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Dan Wright, who has just resigned as DataRobot CEO. Art by Mike Sullivan
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DataRobot CEO Resigns Following Stock Sale Revelation

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 20, 2022 10:43am PDT · 7 comments
Dan Wright, CEO of artificial-intelligence software pioneer DataRobot, has resigned less than a year and a half after ascending to the position, according to a departure memo viewed by The Information. Wright is leaving amid tepid revenue growth and following employee uproar over the revelation, first reported by The Information, that he and... Dan Wright, CEO of artificial-intelligence software pioneer DataRobot, has resigned less than a...
Photo by Bloomberg.
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Google Announces Hiring Pause

By Erin Woo · Jul 20, 2022 9:48am PDT · 1 comment
Google said it will pause hiring for two weeks, after saying last week it would slow its pace of hiring for the rest of the year. In an email to employees viewed by The Information, Prabhakar Raghavan, a senior vice president at Google, said the hiring pause would not impact offers that had already been extended to applicants, but that Google... Google said it will pause hiring for two weeks, after saying last week it would slow its pace of...
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming.
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As China’s Tech IPO Window Cracks Open, Investors See New Hope for ByteDance

By Jessica E. Lessin, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jul 20, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments
Investors in ByteDance are getting more optimistic that one of the world’s most highly valued private companies can move toward an initial public offering, a development that comes after years of setbacks for TikTok’s parent company. Three investors say a number of recent signs suggest the Chinese government is opening a path to a... Investors in ByteDance are getting more optimistic that one of the world’s most highly...
Former AWS CEO Andy Jassy, now Amazon's CEO, in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg
AWS Server Chip Becomes a Not-So-Secret Weapon Against Microsoft, Google
By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 18, 2022 6:00am PDT · 11 comments
Former AWS CEO Andy Jassy, now Amazon's CEO, in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg
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AWS Server Chip Becomes a Not-So-Secret Weapon Against Microsoft, Google

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 18, 2022 6:00am PDT · 11 comments
For the past decade, Amazon Web Services has maintained its edge over Microsoft and Google in selling cloud computing services by speeding up its technology and lowering prices. Over the next 10 years, a key advantage will be its Graviton microchips, which AWS developed in-house to power apps on the internet or to help customers train... For the past decade, Amazon Web Services has maintained its edge over Microsoft and Google in...
Art by Josh Brill.
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VC Due Diligence Returns—With a Vengeance

By Kate Clark and Aaron Holmes · Jul 14, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
In June, the founders of Duplo, a Nigerian fintech company started last year, received some disappointing news. Insight Partners, a New York–based private equity and venture capital firm, in the spring had signed an offer to lead the company’s seed round, a step that would have cemented Duplo’s relationship with one of the... In June, the founders of Duplo, a Nigerian fintech company started last year, received some...
Miguel Fernandez. Photo courtesy of Capchase
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The Bank of SaaS Has $400 Million More to Lend

By Maria Heeter · Jul 13, 2022 5:00am PDT · 7 comments
Investor enthusiasm for cloud-software companies may have cooled from its heyday last year. But some investors think there’s money to be made in lesser-known startups. Capchase, a New York–based company that lends to early-stage software startups, has raised $400 million in debt from lenders including i80 Group. The two-year-old... Investor enthusiasm for cloud-software companies may have cooled from its heyday last year. But...
Mysten Labs co-founder and CEO Evan Cheng. Photo by Mysten Labs. Art by Mike Sullivan.
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Startup Founded by Former Meta Crypto Execs Seeks $2 Billion Valuation

By Aidan Ryan · Jul 11, 2022 1:07pm PDT
Mysten Labs—a startup founded by former Meta Platforms employees that is building a new blockchain for decentralized applications including gaming and social media networks—is in talks with investors about raising a Series B round of at least $200 million led by FTX Ventures, according to two people with direct knowledge of the... Mysten Labs—a startup founded by former Meta Platforms employees that is building a new ...
Apple CEO Tim Cook and an Apple test car. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan
How Apple’s Eight-Year Quest to Build a Self-Driving Car Hit Roadblocks
By Wayne Ma · Jul 11, 2022 6:00am PDT · 12 comments
Apple CEO Tim Cook and an Apple test car. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan
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How Apple’s Eight-Year Quest to Build a Self-Driving Car Hit Roadblocks

