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☆ Dedrone: 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dedrone, a Sterling, Virginia.-based airspace security specialist, is on the frontlines of this battle, detecting and countering opposition drones. In the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, military drones are seen as a super weapon, increasingly being used to detect threats in conflict zones. Ramping up, Dedrone and several rivals, including DroneShield, D Fend Solution and 2023 No. In the fast-escalating and consolidating commercial market, Dedrone sealed a partnership with building smart-tech maker Johnson Controls to detect unauthorized drones. Dedrone also partnered with security technology solutions maker Axis Communications to integrate its surveillance cameras.

☆ BlocPower: 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Brooklyn-based cleantech company BlocPower is squarely positioned with a mission to fight climate change while solving social injustices, focusing on renewable energy, reduction of carbon pollution, and urban redevelopment in lower-income areas. BlocPower was founded in 2014 by Donnel Baird, the child of Guyanese immigrants, who drew on his experience growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn in an apartment without well-functioning heating and cooling systems. This retrofitting of older buildings can lead to major energy savings, 30% to 50%, and a reduction of at least 40% in greenhouse gas emissions, BlocPower says. In Buffalo, BlocPower inked a contract with utility National Fuel Gas Company to upgrade hybrid heating and cooling systems in 34 low-to-middle income residential and commercial buildings. It also sealed a deal with Fujitsu General America to bring a better-functioning automatic heating and cooling unit to the U.S.

Meta posted $28.65 billion in revenue, topping analysts' $27.66 billion estimate, according to Refinitiv data. Revenue topped estimates, coming in at $741 million versus analysts' estimate of $708.5 million. Ebay said it sees second-quarter per share earnings between 96 cents to $1.01, while analysts had estimated 99 cents per share. Ebay's estimated current-quarter revenue of $2.47 billion to $2.54 billion topped analysts' consensus projection of $2.43 billion. Pioneer Natural Resources — The oil and gas company fell 2.2% after first-quarter earnings topped estimates while revenue missed.

☆ Inside Meta's scramble to catch up on A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

For more than a year, Meta has been engaged in a massive project to whip its AI infrastructure into shape. He declined to comment on whether Meta abandoned its AI chip. Generative AI gobbles up reams of computing power, amplifying the urgency of Meta's capacity scramble, said five of the sources. By 2021, that two-pronged approach proved slower and less efficient than one built around GPUs, which were also more flexible in running different types of models than Meta's chip, the two people said. Executives also that spring set about reorganizing Meta's AI units, naming two new heads of engineering in the process, including Janardhan, the author of the September memo.

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☆ Everyone was wrong about how the pandemic would change shopping — here's how experts are betting on e-commerce now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The idea that e-commerce will keep growing forever, and betting on it will lead to an almost inevitable rising tide, didn't survive the pandemic. Public flame-outs of entire categories of startups, like ultra-fast deliveries and Amazon seller aggregators, have further demonstrated the boom-and-bust nature of pandemic e-commerce investing. Apple's recent moves to give consumers more online privacy has had ripples through the e-commerce ecosystem, leading investors to take a beat. E-commerce logistics — fulfillment and last-mile delivery — said Sloane is fairly well-saturated at this point, he said. For many retailers, the pandemic offered a harsh lesson in how integrated their stores and their websites weren't, she said.

☆ Exclusive: The University of California has invested billions in venture capital firms since 2000 and it has lost hundreds of millions so far. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Ben Bergman | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Insider obtained UC Investments' returns through a Public Records Act request. Unlike many other financial institutions, VC funds are not required to show their return on investment in startups. UC Investments, which has been managed by Jagdeep Singh Bachher since 2014, declined to comment. Though selling early produced an initial windfall, UC Investments could have ultimately missed out on substantial gains from these VC funds. By comparison, UC Investments earned a 8.3% return for its investment in public markets.

