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☆ The hottest AI startups are raising back-to-back funding rounds. Suddenly, it's feeling very 2021 in Silicon Valley for a chosen few.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-20 | by ( Ben Bergman | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Read previewIn February, Glean announced a $200 million funding round valuing the AI enterprise software startup at $2.2 billion. AdvertisementThe transaction is the latest in a string of dizzying back-to-back funding rounds at ever-higher valuations for a handful of AI startups that stand in stark contrast to the doldrums of the overall market for startups. Earlier this year, Sakana raised $30 million in a seed funding round led by Lux Capital. Slingshot AI, which has built an automated mental health counselor, also raised separate rounds of funding just months apart. Advertisement"VCs are increasingly faced with frequent requests from their hot AI companies to follow on or double down on investments," said Iris Sun, an investor at 500 Global.

Persons: —, Glean, Arvind Jain's inbox, Jain, Steve Brotman, Perplexity, SoftBank, Sakana, Gregg Hill, that's, Matt Murphy, Dario Amodei, Kimberly White, Murphy, I'd, I've, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Jai Das, Rajeev Dham, couldn't, Das, Sapphire, Uber, Iris Sun, Chandrasekar Organizations: Service, Business, DST Global, Alpha Partners, Bloomberg, Google, New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Parkway Venture Capital, Menlo Ventures, Getty, Sapphire Ventures, Investments Locations: Tokyo

☆ 'These are not normal;' A new type of dealmaking for AI startups is rattling Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Ben Bergman | Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Google unnerved Silicon Valley last week when it agreed to pay $2.5 billion to license Character.AI's technology, hire its two superstar cofounders and 20 percent of employees. The deal came after AI developers Adept and Inflection both effectively sold themselves to Amazon and Microsoft, respectively, in recent months. It was only last year Character.AI raised $150 million in venture funding, which valued the company at $850 million. Its appeal as a chatbot that uses AI to make virtual characters that interact with users seems decidedly niche. Related storiesMost of the founders and investors Business Insider spoke to for this story say Google has little interest in Character.AI's actual product.

Persons: cofounders, Brent Queener, Kyle Sanford, Character.AI, Iris Sun, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas, Jack Selby, Peter Thiel's, Steve Brotman, Shazeer, De Freitas, PitchBook's Sanford, they're, Roy Bahat, Arvind Jain, Cameron Lester, Lester Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Bonfire Ventures, Business, Apple, Big Tech, AZ, Biden Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, Alpha Partners, FTC, DOJ, New York Times, Google, Madrona Venture, Bloomberg Beta, Jefferies

☆ Starbucks' Howard Schultz talks Steve Jobs screaming at him and wishing he'd trademarked the latte in a new podcast
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-09 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Starbucks didn't sell its own coffee early on"When Starbucks opened in Pike Place Market in 1971, they were using Peet's Coffee. Howard Shultz is going to acquire Starbucks Coffee Company, and he's never going to hear from you again." Together the trio made the "huge decision" to sell Starbucks coffee in Costco, which sparked a "revolt inside the halls of Starbucks," Schultz said. Related storiesThe former Starbucks CEO faced similar blowback when he agreed to let United Airlines serve his company's coffee. "We're not a beverage company serving coffee, we are a coffee company serving people.

Persons: —, Howard Schultz, Schultz, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Costco's, Bernard Arnault, Lavazza, I've, Samuel Stroum, it's, Howard Shultz, he's, Brian Ach, latte, Jeff Brotman, Jim Sinegal, they've, Coke, Pepsi, Steve, Justin Sullivan, Blackstone, Alexandre, Louis Vuitton, Alexandre Arnault, Donato Sardella, Louis Organizations: Service, Starbucks, Business, Pepsi, Microsoft, Starbucks Coffee Company, Costco, United Airlines, Starbucks Facebook, Staff, Getty, Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton Locations: Coke, Pike, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, America, Costco, Atlanta, New York, Apple's, California, Mobile, Italy, Milan

☆ Trump’s playboy past is in the spotlight. His allies are readying a new fight against pornography
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Steve Contorno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

A movement to rein in online pornography is rapidly intensifying, fueled by conservative outrage and growing unease over the accessibility of sexual content online, especially for children. Pornography is mentioned on the first page; banning pornography and locking up those who produce it are proposed on Page 5. He was an occasional guest at Hugh Hefner’s famed Playboy Mansion and made cameos in soft-core pornographic films produced by the company – though not in any scenes depicting sexual content or nudity. ‘Sex is the canary in the coal mine’The Supreme Court has deemed previous attempts to curb online pornography unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. They were designed to protect adults from accessing adult content, which, of course, is their stated aim.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, “, ”, Terry Schilling, Hugh Hefner’s, Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal –, McDougal, Daniels, Kevin Roberts, ” Roberts, ” Roberts hasn’t, Ben Carson, Charlie Kirk, Chris LaCivita, Susie Wiles, President Trump, LaCivita, Wiles, Mike Stabile, ” Pornhub, –, Robert Winterton, Pornhub, Solomon Friedman, It’s, ” Schilling, Paul Dans, Stabile, ” Stabile, Schilling, “ It’s, Stuart Brotman, Brotman –, Playboy’s Hefner –, Roberts, ” Brotman, Ben Bull, ” Bull Organizations: CNN, Trump, Heritage Foundation, Playboy, Heritage, Housing, Urban, Free Speech Coalition, US, Apple, Google, Facebook, ”, National Center, Media, Ethical Capital Partners, Republicans, US Department of Justice, University of Tennessee, GOP Locations: Manhattan, Washington, DC, Lake Tahoe, Texas, – Virginia, Montana , North Carolina , Arkansas , Utah , Mississippi, Louisiana, California, Knoxville

