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Illustration by Danielle Davis

An Old VC Taboo Fades: More Firms Invest in Rivals

By Berber Jin · Aug 6, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

In early 2020, venture firms CapitalG and IVP each considered investing in Olive, a startup using artificial intelligence to automate repetitive tasks for healthcare workers. But the two firms ultimately passed on the potential investment, in part because their respective partners concluded it could conflict with both companies’ prior... In early 2020, venture firms CapitalG and IVP each considered investing in Olive, a startup using...

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Bloomberg

Chinese Government Invested in the Same Tech Companies It’s Now Attacking

By Shai Oster and Juro Osawa · Aug 5, 2021 6:00am PDT

A month ago, China’s top internet regulator launched a cybersecurity probe into Chinese truck-hailing company Full Truck Alliance, causing its share price to plunge less than two weeks after its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Yet the same internet regulator controls an investment fund that owns shares in the... A month ago, China’s top internet regulator launched a cybersecurity probe into Chinese...

Attorney-General Merrick Garland. Photo by Bloomberg

DOJ Weighing a Lawsuit to Block UnitedHealth’s $8 Billion Change Purchase

By Josh Sisco · Aug 3, 2021 2:42pm PDT

The U.S. Department of Justice is weighing a possible lawsuit to block UnitedHealth’s $8 billion purchase of health care analytics and technology vendor Change Healthcare, according to people familiar with the matter. If the DOJ proceeds with litigation, it would be the latest sign that the Biden administration is aggressively pursuing... The U.S. Department of Justice is weighing a possible lawsuit to block UnitedHealth’s $8...

Workers at a store in Brazil, in May 2020. With more shoppers at home, online e-commerce surged in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America last year. Photo: Bloomberg

Nuvemshop, a Shopify Rival in Latin America, Valued at $2 Billion by Tiger Global

By Berber Jin · Aug 3, 2021 12:35pm PDT

Workers at a store in Brazil, in May 2020. With more shoppers at home, online e-commerce surged in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America last year. Photo: Bloomberg

Nuvemshop, a Shopify Rival in Latin America, Valued at $2 Billion by Tiger Global

By Berber Jin · Aug 3, 2021 12:35pm PDT

Nuvemshop, a Latin American e-commerce startup similar to Shopify, is raising a new round of funding led by Tiger Global Management that could value the company at $2 billion including the new capital, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Series E round would add to the $90 million the São Paulo–based Nuvemshop raised... Nuvemshop, a Latin American e-commerce startup similar to Shopify, is raising a new round of...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Munich in 2020. Photo: Bloomberg.

Facebook Researchers Hope to Bring Together Two Foes: Encryption and Ads

By Sarah Krouse and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Aug 3, 2021 6:10am PDT · 2 comments

Facebook is bulking up a team of artificial intelligence researchers, including a key hire from Microsoft, to study ways of analyzing encrypted data without decrypting it, the company confirmed. The research could allow Facebook to target ads based on encrypted messages on its WhatsApp messenger, or to encrypt the data it collects on billions of... Facebook is bulking up a team of artificial intelligence researchers, including a key hire from...

TaxBit co-founders Justin Woodward (left) and Austin Woodward (right). Photo: TaxBit, Shutterstock.

Crypto Software Startup TaxBit Triples Valuation in Insight-Led Round

By Kate Clark · Aug 2, 2021 12:39pm PDT · 1 comment

TaxBit, a startup that develops tax software for traders of cryptocurrency, is raising over $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in a new funding round, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. Insight Partners, a New York-based VC firm, is one of the lead investors, one of the people said. The new round would more than... TaxBit, a startup that develops tax software for traders of cryptocurrency, is raising over $100...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Amazon Installed Cameras to Track Drivers. New Documents Reveal How They Work.