By Wayne Ma · Jul 11, 2022 6:00am PDT · 12 comments
Last August, Apple sent several of its prototype self-driving cars on a roughly 40-mile trek through Montana. Aerial drones filmed the drive, from Bozeman to the ski resort town of Big Sky, so that Apple managers could produce a polished film, with picturesque mountains in the background, to show CEO Tim Cook how their costly and... Last August, Apple sent several of its prototype self-driving cars on a roughly 40-mile trek...
Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, left, and CEO Safra Catz. Photos by Bloomberg; AP
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Oracle Discussed Laying Off Thousands of Workers

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 8, 2022 12:46pm PDT · 3 comments
Oracle recently considered cost reductions of up to $1 billion that could result in thousands of layoffs as soon as August, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation. The proposed job cuts could disproportionately impact U.S.- and Europe-based workers in units such as marketing for software applications that automate customer service... Oracle recently considered cost reductions of up to $1 billion that could result in thousands of...
Sequoia Capital China chief Neil Shen. Credit: Fortune Live Media via Flickr
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Sequoia Capital’s China Arm Raises $9 Billion, Exceeding Target

By Juro Osawa · Jul 4, 2022 10:26pm PDT
Sequoia Capital’s Chinese affiliate is about to close $9 billion in fresh capital for four new funds, higher than its original target of more than $8 billion, according to two people familiar with the fundraising. The final amount could represent the biggest pool of capital ever raised by a single venture capital firm to bet on Chinese... Sequoia Capital’s Chinese affiliate is about to close $9 billion in fresh capital for four...
Bessemer partners Jeremy Levine, left, and David Cowan. Photos by Jerry Yoon.
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Bessemer Renounces VC Status, Following Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia

By Kate Clark · Jul 1, 2022 1:43pm PDT · 3 comments
Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the oldest venture capital firms, is now a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The regulatory designation historically reserved for hedge funds and other asset managers will allow the VC firm to hold investments other than direct stakes in private... Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the oldest venture capital firms, is now a registered...
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2019
Microsoft Cloud Computing System Suffering From Global Shortage
By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 1, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2019
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Microsoft Cloud Computing System Suffering From Global Shortage

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 1, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments
In March 2020, Microsoft’s Azure cloud buckled under the strain of companies around the world shifting to remote work, causing service outages and forcing some customers to wait to launch and update applications. Microsoft put a positive spin on the situation, characterizing it as a temporary issue that stemmed from the surging usage of... In March 2020, Microsoft’s Azure cloud buckled under the strain of companies around the...
Yoni Assia, chief executive officer of eToro Ltd. Photo: Bloomberg.
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EToro to Abandon Deal to Go Public via SPAC Merger

By Maria Heeter · Jun 30, 2022 1:48pm PDT
Online brokerage EToro and the special purpose acquisition company that agreed to take it public are planning to let the deadline for their merger pass without closing the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter. EToro is joining other tech and media companies that have backed off SPAC deals that would take them public amid a tech... Online brokerage EToro and the special purpose acquisition company that agreed to take it public...
Nate CEO Albert Saniger. Art by Mike Sullivan
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Coatue-Backed Shopping Startup Lays Off 20% of Staff After Exaggerating Tech Capabilities to Potential Investors

By Malique Morris · Jun 30, 2022 11:49am PDT · 1 comment
Shopping startup Nate, which touted its use of artificial intelligence–powered checkout technology while it was actually relying on overseas workers to power transactions, has laid off at least 30 of its nearly 150 employees, according to an employee who was at an internal meeting to inform the laid-off workers. The previously unreported... Shopping startup Nate, which touted its use of artificial intelligence–powered checkout...
Bloomberg Beta partner Roy Bahat. Photo: Roy Bahat.
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Bloomberg VC Arm Adds $150 Million to Investing War Chest