I've been worried about how inflation will affect my money, so I asked financial planners. I decided to find financial advisors who can give me their advice on what to do with my cash. "The combination of inflation and rising interest rates mean that debt will be taking a much bigger bite out of most people," says Zigmont. He says average credit card interest rates are expected to rise. "When interest rates rise, bond prices decline due to the fact that new bonds will be issued offering higher interest payments," says Tolitsky.

Persons: I've, they've, Eric Brotman, Marigny, Brotman, Cash, Jay Zigmont, doesn't, Get, deMauriac, Haley Tolitsky Organizations: Service, overspending Locations: Wall, Silicon

Silicon Valley is bracing for what it fears will be an "extinction event" threatening the survival of hundreds of startups. Tom Loverro, a investor at 40-year-old Bay Area venture capital firm IVP, has been loudly warning for months on Twitter and in media interviews about a coming "mass extinction event" for startups. The total volume of venture capital investment into US startups has slumped for six consecutive quarters, according to data firm Pitchbook. Even a last-ditch slashing of the startup's prospective valuation — a "down-round," in Silicon Valley parlance — didn't whet investors' appetites. Over the past year, many startups that rely on Silicon Valley funding have been steeling themselves for the slowdown to avoid similar fates.

Persons: —, they're, Jennifer Neundorfer, That's, Tom Loverro, Loverro, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt, Cameron Lester, I've, Lester, Linda Ahrens, Ahrens, Unown, " Ahrens, Anna Dittrich, Plastiq, Vincent Harrison, Elad Gil, Steve Brotman, Brotman, Will Hawthorne, VC's, Mike Ryan, Pitchbook's Harrison, Sell, Hawthorne Organizations: Ventures, Sequoia Capital, —, Venture, Twitter, United States Federal Reserve, Jefferies, January Ventures, Alpha Partners, Avid Capital, Sugar, Menlo, BulletPoint Network Locations: Silicon, Sequoia, IVP, Valley, Instacart, Navan, Boston, Snowflake, America

April 19 (Reuters) - Fox News on Tuesday disposed of one legal threat with its $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, but the network still faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit from another voting technology company, Smartmatic USA, over its coverage of debunked election-rigging claims. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File PhotoSmartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from Fox and five individuals, including former Trump lawyers and hosts. Smartmatic alleges in its lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court that the defendants knowingly spread false claims that its software was used to flip votes. Conspiracy theorists erroneously claimed Smartmatic owned Dominion, and the companies mounted similar allegations in their lawsuits. Fox denies the allegations, saying in a recent statement the network had a right to report on highly newsworthy allegations of voter fraud.

Dominion accused Fox and its parent company Fox Corp (FOXA.O) of ruining its business by airing claims that its machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden and against then-president Donald Trump, a Republican. Smartmatic alleges in its lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court that the defendants knowingly spread false claims that its software was used to flip votes. Conspiracy theorists erroneously claimed Smartmatic owned Dominion, and the companies mounted similar allegations in their lawsuits. Fox denies the allegations, saying in a recent statement the network had a right to report on highly newsworthy allegations of voter fraud. Fox has said the allegations are “baseless” and were immediately investigated by outside lawyers.

☆ Half of Sequoia Capital's VC funds since 2018 have posted losses for the University of California's endowment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ben Bergman | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The University of California endowment has invested over $800 million in Sequoia funds since 2018. The returns show ten Sequoia funds across all stages and geographies are now underwater for the investor. The University of California's massive $28 billion endowment, a limited partner in 20 Sequoia Capital funds since 2018, is underwater on half those investments, according to documents obtained by Insider. Meanwhile ten of the Sequoia funds that UC Investments has invested in have been marked down in value on paper. One of UC Investment's largest commitments to Sequoia is $232 million earmarked for the 2022 Sequoia Capital Fund.

☆ Early-stage VCs are leaving $100 billion on the table by not exercising rights to buy into later startup funding rounds. One investor is trying to make sure they don't.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Pro rata rights give early investors a place in later funding rounds and protect against dilution. Nearly 95% of pro rata rights go unused, often because investors lack the capital to exercise them. Alpha Partners provides the capital VCs need to take advantage of their lucrative pro rata rights. The company allows early-stage VCs to exercise their pro rata rights and participate in follow-on rounds by providing capital when no one else will. From a founder's perspective, pro rata rights can be a way of protecting those that took an early chance on the company.

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