By Mark Di Stefano · Aug 2, 2021 6:01am PDT

Amazon raised privacy hackles earlier this year with a plan to put high-tech video cameras in delivery vans to keep tabs on its drivers’ attention to safety. Now confidential documents viewed by The Information show how Amazon is using the devices to collect safety data about drivers that can affect the profits of the independent companies... Amazon raised privacy hackles earlier this year with a plan to put high-tech video cameras in...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Bloomberg

China Antitrust Officials Delay Review of Nvidia’s $40 Billion Arm Acquisition

By Josh Sisco · Jul 30, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Bloomberg

China Antitrust Officials Delay Review of Nvidia’s $40 Billion Arm Acquisition

By Josh Sisco · Jul 30, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

It’s not just Chinese tech companies that are facing difficulties with China’s ruling party. Take Nvidia’s $40 billion takeover of chip designer Arm. While China’s competition regulators have been talking to the two companies since early this year, the agency’s formal review hasn’t even started yet, according... It’s not just Chinese tech companies that are facing difficulties with China’s ruling...

Ramp co-founders Karim Atiyeh (left) and Eric Glyman. Photo courtesy of Ramp.

Founders Fund, Iconiq Value Ramp at $3.8 Billion in New Funding Round

By Kate Clark · Jul 29, 2021 3:25pm PDT

Corporate credit card startup Ramp is raising its fourth round of venture funding in under eight months, underscoring how back-to-back fundraising rounds—with relatively little business progress in between—is becoming the norm for startups in hot fields such as financial services. Founders Fund is leading a new funding round that... Corporate credit card startup Ramp is raising its fourth round of venture funding in under eight...

Mike Sullivan

Revenue Surges at Google, Snap as Shift to Digital Ads Accelerates

By Sarah Krouse, Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Sahil Patel · Jul 28, 2021 6:01am PDT

Dell is rethinking how it spends this year’s ad budget. The computer maker is likely to shift as much as 15% of the nearly $100 million it typically spends on TV advertising in the Americas to digital ads, according to a person familiar with the plans. The company and other large brands are accelerating a yearslong shift in spending toward... Dell is rethinking how it spends this year’s ad budget. The computer maker is likely to...

Producers of Group Nine's short film "Two Distant Strangers" at the Oscars. Photo by AP.

How Vice, Vox and BuzzFeed Are Cashing In on the Streaming Boom

By Sahil Patel · Jul 27, 2021 9:01am PDT · 3 comments

“Land of the Giants” is a podcast series from Vox Media’s Recode covering the history of tech companies including Amazon and Netflix. It will soon be a TV show, made by Vox for a major cable network for a fee of several millions of dollars, according to people familiar with the matter. Digital media firms which have long... “Land of the Giants” is a podcast series from Vox Media’s Recode covering the...

Zhang Lei (left) and Neil Shen. Photos by Bloomberg; AP

Sequoia Capital vs. Hillhouse: Inside China’s Fiercest Investor Rivalry

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jul 27, 2021 6:01am PDT

Zhang Lei (left) and Neil Shen. Photos by Bloomberg; AP

Sequoia Capital vs. Hillhouse: Inside China’s Fiercest Investor Rivalry

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jul 27, 2021 6:01am PDT

Last fall, Sequoia Capital China, the Silicon Valley VC firm’s affiliate led by investor Neil Shen, pledged to invest $400 million in a new funding round for Full Truck Alliance, China’s “Uber for trucks.” Days later, Zhang Lei, the rival head of private-equity giant Hillhouse Capital Group, flew to Nanjing, met Full... Last fall, Sequoia Capital China, the Silicon Valley VC firm’s affiliate led by investor...

Photo by Bloomberg.

China Tutoring Ban Hits ByteDance, Puts Tencent’s $3 Billion Stake in Danger

By Juro Osawa, Wayne Ma and Shai Oster · Jul 26, 2021 6:45am PDT

TikTok-owner ByteDance had made big plans for online education, hiring around 10,000 employees to tap a $100 billion market. China’s sudden ban of for-profit tutoring in school curriculum may have scuppered those plans. Some ByteDance employees who work on the company’s tutoring apps are already asking around for other job... TikTok-owner ByteDance had made big plans for online education, hiring around 10,000 employees to...