☆ There's confusion and skepticism in the venture debt community as the industry struggles to figure out the future of SVB's loan business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The first annual Venture Debt Conference was held in New York last week. The event was marked by confusion and skepticism over the future of SVB's debt business. Last week, as many of the biggest names in venture debt gathered in a conference center in New York City's Midtown neighborhood for the first annual Venture Debt Conference, there was one firm conspicuously absent. They didn't even know what warrants were," they said, referring to stock warrants, a common feature of many venture debt deals. One venture debt executive predicted they'd be out of the game in 5 years.

☆ This biotech can gain 50% thanks to interest in long-read sequencing technology, TD Cowen says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It's time to take another look at Pacific Biosciences of California as its growth story turns positive, according to TD Cowen. "Our bullish customer survey reflects upside to placements and pull through, along with a material budget shift to long reads. Pacific Biosciences shares are up more than 19% this year through Thursday, gaining after a rough couple of calendar years. However, Brennan's $15 price target, up from a prior $13, means shares can rise another 53% from Thursday's closing price. Central to the upgrade is the Revio system, a product from Pacific Biosciences that was launched last year and is designed to sequence whole human genomes.

☆ Meta brings in a DJ to play dance music in one of its cafes as the company urges workers to return to the office, employee says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta has bought in a DJ to play during lunchtime at one of its cafes, an employee told The Information. Meta has been encouraging employees to return to its California headquarters in recent months. The company's Menlo Park campus has a history of offering workers key benefits. The company's Menlo Park campus has a history of offering workers generous benefits, such as on-site doctors and dentists. The uncertainty has left people feeling vulnerable and created a sense of paralysis in certain areas of the company, Meta employees told the publication.

☆ Carl Icahn claims Illumina directors got extra insurance to close 'disastrous' $7.1 billion Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Carl Icahn on Friday alleged that Illumina 's directors demanded extra personal liability insurance before the biotech company signed off on a $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test developer Grail in 2021. Icahn, who owns a 1.4% stake in Illumina, is pushing for board seats at the DNA sequencing company. Illumina prevailed over the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's opposition to the Grail deal in September, but is fighting for European regulatory approval. Last year, the EU's executive body, the European Commission, blocked Illumina's acquisition of Grail over concerns it would hurt consumer choice. The company's market cap has shrunk to roughly $34 billion from about $75 billion in August 2021, the month it closed the Grail deal.

March 23 (Reuters) - Character.AI has raised $150 million in a new funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz that valued the AI chatbot startup at $1 billion, and it's in talks with cloud providers for more strategic investment, the company told Reuters. The billion-dollar valuation for a company with zero revenue is another example of the continued AI funding boom since OpenAI's ChatGPT became a widely recognized name. AI investment in 2023 to date has surpassed the full-year amount in 2020 of $1.5 billion, according to PitchBook data. While not currently generating any revenue, Character.AI plans to launch a paid subscription "in the not distant future", while keeping the current free version available, Shazeer said. Founded in 2021 by former Google researchers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, Character.AI had attracted backers including former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.

☆ Exclusive: Google to win EU antitrust okay for maths app deal, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, March 22 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google is set to gain unconditional EU antitrust clearance for its acquisition of Croatian maths app Photomath, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Investors in the Croatian company include Menlo Ventures, LearnCapital, Goodwater Capital, GSV Ventures and Cherubic. The European Commission, which is scheduled to decide on the deal by March 28, and Google declined to comment. The app has been downloaded more than 300 million times worldwide and is available in more than 30 languages. Reporting by Foo Yun Chee Editing by David Goodman, Elaine HardcastleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Companies Meta Platforms Inc FollowMarch 21 (Reuters) - A new lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) executives and directors of failing to do enough to stop sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. Given the board's failure to explain how it tries to root out the problem, "the only logical inference is that the board has consciously decided to permit Meta's platforms to promote and facilitate sex/human trafficking," the complaint said. "We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms," it said in a statement on Tuesday. Zuckerberg, Meta's billionaire co-founder and chief executive, told Congress in 2019 that child exploitation was "one of the most serious threats that we focus on." Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, has long faced accusations that its platforms are a haven for sexual misconduct.

