around elections, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. The cuts mean fewer fact-checkers will monitor election-related discussions on the global messaging app in a year when around half of the... Meta Platforms is reducing payments to news organizations that fact-check potential...

Life House CEO Rami Zeidan. Art by Clark Miller

A Hospitality Startup’s Promises Fall Short for Hotel Customers

By Paris Martineau · Feb 14, 2024 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Life House CEO Rami Zeidan. Art by Clark Miller

A Hospitality Startup’s Promises Fall Short for Hotel Customers

By Paris Martineau · Feb 14, 2024 6:00am PST · 3 comments

A little over a year ago, Brittany Doyle had high hopes for the Taos Motor Lodge, a renovated, 28-room motel in New Mexico’s high desert that she was opening. To help her run the business, Doyle signed a contract with Life House, a hospitality startup that has raised over $100 million from Tiger Global Management, Trinity Ventures and... A little over a year ago, Brittany Doyle had high hopes for the Taos Motor Lodge, a renovated,...

OpenAI founding member Andrej Karpathy. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Researcher Andrej Karpathy Departs

By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · Feb 13, 2024 5:21pm PST · 6 comments

Andrej Karpathy, one of the founding members of OpenAI, has left the company, a spokesperson confirmed. Karpathy, a prominent artificial intelligence researcher, was developing a product he has described as an AI assistant and worked closely with the company’s research chief, Bob McGrew. While ChatGPT has been a hit with consumers, OpenAI... Andrej Karpathy, one of the founding members of OpenAI, has left the company, a spokesperson...

Canva headquarters in Sydney. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Canva CFO Damien Singh Leaves Ahead of Potential IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 13, 2024 4:42pm PST

Damien Singh, chief financial officer of Canva, the design software firm last valued at over $25 billion, has left the company. The departure leaves one of the most closely watched software firms with an important executive position to fill ahead of a potential initial public offering. The Australia-based company said in a note to investors last... Damien Singh, chief financial officer of Canva, the design software firm last valued at over $25...

Photos via Getty Images and Shutterstock.

Private Equity Pushes to Hire the 1 Percenters’ Money Managers

By Francesca Friday · Feb 13, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Private equity firms are on the hunt for a red-hot skill set: wealth managers who can convince the richest 1% to invest in PE funds. As the flow of capital from pension funds and endowments has slowed, buyout firms are adding to their ranks of rich individual investors to boost assets under management for potential use in buyouts or other... Private equity firms are on the hunt for a red-hot skill set: wealth managers who can convince...

Bolt, Once Worth $11 Billion, Slashes Share Price 97% in Buyback

By Cory Weinberg, Erin Woo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Feb 12, 2024 7:34pm PST · 5 comments

Bolt, Once Worth $11 Billion, Slashes Share Price 97% in Buyback

By Cory Weinberg, Erin Woo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Feb 12, 2024 7:34pm PST · 5 comments

Some investors in Bolt, an e-commerce startup valued at $11 billion two years ago, plan to sell their stakes back to the company at a steep loss, showing the lengths to which venture capitalists will go to get some cash back on flailing investments. Tribe Capital has told its limited partners that it plans to sell shares back to Bolt at a price... Some investors in Bolt, an e-commerce startup valued at $11 billion two years ago, plan to sell...

Former FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji. Photo via YouTube/Art by Shane Burke.

The FDIC’s First Chief Innovation Officer Made Big Claims. Many Don’t Stack Up

By Michael Roddan · Feb 9, 2024 6:00am PST · 5 comments

In 2015, fintech founder and eventual FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji was sitting in a co-working space when a loud bang clapped through the room. It startled his colleagues, a group of founders from the St. Louis startup community, according to a person who was there. Meghji turned to a colleague and said the violent pop gave him... In 2015, fintech founder and eventual FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji was sitting in...

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Disney’s Epic Deal Values Fortnite Maker at $22.5 Billion, a Sharp Cut

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 8, 2024 1:45pm PST

Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games values the Fortnite maker at $22.5 billion, a person familiar with the matter said. The price is about a 29% drop from where investors last valued the company less than two years ago. The investment makes the “Fortnite” maker one of the largest private, venture-backed companies to... Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games values the Fortnite maker at $22.5 billion,...

Photo via YouTube.

Flexport’s Apple Air Freight Deal Has Burned Through Cash

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Feb 8, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

For Flexport, a logistics company billing itself as the future of trade, it’s hard to think of a more impressive client than Apple, the poster child of globalization. Since late 2022, the iPhone maker has been using Flexport’s air freight services to fly products from some of its factories in Asia to U.S. cities for distribution to... For Flexport, a logistics company billing itself as the future of trade, it’s hard to think...

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Photo by Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

OpenAI Shifts AI Battleground to Software That Operates Devices, Automates Tasks

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Feb 7, 2024 1:50pm PST · 5 comments

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Photo by Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

OpenAI Shifts AI Battleground to Software That Operates Devices, Automates Tasks

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Feb 7, 2024 1:50pm PST · 5 comments

OpenAI’s first major product, ChatGPT, proved so popular that it sparked a generation of wannabes. But as rivals like Google catch up, OpenAI is hustling to release a product that could prove almost as revolutionary. OpenAI is developing a form of agent software to automate complex tasks by effectively taking over a customer’s... OpenAI’s first major product, ChatGPT, proved so popular that it sparked a generation of...