By Kate Clark · Jun 30, 2022 10:00am PDT · 3 comments
Roy Bahat, head of venture firm Bloomberg Beta, has a sticker on his laptop that reads TTFM—a quippy acronym for “take the f–ing money.” It’s the advice Beta’s founding partners—Bahat, Karin Klein, a former SoftBank vice president, and James Cham, a former Bessemer Venture Partners vice... Roy Bahat, head of venture firm Bloomberg Beta, has a sticker on his laptop that reads...
Sequoia Capital global managing partner Doug Leone. Photo: Bloomberg
Sequoia Capital Targets $2.25 Billion for Two U.S. VC Funds
By Kate Clark · Jun 29, 2022 5:57pm PDT
Sequoia Capital global managing partner Doug Leone. Photo: Bloomberg
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Sequoia Capital Targets $2.25 Billion for Two U.S. VC Funds

By Kate Clark · Jun 29, 2022 5:57pm PDT
Sequoia Capital, defying the tech market sell-off that’s chilled startup fundraising, is asking investors to commit money to two new U.S.-focused funds, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm behind Airbnb and DoorDash expects to dedicate $1.5 billion to a U.S. growth fund... Sequoia Capital, defying the tech market sell-off that’s chilled startup fundraising, is...
Tesla's Fremont factory, in a photo taken in May 2020.
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At Tesla, Returning to the Office Creates New Problems

By Becky Peterson · Jun 27, 2022 6:00am PDT
On the evening of June 8, speaking from Tesla’s factory in Fremont, Calif., Elon Musk addressed a few dozen of the electric car maker’s employees in person, and thousands more in a livestream. It was the first time Musk had spoken to the entire staff since announcing the prior week that all white-collar staff would be required to... On the evening of June 8, speaking from Tesla’s factory in Fremont, Calif., Elon Musk...
Carta CEO Henry Ward. Photo: Carta
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Carta Has Had Talks to Acquire Vauban, a European AngelList-like Startup

By Erin Woo, Mahira Dayal and Becky Peterson · Jun 24, 2022 1:35pm PDT
Financial services startup Carta has been in talks to acquire Vauban, a London-based startup that provides software for raising venture capital funds and investing capital, according to two people familiar with the matter. Carta, which builds software for startups and investors to track their equity stakes, raised $500 million at a $7.4 billion... Financial services startup Carta has been in talks to acquire Vauban, a London-based startup that...
Jerry Seinfeld (left) and Ted Sarandos. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan
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A Netflix Slump Tests Sarandos’ Talent Savvy

By Jessica Toonkel · Jun 21, 2022 6:00am PDT
In 2019, when comedian Mike Myers was pitching a new comedy series to Netflix, program executives at the company were skeptical. The onetime “Saturday Night Live” star hadn’t had a hit since the early 2000s and Netflix staffers worried a new series wouldn’t attract an audience, according to people familiar with the... In 2019, when comedian Mike Myers was pitching a new comedy series to Netflix, program executives...
From left, DataRobot executives Tom Levey, Dan Wright (CEO) and Damon Fletcher (CFO). Art by Mike Sullivan
As DataRobot Struggled, Executives Sold Private Shares at Peak Valuation
By Kevin McLaughlin · Jun 15, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
From left, DataRobot executives Tom Levey, Dan Wright (CEO) and Damon Fletcher (CFO). Art by Mike Sullivan
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As DataRobot Struggled, Executives Sold Private Shares at Peak Valuation

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jun 15, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
Last year, five top executives at artificial intelligence software startup DataRobot collectively sold $32 million worth of shares to investors, according to confidential documents outlining the sales. The sales occurred after the company was privately valued at $6.3 billion in a funding round. The other 1,200 or so employees, some of whom had... Last year, five top executives at artificial intelligence software startup DataRobot collectively...