☆ Biotech company Illumina pushes back against Carl Icahn’s proxy fight over $7.1 billion Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Biotech company Illumina pushed back Monday against Carl Icahn's proxy fight over the company's acquisition of cancer test developer Grail, saying the activist investor's board nominees "do not add value." "To paraphrase William Shakespeare's Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Illumina," Icahn wrote. Illumina said winning a jurisdictional appeal would eliminate any potential fine and "gives the greatest optionality for Illumina to maximize value for shareholders." The company also claimed Icahn recognizes the value of Grail to shareholders, pointing to a CNBC interview last week where Icahn referred to Grail as Illumina's "best equipment." Illumina touted Grail in its release, saying it has "tremendous long-term value creation potential."

☆ I rushed from bank to bank with my infant daughter when SVB collapsed to figure out how my startup could make payroll on time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Silicon Valley Bank's collapse sent Dispatch Goods cofounder Lindsey Hoell on a race to find alternatives. Her team and investors navigated the logistical chaos of making sure the company made payroll. Dispatch Goods, a Silicon Valley Bank customer, provides reusable packaging to meal and grocery delivery companies. But by the time I got back from opening that account, the Silicon Valley Bank site was just completely bogged down with other people trying to do the same thing. We got up Friday morning and drove down to Silicon Valley Bank's Menlo Park location.

☆ Yellen says uninsured deposits may be at risk in future bank failures. Here’s how FDIC coverage works
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

How FDIC coverage worksThe limit for FDIC coverage is $250,000 per depositor, per bank, in each account ownership category. The majority of Americans are going to be covered by FDIC insurance. For example, a married couple with a business may have up to $250,000 insured in an account in one spouse's name, up to $250,000 insured in an account in the other spouse's name and up to $250,000 insured in a business account. How to check, boost FDIC protectionIf you want to know whether your deposits are FDIC-insured, check your bank statement, Jenkin said. Not all accounts provide FDIC coverage, Jenkin noted.

☆ Four days of panic: How startup execs navigated SVB's meltdown and prepared for the worst
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

A Silicon Valley Bank worker talks with people lining up outside of the bank office on March 13, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. Refreshing GoogleOtter.ai founder and CEO Sam Liang spent Monday driving to SVB branches in Silicon Valley to try and retrieve millions of dollars of his company's money. "I checked Google like 20 times an hour, watched [Treasury Secretary Janet] Yellen talking about not bailing out Silicon Valley Bank." Silicon Valley Bank customers listen as FDIC representatives, left, speak with them before the opening of a branch SVBs headquarters in Santa Clara, California on March 13, 2023. "But at the moment, as long as Silicon Valley Bridge Bank is 100% federally guaranteed, there's no need to diversify.

☆ Are Taxpayers on the Hook for SVB and Signature Bank Deposits?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( David Harrison | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Silicon Valley Bank branch in Menlo Park, Calif., after the bank’s collapse. Federal regulators over the weekend guaranteed that all depositors of failed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank would get their money back. That prompted questions about whether the government support amounts to a bailout and whether taxpayer funds are at risk. Here is a look at some of those questions.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: BuzzFeed, First Republic, Meta and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Pia Singh | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)BuzzFeed — Share of the internet media company lost about 10% on a weak first-quarter revenue outlook. Buzzfeed expects first-quarter revenue of $61-$67 million, compared to expectations of $83.6 million, according to FactSet. Meta Platforms — Meta shares gained 6% after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday the social media company plans to cut 10,000 employees. First Republic , PacWest Bancorp, Western Alliance Bancorp , Comerica — Regional banks rallied sharply Tuesday after being hit hard last Friday and Monday. Shares of San Francisco-based First Republic rose about 50%, while PacWest jumped more than 60% and Western Alliance Bancorp gained more than 40%.

