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Vice cofounder Shane Smith. Photo by Bloomberg

Vice Raises $85 Million as SPAC Talks End, Smith Yields Control

By Jessica Toonkel · Aug 31, 2021 6:00am PDT

Vice Media is raising over $85 million in fresh capital from existing investors, as talks to go public via a special purpose acquisition company have ended for now, according to people familiar with the situation. As part of the fundraising, Vice’s co-founder, Shane Smith, has agreed to give up his voting control, said the people. He... Vice Media is raising over $85 million in fresh capital from existing investors, as talks to go...

Melio chief operating officer Ziv Paz (left) CEO Matan Bar (center) and chief technology officer Ilan Atias (right) Photo: Business Wire

Payments Startup Melio to Triple Valuation to $4 Billion

By Kate Clark · Aug 30, 2021 2:23pm PDT

Melio Payments is tripling its valuation in a new funding round that will value the financial software company at $4 billion, according to three people with direct knowledge of the deal. Thrive Capital, the New York–based investment firm founded by Josh Kushner, and existing backer General Catalyst are co-leading the financing, one of the... Melio Payments is tripling its valuation in a new funding round that will value the financial...

Startup investor Elad Gil. Photo by Bloomberg, Illustration by Joanna Lin Su.

The Rise of Elad Gil, Silicon Valley’s Biggest Solo Venture Capitalist

By Berber Jin · Aug 30, 2021 6:01am PDT · 4 comments

When venture capital investors shied from funding travel startups in the months after the pandemic hit last year, Elad Gil sensed an opportunity. The investor asked TripActions CEO Ariel Cohen if he could invest in his startup, which provides travel-related expense management software for businesses. The deal didn’t happen—Gil... When venture capital investors shied from funding travel startups in the months after the...

Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian. Photo by Bloomberg

Why a $2 Billion Google Cloud Contract Has Generated Only $10 Million in Revenue So Far

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Aug 27, 2021 12:18pm PDT · 1 comment

Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian. Photo by Bloomberg

Why a $2 Billion Google Cloud Contract Has Generated Only $10 Million in Revenue So Far

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Aug 27, 2021 12:18pm PDT · 1 comment

Sabre Corp. CEO Sean Menke says his company’s decadelong agreement with Google Cloud, announced January 2020, is the key to finally weaning the 61-year-old provider of travel-booking technology off mainframe computers. Judging from how Menke has described Sabre’s work with Google Cloud during recent earnings calls with stock... Sabre Corp. CEO Sean Menke says his company’s decadelong agreement with Google Cloud,...

A-Star Partners co-founders and general partners Bennett Siegel, Kevin Hartz and Gautam Gupta. Source: A-Star Partners

Fund Led by PayPal, Airbnb Backer Kevin Hartz Targets $250 Million

By Kate Clark · Aug 27, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Kevin Hartz, best known for his early, lucrative investments in PayPal, Airbnb and Pinterest, is raising $250 million for a new venture capital fund alongside former Coatue Management partner Bennett Siegel and Gautam Gupta, a former finance executive at Opendoor and Uber, according to two people familiar with the matter. The new firm, A-Star... Kevin Hartz, best known for his early, lucrative investments in PayPal, Airbnb and Pinterest, is...

Photo by Bloomberg

TikTok Still Has Key Software Developers in China Despite Effort to Move Offshore

By Juro Osawa, Amir Efrati and Shai Oster · Aug 26, 2021 12:11pm PDT · 1 comment

TikTok has worked to separate its operations from Chinese owner ByteDance, particularly as foreign governments have scrutinized or punished the video app over fears that Beijing could hijack it for its own purposes. TikTok is incorporated in California; its CEO sits in Singapore; its chief information security officer is based in the U.S.; and... TikTok has worked to separate its operations from Chinese owner ByteDance, particularly as...

Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras . Photo: Bloomberg

Brex Launches $150 Million Venture Debt Business

By Kate Clark · Aug 25, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras has had little trouble raising funding for his $7.4 billion valuation startup, which offers other startups high-limit charge cards. But he said he wishes he hadn’t given so much of his company’s stock to venture capitalists. Instead, he could have raised more money in the form of venture debt, loans... Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras has had little trouble raising funding for his $7.4 billion...

Sequoia Capital China's Neil Shen. Photo by Bloomberg

Sequoia Capital’s China Affiliate Launches Hedge Fund for Health, Biotech Stocks

By Juro Osawa · Aug 24, 2021 12:51pm PDT

Sequoia Capital China's Neil Shen. Photo by Bloomberg

Sequoia Capital’s China Affiliate Launches Hedge Fund for Health, Biotech Stocks

By Juro Osawa · Aug 24, 2021 12:51pm PDT

Sequoia Capital China, the Chinese affiliate of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has quietly launched a new fund to buy and sell shares of publicly listed health and biotech companies, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. This marks the firm’s second hedge fund as the traditional boundaries between public and... Sequoia Capital China, the Chinese affiliate of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has...

Dan Rose (left), Thomas Laffont (center) and Philippe Laffont (right) of Coatue Management. Photo of Rose and Philippe Laffont by Bloomberg. Thomas Laffont photo by Erin Beach.

Coatue’s Newer Growth Funds Return More Than 45% Annually, Internal Data Show

By Berber Jin · Aug 20, 2021 2:31pm PDT · 5 comments

The private tech funds of Coatue Management, the New York hedge fund that’s become one of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors, have started to outpace the returns of rival VC firms in recent years as the size of those funds swelled, according to internal data reviewed by The Information. Coatue’s third venture growth fund, which... The private tech funds of Coatue Management, the New York hedge fund that’s become one of...

A semitruck hauling Amazon cargo in February. Photo by Bloomberg

New Amazon Tracking Device to Monitor Trucker Safety, Collect Data

By Paris Martineau · Aug 20, 2021 6:06am PDT

Amazon is moving to more directly monitor the hours truck drivers spend transporting freight between its warehouses, which could give it better insight into possible safety violations—and capture a wealth of other data. The internet retailer has developed its own version of a technology, known as an electronic logging devices, to track... Amazon is moving to more directly monitor the hours truck drivers spend transporting freight...

Illustration by Hae Jin Park.

The New Startup Trend: Founders Say ‘No’ to the Highest VC Offers

By Kate Clark · Aug 19, 2021 12:34pm PDT · 8 comments

Earlier this month, Jijo Sunny found himself weighing two offers: An angel investor wanted to take a 1% stake in his 3-year-old creator economy startup for $500,000, at a valuation of $40 million, while a more established VC fund proposed buying a 5% stake at a far higher valuation of $60 million. He chose the lower-priced deal. Startup founders... Earlier this month, Jijo Sunny found himself weighing two offers: An angel investor wanted to...

An Amazon worker at a company warehouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, in June. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Provides Free Covid Test Kits for Employees in California

By Mark Di Stefano · Aug 18, 2021 11:45am PDT

An Amazon worker at a company warehouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, in June. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Provides Free Covid Test Kits for Employees in California

By Mark Di Stefano · Aug 18, 2021 11:45am PDT

Last month, when Amazon announced it would scrap an ambitious on-site Covid-19 testing program for its warehouse workers, the decision raised eyebrows, given the surge in cases across the U.S. But now, Amazon has begun notifying its workers in California—where it employs more people in than in any other state—that it will offer free... Last month, when Amazon announced it would scrap an ambitious on-site Covid-19 testing program...

Photo of Lina Khan by AP; illustration by Mike Sullivan

Lina Khan Gets to Work at the FTC

By Josh Sisco · Aug 17, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Once Joe Biden was elected president, companies contemplating mergers knew the U.S. government would take a harder line on deal making. Still, they figured it would take regulators a little time to find their groove amid the many layers of bureaucracy in Washington. Lina Khan had a different idea. Since she took over the Federal Trade... Once Joe Biden was elected president, companies contemplating mergers knew the U.S. government...