The Robotics Startup That Got Away (From Amazon)

By Mark Di Stefano · Jul 22, 2021 10:28am PDT · 3 comments

When Jeff Bezos attended a private robotics and artificial intelligence event in Palm Springs, Calif., in 2018, one presentation in particular caught the attention of the Amazon founder. It was a demonstration conducted by a frizzy-haired University of California, Berkeley, professor named Ken Goldberg, showing off a robot that could deftly pick... When Jeff Bezos attended a private robotics and artificial intelligence event in Palm Springs,...

Amazon streaming chief Mike Hopkins. Photos: AP; MGM

Mike Hopkins Wants to Make Amazon a Hollywood Powerhouse. MGM is Just the Start.

By Jessica Toonkel · Jul 22, 2021 6:01am PDT

Mike Hopkins had barely gotten his Amazon employee badge when Prime Video, the streaming service he oversaw for the internet retailer, had a possible crisis on its hands. Months after Hopkins joined Amazon in February 2020, one of the largest media and entertainment companies, WarnerMedia, started hinting it would no longer sell its television... Mike Hopkins had barely gotten his Amazon employee badge when Prime Video, the streaming service...

Robinhood’s Biggest IPO Winners

By Kate Clark · Jul 21, 2021 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Robinhood’s Biggest IPO Winners

By Kate Clark · Jul 21, 2021 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

When Robinhood was raising its early funding rounds, co-founder Baiju Bhatt kept a journal. In it were pages filled with the names of over 100 investors, most of them accompanied by an “X” mark to indicate they had passed on the investment, said an early investor who saw the journal. Those who were less skeptical of a commission-free... When Robinhood was raising its early funding rounds, co-founder Baiju Bhatt kept a journal. In it...

Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow. Photo: Bolt

Online Checkout Startup Bolt Valued at $4 Billion

By Kate Clark and Malique Morris · Jul 20, 2021 3:22pm PDT · 5 comments

Bolt, a San Francisco-based startup that offers software for online shopping, is raising $333 million in Series D funding at a post-investment valuation of $4 billion, nearly five times its valuation in December, according to three people familiar with the matter. London-based venture firm Hedosophia is leading the round, said one of the people.... Bolt, a San Francisco-based startup that offers software for online shopping, is raising $333...

Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo: Bloomberg

Vice Media’s SPAC Talks Stall

By Jessica Toonkel · Jul 20, 2021 11:07am PDT

Vice Media’s plan to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company has stalled as the company struggles to raise additional financing for the deal amid questions about Vice’s valuation, according to people familiar with the situation. In early discussions with SPACs such as one backed by 7GC & Co, Vice was... Vice Media’s plan to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company has...

The People With Power at Disney’s Media Distribution Group

By Jessica Toonkel and Wayne Ma · Jul 20, 2021 6:00am PDT

Hulu, one of the pioneers of video streaming, has become a training ground for the entire industry as key executives flock to newer rival services. And that raises potential challenges for Disney’s own streaming ambitions. Since Walt Disney Co. took control of Hulu two years ago, a slew of key Hulu executives in engineering, marketing and... Hulu, one of the pioneers of video streaming, has become a training ground for the entire...

A screenshot via YouTube from an Amazon video about employee Covid-19 testing.

Amazon to Stop Covid Testing in U.S. Warehouses

By Mark Di Stefano · Jul 19, 2021 2:20pm PDT · 1 comment

A screenshot via YouTube from an Amazon video about employee Covid-19 testing.

Amazon to Stop Covid Testing in U.S. Warehouses

By Mark Di Stefano · Jul 19, 2021 2:20pm PDT · 1 comment

Amazon on Monday told employees that it will soon stop on-site Covid testing for its legions of warehouse workers, despite a surge of cases in parts of the United States. The company told employees in a note circulated to them through an internal company app that it will discontinue Covid-19 testing for them after July 30, according to an image... Amazon on Monday told employees that it will soon stop on-site Covid testing for its legions of...