☆ ‘The next AOL?’: Meta’s massive layoffs raise questions about Zuckerberg’s strategy as company morale sinks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Coupled with the new cuts, Meta will have cut about 24% of its workforce, or one in four employees, in just about half a year. Nevertheless, the layoff announcements have naturally sent morale at the Menlo Park-headquartered company plummeting. Zuckerberg indicated that the job cuts will not be complete until the end of May. “You can cut your way to profitability in the short term,” the former tech CEO said. “But you can’t cut your way to growth.

☆ When Silicon Valley Bank imploded it took a $70 billion loan portfolio with it. Competitors are already stepping in to fill the gap.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Silicon Valley Bank had more than $70 billion in credit lines on its books when it failed. He's one of many who now stand to benefit from the sudden disappearance of one of Silicon Valley's most reliable lenders. Venture debt, like a typical venture-capital investment, involves betting big on fledgling startups that may be far off from profitability. Another person in SVB's venture debt business said that employees are working hard to maintain "business as usual" so as to make SVB's loan portfolio more attractive to a potential buyer. An opportunity for the competitionNone of this has stopped other lenders from stepping up to try to win some of SVB's debt business.

☆ 9 startup founders who banked with Silicon Valley Bank share where they're moving their money: 'We will not get caught like this again'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Stephanie Palazzolo | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Silicon Valley Bank's failure has left startup founders scrambling for a new home for their money. Last Friday morning, the startup founder Mang-Git Ng zipped up the interstate before sunrise to a Silicon Valley Bank branch in St. Helena, in California's wine country. Ng's plight is similar to countless other founders following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, who waited with bated breath over the weekend on whether they'd ever get their money back. DiversificationSilicon Valley Bank's collapse could forever change how startups stash their cash, at least two investors told Insider. Silicon Valley Bank had exclusivity clauses with some of its clients, according to a CNBC report, forcing them to use the firm for most or all of their banking services.

At some Silicon Valley Bank branch locations in California, depositors gathered early Friday to attempt to get their cash out, fearing it could be inaccessible in the coming days. It has had financial relationships with a who’s who of Silicon Valley firms over the years, including Snapchat's parent Snap Inc (SNAP.N). A locked door to a Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) location on Sand Hill Road is seen in Menlo Park, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. A Silicon Valley Bank spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent Friday. As of Friday, FarmboxRx’s funds were still tied up with Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ Founders swarmed SVB’s Bay Area branches looking for answers after bank's historic failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

A Brinks armored truck sits parked in front of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. In Santa Clara on Friday morning, SVB customers arrived frustrated and angry, many donning blank and tired faces. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Toward the end of the day, startup founders trickled in less and less to the Menlo Park office promenade in hopes of catching a representative. ‘I'm trying to get a check!’In Menlo Park, Teslas filed into SVB's Sand Hill Road parking lot Friday. At the Menlo Park branch, one person, wearing a Patagonia jacket, posed for a picture in front of the SVB logo.

☆ Hedge funds offering to buy startup deposits stuck at Silicon Valley Bank -Semafor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The main entrance of Silicon Valley Bank is seen in Menlo Park, California U.S. March 10, 2023. REUTERS/Michaela Vatcheva NO RESALESMarch 11 (Reuters) - Hedge funds are offering to buy startup deposits stranded at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) for as little as 60 cents on the dollar, Semafor reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. Traders from investment firm Jefferies are also contacting startup founders with money stuck at the bank, offering to buy their deposit claims at a discount, The Information reported separately. Jefferies is offering at least 70 cents on the dollar for deposit claims, the report said, citing several people with direct knowledge of the matter. Silicon Valley Bank imploded after depositors, concerned about the lender's financial health, rushed to withdraw their deposits.

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