ByteDance headquarters in Beijing. Photo by AP; illustration by Mike Sullivan

Beijing Tightens Grip on ByteDance by Quietly Taking Stake, China Board Seat

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Aug 16, 2021 6:00am PDT

For months, China has sought to bring its bustling internet sector to heel with an intensifying series of antitrust crackdowns and data security probes. In one example that hasn’t been previously reported, the Chinese government in April quietly took a stake and a board seat in TikTok owner ByteDance’s key Chinese entity, according... For months, China has sought to bring its bustling internet sector to heel with an intensifying...

YouTube's office building in San Bruno, Calif. Photo by AP.

YouTube Poses Rising Competition—for Publishers on YouTube

By Sahil Patel · Aug 13, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments

YouTube’s ad business is booming. But one group of YouTube program producers—media companies that sell their own ad spots on the platform—are finding the boom isn’t quite as bountiful. The Google-owned video giant has become so adept at selling ad space through automated auctions that it is now massively underpricing... YouTube’s ad business is booming. But one group of YouTube program producers—media...

Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta. Photo by Bloomberg.

DoorDash Recently Held Talks to Buy Instacart

By Josh Sisco, Martin Peers and Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 11, 2021 3:36pm PDT · 2 comments

Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta. Photo by Bloomberg.

DoorDash Recently Held Talks to Buy Instacart

By Josh Sisco, Martin Peers and Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 11, 2021 3:36pm PDT · 2 comments

DoorDash held talks to buy Instacart over the past two months, say people familiar with the situation, for a price that likely would have been between $40 billion and $50 billion. It would have combined a leading restaurant-delivery service with one of the leading grocery-delivery services. But the talks fell apart in recent weeks, at least... DoorDash held talks to buy Instacart over the past two months, say people familiar with the...

Illustration by Jesus Escudero

How Three Startups Are Racing to Beat Amazon in One-Click Checkouts

By Malique Morris · Aug 11, 2021 10:55am PDT

For more than a decade, Amazon’s one-click–checkout feature gave it an edge over other online retailers by eliminating the hassle of reentering passwords and payment information. Then four years ago, the patent for that process expired. That has opened the door to a cluster of startups that have developed similar technology for... For more than a decade, Amazon’s one-click–checkout feature gave it an edge over...

Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

How Ruth Porat Tamed Google’s Spending Binge

By Sarah Krouse · Aug 11, 2021 6:01am PDT · 8 comments

For several years, a team inside X—the secretive research lab within Alphabet, Google’s parent company—has been working on a gadget to give people augmented-hearing abilities that would let them listen to select voices in a crowd. Recently, though, X told the team that they would no longer be pursuing the project, known as... For several years, a team inside X—the secretive research lab within Alphabet,...

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. Photo by Bloomberg

FTC Investigating Uber’s Gopuff Partnership Alongside Drizly Deal

By Josh Sisco and Mark Di Stefano · Aug 10, 2021 3:45pm PDT

The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing a partnership struck in May between Uber and Gopuff that allows people to order items from Gopuff through the Uber Eats delivery app, according to two people familiar with the matter and a document seen by The Information. The FTC is looking to see whether the agreement could hamper competition in... The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing a partnership struck in May between Uber and Gopuff...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

As Cloud Customers Whine About AWS Bills, Cisco Looks to Woo Them Back to Data Centers

By Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 6, 2021 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

As Cloud Customers Whine About AWS Bills, Cisco Looks to Woo Them Back to Data Centers

By Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 6, 2021 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Cloud computing providers such as Amazon Web Services have become widely accepted by businesses that don’t want to manage their own data centers, but some AWS customers continue to grumble about the high costs of the cloud. Even the most sophisticated tech companies have stumbled in managing those expenses. Seeking to capitalize on that... Cloud computing providers such as Amazon Web Services have become widely accepted by businesses...